A lot of them may look like shit, but I think it has encouraged more people to take photos. As a photographer, this makes me happy.

I guess it really depends on what filters you apply to your photos and how to apply them. I agree that some people don't know when to stop or how to identify photos that might look better without filters, but you're gonna find that type of users everywhere.

I'm sort of in the same boat. I heard about it, downloaded it, and was thinking "that's it?". Taking pictures using the stock iphone camera app is easier and faster.

Define "actual picture", I can tell you that there is no definitive answer on what "actual" would or should really be.

I've never used Instagram, but I did use picsplz for a bit, and those filters usually made the photo look better given the shitty quality of my phone's camera.

Embrace the future of photojournalism.

Perhaps if the colours in photos that phones took weren't ugly as sin it wouldn't be a thing.

Taking a photo is a creative endeavor, not necessarily an effort to flawlessly recreate how something actually appears to the human eye. Engineers frequently do not get this.

Really? Because it seems to me that a lot of engineers at instagram figured out that using the same set of preprogrammed filters over and over again allows users to feel like they are being creative.

And is there anything wrong with people feeling like they are creative?

Same argument applies to Guitar Hero. People may make the argument that they're not playing guitar and therefore should stop playing Guitar Hero, but many people find it fun. You can disagree with them, but that doesn't make it less fun.

>And is there anything wrong with people feeling like they are creative?

Yes, there is, when they aren't being creative. When they're just choosing a cookie cutter, telling them they should feel creative is cheating them of the real thing.

> Yes, there is, when they aren't being creative.

1. Creativity is a man made concept and so by default is subjective. Who is to judge what's "creative" and what's not?

2. If filters - which could just be an analogy for a technology tool - has no place in "creativity", where do you draw the line? Pulled to the extreme, how about when I use photoshop, or a korg synthesizer, or an elaborate framework to make art, music, or programs?

3. It's a consumer entertainment app after all. People have fun with it. What gives?

I actually have a feeling it makes peole dumb. Seriously. No more self thinking, it's all about riding the wave, feeling like you're doing something "cool", yada yada.

But people will do that anyway. Not everyone is creative. There are people who legitimately think pop music is the best music they've ever heard. They're not wrong, that's just what they like. Forcing them to listen to indie would just make them hate indie more. (as an example)

Perhaps we should start calling this Casual Creativity. I think it's a good analogue to Casual Gaming which to me has the same advantages and drawbacks compared to real gaming.

> And is there anything wrong with people feeling like they are creative?

Sometimes they take pictures of things I'm interested in or curious about, and the picture is obviously mangled compared to the original, and you can't make out as much detail as you'd like. Mangled in exactly the same way that thousands of other people mangle their photos: the first few times I saw it, I thought it was clever/cute, but then it got old, and now I loathe it.

In case you're wondering, here's how a professional photographer uses Instagram. https://secure.flickr.com/photos/exoskeletoncabaret/tags/ins...

Hi, this isn't reddit. Thanks.