Mobile-Only Instagram Photos, Please!

I haven’t been using Instagram much over the past few months, as my square iPhone photos have been going into my daily My365 app for my photo-a-day project. And after the recent terms of service fiasco, I may switch from Instagram back to Flickr for 2013 anyway. But still, I need to rant about one thing:

Seeing SLR photos in my Instagram feed or the Explore area. Call me an Instagram purist or an uptight pedant (you’re probably right on both counts) but I think Instagram was meant for mobile photos: shoot something with your phone, maybe apply a filter, and share it. Seeing non-square photos clearly shot with super-wide angle lenses — which are then (over) processed in Photoshop/Lightroom/whatever — stick out on Instagram. Those photos belong on a more photographer-friendly site like Flickr.

And don’t get me started about those who go over the top with the HDR filters…