How to Put Multiple Pics Together for Instagram
DIANA V. FAUSTMANN
TECH
While the Instagram mobile app readily provides filters to enhance your photographs, it doesn’t give you a way to combine them in a single image. To accomplish this on your smartphone or tablet, use a third-party app that can do photo collages. There are many such apps on the Google Play store and Apple’s App Store, available on a free or paid basis.
Download a photo collage app from your particular app store. There are many to choose from, each offering a slightly different set of features, filters or methodology. A few Instagram-recommended examples include PicFrame, Diptic and Photoshake on the Apple App Store; and Diptic, Photoshake and PhotoGrid on the Google Play store (see Resources).
Tap to open your photo collage app. Touch its Layout icon to view your options, and then choose an arrangement that will accommodate the number of pictures you wish to combine in one image.
Adjust your desired collage’s Aspect Ratio, or proportional relationship between width and height. Choose “1:1” or “Square,” which is the only acceptable format in Instagram.
Tap or double-tap an empty space in your proposed layout to add a photo. Use the pop-up finder to navigate to the appropriate photo album on your device, and then tap to choose the picture. Repeat this process until all the spaces of the layout are filled.
Move and scale each photo in turn within their designated layout spaces. Pinch or reverse-pinch the pictures to make them appear smaller or bigger, respectively, and reposition them, as needed, to frame them appealingly. Optionally, enhance each image with a photo filter.
Set the size, angles and shape of the spaces between your photos by adjusting frame and border control sliders. Add drop shadows behind each photo and round their edges, if desired. Choose a background color for your collage using any means that the app gives you.
Make any final adjustments to your collage. Tap the app’s "Save" button to store the image in your device’s photo library at the highest resolution available.
Open the Instagram app, and then upload, describe, tag and post your new photo collage.
- If a photo collage is too busy, your followers will gloss over it. Favor using a few good pictures rather than many unexceptional ones.
- Creating photo collages can be time-consuming. To save time, create a special album to store photos together beforehand. If an app permits it, specify your intended number of pictures to quickly identify appropriate layouts. Also, instead of applying the same photo filters to individual pictures, apply them once on a copy of the final collage.
- You can create photo collages using desktop graphics software and Web apps, but to post them on Instagram from a computer or website, you generally need to get additional software or grant access to your Instagram account. Instead, transfer the collage images to your mobile device for uploading to Instagram.
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