Instagram without filters is almost like fries without mayo or ketchup: just not as fun! Back in the days, Instagram started as an image editing app and was one of the first apps to offer filters and frames for images to make them more interesting, beautiful, and individual. Nowadays, there are thousands of apps and editing programs that offer filters for Instagram alone. But also programs such as Lightroom and VSCO Cam are increasingly being used for image editing - and not just for Instagram.

What is Lightroom?

What photographers and filmmakers have been used to for years, has now reached the mass media: Lightroom pre-sets and filters. With one click you can put a uniform filter over your pictures and give them your individual touch. Image editing has never been as easy and practical as it is today! There are quite a few filter packages and pre-sets that are not only offered by photographers and professional image editors, but also by bloggers and influencers.

Why are filters so important?

For years we tested a lot of different apps, mixed and adjusted different filter programs until finally we had a reasonably consistent look and an individual filter, but with 5 different apps and editing tools, it is sometimes really annoying and frustrating to edit your pictures. Therefore, after a long time of testing and self-testing (you can find our results on Instagram @luisalion or @danielkbaldock or @bloggerworkshopcom) we developed our own pre-set filters for the Lightroom program because they are by far the most consistent and easy to customize. On the pre-sets page you'll find our different filters for Lightroom and how to best download and apply them. We personally could not work without Lightroom anymore and use it not only for our Instagram pictures, but also for our blog images and courses to edit them quickly, easily and with high quality and to make them all uniform. Why a unified feed is so important - especially on social media channels like Instagram - you'll also find in detail in the Instagram Basic and Instagram Pro course or in our last blog post '3 Just Things to Improve Your Social Media Appearance'. Especially when social media and content creation is your job, you should deal with a professional appearance and easy image editing, since especially companies pay attention to such details.

Does Lightroom cost anything?

Lightroom belongs to Adobe and is unfortunately not for free (11.89 € / month), but you can first test the free version for a month and see if you like it. The Lightroom CC app for your smartphone is, however, completely free, so you can theoretically use our Lightroom filters at no extra cost. Nevertheless, we would personally recommend anyone to try out the pre-sets on the laptop first, as it is a bit easier to customize and adapt the filters. Especially if you have a Macbook and iPhone, you can easily send yourself the edited images via Airdrop from your laptop to your phone or via email. If you only have the mobile version, that's not a problem either, as our photographer Sven has specially adapted the different filters for your phone and you only need to upload them once and copy them again and again - but more about that in detail on the pre-set page. It is also practical that you can sync your Lightroom CC on the laptop with the app and therefore can have all the pictures from the laptop on the phone, if that is easier for you and you like to edit your pictures on the go.

Does Lightroom also work with mobile phone pictures?

Although Adobe Lightroom was mainly made for photographers and RAW pictures, it also works for normal JPGS and mobile pictures. However, you will have way more opportunities to edit your images even better and 'get more out of them' for example from an underexposed or darker image, than if you only shoot in JPG. Generally, images in Lightroom are always easier to 'save' when something goes wrong, if they are under-overexposed. In our 'General Enhancement Pack', we have also developed filters for exactly those problems and moments where you put the wrong camera settings or it was already to dark. The 'Turquise Dreams' set is perfect for all images taken outdoors by the sea, with blue skies or in nature, but also for portraits (especially for blue and green eyes) it is super suitable.


Original Bilder                    
 Original unedited pictures (taken with an iPhone 7+)                                                     edited with the filter 'Hazy Memories' from the General Enhancement Set

The 'Urban Explorer' set is also perfect for frequent travelers, holiday pictures or city shots and everyday things. Luisa e.g. only uses the filter 'Urban Explorer 5' for her latest pictures on her Instagram channel (all pictures from Thailand and with the turquoise / pink stitch in the snow were edited with the turquoise set). If you can not decide or like to try something new, you are more than welcome to buy our 'All & More' set and just try them all out. Once you've purchased the pre-sets, you can use them forever as long as you upload them to your Lightroom and keep your access to your account.


                     
unedited original pictures                                                                                                       edited with the fitlter 'Urban Explorer 5' with just one click

Enclosed are a few before / after pictures with our different filters, so you can see which ones suit you and your pictures best. If none of these fit, our internal photographer Sven (sven@bloggerworkshop.com) can also create your own pre-sets by arrangement.

                      
unedited original pictures                                                                                             edited with the filter 'Turquise Dreams 9' with just one click

Most filters from the 'Turquise Dreams' set are quite colorful, saturated and strong. But if you'd rather like some darker, paler or not so flashy and colorful Instagram feeds and pictures, these filters from the 'Urban Explorer' set might be better for you:

                           
edited with the filter 'Urban Explorer 7'                                                                             edited with the filter 'Urban Explorer 9'      

If you do not like faded and greyish pictures, then we also have a couple of slightly cooler filters that make the pictures nice 'crisp', sharp and colorful, but do not draw the blues in the turquoise. It's best to just try something that suits you and your feed.

                         
edited with the filter 'Turquise Dreams 5'                                                                           edited with the filter 'Turquise Dreams 7'

Wenn du den zur Zeit total angesagten 'Vintage Style' magst und gerne etwas wärmere Bider bevorzugt, dann könnten dir die Filter 'Turquise Dreams 3' und 'Urban Explorer 1' sehr gut gefalen. Im übrigen kannst du jeden Filter übrigens auch immer noch anpassen und die Helligkeit, Sättigung, Farben usw. ändern, sodass die Filter noch mehr zu dir und deinem persönlichen Stil passen. Oder du probierst sogar mal zwei Filter übereinander - deiner Kreativität sind bei der Bildbearbeitung keine Grenzen gesetzt. In der Regel reicht es wirklich deine Bilder mit nur einem Klick mit dem jeweiligen Filter zu bearbeiten, aber du kannst die bearbeiten Bilder natürlich immer noch in einer anderen App danach anpassen. Wenn deine Haare zum Beispiel zu gelb geworden sind, kannst du diese sehr gut mit der Funktion 'aufhellen' in der App Facetune anpassen.

                         
bearbeitet mit dem Filter 'Turquise Dreams 3'                                                                            bearbeitet mit dem Filter 'Urban Explorer 1'

Wir haben dir auch noch mal drei Ansichten vorbereitet, wo du jeden einzelnen Filter auf dem gleichen Bild seht. Falls du wirklich viel mit Fotos und verschiedenen Unternehmen oder an unterschiedlichen Projekten arbeitest, empfehlen wir dir auf jeden Fall da komplette Paket zu nehmen, da du dann
alle drei Filter Sets für den Preis von 2 bekommst.





Falls du noch irgendwelche Fragen hast, schreib sie uns gerne in die Kommentare unter diesen Beitrag. Wir hoffen, es hat dir etwas geholfen und du kannst natürlich auch deine eigenen Filter erstellen oder andere Pre-Sets kaufen. Falls du nicht mit Lightroom arbeiten möchtest, gibt es natürlich auch etliche Apps wie Facetune, VSCO Cam, Snapseed, Afterlight, Darkroom, BeautyPlus, Retouch, Color Story. Für Feeddesign sind die Apps Planoly und UNUM sehr zu empfehlen - dort kannst du quasi deinen Instagram Feed vorplanen und die Bilder anordnen, sodass sie noch harmonischer zusammen passen.