Instagram

I liked it at first, used it a few times a week then the feeds and updates started streaming in and it got a little out of hand and tedious so I ditched it.

It didn't help that at the time the Android app was quite limited too. Today it just seems like a portal for sharing random images of even the most mundane things, which is not what it was intended for.
 
I suppose your experience varies greatly - dependant upon the tastes of the chaps you're following. One of mine works in film & TV so it's really interesting seeing the what he gets up to each week.

I don't understand why people get so wound up about it, though. If one finds oneself being irked by a photograph filter it is perhaps time to re-evaluate one's life!
 
Russinating said:
I like it and I'm a professional. Its quick and easy and I always have my phone on my unlike my DSLR, laptop and a copy of Photoshop.

I don't tag or publish my pictures or even both with following anyone but friends but my plan is to just get a print done of all the images taken across a year. Mine so far: http://rghjones.co.uk/
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Love it some great pictures in their!

Nexus said:
You still need to be creative in the first place before applying any filters. Even a filter isn't going to save a poor photo or uninteresting subject.

As I said before, as a Photographer I like that its something to play with when casually shooting stuff on my phone. I never said that being an Instagram user makes somebody a Photographer.
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Exactly it's taking the right picture before applying the right filter that makes it creative, it's no different to applying a lightroom pre-set to your RAW file when you get back from a days shooting except it's quicker and someone else made the filter (allthough it seems a lot of people are using the same lightroom presets anyway!)

Instagram has it's place and can be creative or tedious just like everything else, we al know some one who tweets their breakfast every day or check's in on facebook when they go to bed. Tools are always what the user makes of them and if your following dull people on twitter/instagram/flickr/facebook then you will only see dull results.
 
TheSgtDK said:
Creativity is in the photography itself.

There's nothing creative about taking a **** photo with your phone and adding a stupid border and some horrible filters to it.

oooh here's a picture of some starbucks coffee how creative.
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Would you consider it more or less creative if it was taken on a shiny dslr and processed that way in lightroom? Serious question as I actually think with that vintge feel it's a reasonable snap, not earth shattering or anything but nice to look at for a few minutes and could with a slight tweak in composition be beter still.
 
a1ex2001 said:
Love it some great pictures in their!
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Thanks, I don't even really try and take particularly artistic shots, but more ones that'll be a memory so when we've got 100 all together on a print we'll be able to look at any one and be able to say "oh remember when we...".

I do however need to stop taking pictures of beer and food :p.
 
haha mine are worse for food... :/

however, shots like this one:
8c83beb0238d11e29e0522000a1fa50c_7.jpg

Minor filtering, just think it is a really nice shot.
 
Russinating said:
Thanks, I don't even really try and take particularly artistic shots, but more ones that'll be a memory so when we've got 100 all together on a print we'll be able to look at any one and be able to say "oh remember when we...".

I do however need to stop taking pictures of beer and food :p.
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I'm not sure artistic is the word, but you have a good eye for composition and that works in any format! It's a really neat idea and one I might pinch in the future!

Getting hung up on what is and isn't creative is a bit like debating whats art it's to subjective personally I think if taking pictures of random strangers doing there shopping is creative, or applying a horrible over cooked HDR to a picture of a build is creative then instagram used creatively certainly is!
 
It annoys me on the basis that it makes people with no camera skills think they have camera skills, so there are even more crap photos being posted than before, and they are all over-processed.
 
Russinating said:
I like it and I'm a professional. Its quick and easy and I always have my phone on my unlike my DSLR, laptop and a copy of Photoshop.

I don't tag or publish my pictures or even both with following anyone but friends but my plan is to just get a print done of all the images taken across a year. Mine so far: http://rghjones.co.uk/
Click to expand...

Nice page! Congrats on your weddingovideographical (which is now a word) awards, too!
 
a1ex2001 said:
Would you consider it more or less creative if it was taken on a shiny dslr and processed that way in lightroom?
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Depends if someone sits on Lightroom/Photoshop, manually adjusting various aspects of the processing, to create what they feel is the perfect balance of contrast, saturation, colour balance etc. etc. etc. for that particular image or if they just apply a preset 'vintage' filter that everyone else uses and thus ends up with a photo that looks like anyone with that preset could have taken it.

I see one as a creative process, one as a shortcut to a 'cheap fix' so to speak. One will create a truly unique result that even the creator may struggle to repeat, one could be copied by anyone with access to the filter and a starbucks cup :p
 
Kenai said:
Depends if someone sits on Lightroom/Photoshop, manually adjusting various aspects of the processing, to create what they feel is the perfect balance of contrast, saturation, colour balance etc. etc. etc. for that particular image or if they just apply a preset 'vintage' filter that everyone else uses and thus ends up with a photo that looks like anyone with that preset could have taken it.

I see one as a creative process, one as a shortcut to a 'cheap fix' so to speak. One will create a truly unique result that even the creator may struggle to repeat, one could be copied by anyone with access to the filter and a starbucks cup :p
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That's the whole phase that Deviantart went through when HDR was booming. Everyone had access to Photoshop's new HDR feature and people were posting photos that looked unreal, and I don't mean the good kind of unreal. Just a preset that made everything look the same as everyone else's upload.
 
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A bit of a resurrection but wth. I find it preferable to Twitter these days. Twitter is just full of TOTAL RUBBISH. At least with Instagram, you generally follow the same people but there is a photo so it gives you something to look at instead of reading mounds of pointless text.

It's the perfect way to share holiday snaps with friends and family. And now you can do video, too!
 
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