Instagram Releases Three New Filters and Plans to Keep Making More

Yahoo Tech

Some good news for Instagram fans: three new photo filters are arriving today, and Instagram plans to keep adding more in the near future. The app has gone for long periods of time without adding new filters — in December, it added five new ones after a two-year break — but we apparently won’t be seeing extended gaps like that any longer. Instagram intends to add new filters “more regularly going forward,” which should be music to the ears of its users who don’t like having to outsource their filtering to other apps.

As with the filters that Instagram introduced back in December, these new filters are meant to be far more subtle than its classic filters. The filters include Lark, which “desaturates reds while punching up blues and greens” for landscapes; Reyes, which is meant to add a washed out, vintage look to photos; and Juno, which “tints cool tones green while making warm tones pop and whites glow” and is targeted at portraits.

The subtler filters are in part a response to VSCO, another photo-editing and filtering app that has been growing in popularity — including on Instagram itself. VSCO has clearly topped Instagram with its wealth of film-like filters, but Instagram is also responding to something simpler: improvements in smartphone cameras. Mobile photos are now much better than they used to be and don’t need heavy filtering to obscure their shortcomings, and these new filters leave a lot more intact. Instagram’s filter selection does still leave a lot to be desired, but its new releases are apparently working: two filters released in December, Ludwig and Crema, are now Instagram’s most popular.

The new filters will be rolling out today on both iOS and Android. The update also includes the ability to use emoji in hashtags, which should be a great way to celebrate the new filter releases. #prayerhands

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