RSS
 

Posts Tagged ‘Instagram’

Instagram is working on iPhone 7-specific features

11 Sep

Yesterday Apple announced its iPhone 7 models and app developers are already working hard at making use of the devices’ new features, especially the dual-camera in the iPhone 7 Plus. Instagram actually had a slot during the Apple presentation and Ian Spalter, head of design at Instagram, had the opportunity to explain how the app would make use of the camera’s new features and capabilities. 

In one of the next versions of the app, the zoom of the iPhone 7 Plus dual-camera will be controllable from the Instagram camera. In addition, the new taptic engine will indicate how much the photographer has zoomed into the scene in both video and stills mode. Instagram says it is also looking at adapting its image filters to the iPhone 7 display’s wider color gamut, which lets viewers see a wider range of color.

Other, not strictly iPhone 7-related improvements, include the addition of a 3D Touch action for the Instagram app icon, which will let you add an image to an Instagram story in a quick and easy fashion. There will also be a function to convert Live Photos into Instagram Boomerang GIFs, which repeatedly play back and forth. This function will be based on the new Live Photo API in iOS 10.  The new Instagram version is expected to launch sometime after shipping of the new iPhone models has started on September 16. 

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
Comments Off on Instagram is working on iPhone 7-specific features

Posted in Uncategorized

 

Instagram profiles reveal user depression in new machine learning study

19 Aug

A team of researchers with the University of Vermont and Harvard have published a new study detailing Instagram profiles and the hidden clues they may hold about the photographer’s mental state. Using machine learning, the team was able to identify signs of depression based off an Instagram profile’s photos, metadata, and things like facial recognition. The study looked at 43,950 photographs from 166 individual Instagram users, and had a 70-percent accuracy rate when identifying users with clinical depression.

The artificial intelligence system ultimately proved more capable of detecting depression than general practitioners, which have been found to have somewhere around a 42% accuracy rate. Hints about the photographer’s mental state lie in many things the researchers refer to as ‘markers’: the type of lighting used in the photographs, for example, and the colors of filters applied to photos. 

Dark and gray colors are often signs of depression, as well as gap in posting frequency which may indicate a depressed mental state. The number of times a photo is ‘liked’ and commented on, as well as the number of faces detected in the photos, are also notable markers. Interestingly enough, the study found that depressed Instagram users are less likely to use any photo filter, but if they do, they tend to go with ‘Inkwell.’

Via: Digital Trends

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
Comments Off on Instagram profiles reveal user depression in new machine learning study

Posted in Uncategorized

 

Instagram Stories launch as ‘disappearing’ photo and video slideshows

03 Aug

Instagram has taken inspiration from Snapchat and launched a new feature called Stories. With Instagram Stories, users can capture numerous videos and photos, alter them with stickers, drawing tools, and by adding text, then post them to a single ‘story’ slideshow that won’t clutter up followers’ feeds. Once 24 hours pass, these story posts will disappear.

Instagram Stories are only visible to followers when the account is set to private; likewise, users can block specific followers from seeing their stories. Though story posts do not allow comments, users can swipe up to see which followers and accounts have viewed the content. Instagram users can feature parts of their stories on their profiles, as well.  

Stories posted by the people you follow are accessible via a bar at the top of your content feed. The profile photo of users with new story content will be visible with a colored ring around it in this bar. Tapping on the profile photo will pull up the story and navigate the user back and forth within the story, while swiping will jump the user to a different story altogether.

Instagram says the feature will be rolling out to iOS and Android users across the globe over the next few weeks.

Via: Instagram Blog

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
Comments Off on Instagram Stories launch as ‘disappearing’ photo and video slideshows

Posted in Uncategorized

 

Plugin allows direct Instagram posting from Lightroom

21 Jun

Despite its success and millions of users, many people still think of Instagram as an image sharing platform for teenagers to post selfies and pictures of their breakfast. In reality, Instagram is full of inspiring photography as many professional photographers and talented amateurs have discovered the platform as a viable tool for promoting themselves and their work.

Problem is that, despite more and more ‘serious’ photographers using it, Instagram remains a mobile platform and posting pictures that have been taken with a non-connected camera and edited on a computer typically involves some third-party uploading tool or image transfer to a mobile device for upload. 

Now a new Lightroom plugin makes things considerably easier, at least for those users who rely on Adobe’s editing and image management software. LR/Instagram lets you post images to Instagram directly from Lightroom. Once installed you can authorize one or more Instagram accounts. Images are uploaded by dragging them into a publish collection and before you do so you can add hashtags or captions or crop your images to an aspect ratio that is supported by Instagram. By default images are auto-padded with a white border.

The plugin can be downloaded and installed for free from the LR/Instagram website but the developers ask for a $ 10 contribution via registration in the Lightroom Plugin Manager if you like the tool.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
Comments Off on Plugin allows direct Instagram posting from Lightroom

Posted in Uncategorized

 

Study: Instagram interactions declining as user base grows

18 Jun

User interactions on Instagram decreased an overall 33% from the first quarter of 2015 to the first quarter of 2016, according to social media analytics company Quintly. Video interactions decreased more substantially than image interactions, with video interactions down 39% and image interactions down 27%. The changes affected accounts with a high number of followers more so than accounts with less followers.

The study is based on an analysis of 13,000 Instagram profiles, and considers both ‘likes’ and comments as forms of interaction. While the decrease in interactions is ‘tremendous,’ according to Quintly, it doesn’t necessarily indicate anything dire for the image-sharing app. Rather, the company speculates that a combination of increased posting frequencies among users and a growing user base has crowded users’ feeds while their interactions with the content remain relatively stable, causing a natural decrease in interactions.

Additionally, Quintly points toward more brands joining Instagram as a potential cause, saying the brands may be alienating their followers with various advertising methods, causing the followers to interact less often. The company summarizes its findings, saying, ‘The takeaway should definitely not be that Instagram is losing traction but more that it starts to get harder to achieve success in the “fight for interactions” on increasingly fast timelines.’

Via: Quartz

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
Comments Off on Study: Instagram interactions declining as user base grows

Posted in Uncategorized

 

It was only a matter of time… new app turns your Instagram into virtual art gallery

08 Jun

Have you ever wanted to see your photographs on the wall of an art gallery? Come on – be honest. Your cat pictures deserve a wider audience, and the makers of new app ‘Instamuseum’ agree. 

Instamuseum converts any Instagram account into a 3D virtual reality experience, placing images (up to 90) from the feed on the walls of a computer-generated gallery space. There are four templates available (including ‘Louvre’) and the rendered space can be explored using VR goggles or using a more conventional pan / zoom interface in a desktop browser.

Instamuseum for @dpreview by barney.britton on Sketchfab

Coming in the same week as the actual Louvre gallery in Paris (into which we’ve placed DPReview’s Instagram feed, above) was evacuated due to historic flooding, we can’t help wondering if this is just another sign of the end times. Let us know what you think in the comments. 

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
Comments Off on It was only a matter of time… new app turns your Instagram into virtual art gallery

Posted in Uncategorized

 

Instagram begins rolling out reordered feeds to all users

07 Jun

In March, Instagram announced plans to reorder user feeds using an algorithm, eliminating the chronological arrangement and replacing it with a personalized order that prioritizes content based on a user’s behavior. In a recent blog post, Instagram announced that it is now rolling out these reordered feeds to all of its users.

The initial feed change announcement was not well received; many users worried it would result in decreased usability, and a Change.org petition attempting to halt the plan garnered about 160k signatures. Still, Instagram went ahead and introduced the reordered feeds to small groups of users over the past couple months, expanding that rollout to all of its users over the course of June.

According to Instagram, users on the service don’t see approximately 70% of the content in their feeds. Reordering the feeds based on an algorithm will, in theory, ensure users see the content they’re most interested in while pushing the less desirable photos and videos to the fringes. In the past, Facebook enacted a similar feed change that replaced chronological posts with algorithm-based arrangements, but many users complained they no longer saw posts from people they were interested in.

The Instagram feed change hasn’t been wildly popular with some users who have already seen the update, judging from comments on Twitter using the hashtag #InstagramUpdate. They cite trouble finding newer posts, less posts surfaced from accounts they enjoy and difficulty seeing what others are up to in real-time.

Via: Instagram

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
Comments Off on Instagram begins rolling out reordered feeds to all users

Posted in Uncategorized

 

Instagram introduces business profiles with insights, promoted posts and contact button

02 Jun

Instagram has introduced business profiles as a free feature for businesses using the service. Business profiles differ from regular profiles in a few ways, allowing companies or individuals operating as a business to add contact details, promote posts and view insights related to their account. 

The new tools are designed to better aid businesses — including individuals operating as a business, such as independent photographers — in managing their Instagram presence while using it to attract new clients. The insights tool shows users how popular individual posts are and provides information on followers, including their demographics and behavior. High-performing posts can now be turned into ads within the Instagram mobile app, as well, and account owners will be able to target specific audiences.

Business profiles also have a contact button that can be connected with a business number or email address, enabling prospective clients to directly contact the company rather than having to seek contact details elsewhere. Instagram plans to rollout business profiles ‘in the coming months’ for users in the United States, Australia and New Zealand. By the end of 2016, business profiles should be available to all users across the globe.

Via: Instagram

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
Comments Off on Instagram introduces business profiles with insights, promoted posts and contact button

Posted in Uncategorized

 

Instagram is changing its feed to use algorithm

18 Mar

Instagram has confirmed in a blog post that it will change the way the photos and videos of your friends are displayed in its stream. Chronological sorting will be scrapped in favor of a new algorithm that sorts images based on ‘the likelihood that you’ll be interested in the content, your relationship with the person posting and the timeliness of the post.’ Read more

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
Comments Off on Instagram is changing its feed to use algorithm

Posted in Uncategorized

 
« Older Entries
Newer Entries »