Instagram has added an early Christmas present for photo filter lovers with five new options to choose from.

The new filters include:

• Slumber - Adds slight haze and removes saturation.
• Crema - Adds "cream" to the image, works well on white.
• Ludwig - Minimal desaturation.
• Aden - Adds a pinkish hue, works for portraits.
• Perpetua - Best on nature, offers a blue and green hue.

The new filters come just a few weeks after Instagram announced that it now has 300 million active monthly users, topping Twitter on the social network user scale - even though co-founder of Twitter Evan Williams doesn't seem to mind.

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Instagram also announced a new slow-motion video option, allowing users to post 120 frames per second video straight to the social network. Real-time comments are also added in the update, allowing people to view new comments without refreshing.

The updates to Instagram throughout 2014 have been minimal; brushing up the UI for the most part. Instagram Video launched over a year ago, and while it may not have killed Vine, it gave everyday users an alternative.

Instagram still needs a filter to look at only video or only photo, but for the most part the application offers everything a photo or video fan needs. Perhaps for expert photographers, there are still a few things to add on the editing side.

Even though Instagram didn't work on things in the main app, both Hyperlapse and Bolt were launched this year. Hyperlapse offers easy time-lapse video creation; Bolt is used for photo and video sharing.

In 2014, Instagram was one of the fastest growing social networks, alongside Pinterest and Tumblr. Facebook, Instagram's parent company, is the worst grower, due to its 1.3 billion active monthly users.

It is still not clear if Instagram has become profitable, it is still unlikely through photo advertisements alone. There should be more ad-based updates in 2015 to make sure Facebook is not churning more money into the photo sharing app.

TagsInstagram, photo filters, mobile, photo apps