Instagram Adds 'Fade' and 'Color' Tools
There’s no shortage of options when it comes to editing photos on your phone these days. There are apps with curated styles (like VSCO Cam), slick and simple ones (Darkroom), and feature-rich options (Enlight). Even tried-and-true desktop photo editing applications like Photoshop and Lightroom have mobile apps. Instagram, which accelerated the popularity of mobile photography a few years ago, has found itself playing a bit of catch-up, and in December it offered its first new filters in two years. Today, the app adds two new editing tools: “Fade” and “Color.”
The Fade tool works very much like it does on other editing apps. It softens the blacks and colors in your image for an “aged film effect” (Instagram’s terms), and that effect can be adjusted using the same slider mechanism found throughout the app. The Color tool can be used to add a specifically hued tint to either the shadows or highlights of an image — though it’s not as subtle an effect, and you can’t adjust the amount of tint like you can in apps like VSCO Cam.
The new tools will be available in the newest update to the Instagram app, and will actually make it to Android users first for a change. Instagram for Android version 6.19.0 will be available in the Google Play store today, and the iOS update will roll out “in a few days,” according to the company.
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