Instagram: How Will This Affect Photos?

Instagram, a new social media network which allows users to share photos with digital filters, has become a popular application among many members of society. Instagram allows its users to take photos, and then edit and adjust the picture in order to make it look or appear in a certain way. Users can add filters to their photos in order to make the picture look like it was taken on a brighter day, or appear gloomier if they want. Users can also make their photos look "blurry" in some areas, brighter in others, and add filters making the photo black and white or sepia toned. Some of these filters have the main purpose of making the photo look "old" or "antiquated".

Take the pictures below for example. The first photo, the original, looks just as the photo was taken:

However, with the assistance of Instagram editing and filters, the photo can be transformed in such a way to look like the one below:

Not only do the filters add shading and make the photo appear as if the day was brighter, but it also crops the photo and gives it a different feeling. 

What danger does this pose to the future of photos? And more specifically, how does this affect how photos of archaeology and the ancient world will be more commonly manipulated by the public? Will the public have a heightened sense of how photos are more often than not manipulated, and then will therefore not be as gullible to believe every photograph as 100% true?

In my opinion, Instagram does much more good than bad, and this can be for several reasons. For starters, Instagram will allow the public access to far more photos than they may not have had access to, allowing them to see and analyze things they may not have had before. Having knowledge of the application will also teach users, and more importantly the public, that photos are commonly edited and manipulated. This will help them learn and keep in their minds that photos are not 100 percent truth, and to be wary of what they see. 

Screenshot of a NatGeo Instagram post.

In terms of ancient photos and photos of archaeology, Instagram may have little effect. (it is true that now National Geographic is using Instagram!! click here). Although, the public will benefit from the knowledge of knowing how often photos are manipulated which will generally help the perception of the past, I am unsure of how often photos of the ancient world will be "instagrammed". If they are instagrammed, I have a feeling this will benefit archaeology and the study of the ancient world since more of the public will see them and will be inclined to learn more about this photos. This will spark interest and allow the photos more viewing. The filters of Instagram may help them look cooler, which may even help increase interest in them. Although that may pose danger to the truthful depiction of the past, having the public know that photos are almost always "manipulated"(unless hash tagged with "no filter") on Instagram, will minimize this danger. 

Overall, Instagram is probably beneficial to photography, and it is a great application to be a user on!

Unfortunately, recently Instagram stopped twitter from being able to share the Instagram photos on Twitter's platform. I have a feeling this will have a little effect on the points I included above.