Chapter 3
IN THIS CHAPTER
Taking a photo
Using the photo-editing tools in Instagram
Adding descriptions and more
Creating a post with one or more photos
In this chapter, you find out how to take photos with Instagram, use editing tools to make your photos look their best, and then share photos stored on your iPhone, iPad, or Android smartphone or tablet with your followers and on other social networks.
All figures in this chapter were taken using the iPhone app because that’s Instagram’s native platform. Don’t worry, Android users — we note any differences between the iPhone and Android apps throughout.
Before you can post a photo on Instagram, you need to tell the app where to get the photo. In this section, we cover taking a photo. For details on selecting from your existing photos, see the “Uploading Photos from Your Camera Roll” section, later in this chapter.
When you first log in to Instagram, you see your feed on the screen. Tap the plus (+) icon at the top of the home screen and then tap Post in the drop-down menu. When prompted, allow Instagram access to your phone’s camera. (The good news is that you have to go through this process only once. The next time you open Instagram and tap the plus (+) icon, you won’t have to enable camera access.)
Next, you see the New Post screen. Tap the Camera icon shown in Figure 3-1.
Now you see the Photo screen shown in Figure 3-2. Note the following elements in the camera screen:
When you’re ready to take a photo, tap the shutter button.
The photo you’ve just taken appears in the viewer of the Filter screen, as shown in Figure 3-3. The screen contains the following four sections, from top to bottom:
Below your photo in the viewer is a row of filters. Each filter includes a thumbnail image so you can see the filter’s effect on your photo.
Swipe from right to left in the row of thumbnail images to view all 23 filters, from Clarendon to Nashville. (Normal is the default image, without a filter.) Tap a filter thumbnail image, and the photo in the viewer changes to show you the photo with that filter applied.
What happens when a filter is not quite to your liking and you’d like to tweak it? You can change the intensity of any filter (except Normal) by tapping the filter thumbnail image again. A slider appears; move it to the left or right to change the intensity. The photo in the viewer changes to reflect the selected intensity. The default intensity for each filter is 100.
When you’ve set the intensity to just the right amount, tap Done (iOS) or the check mark (Android). If you’re still not satisfied and want to return the photo to its original intensity, tap Cancel (iOS) or the X (Android).
When you’ve finished experimenting with filters, view Instagram’s editing tools by tapping Edit (iOS) or Edit/Filter (Android) at the bottom of the screen. A row of editing tools appears below the viewer, as shown in Figure 3-4.
Swipe from right to left in the row of editing tools to see all 13 tools. Tap a tool to open it below the viewer.
What you see below the viewer depends on the tool you tapped. For example, when you tap the Brightness tool, a slider appears so you can increase or decrease the photo’s brightness. No matter what tool you use, the photo in the viewer reflects the changes you make and a gray dot appears below the tool icon.
Here are the various editing tools built into Instagram. Tapping any of these enables you to edit that component of the photo:
After you finish making changes to your photo, apply your effect by tapping Done (iOS) or the check mark (Android). Or discard the effect by tapping Cancel (iOS) or the X (Android).
When you’ve finished using the editing tools and filters, you can do one of three things:
To follow along with the example in this chapter, tap Next.
After you tap Next on the Edit screen, the New Post screen appears, as shown in Figure 3-7. On this screen, you can add a caption to your photo, tag people who appear in the photo, include the photo’s location, share the photo on other social media networks, and turn commenting on and off.
To add a description to your photo, tap in the top section where it says “Write a caption… .” A keyboard appears at the bottom of the screen.
When you’ve finished writing, tap OK (iOS) or Share (Android) in the upper-right corner of the screen. The text of your caption appears in the caption box.
To edit the caption, tap in the caption box and make your changes. When you’re finished, tap OK.
Below the caption box are options to do lots of good stuff:
When you tag people, you add their Instagram usernames to your photo so they know that you posted a photo with them in it. Instagram enables you to tag up to 20 people in a single photo. To tag a person in your photo, do the following:
On the New Post screen, tap Tag People.
The Tag People screen appears.
Tap the photo to tag.
The Search screen appears.
In the Search for a Name box, type the username of the person you want to tag, and then tap the Search key in the keyboard.
A list of people appears below the box.
Swipe up and down in the list until you find the person you want to tag, and then tap the person’s name.
You can tag only people who appear in the list.
You can include your current location in the photo’s description. Tap Add Location. Your smartphone or tablet asks if the Instagram app can use your location if it’s the first time you are adding a location. Tap Allow in the pop-up window to continue.
On the Locations screen that appears, swipe up and down in the list of nearby locations. If you can’t find your location, tap the Search box at the top of the screen and start typing. As you type, results that most closely match your search term(s) appear in the list. When you find the location in the list, tap the location name.
If you want to delete the location, tap the delete icon (X) to the right of the location. After you delete the location, you see Add Location again on the screen.
Tap the dot to toggle the Facebook switch from left to right to log into Facebook and post your photo to your Facebook newsfeed, as well as to Instagram. If this is the first time you’re posting to Facebook, you have to allow Facebook to access your Instagram account.
If you want to tweet the same Instagram photo you’re preparing, tap the dot to toggle the Twitter switch from left to right to log into your Twitter account. After you log in, you can share your photo and caption in a tweet. Remember that Twitter cuts off any caption that exceeds 280 characters. If this is the first time you’re posting to Twitter from Instagram, you have to allow Twitter access to your account.
You can post your photo to your Tumblr account by tapping the Tumblr dot to toggle from left to right. Tumblr opens so you can log into your account, and then you return to Instagram. When you share your photo and related information in Instagram, you share it to your Tumblr feed as well.
Before you share your photo, you may not want to take the time to read or respond to comments. You can block your followers from leaving comments about your photo. Begin by tapping the Advanced Settings option at the bottom of the New Post screen (refer to Figure 3-7). In the Advanced Settings screen, tap the Turn Off Commenting dot to toggle from left to right. To return to the New Post screen, tap the left arrow in the upper-left corner.
Your photo or photos are now ready to share with the Instagram world, so all you have to do is tap Share on iOS devices (refer to Figure 3-7) or the check mark on Android devices in the upper-right corner of the New Post screen.
After you post a photo, the home screen appears with your photo at the top, as shown in Figure 3-8. If you’ve posted several photos in one post, you’ll be able to swipe in your post to view them all.
Do you have some photos you’ve already shot that you’d like to share with your followers? It’s easy to select one or more photos and then share them on your Instagram feed. Here’s how to upload photos from your camera:
Tap Post in the drop-down menu.
The New Post screen appears with the Recents section in the bottom half of the screen as shown in Figure 3-9. (Android users see the Gallery screen.) The most recent photo you saved to your smartphone appears in the viewer. Thumbnail-size photos appear below the viewer.
Swipe through the thumbnail photos to view other photos. When you find one you like, tap it.
The selected photo appears in the viewer. Instagram automatically crops your photo to the size of the viewer.
Tap Next.
The New Post screen appears.
(Optional) Write a caption, tag people, add a location, change advanced settings and recipients, and share your photo on other social networks.
For details, bookmark this page and read the earlier section, “Enriching Your Photo.”
You don’t need to have one post for each photo. Instead, you can add as many as ten photos from your Camera Roll (or Gallery if you use an Android smartphone) to a single post.
To choose more than one photo to add to a post, do the following:
Tap Post in the drop-down menu.
The most recent photo in your Camera Roll appears at the top of the viewer with the Recents section of thumbnail photos underneath.
Tap the select multiple icon that contains overlapped rounded squares; the highlighted icon in blue appears above the list of thumbnail images shown in Figure 3-10.
The selected thumbnail appears dimmed, with a blue number 1, as shown in Figure 3-10.
Tap another thumbnail.
The photo appears in the viewer, and a number 2 appears next to the thumbnail. That number shows you the order in which your followers will see the photos in your post.
If you select a photo but then decide that you don’t want to include it, just tap the thumbnail photo. The order of your photos changes if you select more than two photos. To deselect all photos, tap the blue select multiple icon in the lower-right corner of the viewer.
Continue tapping thumbnails as needed.
In Figure 3-11, we’ve chosen three photos. The numbers reflect the order in which we selected each photo.
When you’ve finished selecting photos, tap Next.
The Edit screen appears.
Edit the photos by tapping Next in the upper-right corner of the screen.
After you have selected your photos and tapped Next, the Edit screen appears, as shown in Figure 3-12. The top of the screen displays the photo you’re editing.
A row of filter types appears below the photo. Swipe from right to left in the row to view all the filters. To apply a filter to all photos in the group, tap the thumbnail image under the filter name.
At the right side of the screen, you see part of the next photo in your photo group. To see the other photos, swipe left. To add another photo to your post, swipe to the end of the row, tap the plus (+) icon, and then select the photo from the Camera Roll screen, as described in the “Uploading Photos from Your Camera Roll” section earlier in this chapter.
To edit a photo, tap it in the row of photos. The selected photo appears in the center of your screen. Now you can do the following:
Tap Done in the upper-right corner when you’re finished.
When your photos are the way you want them, tap Next in the upper-right corner of the Edit screen.
In the New Post screen, you can write a caption, tag people, add a location, share your photo on other social networks, and turn commenting on and off as described earlier in the “Enriching Your Photo” section.
When you’ve finished editing your photos, it’s time to share them. Tap Share in the upper-right corner of the New Post screen.