Most Android and iOS users use the Instagram application, which has now become famous for being bought by Facebook for the modest sum of 1 billion dollars! Although, as seen, it is possible to view the images and photos published on Instagram on the internet, to date, there is no online version to add special effects to the photos (it will probably be integrated into Facebook).
There are, however, several web applications and some PC programs very similar to the iPhone and Android application that take up the simplicity and the ability to add, with two clicks, photographic and artificial filters to make the images better and more original.
After reporting the best web applications similar to Instagram to apply filters and effects online, we then see the best 7 free programs to download on Windows PC to add Instagram effects to photos from the PC .
1) Perfect Effects is a beautiful free program that includes a total of 30 professional effects divided into four categories: effects, instant, backgrounds and borders .
In addition, it contains a series of controls to apply effects to the whole image or even only a part of it .
The application allows you to add effects in layers, so you can combine multiple effects together with different intensities, and then create an entirely new filter for the photo. The application works both independently and as a plugin for Adobe Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, Lightroom and Apple Aperture.
Download requires registration via Email and installation can be done on 32-bit and 64-bit computers with Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 10. After installation, images can be added using the browser in bottom, while the levels can be managed from the right sidebar.
On the left there are the various editing tools including the Crop, the Cut, the zoom. When you add an image, it appears in the main window and, without being expert, you can apply one or more of the many effects of the program. Using tools such as the brush, you can touch up and refine the added effects by increasing or decreasing their intensity, in some parts of the image. After adding the effects you can save the new image in JPEG or PSD (Photoshop Document Format) format.
NOTE: The latest version of this program is no longer free, however you can still download Perfect Effect for free from the Malavida website.
2) Pixlr editor is a very powerful and easy to use web application.
All functions are on a menu at the top and on the graphic one on the right. Pixlr allows you to make quick and basic changes such as resizing and cropping and to apply automatic effects, photographic filters, stickers and writings.
3) Photopus is a free program for Windows capable of processing a series of images together for converting photos, adjusting the size, renaming them and modifying them with effects and filters.
There are many basic photo editing tools such as color balance, sharpness, brightness and contrast adjustment, hue, saturation and many others. The user interface is simple thanks to a wizard to open the photo, apply the effect and save it. The photographic filters are very similar to those of Instagram or other equivalent applications, with the possibility of creating black and white, coloring only a part of the image, highlighting the photo and so on. Also you can set the quality of the new image, the color depth (8pp and 24pp), the compression level and other adjustments for the files, depending on the format chosen. Photopus is available as a free and paid version with the addition of some additional functions such as support for RAW images.
4) Leaf is another nice program for editing images on a Windows PC that allows you to colorize only selected parts of an image with a special effect such as sepia, grayscale or negative coloring. With Leaf you must first add the selected effect on the whole image and then remove it from the selected areas. Transformed images can be saved in PNG, GIF, JPG and BMP and PDF formats. With Leaf it is therefore possible, for example, to color a part of photos leaving the rest in black and white or to highlight an element giving it more intense colors and so on. After opening an image, add the effect and then use the brush to bring the original color of the photo back to the areas you want. Leaf's only flaw is the few special effects available.
5) Easy Photo Effects is instead a free, simpler and more portable program, which allows you to apply some complex filters (such as the TiltShift, Sepia, Topaz and Movie effect) to any image in an instant . It also provides additional photo editing options to adjust the size, edges and background of the photos. Each editing effect has a settings button that allows you to refine and retouch the changes made. For example, you can click the Settings button under Brightness and adjust the brightness of the image. Easy Photo Effects works on Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7 as long as you have a monitor with a minimum resolution of 1024 × 768.
6) Photo Filter Factory contains over 4, 000 different image filters and effects to choose from.
In addition, it allows you to apply frames to images, change brightness and contrast, image size, adjust scale and convert images to different formats and sizes. All filters are accessible directly from the main interface (the upper left corner has a drop-down menu). When selecting a filter from the list, a bar will be displayed on the right side that allows you to choose different levels of intensity for the selected filter. Photo Filter Factory works on both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8.
7) Opanda Photo Filter is a program already reported a few years ago to apply professional filters to photos for special photography effects .
8) XNRetro is an easy-to-use program to put retro filters on photos for Windows, Linux and Mac PCs.
Another article lists the 10 best free photo editing programs for Windows, similar to Photoshop .
