10 Things You Didn’t Know About Instagram

Instagram is not just about taking selfies and shots of your food. Natasha Desai lists 10 things about this super fun app, that may take you by surprise.

Shoot. Select photo. Crop. Add filter. Tag. Share. Done! In a matter of seconds, I have shared my day at the beach with my friends. With photo sharing, in just a few easy touches on Instagram, these simple tweaks could make your stream even more exciting.

You can use other apps like InstaFood and InstaWeather to bring variety to your feed. Shot with: Samsung Galaxy S4. Photograph/Ankit Vengurlekar (@gadgetwala)

1. It’s Different!
Do not compose the way you would with a regular camera. The images are usually viewed on a phone screen, so keep it simple.

2. You Need Not Shoot in Instagram
Instagram is not as fast as the default camera interface. You would rather get the moment and then export to Instagram.

3. Instagram has an Inbuilt Low Light Fix
Photographs with low light are the bane of all cellphone picture-taking. Use Amaro and Rise to bring out details lost in shadows.

4. You Can Use Multiple Filters!
Apply one filter, save the image to the gallery and then open it again in Instagram to apply the second filter.

5. Save Without Uploading
After applying the filter and tapping on Share, the Android OS saves the photo to your Instagram folder. In iOS, simply move to Airplane Mode before you hit share.

6. Create a Definitive Style
Your filter should enhance your picture, not be the main attraction. A subtle filter may work better in some cases.

Sharing only a few of your best images from a trip keep the interest in your feed going, rather than spamming with too many similar pictures. Shot with: Apple iPhone 4S. Photograph/Natasha Desai (@curlsb4swine)

7. InstaWalk!
Instagram features Instawalks from around the world on their blog. Instagrammers click and upload pictures from the walk under a unified tag. Join a group or organise one on www.meetup.com/instagram.

8. Look Who’s On Instagram!
Magnum photographers
@davidalanharvey, @johnvink, @pinkhassov regularly upload to their feeds. @dguttenfelder and @edkashi among others, feature on the @natgeo feed. Other inspiring photographers you can follow include @amitmehraphotography, @kevinfrayer, @riteshuttamchandani, @benlowy, @mansimidha amongst others.

9. Experiment with Stop Motion
Shoot. Pause. Move subject. Shoot. Repeat. With Instavideo letting you pause after 1–2sec of shooting, making a creative stopmo is easier than you would think!

10. Tags Help!
Use the photo map! As, when you click on the location tag (in blue) above a picture, viewers can see other images from the same location. Also, use one unique unified tag for photographs uploaded at different times. This ties them under one series.