Don't miss the latest stories
Instagram Rolls Out Boomerang Editing Tools For More Creative Control In Stories
By Mikelle Leow, 13 Jan 2020
Subscribe to newsletter
Like us on Facebook
Image via Instagram
While Instagram’s Boomerang tool is one of its more popular options in its Stories feature, its functionality has been rather limited. Boomerang captures one second of a clip, and then loops it forward and in reverse three times until it becomes a six-second silent video.
Most active Instagram users would already get the drift, and are likely to skip Boomerang stories just a few seconds in.
At long last, Instagram has introduced a handful of editing features to Boomerang to make Instagram stories more interesting, as well as to give users more creative control.
Perhaps the most useful option is the long-overdue ‘Trimming’ tool, which lets you control when your Boomerang clips should start and end. Now, if only this setting could be used to shorten videos too.
Along with the ‘Trimming’ update and three new modes: ‘SlowMo’, ‘Echo’ and ‘Duo’. Quite notably, these aren’t entirely new features, and similar effects have existed in the Snapchat and TikTok apps for awhile now.
‘SlowMo’ decelerates Boomerangs to half speed to “capture more detail,” such that they’ll play in two-second clips instead of one second. ‘Echo’ brings a “double vision effect” that leaves a trail behind anything that’s moving, and ‘Duo’ “texturizes” Boomerangs by speeding and slowing them down for a “glitchy” effect.
“Boomerang is one of the most beloved camera formats and we’re excited to expand the creative ways that you can use Boomerang to turn everyday moments into something fun and unexpected,” a spokesperson for Instagram told TechCrunch.
To use the new options, take a Boomerang like you normally would through the Stories feature, and then tap on the new infinity symbol at the top of the screen.
🐢 SlowMo
— Instagram (@instagram) January 10, 2020
🗣 Echo
👯♀️ Duo
Boomerang has new creative twists that'll make you say yaaassssss. Try them all out today. pic.twitter.com/wp0A71RefL
[via TechCrunch, images via Instagram]
Receive interesting stories like this one in your inbox
Also check out these recent news