Instagram improves the Lux enhancement tool for its iOS app

Go ahead, ask any youngster around you: selfies are serious business. No one is more mindful of that universal truth than Instagram, which is why it pushed out yet another iOS app update earlier today. No, there aren’t any new filters. Instead, the company brought some much-needed control to its Lux feature. Lux was originally added to help mobile photogs salvage their underexposed, anemic-looking shots.

If you’ve tried the Lux filter in the Instagram for iOS app before, you’ll know that its effects can be quite harsh and overbearing. Today, the app has been updated with a custom slider so that you can tweak the intensity of the effect. That’s pretty much all there is to it. Once you’ve taken a picture or selected a photo from the Camera Roll, you can tap the Lux icon (denoted by a half-filled sun) and then drag the slider as needed. Moving it to the right increases the vibrance and details in the shot, while moving it to the left reverses the effect.