Do Instagram Filters Work on Animals?

It’s dog-eat-dog in the world of picture-based social media platforms.

Just take a look at Snapchat and Instagram– the two heavyweights in this division. Almost every update is followed by a controversy, most often surrounding the fact that one platform has copied ideas from the other one. And though these updates may be controversial in the business of social media, that hasn’t stopped them from becoming immensely popular among the users of these platforms.

One of the most popular features of both Instagram and Snapchat is face filters. Face filters are live special effects that these apps apply to your face. The most popular filter is the “dog filter”, which gives you a snout, puppy ears, and long tongue! Other filters are meant to improve the way you look, turn you into an alien, or help you celebrate the latest holiday.

Face filters are lots of fun to use and share with your friends, but there’s an untapped market for face filters that users have started to explore, and that’s using them on your pets. That’s right- having been using Snapchat’s filter for some time now, some people have figured out that it also works on pets. The results of applying the technology to their faithful furry companions turned out to be quite hilarious. Take a look at this cheeky photo!

Now, the question we’ve set out to answer in this article is the following: Can you do the same on Instagram? The picture above is from Snapchat, which you can tell by looking at the signature grey text bar going across the photo.

As Instagram’s arsenal of photo-enhancing tools gets larger and more advanced, an increasing number of people have been getting more and more curious about what their latest set of filters can do. Most importantly- will it work on animals?

Well, we’ve dug into the matter to find the answers for you, so read on and see for yourself!

How Do These New Filters Work?

As far as Instagram is concerned, the newest form of altering your face for purposes of online entertainment comes in the shape of selfie filters. These cheeky additions have been made so that whoever uses them can have a bit of a laugh with them and possibly- make themselves a little bit prettier in the process.

That being said, the line of tools you can work with is rather limited. The number of filters you can use counts in less than ten, so there’s only so much you can do with them. (We imagine the novelty of them tends to expire rather quickly. That might have been the reason why people started using the Snapchat ones on their pets, instead of themselves.)

So the main idea behind this new line of filters is that they follow you around and stick to your head even if you’re moving about! What’s more, if you make a certain facial expression- for example, open your mouth, and the filter will then cheekily move your ears! (That is if you’ve turned on the bunny filter. Some filters include no moving animal’s ears.) Check out some examples in the paragraph below.

Some Examples Of Instagram’s Selfie Filters

While some people implied that most of the selfie filter ideas were simply copy-cat solutions stolen from Snapchat, many devout Instagram users would defend their uniqueness and creativity that went into designing them. Here a couple of examples of what the clever folks at Instagram came up with:

Gold Crown

Replicating the iconic Caesar wreath-crown popular during the times of the Holy Roman Empire, this filter is the most basic one of them all. The principle is simple. You turn it on and the technology behind it will find your head and stick it on!

Bunny

Possibly the most interesting Instagram selfie filter of the bunch, the Bunny filter attaches to your noggin a pair of rabbit ears. These two furry extensions raise in surprise if you open your mouth and move left or right of you depending on the direction of your movement.

Koala

Similarly to the bunny filter, the koala face-augmenting software works thus. You get a pair of koala ears on top of your head and then a koala nose where your human nose is supposed to be. (The ears also raise in surprise if you open your mouth! The nose is just, sort of, there the entire time…)

Heart Eyes

This is another popular Instagram filter that turns any photo of you into a romantic one. It’s an animation that sends hearts and arrows all over the photo, some of which stick to your face. The Heart Eyes filter is a cute way to spice up pictures of yourself or your pets.

So, Can You Use These On Pets?

Ehh, sort of, though not to the same effect as with Snapchat’s filter. The thing is, Instagram’s selfie filter was designed for humans as its main working principle. It revolves around following your head and watching for the moments you open your mouth. That doesn’t mean it can’t work on pets, just that you’ll have less success getting it to work with pets than with yourself.

If you want a higher level of augmentation, we advise you get Snapchat’s version as there you can change the shape of your AND your pets’ head as well as make other adjustments you fancy!

How To Use Instagram’s Face Filters On A Pet

Using Instagram’s face filters with your pet works much the same way as with you. You simply go to the Story camera on Instagram, pick the face filter you want to use on your pet, and then point the camera at your pet. If the app is having a hard time finding your animal’s face, you can tap your pet’s face in the viewfinder to show it where to look.

To increase the chances of Instagram’s filters working on your pet, you’ll need to make sure that your pet is sitting as still as possible. Depending on your animal’s personality, this might be easier said than done. It’s also best that your pet is directly facing the camera rather than looking off to the side. From there, it’s all about trial and error and patience.

All in all, Instagram’s new filters may not be quite perfect yet, but they’re certainly getting there. While using them on pets may not lead to the desired result, so to speak, we’d encourage you to experiment anyway! We hope you found this article helpful and may you never fail to take a perfect selfie!