Photo effects for Instagram posts: pick the one that fixes the photo, not the one that looks cool

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The rule that changes everything: effects as regions, not blankets

In dump a filter is an object. You drop a filter region onto the canvas, size it and shape it, and it repaints whatever sits underneath: the layer directly below it, or everything below it, your choice. Move it and the effect moves. Make it a circle and the halftone is a circle. Cover the background but not the face and the face stays clean. This is the difference between a photo with an effect on it and a designed post, and it is available on every plan for the free styles.

Applying a style to the whole image is still one tap when that is what you want. But start by asking which part of the photo has the problem. Usually it is not the whole photo.

Problem: the photo is flat and lifeless

Phone photos in even light have no texture, and texture is what makes a print feel like a print. The answer is a pattern effect, not a colour one. Halftone turns tone into dots and reads as a magazine; the bayer style reads as an old screen; noise adds grain that hides the too-clean look. Keep the dot or grain size small enough that the subject survives at feed size, and consider putting it on the background region only so the subject stays sharp. Noise is free on every plan; halftone and bayer are Creator styles.

Problem: the background fights the subject

Two fixes, and which one depends on how much of the background you need. If you need it as context, blur it: dump's blur is a real per-object Gaussian, so it keeps growing as you push it instead of stalling at a smear, and a filter region shaped around the subject leaves the subject untouched. If you do not need the background at all, cut the subject out and put it on a colour. Cut out runs in your browser on a desktop, and you can give the cutout an optional die-cut outline that follows the actual silhouette. Each cutout costs 10 credits, from 100 a month on the free plan, 1000 on Creator and 3000 on Studio.

Problem: the photos in a set do not match

A carousel of six phone photos shot on three days will have three white balances. The strongest fix is one treatment across all of them, and duotone is the most forgiving: two colours, every photo mapped onto them, and suddenly the set is a set. Ink and the pop style do the same job with more contrast; all three are Creator styles. If you want to keep the colours, a light noise region (free) or scanline region (Creator) over each photo at the same strength unifies them without changing what they are. The Studio colour styles (black and white, sepia, fade, posterize and others) do this with less texture, and you can try them on the canvas before deciding whether Studio is worth it.

Problem: the post needs a look, not a fix

Sometimes the photo is fine and the brief is a mood. Glitch, mirror, wave and scan are the Creator pixel styles for that: a slice of glitch over one corner, a mirror region that doubles a skyline. The live shaders are the deep end: fluted glass, water, halftone with real ink behaviour, CMYK, lens distortion and paper texture, each with its own controls and a surprise-me button. They are Studio. Any account can apply and tune them, and while the account is not Studio the region is watermarked on the canvas and the export is blocked, so you know exactly what you would be paying for before paying.

• Free on every plan: 7 of the 19 pixel styles (mosaic, blur, dots, bars, solid, noise, ASCII), blur, shadow and border presets, the die-cut outline, liquid glass on shapes.
• Creator and Studio: the other 12 pixel styles (glitch, halftone, wave, mirror, triangles, ink, duotone, scan, emboss, cross, bayer, pop) and the premium ASCII looks.
• Studio, try first: the 8 colour styles and the 7 live shaders.
• One rule for all of them: one effect per post, two if one is a subtle texture. A third means the photo is not doing its job.

A five minute treatment, start to export

1. 1
   Name the problem before opening the panel

   Flat, busy, mismatched, or needs a look. If none of those, the photo does not need an effect.

2. 2
   Drop a filter region over the part that has the problem

   Open Filters, drag a region onto the canvas, choose whether it repaints the layer below or everything below, and pick a shape if the subject needs protecting.

3. 3
   Pick the style by family, then dial it down

   Pattern for flat, blur or cutout for busy, duotone for a set, glitch or a shader for a look. Then reduce the strength or size until you almost cannot see it. That is usually right.

4. 4
   Check it at feed size

   Zoom the canvas out until the post is the size of a phone screen. Dots that looked delicate become mud; grain disappears. Adjust.

5. 5
   Export

   PNG if the design has transparency, JPG otherwise. Exports never carry a watermark; a Studio shader or colour style region on a non-Studio account is the one thing that will not export.

Frequently asked questions

More on photo effects, filters and cutouts

• You are cut out. Now make the colour block, the outline and the shadow work for you
• Put the word behind you: the text behind subject look, built as three layers

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