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How To Get The Sparkly Instagram Filters You Won't Find In Your Story Dock

by Kaitlyn Wylde
Instagram custom filters are aplenty, even if they're hard to find.
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Opting for an artistic filter on Instagram Stories will give your content a more polished appeal, if that's what you're after. But finding custom filters to use on Instagram Stories takes a little more digging. When you snap a photo, or upload one into the Stories dock, there are 12 obvious Instagram filters available, plus any effects that you've already saved. But if you pay attention to other user's Stories, you know that there are tons custom filters out there, with names like "Oats & Honey" and "Bahamas." Where are they hiding?

In August 2019, Facebook opened up its Spark AR Platform to all, a digital studio that allows creators to build their own filters for the app. With no previous coding skills required, creation tools in Spark AR are built to be easily accessible and used by all levels of IG users. And with 3D visual effects and 2D photo filters, the platform's library boasts thousands of options from creators all over the world.

There are multiple ways to take advantage of the versatile filter library and make your Stories look infinitely more vibe-y — it just involves some searching. Here's how to find, save, and share a fresh Instagram filter:

Try Out Your Friends' Instagram Filter Choices

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If you like a custom filter that your friend has posted, just tap the effect title in the upper left corner and then hit the “Try It” button. Or, if you're looking at Instagram accounts that you don't follow in the Explore tab, and an interesting effect pops up, you can try it out there, too. Once you tap the "Try it" button, you'll be prompted with the options to take a photo with the filter now, save the filter into your effects menu for later use, send it to a friend, or see more from the creator.

Browse Instagram's Story Effects

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Open the Instagram Camera and swipe right to “Browse Effects” and tap to search the effect gallery for filters that you can try. Instagram regularly adds new effects for you to use — there's the classic dog effect, a beauty effect with fake lashes, a vintage black and white camera, and more. There, you'll also see any custom effects that you saved from creators.

Follow Instagram Effect Creators

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When you see an effect you like, you can opt to follow the AR creator on Instagram, as they've likely created many more filters. Just tap the “Effects” tab on their profile to see their collection of effects — or follow their main feed! Some effects creators in my go-to folder are: @anyazhikh, @yulya.kors, and @ya.molli Often, creators have collections of effects that are similar in theme, like this boho filter collection by @janmahavan.

Save The Instagram Filters You Like

Kaitlyn Wylde/Bustle

Get in the habit of saving filters you like when you're browsing on Instagram, so that when you're ready to post, you have a lot of custom options in your effects folder. Some great Instagram filters for soft, vintage photo vibes are: "Mood" by @diana_luchitskaya, "Ciao Bella" by @katrinascott, "Milk*Two" by @ya.molli, "Coco" by @carmushka, and "with love, autumn" by @xonvvy. You can save as many Instagram filters as you like, and follow as many creators as you like to stay up to date on new filter drops, too.