I was late to the Instagram party – I joined just after they were purchased by Facebook in the spring. And after that, I just used it occasionally. My iPhone’s photo app was my main tool for smartphone photography.

I know there’s been a lot of grumblings and complaints about Instagram lately because of their terms of service changes, but I have really grown to love it for the following reasons:

1. Instagram helps you create beautiful images

I am not a professional photographer (disclosure: I am married to one!), but I do like to take nice, non-blurry photos that I can share. Instagram’s filters allow me to take my basic, stripped down images and make them more special. Take this image for example – here’s a photo I took of bangle bracelets at Adivasi, a funky Indian gift shop/small business in Brattleboro, VT.

Photo taken with iPhone

Here’s the Instagram version – it’s cropped and I added the Kelvin filter.

The Instagram-edited photo is a much more vibrant image and I gave it a fun border. Better, right?

2. Instagram’s profile pages

Instagram recently gave all users profile pages, which is great. You can’t do a lot there, but you can see more of a user’s photos, and follow them from the desktop version. And having a public profile page is good for SEO.

3. Apps to enhance your Instagram photos

A co-worker introduced me to Pic Stitch, which allows you to create collages of 2 to 4 photos in 32 different combinations. I’ve also found Statigram, which will show you Instagram stats, your most popular images, and which filters you use the most.

My Nov. 11 photo of the day: The theme is night so I took a photo of a candlelight in one of my lanterns.

4. Photo of the day projects

I started using Instagram on a regular basis when a friend introduced me to the November Photo a Day challenge from blogger Fat Mum Slim. I didn’t know it before, but apparently there are lots of photo challenge groups on the interwebs. Somehow I managed to complete all of the November photos. It’s a fun project, and having a theme every day makes you look at your surroundings a bit differently. As you go about your day, you start looking for possible objects or activities that complete the theme. It makes you think creatively. I tried not to repeat any of my subjects – I can’t use photos of my cats, wine, or my shoe collection for everything – and the themes are broad enough that you can put your own spin or interpretation on the challenge. If you’re interested, the January list is up – try it out!