How to Use Instagram Filters: A Quick Guide

Instagram Filters are a powerful tool to enhance the visual appeal of your photos and express your creativity. Whether you're a casual user or a Social Media Influencer, knowing How to Use Instagram Filters can significantly improve your posts' quality and engagement.

With Instagram reaching two billion monthly active users (Statista), its popularity is partly due to its exciting features, like diverse Filters. Curious about How to Use Instagram Filters effectively? This blog covers everything you need to know to make your photos pop and your feed stand out!

Table of Contents 

1) Understanding Instagram Filters

2) Benefits of using Instagram Filters 

3) How to Use Instagram Filters and Effects in six simple steps?

4) How to search Filters on Instagram? 

5) Using Instagram Filters without posting

6) Conclusion

Understanding Instagram Filters 

Before we dive deeper into how to use Instagram Filters, we will first define what Filters are as well as the benefits they provide. 

What are Instagram Filters?    

Instagram Filters are an integral part of the platform's photo editing capabilities, allowing users to transform their images with just a few taps. These Filters are designed to enhance the visual appeal of photos, add artistic effects, and create a consistent aesthetic across a user's Instagram feed. Understanding Filters and their impact on your photos is key to maximising their potential. 

When you access the Filter options on Instagram, you'll find a wide array of choices, each with its unique style and characteristics. From vintage-inspired Filters that add a nostalgic feel to vibrant and bold Filters that make colours pop, there is something for every preference and mood. Instagram regularly updates its Filter collection, introducing new options to keep up with evolving trends and user demands.
 

Benefits of using Instagram Filters 

Using Instagram Filters provides several benefits for enhancing your photos and creating a visually appealing Instagram feed. Here are the key benefits of using Filters, presented in bullet points: 

1) Instant enhancement: Filters allow you to instantly enhance the visual appeal of your photos with just a few taps, adding a touch of creativity and style. 

2) Mood and atmosphere: Filters can evoke different emotions and set the desired mood and atmosphere for your photos, whether it's warmth, nostalgia, vibrancy, or any other feeling you want to convey. 

3) Consistent aesthetic: By selecting Filters that complement each other, you can establish a consistent aesthetic across your Instagram feed, creating a visually pleasing and cohesive profile. 

4) Time-saving editing: Filters eliminate the need for complex external editing software. With a few taps, you can achieve impressive effects and transform your photos directly within the app. 

5) Branding and personal style: Consistently using specific Filters that align with your brand or personal style can help establish a recognisable and memorable visual identity on Instagram. 

6) Creative experimentation: Filters offer a wide range of options, allowing you to experiment with different styles, moods, and effects to find the perfect match for your photos. 

7) Quick preview and comparison: Instagram's preview feature enables you to quickly swipe through different Filters, making it easy to compare their effects and choose the one that best suits your photo. 

8) Intensity adjustment: You can customise the intensity of Filters to achieve the desired effect, whether you prefer a subtle enhancement or a more dramatic transformation. 

9) Convenient and user-friendly: Filters are built into the app, making them easily accessible and user-friendly for all levels of photography enthusiasts. 

10) Engaging and captivating content: Using Filters can help your photos stand out in a crowded Instagram feed, capturing the attention of your audience and encouraging engagement. 

How to Use Instagram Filters and Effects in six simple steps?

Instagram is well known for its league of Filters and effects that allows you to take awe- aspiring photos. These effects around you enhance the beauty and visual impact of the images that will take normally. This section of the blog will walk you through the steps for using Instagram Filters and effects, which are as follows: 

Step 1: Open your Instagram application and click on the plus sign icon at the bottom of screen 

Step 2: Select the post button 

Step 3: Select the picture or the video to upload 

Step 4: Select “next”” on the top-right button 

Step 5: Select the Filter intensity or select edit in the bottom-right to create a Filter 

Step 6: Lastly, select “Next” in the upper right and save your Filtered post 

How to search Filters on Instagram? 

When you open Instagram, you get to see many options and icons for different purposes alongside countless posts. Finding the right Filter, you are looking for in this application can be challenge to people, either due to recent updates or due to not being familiar with the layout. 

The general process of searching Filters on Instagram is quite simple, as you can access them by swiping right on the camera options. This will lead to an option for record button opening, which can be accessed via round icons on the bottom of the screen.  

Any filter in the Instagram options will appear within a round icon of the screen. However, you can also look up more Filters on the platform by following different steps. Some of these steps are as follows:

1) Searching Filters on Instagram by Filter Search

Searching Filters seems like a very self-explanatory process, where one may simply browse through all the available options. However, there are different methods to search for a filter on the Instagram. One of these methods include using an inbuilt search feature within the Instagram. Here are the steps to access it:

Step 1: Open Instagram and swipe right to enable the filter options. This should allow you to browse through the pre-existing Filters within the view on the bottom half of the screen. 

Step 2: You can swipe through the plethora of Filters until it reaches the end. Once the preexisting filters have ran out, you’ll be able to see a search option at end.  

Step 3: Once you see the search icon and ending of Filters, click on it. This will allow you to browse through countless filters present on Instagram. New filters are added in this option with updates, increasing the potential of what you can do with an image you’ve captured. 

Optional step:  The Filters you view through this method are categorised in sections based on common attributes. If a particular section fascinates you, you can browse that section further for similar Filters. 

Searching Filters on Instagram by Filter Search

Instagram has an impressive feature which not only allows you to use Filters, but also create one from scratch. These filters can be used by other people if they find you creation impressive, similarly you too can use filters created by others.  

If a range of filter created by a particular user fascinates you, there is a chance of such Filters created by this person, might be to your liking. Here are the vital steps you can follow to access filters created by other users: 

Step 1: Navigate to the filter options by opening Instagram camera option and swiping to right. 

Step 2: Once you find the range of Filters, scroll through them until you find one to your liking. You can then click on box interface below this filter, which has a bookmark option, filter name as well as name of the creator. 

Step 3: Clicking on the option will give you the ID of the filter’s creator. You can use this ID to go to the creator’s page, allowing you to surf through filter created by them. These Filters can be saved to your device and shared with others from the creator's page. 

Step 4: You can successfully access all the Filters creator by a user and use these Filters similar to any other filter you are used to. Additionally, you can click on the three dots on the top right of a creator’s page to instantly access the filters. 

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Using Instagram Filters without posting  

It isn't uncommon for people to feel like keeping a good picture to themself rather than posting it for everyone. Chances are you might even use Instagram for simply its filter effect, in order to get a good picture of something, someone or yourself. If you have ever felt this wat, here are three methods which will allow you to use a filter Instagram without needing to share or post: 

1) Apply Instagram Filters without sharing content by enabling airplane mode.  

The first method to use an Instagram filter without needing to share it on the platform includes using airplane mode. You might be already familiar with airplane mode, as it shuts down the internet and other connection services of your device. You can use this feature in your device once you have applied a filter on a picture, which will prevent the device from sharing the picture. 

Even though Instagram will fail at sharing a picture online due to airplane mode, the image will still get saved to the camera roll. One thing you should notice is, Instagram sends a notification on how it failed to post, and it will revert to posting it once you are online. Once you switch the airplane mode off, you can prevent the image from being shared online by cancelling this upload. 

2) Use Instagram Filters without posting through story 

An alternative method of saving an image with an Instagram filter is to make sure you do it by sharing it through the story. You can use your Filters for stories by clicking on your profile picture, which should allow you to choose between an image or a video. From this point, you can proceed to add Filters to your selected image. 

Once you have selected and applied a filter of your preference on your image, you can make other minor tweaks if you wish to. You can even add music to your image if you choose to and click on three dots on the top right of screen. By clicking the three dots, you can opt to save this image instead of posting it. If you followed the process correctly, the image will appear in the gallery of your device.

3) Use Instagram Filters without posting through camera roll 

Instagram allows you to conveniently save an image in the gallery without needing to share or post it. The process to do this is quite simple, starting in the same manner, where you access the Filters by swiping to the right. Once you have a preferred image, you can click on the three dots ion the bottom right corner.  Clicking on these dots will give you a “save photo” option. 

A save photo option in Instagram essentially works as a download function, allowing you to see the image later. Although this step seems complicated, it allows you to preserve the quality of the image as it is. Alternatively, if you are not bothered by the resolution of the picture, you can also screen shot to avoid the hassle. 

The process of screen shotting is even simple, as you just must apply the filter on your preferred image and screen shot it. You might need to crop away some excessive bits within the image with the editing application on your device once you are done screen shotting. This screen shot process is much faster and allows you to save the image with no hassle.

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Conclusion 

Instagram Filters empower users to create visually captivating photos that engage their audience. By understanding how to access, choose, and customise Filters, you can elevate the quality of your Instagram posts and establish a consistent aesthetic. Experiment with different Filters, explore third-party apps and stay updated with Instagram's new releases to keep your content fresh, appealing, and memorable. Hope this blog answered all your questions on How to Use Instagram Filters! 

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