Instagram Version 6.0: New And Improved Photo Editing Features

Instagram is giving smartphone photographers a lot more support with its latest software update. With Instagram Version 6.0, users are able to edit several aspects of their images, even without using one of the app’s many filters.

In the past, the popular photo-sharing app has relied heavily on its filter effects to let users change the essence of their images, but Version 6.0 changes all that – the Instagram update offers improvements to several classics like the straighten, crop, and tilt-shift tools (among others) and adds ten brand new editing tools to choose from.

Slider Control 

The slider is a key component of this new update, since it gives users more control of their editing. Users are now free to adjust the intensity of their filters and other effects. When you first apply your desired effect, the slider starts off in the middle of your screen,
right beneath your image. By swiping the slider left or right, you can vary the strength or weakness of your chosen effect. As you delve into Version 6.0, you’ll notice that the slider is going to make editing easier, more precise, and a lot more fun and interesting.

New Tools

In addition to being able to change your filter intensity, the update includes several new tools and setting to play with. In past Instagram versions, you could only change an image’s levels using the Lux tool (which adjusted photo saturation), but now users can fine-tune lighting levels using the brightness, contrast, highlights, and shadows tools. Like your filter, these tools can be set using the new slider control.

The color tones of your images can be adjusted with the warmth and saturation tools. Adjusting the warmth will change your image’s color to an icy, cool blue or a vibrant, warmer orange. Saturation will allow you to control how rich, full, and intense the colors of your image are. Using this tool, you can accentuate certain colors in your images and bring them into the spotlight.

The adjust tool allows you alter the image’s angle by adding or subtracting 25 degrees of view, or with a 90-degree rotation that flips the image on its side; you can also crop using this tool. In fact, cropping and straightening effects have been combined into one tool, which can now be found under the adjust menu. Similarly, the border tool has now been combined with the filter strength setting.

To add a different feel to your image, give the vignette tool a try. It provides a welcome alternative to the app’s tilt-shift tool by creating a darkened border around the image to emphasize the center of the frame. If you’ve added too many effects and can’t remember what your original image looks like, simply touch and hold the image to reveal a preview of what you started with.

Culled: DigitalTrend