Filters on Instagram. A search for the perfect picture

Instagram filters make users' photos funnier, prettier or even they can look like their favourite TV series character.

Unai González & Maialen Larrinaga

Instagram filters have become very popular in a very short period of time. As Sophia Smith explains in her post Why Instagram Filters Are Running Your Life, this might not be so hard tounderstand as we embellish our lives through our Instagram filters to feel more attention-worthy, more attractive, or more exciting than in real life.

An Instagram filter is an image filter that lets users snap a photo and change its appearance before sending it to a social networking site. This is the definition of the term for PC Magazine Encyclopedia.

We embellish our lives through our Instagram filters to feel more attention-worthy, more attractive, or more exciting than in real life.

We can differentiate between two main categories of different filters:

1. Color filters are the ones that have always existed. They are used for publications on the network and Instagram stories. These are some of the most used according to Iconosquare Study:

Clarendon

Valencia

Lo-Fi

Juno

Gingham

2. Animated filters have currently made popular among the users for many reasons. Maybe since they are funny, pretty or they can look as a TV series character. It is true that the first app that promoted them was Snapchat, but Instagram added some filters, so Snapchat lost popularity. These are some of the most famous animated filters:

Furthermore, you can also create your own Instagram filter. But this can be also become a risk. Some created filters have been retired because of their content or because they could be offensive. For instance, someone created a penis filter and it was removed 20 minutes later. @ineshastings_, an instagramer that has created some popular filters, affirms that she does not earn money for it. She explains how she created them: “First I design it and then I transform it into a filter by a computer program. It is easy if you manage 3D design programs.”

---

Making of: We decided to search information and write about this topic since everyone uses them everyday but, maybe they do not know how they work or where they come from. We have searched information from these sources:

• https://everydaypower.com/add-adventure-life-2017/

• https://everydaypower.com/instagram-filters-ruining-your-life/

• https://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia/term/64157/instagram-filter

• https://blog.iconosquare.com/top-10-instagram-filters/

• https://www.youredm.com/2019/09/18/instagram-penis-filter-yes-its-real-nsfw/

• We have contacted Ines Hastings via Instagram Direct message. In order to ask her about the creation of the filters she makes.

• https://www.instagram.com/ineshastings_/