The social life: Instagram's new features

A Rotorua sunset - no filter - put through its Instagram paces.

I'm not sure whether people ritualistically photographed their food before Instagram came along, but the popular app certainly went a long way to normalising the otherwise bizarre behaviour.

I think I've stopped following most serial snack snappers in my feed, but I have to admit I am prone on occasion to recording for posterity anything I've cooked up that I'm particularly proud of.

So not that often then.

Another popular Instagram subject is skyscapes. A quick search for the hashtag #sky throws up 50 million results. A few of those are local.

At this time of year, Rotorua has some amazing sunrises and sunsets for the avid Instagrammer to photograph.

And some new tools on the updated app can help even the most amateur among us flash up their cloud pics.

Most people I follow don't use filters - Instagram's main feature - and even fewer use each filter's custom border. But the new features allowing users to tweak their photos are a great addition.

These tools have been improved: straighten, border, blur/tilt shift, crop, lux and rotate.

And these tools have been added: filter strength, brightness, contrast, warmth, saturation, highlights, shadows, vignette and sharpen.

It might seem like all too much when you just want to quickly share a photo of your cat, but the new features' ability to let you make subtle tweaks to your pictures will often be a better option than the regular filters which can be overpowering.

Red sky at night - Instagrammer's delight!