If you’re thinking of leaving
Instagram, there are plenty of alternatives to stay photographically connected
It’s not like we haven’t been patient with
Instagram. When it decided to fling open its doors to anyone with an Android
phone, we didn’t freak out. When it was sold to Facebook for a small fortune,
we kept an open mind. But the latest gaffe by the once iOS-exclusive
photo-sharing service has got us thinking twice about uploading our photos to
its servers.
After a few days of outrage over changes to
its advertising policy-prompting co-founder Kevin Systrom to assure users that
he really had no intention of selling their photos to Wendy’s for the next
Baconator campaign - even diehard Instagrammer Justin Bieber threatened to turn
his back on the social network. It’s hard to tell just how large a dent was
made in its sizable universe, but it’s clear that a growing cadre of amateur
shutterbugs have begun flocking to greener pastures to show off their
masterpieces.
So, where can you go to get your filter on
once you’ve cut the cord? The most obvious place is Twitter, where many
a Sutro-styled shot ended up anyway. But since the two services don’t play nice
anymore - tweeting an Instagram pic shows up as a link, requiring a second
click to see the actual image - Twitter finally integrated a series of filters
into its iPhone app. They’re not quite as robust as Instagram’s set, but if
you’re looking to give your photos a little pizzazz before sharing them with
the world, they should do the trick.
Twitter’s
filters aren’t up to Instagram’s standards, but they’re fine for a quick tweet.
While replicating Instagram’s filters may
be relatively easy, finding such a large, dedicated community is another issue
altogether. It’s going to take some time before another service can rival
Instagram’s 100 million-strong membership, but if any app is able to, it’s EyeEm.
With rich filters, a clever interface, and a sharper discovery method than
Instagram, EyeEm puts a heavy focus on photos rather than people. You can still
follow your friends and favorite photographers, of course, but EyeEm scoops up
similar topics and places and sorts them into albums, making it easy and
enjoyable to find cool pics.
EyeEm’s
picture albums are worth 1,000 Instagram friends.
Longstanding photo storer Flickr has
been making a serious push for Instagram castaways with a redesigned iOS app
and free pro accounts, but serious photographers will want to check out 500px
instead. While you can’t shoot or edit photos here, you can group series of
photos into pictorial stories or use its pulse and rating system to browse the
top-notch talent.
500px doesn’t
have a built-in camera, but it has great photos.
And if you still want to give your photos
that vintage feel before uploading, there’s always Hipstamatic. It may
have been lapped by Instagram in the social- sharing department, but
Hipstamatic’s charming, retro-inspired interface gives you fantastic control
over your photos, both how they look and where they go.
Hipstamatic’s
live filters are just as hip as always.
