Instagram is the social media platform of choice for a majority of active internet users across the world with its smart interface, ever-evolving features, and giving more control in the hands of its users.
Through the years, we have seen how user-generated content became more popular on the platform over brand-generated content. In 2020, what immensely grew in popularity are user-generated filters and presets on Instagram.
As a creator or brand, after you have zeroed in on an aesthetic or theme for your Instagram, using a particular filter helps in building a brand for yourself and keeping your feed consistent.
But which filter should you choose? Anyone who is aware of Instagram marketing hub knows that it has a variety of preset filters for its users to try while posting their content. If you do not necessarily know how to edit your photos professionally, these filters can be a great alternative.
Filters for Instagram Posts
We picked out the 10 best filters for Instagram posts, which would surely make your photos pop and rake in engagement from your followers. Each of these filters has its unique characteristics and bring out a unique side of your photographs.
1. Normal
This is one of the most popular filters on Instagram because most people tend to pre-edit their photos on another app before posting. However, if you do have a great camera and click amazing #nofilter photos, don’t bother and just roll with normal!
2. Clarendon
Next in popularity, this filter is perfect for cooling down your photos. It brightens up areas that are light and adds darkens to the darker portions.
It increases saturation and contrast but adds a cyan tint and cools down highlights and shadows. The mid-tones on this filter are relatively warmer, so despite being cooled down, it makes skin look natural.
This filter is great for selfies and close-ups of faces!
3. Juno
The third most popular filter among Instagram users is Juno. Juno does nothing much to your photos besides a minimal manipulation of its contrast and vividness.
It makes your photos pop by intensifying the reds and yellows and making them stand out a bit more than the blues!
4. Ludwig
This filter is named after the famous architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe who famously coined the widely-used minimalistic saying ‘less is more.’
True to its name, Ludwig is a minimalistic filter that decreases the luminance and saturation of cyans, greens, magentas, yellows, and blues. It, however, increases the saturation on reds, and with a slight decrease in the contrast brings out its vibrance.
Ludwig is great for editing geometric shapes, portraits, and architectural photos.
5. Lark
Are you a nature-head who loves clicking the beautiful sceneries around you? Then this filter appropriately named after a bird is your best friend when it comes to editing your photos.
Lark not only increases the brightness in your photo, but it also cools it down while making it look slightly washed out. It cranks up the exposure on your photo, decreases the vibrancy, which makes it look calmer.
It also decreases the saturation of the reds, purples, and magentas while increasing the saturation of the blues and greens.
6. Gingham
Perfectly suited for your hipster lifestyle, this stylish filter gives your photos an interesting vintage feel. It takes some color out of the photos. It reduces highlights by 48% as well as reduces saturation on the image by 31%.
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This filter also applies a white vignette over the image that gives a slight warm haze and gives an understated warm feel to the image that is being shared.
7. Lo-fi
All those 90s #throwbackthursday posts deserve the lo-fi filter. Over the years since the launch of the platform, lo-fi has remained a crowd favorite throughout.
It acts as a dramatic effect on your photos by adding shadows and increasing saturation. This effect of the filter is very reminiscent of the editing style of the 90s!
8. Aden
This filter is very retro and has a pastel-y vibe to it. It works exceptionally well when you need to soften the harsh lights in your photo. It actually makes very vibrant photos look subtle wherever required giving them a calm and dreamy look.
This filter works great for autumn or winter photos, adding a muted touch to it and reducing the jarring color tones in it.
9. Valencia
A crowd favorite, Valencia, has to be on our list of the best filters for Instagram. This trusty old filter adds a yellow tone to your photos, which adds a sense of warmth to them.
This filter works great with photos which has light pinks and pastel hues in them.
10. X-Pro II
X-Pro II is one of the most high-contrast filters available on Instagram. It was created to edit low-quality photos clicked with smartphone cameras of the pre-2010 era when the app was launched.
It adds a lot of shadow and darkness and a heavy vignette, which creates dark rounded edges around the photo. It is based on a photo developing technique called cross-processing in which photos are processed in chemical solutions for different types of films.
Filters for Instagram Stories
Instagram filters are all the rage, but we are in 2020, and not talking about the Instagram stories user-generated filters would be nothing short of a crime. So, here are our top 3 favorite Instagram story filters.
1. Cinema Stories 7 by @ruzaone
This gives your photos and video marketing on Instagram, a vintage movie camera feel. It has the outlines of a video reel from back in the day thus, really taking your content back to the olden days.
2. Boho Filters by @janmahavan
If you like to have options to choose from, then this filter is ideal. This has several presets under this one filter, and you can decide how warm or cool you want your photo or video to look!
3. Moody Up by @carmushka
The perfect filter for your next Euro trip, this classy little filter by @carmushka, will bring life to all your street photography and coffee brunches by the main street dressed in couture.
Conclusion
To post quality photos on Instagram, you do not need to have photo editing skills. All you need is an eye for aesthetics and an ability to create art with the help of existing presets and filters.
Choose your filters wisely, and you should be able to find the perfect vibe for your profile!
