Instagram has backpedaled furiously from its apparent effort to own all the photographs posted on its site. But if you are looking for an alternative anyway, there are some.
First you need to understand what Instagram does. It adds artistic filters to your phone camera photos, which do things like enhance colors, make the background blurry or add a frame. Then it lets you share your shots with other Instagram users and popular social sites like Twitter. Or it used to. Since Facebook bought Instagram, you can no longer post your photos directly on Twitter. Instead it posts a link. There are workarounds though.
Which brings us to the first alternative. Twitter. The social site has added its own sets of photo effects so you don’t need Instagram. Using the Twitter app on an Android or iPhone, tap on the new post icon, then the camera icon. Take your photo, then use the controls that appear at the bottom of the screen. It’s pretty intuitive, and you will benefit by experimenting.
Snapseed, a free photo editing app owned by Google, offers a great deal more flexibility in editing images than most free filter programs. It not only has a range of filters, but also has control that let you customize each effect. Although it has one button for sharing to Google’s social site Google+, you need a workaround to share to Facebook and Twitter. All you have to do is save your completed photo, then you can go find it in your gallery. Share it from there as you would any photo. It is available for Androids and iPhones.
Finally there is Hipstamatic. I never saw the point in it since it charged $2 and did basically the same things that Instagram did for free. But one point in its favor would be that it has never tried to make a rights grab for your photos. It differs from most filter apps because you choose your filter (by picking a virtual film and lens) before you take the shot. It comes with three styles of film and lenses that can be combined for different looks. Additional effects are for sale. Perhaps spotting an opportunity, Hipstamatic is currently on sale for 99 cents. Hipstamatic also features one button sharing with Twitter and Facebook.
There are dozens more. If you have a favorite, feel free to share in a comment.