Instagram Adds ‘Lux’ Filter To iPhone App

By

Instagram has added a new “Lux” filter to its iPhone app, letting you “strengthen or soften your photos with a custom slider.” The slider affects the contrast of your image, but it does in in a way that actually looks good.

Lux is activated by tapping the little sun icon at bottom right. The “custom” slider pops up and lets you tweak the contrast. The instagram boffins seem to have added a little magic that makes the low contrast mode more compelling though. Usually lowering the contrast is a last resort to save a picture, as it results in very flat looking images. The Lux filter though lends a retro air to the image instead. I used it on the picture above and it came out pretty good.

And here it is in three positions:

Not bad, although these days I usually do my editing outside of instagram and just post the unfiltered result. The update should already be installed on your iphone.

Source: Instagram

Newsletters

Daily round-ups or a weekly refresher, straight from Cult of Mac to your inbox.

  • The Weekender

    The week's best Apple news, reviews and how-tos from Cult of Mac, every Saturday morning. Our readers say: "Thank you guys for always posting cool stuff" -- Vaughn Nevins. "Very informative" -- Kenly Xavier.