There are more photos taken every a minute now than were taken during the entire span of the 1800s. With this in mind, it’s no surprise that social media managers are searching for methods to make their images stand out from the crowd.
During a time when using #NoFilter is a rarity, it’s essential to know exactly how you should be editing your photos for the best outcomes. Thanks to Instagram presets, this process has become simpler than ever.
Continue reading to find out:
- What Instagram presets are
- Why Instagram presets can be the secret to your image success
- How to use Instagram presets for greatest outcomes
Plus, as a particular thank you to our readers, we’ve included a pack of free professionally-designed Instagram presets so you can instantly increase the look of your images.
What is Instagram Presets?
Before you get began editing your images, you should know what an Instagram preset is. Instagram presets are essentially pre-made filters you download from the internet and could apply to your images utilizing an editing program like Adobe Lightroom.
Each Instagram preset contains a set group of edits and effects that you could apply to any image or collection of photos. You could either download and install (as we’ll show you below) them on your phone or computer or create your own.
Why use Instagram Presets?
Save time
Editing images is a time-consuming task for all social media managers. With Instagram Presets, you could quickly and simply edit your images with the touch of a button.
There’s not fiddling around attempting to get the brightness or clarity just right. Instead, you could simply apply your preset and trust that your image will look Instagram-ready in an instant.
Photographer Piotr Kulczycki mentions that utilizing presets speeds up his photo-editing workflow by more than 5 times. The ability to edit large groups of images at a time, plus the ease of use and automatic nature of presets all enable customers to save valuable time when it comes to the previously tedious task of photo editing.
Create a cohesive and consistent look
Not only will your image editing process be quick, however, but it’ll also produce a consistent search for your Instagram feed. As mentioned in our guide to utilizing Instagram for business, consistency and familiarity help your followers recognize who you’re and what you represent, which ultimately supports brand awareness and buyer loyalty.
Your Instagram profile is like a portfolio for your business, so if there are images that don’t look like they fit your brand voice and aesthetic they’re going to stand out—and not in a great way.
Such as prominent lifestyle blogger Elsie Larson’s Instagram account shows off her undeniable brand. With a recognizable color palette, Larson also uses the same editing style for all of her posts.
By using Instagram presets, you are able to make sure that the look of your Instagram feed remains consistent and aligned with your brand. When your Instagram profile is cohesive, it displays your followers that you’re intentional and mindful of your brand and the content you share.
Improve the quality of your posts
Editing a photo with Instagram presets can take any photo from a mediocre shot to something much more elevated. Applying a preset to a photo that’s dark, has low contrast, or is usually uninteresting can instantly transform it into a vibrant, high-quality image.
Once you improve a photo with Instagram presets, you’re displaying your followers that you care. You aren’t just posting anything to your feed. You are taking the time to create and share carefully-crafted content that actually provides worth to their experience. This means you’re worth following.
You always want to ensure the photos you share on Instagram a working towards improving your business—not bringing it down.
How to use our free Instagram Presets
There are so many different—and confusing—instructions out there for installing Instagram presets, however, we’ve worked hard to simplify the process.
While many of them require you to have Adobe Lightroom on your desktop or laptop, our preset pack doesn’t want this step.
1. Before you get began, you’ll need to download Lightroom on your mobile system. When you search “Adobe Lightroom CC” you should be able to find it easily.
2. Once you have Adobe Lightroom downloaded on your tool, download the zip files for each free Instagram preset you want to use onto your laptop. Unzip the files to your desktop.
3. Open each folder you have downloaded.
4. Email the .dng files to yourself, and then open up the email on your mobile tool.
5. Open up each photo file and save to your phone. When you use an Apple iPhone, click on the arrow and square symbol in the upper right-hand corner and choose ‘Save image.’ You may see an error message stating ‘Unsupported file type’ but that is regular.
6. Open up Adobe Lightroom and import the picture file by clicking the import button in the bottom right-hand corner.
7. You need to now see the file in your Lightroom picture library. It’ll have the Hootsuite logo and file title with a blue background.
8. Choose and open the preset you want to use and click on the three little circles in the top right corner.
9. Click on ‘Copy Settings’ and click ‘Ok.’
10. Now, within Lightroom, open up the picture you want to apply the preset to. Click on ‘Paste Settings.’
Now that you know how to use presets, you’re on your method to not only saving precious time—however instantly improving your Instagram profile.
Our free Instagram preset downloads
Download: Dark (01)
Download: Dark (02)
Download: Light (01)
