Introduction
With over a billion active users, Instagram is one of, if not the most, popular social media apps in today’s time. Since its launch in 2010, it has had over 3.8 billion downloads and has become the go-to social media app for people from all walks of life. The Instagram app had half a billion downloads in the year 2020 alone and does not seem to be slowing down at any rate.
The current popularity of this app can certainly be attributed to the ability of its developers to keep it relevant by continuously adding new and exciting features. Whether it was introducing stories that eased the burden of users and creators to only post through timeline posts or adding the option to post 15-60 second “reels”, Instagram might not have been a trendsetter itself but there are few other social media apps where more trends are set by such a large amount of users every day.
However, with new features being added to Instagram so frequently, it can become a little difficult to navigate the app. A common problem is figuring out how to upload multiple pictures in a single Instagram post or story. Thus, a lot of people wonder “Why Can’t I Post Multiple Photos On Instagram?”
Keep reading to learn how to make an Instagram post with multiple photos, how to upload multiple photos to Instagram from PC, how to create a multiple photos Instagram story, and more with some simple steps!
Table of contents
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How To Post Multiple Photos On Instagram
Posting Multiple Photos on Instagram
Adding multiple pictures to a single Instagram post was first introduced in 2015 as a feature for advertisers and such a post was called a carousel post. Carousel posts are really useful for storytelling, informing your audience about something using multiple infographics, adding details to the first picture, or even showing different angles of your outfit. The possibilities really are endless when it comes to carousel posts. So here are the steps:
- Launch Instagram.
- Tap the (+) icon in the top right corner. The most recent picture from your Camera Roll or Gallery will be displayed in the top half of your screen, with other pictures displayed as thumbnails in the bottom half.
- Select the picture you want as the first picture of your carousel post. On tapping it, the thumbnail of that picture will become selected and appear dimmed.
- Tap the “Select Multiple” icon located on top of the thumbnails. The thumbnail of the selected picture will now have a small blue circle on the top right corner with the number 1 inside it, denoting that it will be the first picture of your multi-post on Instagram.
- Select more pictures you want to add to your carousel post. Blue circles with numbers will keep appearing as you select more pictures. The numbers will indicate the order in which these pictures will be displayed on your Instagram post.
At this point, if you make a mistake or want to change the order of your carousel post, you may tap the picture you want to remove and the blue circle will disappear. The position that it was supposed to be earlier will now be assigned to the next picture in the order.
If you decide to not make a carousel post at the moment, you can also deselect all the pictures by clicking the multiple pictures icon again. To change the order of your multiple pictures completely, it is recommended that you deselect all pictures and select them again in the required order.
- Once you have decided the order of the pictures to be posted, click Next on the top right corner of your screen to edit the pictures. On this screen, you will be able to edit the pictures by applying Instagram filters and adjusting their brightness, contrast, etc.
Remember that on this screen, any filter you apply will be applied to all the pictures you have selected, which will also be clear by the snippet you see of the next photo on the right side of the screen. To apply a filter or edit only one photo, click on the black and white intersecting circles on the bottom left or anywhere on the picture.
Applying any filter from the row of filters now will only affect the selected picture. Using any options of the edit tab on the bottom right will also only adjust the selected picture accordingly and not others in your carousel post. When you are done editing the pictures, click Done on the top right of your screen.
- On this screen, you can add some information to your pictures before uploading them as an Instagram post. You can add a caption of up to 2,200 characters, tag people featured or associated with the pictures, add a location, or even turn off comments.
However, all this information will stay the same for all photos selected. There is no option to add separate captions for different photos as of yet.
- Tap Share to upload the multiple pictures you selected in a single Instagram post.
Editing an Instagram post with multiple photos
Sometimes after the post has been shared with all the followers, you might realize that your post needs some editing. In this case, the following steps might be of help to you:
- Go to your profile page by tapping on the last tab on the bottom right of your screen. Here, you will see all the information related to your profile, such as your profile picture, your followers, all the posts you have made in the past, etc.
- Select the post with multiple photos that you want to edit.
- Tap on the three dots on the top right of your post and select Edit from the menu. Now you will be able to edit your caption, tag or untag people in your post, add or change the location, and add Alt Text. If your post contains more than two photos, you will be able to delete a photo from the carousel post.
However, if there are only two photos in your post, you will not be able to delete a picture from the post. To do so in this case, you will have to delete the carousel post entirely and make another post with the required picture. Adding a picture to an already existing carousel post is also not possible at the moment and you will have to make a new post to do so.
- Tap Done on the top right of your screen to save the edits you made. The post will now be displayed on your profile page and appear to your followers as you have edited it.
Adding multiple photos to your Instagram story
Instagram stories are a great and easy way to share pictures, videos, and other posts with your followers without it affecting your profile. This is because all stories will disappear after 24 hours unless you add it to your feed as a highlight. There is a very easy way to add multiple photos to your Instagram story:
- Swipe right anywhere on the Homepage on the Instagram app. This will open up a screen with the camera open or show items from your Camera Roll.
- Tap the Select Multiple or Select icon on the top right of the screen and select up to 10 pictures to post to your Instagram story. The selected pictures will appear in a row at the bottom of your screen.
- Tap on the arrow on the bottom right of your screen. This will display each of the selected pictures as a different slide of your story, ready to be edited.
- Edit the pictures as required. There are many options to decorate or embellish your slide, such as music, GIFs, stickers, polls, questions, etc. You can also draw on the picture using different kinds of pens!
- Tap on the arrow on the bottom of your screen again to choose with whom you want to share your story. You can select “Your Story” to share it with all your followers, or select “Close Friends” to share it with only the selected few in your Close Friends List. you can also send it as a message to your friends through Direct Messages.
Adding multiple photos to a single Instagram story slide
While sharing multiple pictures on a different slide of your Instagram story is possible, you may also want to post multiple pictures at once in a single slide. This can be done with the help of the following steps:
- Swipe right on the Homepage to open the camera.
- On the left side of the screen, there will be an alphabet icon, an infinity icon, a grid icon, and an arrow pointing downwards. Tap on the grid icon to select the Layout option. This will divide your screen into four parts. The first quadrant will have the camera open while the rest of the three will be blurred out.
Here you can click the Layout icon on the bottom of the screen to click a picture and the camera will shift to the next quadrant and so on till all the four parts have been filled to make a collage.
- Click the grid icon below the Layout icon on the left side of the screen to look at different layouts in which you can place the photos you want to post on your story.
- To use photos from your Camera Roll or Gallery, swipe up on the screen and you will see your photos. Choose the one you want to insert in the first part of the collage and swipe up again to insert another picture in the next part of your collage till all the parts have been filled.
- Tap on the check icon at the bottom of the screen to confirm the placement of the photos and edit your collage using stickers, adding text, music, GIFs, etc.
- Tap on the arrow pointing towards the right to choose with whom you want to share your slide. Select “Your Story” to share it with all your followers and “Close Friends” to share it with only people added to your Close Friends List.
How to upload multiple photos to Instagram from PC
Uploading Instagram posts from your PC can be convenient as transferring high quality pictures to your smartphone can be a hassle at times. While there are a lot of third-party applications and extensions that can help you upload a carousel post from your computer, it is also possible to do so without the use of one. The steps mentioned below will make the process clear:
- Log in to your Instagram account with the help of a web browser.
- Right click anywhere on the screen to get a drop-down menu.
- Select the Inspect option. This will divide your screen into two parts with the left side displaying your Instagram Homepage.
- On the right side of the screen, click on the device icon. This will change the left side of your screen to appear as in mobile mode, meaning that your Instagram feed will now appear as it would appear on a mobile phone screen.
- Click on the (+) icon at the bottom of the screen to create a new post.
- Select the “Select from Computer” option to choose pictures to upload on your Instagram account. You can select up to 10 pictures at a time for a single post.
- Edit the pictures as required. You will be able to resize the pictures by clicking on the size icon or change the order of the pictures by clicking on the multiple pictures icon and dragging the pictures accordingly.
- Click on Next on the top of the window to apply filters or make adjustments to the pictures. Unlike with a smartphone, here the filters will need to be applied and adjusted one-by-one as applying a filter to one picture will not apply it to all the other pictures as well.
- Click on Next at the top of the window to add information such as a caption, a location, and tag people to your carousel post.
- Click on Share when finished and your pictures will be uploaded as a carousel post on Instagram from your computer!
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Other Useful Instagram Tips
Instagram is constantly changing and updating with new features but between the numerous updates, there are bound to be some that have slipped through the cracks.
Due to the many updates and many more features, it can also get a little difficult to navigate around this social media app so here are some of the lesser known but definitely amazing Instagram features and some useful tricks to help you use Instagram like a pro!
1. Seamless multi-post on Instagram without Photoshop
Creating a seamless carousel post, where the first picture blends into or seems to be a continuation of the second and so on, can add a special edge to your Instagram post and make it seem very creative and unique.
However, making a seamless carousel post on Instagram can only be done with the help of third-party applications such as InSwipe.
2. Accessing the Effects Gallery
Sometimes while browsing for filters in the Story mode, no filter seems to be just perfect for your photo or selfie. In this case, you can swipe left till the end of all the filters and click on the search icon that is at the very end.
You will now be able to see the Effects Gallery, consisting of countless filters that were not visible to you earlier and you can even search for a specific filter that you are looking for by tapping on the search icon on the top of the screen and entering a keyword or name of the filter.
3. Seeing all the posts you have liked on Instagram
With the constant barrage of posts on Instagram, it can be pretty difficult trying to find a post you saw some days or even months ago. Fortunately, with a recent update, it is now possible to look at every post you have liked ever since you created your account on Instagram.
To look at all these posts, go to your profile and tap on the three lines on the top right of your screen and select Your Activity. Now tap on Interactions and then Likes to see all the posts you have ever liked on Instagram! You can also look at the comments you have made
4. Creating a collection of saved Instagram posts
If you are someone who always saves Instagram posts but are unable to find a saved post when you most need it, this hack will be very helpful for you. A while ago, Instagram introduced collections for saved posts, which basically act as folders to categorize all the saved posts.
To create a new collection, simply go to your saved posts and tap on the (+) icon on the top of your screen. Enter the name of your new collection and add posts to this collection every time you tap on the bookmark icon on a post and then tapping on the “Save to Collection” option when it automatically pops up.
5. Removing photos you have been tagged in from your feed
If you have been using Instagram for a while, you would know how awful it feels to get tagged in an unflattering photo that your friend posted on their account. Luckily, there is a way to hide selected tagged photos that appear on your profile.
To do this, go to your profile and then to the photo you want to hide from the Photos of You tab. Click on the three dots above the post on the right and tap Post options. Select Hide from My Profile to hide the photo. You can also have the option to approve any tags yourself from now on by tapping on Edit on the top right of your screen in the Photos of You section. Turn on Tag Controls or select Manual Approve Tags.
Conclusion
Instagram is one of the most used social media apps, thanks to the many new features that roll out frequently. One of most popular updates yet has been the carousel post or the ability to upload multiple photos on Instagram.
With this feature, the most common question is how many photos an Instagram post can have? Well, you can easily upload up to 10 pictures at once as a single Instagram post. (Source) To make an Instagram post with multiple photos, all you need to do is tap on the “Select Multiple” option while choosing pictures for a post and then choose the pictures in the order you want them to appear.
You can apply filters, edit the pictures, and give your post a caption, a location, and even tag other people in your post. This blog also mentioned a straightforward method of how to upload multiple photos to Instagram from PC as well as how to post a multiple photos Instagram story.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
A single Instagram post can contain up to 10 photos. When multiple photos are uploaded as a single post on Instagram, it is called a carousel post. You can make a carousel post by tapping the (+) icon on the top of your Homepage on Instagram and selecting the “Select Multiple” option. You can choose up to 10 pictures that you want in your carousel post from your Camera Roll or Gallery.
The selected photos will have a number on them that will indicate the order in which they will be displayed in the post. You can then click Next and edit the pictures. The pictures can be edited all at once or one-by-one if you want to adjust each picture individually by tapping on a picture.
Tap Done when you are satisfied with the edits and filters. This will take you to a screen where you can add information to your post such as a caption under 2,200 characters, a location, and even tag people. Remember that the caption will be the same for all pictures as you cannot insert a separate caption for each picture in your carousel post.
There is no fixed limit to the number of Instagram posts that you can upload in a single day. However, it might not be wise to post more than 3-4 times in a day because this can lead to Instagram flagging you as having a spam account. This can severely affect your reach and engagement with your audience as your posts will show up way less on your followers’ feeds than before.
If you continue to upload many posts in a single day, you can also get banned from Instagram and be locked out of your account forever. However, you can post up to 10 photos at a time with the help of a carousel post. You can make a carousel post by clicking the (+) sign on top of your Instagram feed and then choosing the “Select Multiple” option to select 2-10 pictures to upload as a single Instagram post.
You might have noticed that when you make a carousel post, some of your pictures are perfectly cropped while others are shabbily cropped or zoomed in. This can be because when posting multiple photos, the size and aspect ratio of the first picture in the carousel will decide how the rest of the pictures will appear.
So if you select a square image as the first one, all the other pictures you select will be zoomed in to fit a square, even if their original orientation was that of a landscape or a portrait. To stop Instagram from cropping or zooming in on your pictures, select such a picture for the first slide that will be compatible with all the other photos you want to post in a carousel. If all your photos are of different sizes, you will have to resize them with the help of third-party applications because Instagram does not allow making an Instagram post with multiple photos of all different sizes.
Deleting photos from a carousel post or a post with multiple pictures on Instagram is really easy. Go to your profile page and tap on the thumbnail of the post you want to edit to enlarge it. On this screen, tap on the three dots on the top of the post on the right, which will make a menu appear on the screen. Select the Edit option. Now, you will be able to make changes to the caption, location, and tagged people in your post.
To delete a slide from the carousel, tap the dustbin or trash can icon on the top left and select delete from the pop-up message. However, changes in the amount of pictures in a carousel post can only be made if it has more than two pictures as if it has less than two pictures, it will no longer be a carousel post and be a regular one. Deleting all pictures from a carousel post except one is not possible and to do that, you will have to delete the post and make a new one with the required picture.