Photos and videos you post on Instagram appear in your followers’ feeds just as photos and videos of people you follow appear in your feed. You can share content that you have already recorded and that you have saved on your device, and you can also record it directly. First, I’ll show you how to do it in the app itself.
Regardless of what you share, you must first tap the add button, which is located at the top of the screen and looks like a plus sign. After that, pictures from your phone will appear on the screen, so you will be able to look at the photos you have already taken. The most recent photo will be displayed at the top, but there is a possibility to choose another image. Check if the Posts option is selected at the bottom of the screen, because in a similar way you can also post other types of content such as stories, Reels, Live, etc. I already have the Posts option selected, so I will immediately click on the button that represents the camera and thus display what is in front of my phone. Now I just need to direct it to the desired subject and take a new photo.
If you want to change the orientation and use another camera, simply tap the button located in the lower right corner. This is usually done in case you want to take a selfie or similar photo. I don’t need it, so I’ll go back to the previous regime. If your device has a built-in flash, you can turn it on, activate automatic mode, or turn it off completely.
In the end, I just need to choose the appropriate frame and touch the big white button at the bottom of the screen. This will be enough for a new photo to appear on the screen, and if you are not satisfied with its appearance, you can touch the arrow located in the upper left corner and repeat the entire process.
If the photo did not turn out well enough, there is a possibility to improve it a little more. This can be done by applying the effects and filters found here at the bottom of the screen, so it wouldn’t hurt to try them. I will tell you about them in more detail in one of the following lessons, and now I will go back to the first item on the left and choose a normal image without any effects. After that, I can tap the Next option and add the accompanying text. It can be a description of the photo itself, the reason why you took it, or something you think is appropriate, although there is an option to simply skip this content and let the photo speak for itself. I’ll still enter a short caption here and tap OK.
The next thing you can do is to tag people who may be in that photo. This can be achieved by using the Tag People function, and it is enough to know what names they use on Instagram. I will tell you more about this topic in one of the following lessons.
The Add Location option allows you to specify the place where a photo was taken. The first time you tap this option, Instagram will ask you for permission to access data related to your current location. I will approve this request so that a list that includes several known locations appears on the screen. Unfortunately, there is no possibility to enter these data yourself, but you have to choose one of the offered items. I’m going to choose one place in Pennsylvania so that people searching Instagram who are nearby can find this photo.
If you want to upload your photo to other social networks at the same time, you can achieve this by activating the appropriate option. So if you have a Facebook, Twitter or Tumblr account, you can tap on any of the mentioned items and post your photo to those accounts at the same time. When you do this for the first time, you will have to log in to your account, which means that you must be active on one of these services beforehand. For example, if I wanted to post this to my Facebook account, I would have to select the option of the same name and log into it. My Instagram followers will see this photo directly, and my Facebook friends will find it on my Facebook page, but don’t think these two things are related in any way. This means that any comments from Facebook will not appear on Instagram and vice versa. I will therefore cancel this function and return to the previous step.
If you have more than one Instagram account, you will have an option that allows you to post your photos on other accounts at the same time. I’m happy with these settings for now, so I’ll tap the Share option and complete the process. My new photo will automatically be uploaded and become part of my Feed. I can find it through my profile and it will be available to me on the home screen. So now everyone who follows me will be able to see this photo on their home screen.
This was a short guide to taking and uploading photos to Instagram. It is also worth mentioning that the photos you take with Instagram are saved in the phone’s memory or in the photo application, so you will always have a copy of them on your device.
In order to prove it to you, I will open the content that is on my phone, and there is, among other things, the photo that I just took.