Instagram can provide wonderful opportunities for photographers. It can help us show work to new people, see new perspectives, and gain inspiration. However, it can also open people up to criticism, negativity, and spam content. Luckily, you have the power to at least somewhat control the comments on your posts with help from filters and the ability to delete comments. You also can delete your own comments on the posts of others, should the need arise. Read on to find out how to delete a comment on Instagram and why doing so could make your Instagram account a much better place.

Why you should delete a comment on your post

You likely have heard that engagement on Instagram is valuable, and any interaction is good, but that’s not the whole story. The quality of that interaction matters. While deleting every single comment could impact your engagement and, therefore, who sees your posts, deleting harmful ones now and then will have no real impact.

Before diving into the reasons to delete, it is first necessary to clarify the purpose of your account. If you use your Instagram only for casual life updates for friends and family, then you don’t have to worry about potential clients stumbling into a toxic comment section. Likewise, if you like to drive conversation and debate on your page, you will want to weed out different types of comments than if you are selling products. Don’t be afraid to curate your posts according to the goals and purpose of your account to foster the best community for your audience.

Spammy comments

If you have an Instagram account, you have almost certainly experienced your fair share of spam comments. They seem to be an unavoidable, though constantly fluctuating, aspect of the app. It could be trying to get you to pay for promotion through some page or telling you that you won a free iPhone. You should delete these comments whenever you see them. For business or creative accounts, spam comments can take away from the professionalism and authority you may have, which is not something you likely want. It can make it look like no one is monitoring the account, which undercuts its authority.

Inappropriate, offensive, or hateful content

Comments with sexist, racist, homophobic, or any other hateful or offensive language should get deleted as soon as possible. Not only could it reflect poorly on you or your business, but more importantly, it fosters an unsafe environment. Don’t be afraid to report accounts that make these kinds of posts, either, so they can’t spew bile in other comment sections.

Trolling comments

Trolling comments may overlap with the other two types of comments mentioned above but are worth mentioning as a stand-alone category. Trolls are out to rabble-rouse, so leaving their comments up could drive a rash of follow-up comments that dissolves into nothing more than arguing and hurtful words. Delete or hide these comments.

Negative comments

Deleting negative comments falls into a gray area that comes down to the type of account you’re running. For business accounts, you may want to use negative comments (within reason) as a chance to respond professionally and publically address any issues. Your response could win over people on the fence about your brand and even help you gain new loyalists. And it shows that you stand by your brand and are willing to take feedback and improve.

However, if you have a creative account or only use Instagram casually for sharing bits of your life, there is no sense or need to put up with negativity. So go ahead and hit delete in those cases.

How to delete a comment on Instagram

Once you’ve decided what types of comments go against your policies, it’s time to learn how to delete them. You can now delete comments on both the mobile and desktop versions of Instagram. But no matter which version you are using to delete comments, you will first need to be logged in to your account.

Deleting a comment on the desktop version:

Step 1: After logging in on the desktop version, go to the post with the offending comment. 

Step 2: Find the problematic comment and click the three dots underneath next to “Reply.” 

Step 3: A window will pop up in the middle of your image with the option to delete. Tap delete to remove the comment.

On an Android phone:

Step 1: Tap on a comment or the comment word bubble to go to the comment summary page. 

Step 2: Long press on the comment until it is highlighted, and a bar pops up at the top of the app screen with a thumbtack, exclamation point, and trash can. 

Step 3: Tap on the trash can to delete. 

On iPhones:

Step 1: Tap on a comment to go to the comment summary page, 

Step 2: Swipe left on a comment.

Step 3: Tap the trash can to delete it.

How to delete an Instagram comment on someone else’s post

You can only delete a comment that you wrote on someone else’s post, not one by another person. You can report comments by others, but that is all. Luckily it is easy to walk through how to delete your comment on Instagram. To delete your comment on someone else’s post, you follow the same process as outlined above, depending on your device.

How to hide a comment on Instagram

If deleting a comment is too final for you, you also have a few options for hiding comments. Hiding comments can be a good option for trolls, as they won’t know that their comment is hidden (it is still visible to them) and thus it won’t add fuel to the fire.

If you have a problematic Instagrammer on your page, you can hide their comment and all future comments from them. To do so, follow the steps below:

Step 1: Long-press the offensive comment 

Step 2: Tap the exclamation in the top right corner.

Step 3: Tap “Restrict.” 

Restricted users will still be able to comment and see their comments, but it will be grayed out on your end until you click to see and then approve the comment. Others won’t be able to see their comments at all until you approve them. You can also restrict users through their profile page. 

Another option for hiding comments is more preemptive. Instagram allows you to filter comments that its algorithm deems offensive. You can also set up custom filters with words or phrases that you don’t want on your page. For example, if you are sick of the spam comments about winning something, you can create a filter to hide comments automatically that say, “Congratulations! You’ve won!” To filter content, do the following:

Step 1: Go to your profile.

Step 2: Tap the three lines in the top right corner and click Settings.

Step 3: Tap Privacy.

Step 4: Tap hidden words.

Step 5: Choose the appropriate options for your needs. You can toggle on “Hide comments” and “Advanced comment filtering.” Scroll down slightly to create a custom words and phrases list for filters. 

How to edit a comment on Instagram

Unfortunately, Instagram does not support the ability to edit comments at this time. You have two options if you make a typo or want to change your comment for other reasons. You can delete your original comment and post a new one or reply to your own comment with whatever updates you want to make.

The post How to delete a comment on Instagram appeared first on Popular Photography.

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Three months after debuting shimmering NFTs on Instagram, Meta is making Facebook the next place to show off your digital collectibles. The social media behemoth announced that the feature is now available on both platforms through the connection of a digital wallet. Facebook NFTs, here we come!

Sharing a Facebook NFT

The process for posting your digital swag hasn’t changed from the feature’s original launch on Instagram. According to Meta, the parent company of both platforms, once a digital wallet is connected to your Facebook account, users will see the option to share an NFT, as well as a toggle for cross-platform posting.

So, what does an NFT look like on Facebook? A Meta blog post explains, “Once a creator or collector posts a digital collectible, it will have a shimmer effect and can display public information, such as a description of the NFT. Posts will also be visible on their profile.”

Need a refresher on NFTs? Read this handy explainer from our pals at PopSci.

Are Facebook NFTs here to stay?

Since Meta debuted its NFT feature on Instagram back in May, access to it has been expanded to 100 countries. Meta has also added support for the digital wallets Coinbase and Dapper, plus the blockchain, Flow. In May, the company announced that the Solana blockchain would also be added, but the details have yet to materialize. 

In addition to pushing NFTs, Meta has also reportedly spent more than $10 billion turning its virtual “metaverse” into a reality. Of course, monetizing digital collectibles is a key element of this futuristic vision. “With the incredible opportunity of blockchain technology, they can now leverage new tools to earn income, and fans can support their favorite creators by purchasing digital collectibles—art, images, and videos, music or trading cards—as non-fungible tokens (NFTs),” the same Meta blog post reads.

Ultimately, summer was a rough stretch for NFT enthusiasts—Bitcoin in particular is down 68% from its peak. And Meta didn’t fare much better. Will this announcement help turn things around? We won’t speculate. But it sure is a fascinating time to be a digital creator.

The post You can now share NFTs on both Instagram & Facebook appeared first on Popular Photography.

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Since 2016, Instagram’s algorithms have been a source of drama. Many users insist they want a chronological feed of the accounts they follow while the developers keep adding more algorithmically suggested content. 

Things came to a head a few weeks ago when a petition championed by the Kardashians for Instagram to stop trying to be TikTok solicited a reply from Instagram head Adam Mosseri. The uproar was so bad, that in an interview with Casey Newton from The Verge, Mosseri acknowledged users weren’t happy with the approach to suggested posts and said Instagram needed to “take a big step back and regroup.” 

In a slightly cringey blogpost involving a sci-fi loving alien, Instagram has explained more about how its controversial “Suggested Posts” feature works. Nothing about it is particularly groundbreaking, but it’s still interesting to see Meta (Instagram’s parent company) address the controversy head-on. 

Presumably, this blogpost is an attempt to rehabilitate how users think about suggested posts. By showing how the new sausage is made, Instagram is, perhaps, hoping that they can convince folks to love it. 

How Instagram suggests posts

Instagram has two systems for suggesting posts to users: “Connected” and “Unconnected”. 

The Connected system is what’s used to rank posts by the accounts you follow and interact with. It takes all the content that’s been posted since you last refreshed your feed and ranks it based on things like the amount of engagement it’s had and how much you interact with the other user. It’s then served up to you on your Home screen. 

The Unconnected system is what’s used to find suggested posts from users you don’t follow. It takes “implicit” signals from the kind of accounts you follow and content you interact with to generate “seed” candidates for its recommendation algorithm. 

Finding a seed

For example, if you often like PopPhoto’s posts, Instagram likely presumes you are interested in photography content and so may use PetaPixel’s Instagram account as a seed. Alternatively, it might latch onto the tech angle and use PopSci’s account. For new users, Instagram serves up popular content from across the network or uses the accounts that the accounts you follow as seeds, until it has enough of an idea of what you like.

Generating candidates

The next step is to generate a list of potential candidates from the seed. This is where the algorithm really kicks into gear. It uses various machine learning principles—like embeddings based similarity and co-occurrence based similarity—to find accounts and content that are similar to the seed. 

Selecting candidates

From this big list of candidates, Instagram has to pick which content to show you. To do this, it attempts to rank all the generated candidates based on what you’re most likely to enjoy or engage with. The AI uses a “plethora of features” to make these decisions, including things like how much engagement each post has, what kind of content it is, how popular the user is, and so on. 

And from that, the suggested posts appear on your Home page. 

Does this ‘Feel Like Home’?

According to Instagram, their guiding principle is that any suggested content “Feels Like Home.” The idea is that the algorithm should serve up the kind of content that you would curate for yourself—if you knew it existed. 

Of course, all the recent uproar—and Mosseri’s admissions—suggest that Instagram has thus far failed in that respect. Anecdotally, I’ve found the suggested posts to be a major annoyance. I snooze them for 30-days every time they pop back up. 

Still, it’s clear that this is the direction Instagram is going to continue to go. The blog post closes with the developers stating that, “Overall, we are committed as a team to deliver a personal, relevant, useful, and curation-worthy feed which prioritizes long term quality of the product.”

Maybe they should just bring back the chronological feed.

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When Instagram unveiled a way to bring back the chronological feed, the announcement also seemed to hint that Meta might soon be adding a lot more suggested content to your algorithmic feed. Well, if you’ve been on Instagram in the past few weeks, you’ve probably noticed that that time has come. My regular feed has been overwhelmed with algorithmically recommended content, aka, “Suggested Posts.” If yours has too, the good news is there’s a way to stop it. 

Stop Suggested Posts from particular Instagram accounts

A lot of the time, the same suggested accounts will keep popping up in your feed. If there are one or two accounts you just don’t want to see again, getting rid of them is easy. 

Tap the little X above the next suggested post from the account you don’t like. 

Then tap Don’t Suggest Posts from [Account Name]. 

And if it’s the kind of stuff they post that you don’t like, you can tap Don’t Suggest Posts Related to [Account Name].

Stop all Instagram Suggested Posts (at least for 30 days)

If it’s suggested posts in general that are annoying you (like it is for me), you can snooze them for 30 days. After that, they come back with a vengeance but you can just snooze them again. 

Tap the little X above the next suggested post you see. 

Then tap Snooze All Suggested Posts in Feed for 30 Days. 

And just like that, you won’t see another suggested post for a month. 

Other tips to improve your Instagram experience

While Instagram wants to be the most “engaging” experience possible (to keep you from spending any time on competitors’ platforms, like TikTok), you can easily improve things in a few ways. 

First, we recommend using the recently released Favorites feature. Not only does it give you a dedicated chronological feed for the 50 accounts you care most about, but it also makes them appear at the top of the regular feed. Another tip? Unfollow, unfollow, unfollow. If an account is posting too much or spamming your feed, don’t ignore it, unfollow it. 

We also find it helps to set a daily time limit. If you find you use Instagram more than you’d like, in the menu go to Your Activity > Time Spent then tap Set Daily Time Limit. You’ll now get a reminder if you spend more than the set limit using Instagram. And finally, consider taking the Instagram app off your Home screen. If it’s too easy to access, you’re more likely to do it subconsciously. Hide the app in a folder!

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Instagram is making a foray into the world of NFTs. This digital form of art creation and collection has been making waves in recent years—and not always for the right reasons. But, it seems, whether you like it or not, NFTs will be a part of the digital landscape for the foreseeable future.

Need a refresher on NFTs? Read this handy explainer from our pals at PopSci.

The launch of ‘Digital Collectibles’

The company is testing a suite of features, which it calls “Digital Collectibles.” Select creators and buyers are able to showcase their artwork via three new developments. The first is the ability to connect one’s account to a digital wallet, by which the artist or collector can access works to share on the platform.

The second is the presentation of the NFT. When shared, the NFT takes on a “shimmer” effect and displays any public information pertaining to it, including the artist’s description. Lastly, Instagram uses automatic tagging to efficiently identify the artists and the collector. However, this detail depends on the privacy settings of both parties. 

Related: 45 portraits of iconic rockstars ‘flipping the bird’ now up for auction

How it works 

To create the Digital Collectibles features, Meta sourced public data from open blockchains. As a result, the platform is able to identify creators and owners when they connect their third-party wallet to the platform. 

Currently, Instagram supports the Ethereum and Polygon blockchains, with plans to eventually add Flow and Solana. Similarly, Rainbow, MetaMask, and Trust Wallet are compatible third-party wallets, with Coinbase, Dapper, and Phantom in the works.

To offset the environmental impact associated with the technology, Meta plans on purchasing renewable energy. The company also plans to bring the feature to Facebook soon.

The post Meta launches NFTs on Instagram… and they ‘shimmer’ appeared first on Popular Photography.

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To celebrate Earth Day 2022, we’re revisiting some of our favorite environmental stories and interviews from the PopPhoto archives.

Nature photography has been around ever since the dawn of the photographic process. After all, the very first commercially published book of photographs, by one of the earliest inventors of the medium, William Henry Fox Talbot, was called The Pencil of Nature.

And while many of the subjects of his photographs (calotypes) were still lifes and architecture, there were also images of plants and nature. Since then, as the photographic process has greatly evolved over the decades, so too has an interest in documenting the environment and wildlife that inhabits it.

The photographers below are continuing that evolution in nature and wildlife photography.   

David Doubilet, @Daviddoubilet

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David Doubilet (@daviddoubilet) • Instagram photos and videos

David Doubilet has been capturing some of the most stunning and imaginative underwater photographs for almost half a century, from spots around the world. In many ways, his photographs set the high water mark (all pun intended) for creating powerful and meaningful underwater work. One of his current obsessions is to comprehensively document the world’s coral reefs, particularly since many of them are now threatened. 

Emilie Hofferber, @emilie.hofferber

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pastel papi ✨ (@emilie.hofferber) • Instagram photos and videos

Emilie Hofferber’s feed is filled with breathtaking landscape photos oozing with pastel colors. She shoots much of her work in the western United States and is no stranger to the country’s many national parks—her shots from the American Southwest are particularly magical. If you want to feel like you’re sauntering through candy-coated dreamscapes, we definitely recommend giving her a follow.

Morgan Heim, @Moheim

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Morgan Heim (@moheim) • Instagram photos and videos

Morgan Heim has a knack for creating stunning photos of wildlife and nature. A conservation photographer and filmmaker, her portraits of animals are particularly majestic and always beautifully composed. Heim also offers helpful photographic advice in many of her captions, as she does for this photo. ”Always look to the edges. While so much activity was going on with the horses in the corral, Kelly Stirn started playing with the dog. Often it’s when you look to the sidelines and away from the main stage that you see the life behind the spectacle.”

Sean Parker, @Seanparkerphotography

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Sean Parker Photography (@seanparkerphotography) • Instagram photos and videos

Sean Parker is a professional photographer and “time-lapse cinematographer” based in Tucson, Arizona with a “strong passion for capturing the beauty in our universe.” His Instagram feed showcases a mix of time-lapses, long exposures, and traditional landscape shots, many of which are captured at night. If you’re a fan of the Aurora Borealis, definitely check this feed out. Parker’s images and videos have also been featured in many publications, commercials, and projects including those for the Smithsonian, Discovery, LG, Samsung, Annapurna Films, the New York Times, and Arizona Highways.

Joel Sartore, @Joelsartore

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Joel Sartore- Photo Ark (@joelsartore) • Instagram photos and videos

Joel Sartore is the founder of National Geographic‘s “Photo Ark” project. For the past 25 years, he’s been dedicated to documenting “every species in human care around the globe.” And his Instagram feed showcases each new addition to the project, along with information about the species shown. The majority of the creatures are photographed on black or white backgrounds, giving the series a nice sense of continuity. Outside the project, Sartore is an award-winning photographer, speaker, author, conservationist, and in 2018, was named National Geographic Explorer of the Year. 

Paul Nicklen, @Paulnicklen

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Paul Nicklen (@paulnicklen) • Instagram photos and videos

This Canadian photographer, filmmaker, and marine biologist has documented the beauty and the plight of our planet for over twenty years. He is a contributor to National Geographic, a Sony Artisan of Imagery, and he’s won more than 30 awards, including the BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year and the prestigious World Press Photo for photojournalism. He is also the co-founder, SeaLegacy, a non-profit organization that aims to inspire people to stand up and have a voice for the pristine places threatened by climate change.

Wayne Pinkston, @Wayne_pinkston

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Wayne Pinkston (@wayne_pinkston) • Instagram photos and videos

Wayne Pinkston had been, by profession, a radiologist. But when he recently retired, he started photographing the stars, or more accurately, the night sky juxtaposed to epic terrestrial landscapes. And his images are, well, epic. Pinkston writes that he “became interested in this field after seeing a few early landscape astrophotography photos on the internet 5-6 years ago. The next year I had the chance to try capturing a few Milky Way images along the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. I was immediately hooked when the first image appeared on my camera LCD screen. For me, there was no looking back.”

National Geographic Travel, @Natgeotravel

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National Geographic Travel (@natgeotravel) • Instagram photos and videos

The tag line for this magazine’s Instagram feed reads, “It’s a big world, explore it through the lens of our photographers.” And what a list of photographers! These are some amazingly-talented nature shooters, including Michael Yamashita, Robbie Shone, Jonathan Irish, Daisy Gilardini, Babak Tafreshi, and many others. The account also showcases a variety of jaw-dropping reader-submitted work.

Nick Brandt, @Nickbrandtphotography

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Nick Brandt (@nickbrandtphotography) • Instagram photos and videos

Nick Brandt is known for his striking B&W images and much of his recent work on Instagram is part of a series “portraying people and animals that have been impacted by environmental degradation and destruction.” These photographs are mostly made at animal rescue sanctuaries. The animals, Brandt writes, are “almost all long-term rescues, as a result of everything from poaching of their parents to habitat destruction to poisoning.” Since the animals can never be released back into the wild, “they are habituated, and so it was safe for human strangers to be close to them, photographed together in the same frame at the same time.”

Ami Vitale, @Amivitale

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Ami Vitale (@amivitale) • Instagram photos and videos

This award-winning photojournalist, National Geographic photographer, writer, filmmaker, and activist has covered many stories over the span of her career. In recent years, one of the most heartbreaking stories was about the death of Sudan, the world’s last male northern white rhino.

Her Instagram feed is filled with powerful images from the stories she’s worked on, which are not only about the beauty and power of nature and the animal kingdom but also about conflict. For Vitale, there’s a connection between the conflicts taking place between human beings, and what’s taking place in the natural world. “Those years in war zones led me to an epiphany: Stories about people and the human condition are also about nature. If you dig deep enough behind virtually every human conflict, you will find an erosion of the bond between humans and the natural world around them.” 

The post 10 Instagram accounts to follow if you love nature & wildlife photography appeared first on Popular Photography.

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After a six-year absence, Instagram is bringing back a chronological feed—or, at least, giving you a way to view one. Once you’ve updated to the latest version of the app, here’s how to get it. 

Following & Favorites

If you’re one of the 16 people in the world who likes Instagram’s algorithmic feed (I counted), don’t worry—it isn’t going anywhere. When you open the app, it will still be the first thing you see. 

Instead, Instagram is offering two additional feeds that are sorted in chronological order:

• “Following,” which is all the posts from everyone you follow.
• “Favorites,” which is only the posts from specific accounts you choose. 

How to see Instagram’s chronological feed

Related: How to post multiple photos on Instagram

To see all your friends’ Instagram posts in chronological order, open the app and then tap Instagram in the top left. 

From the dropdown select Following to see recent posts from everyone you follow, and Favorites to see recent posts from people on your favorites lists. 

How to add people to your Favorites list

I think Favorites is actually the killer feature here. I follow way too many accounts on Instagram as it is! Since you’re limited to 50 favorites (who also show up higher in your main feed), this seems like a great way to cut through some of the cruft and only see the accounts you really want to see. 

To add someone to your Favorites list, tap Instagram then Favorites then the Stars icon in the top right. 

(The first time you try it, you can also tap Manage Favorites directly from the first dropdown.)

When you’re setting up your favorites, Instagram will automatically suggest a handful of the people you interact with a lot. Tap Remove if you don’t want them added to the list, or use search to find friends and tap Add to add them. 

Then tap Confirm Favorites.

Now tap Instagram and then Favorites to see the latest posts from your favorite accounts. 

(Note: People aren’t notified when you add or remove them from your Favorites.)

Can I make Following or Favorites the default?

Nope, Meta still loves the algorithm so it’s not going anywhere (and in the announcement it hinted it was going to add more recommended content to your feed). Following and Favorites have to stay two taps away—at least for the time being. 

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This week we are celebrating all things analog, which is why we’ve curated a special #PopFollows list featuring some of our favorite film photography-themed Instagram accounts. Below you’ll find a mix of analog-only shooters, prints labs, and a few of our favorite gear shops. Follow these accounts for some inspiration, not to mention, rare/cool camera photos.

Jean Andre Antoine, @Jaaphotos

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A post shared by Jean Andre Antoine (@jaaphotos)

Jean Andre Antoine is a New York City photographer who specializes in analog street photography. You can regularly find him posted up on the corner of Prince and Broadway capturing beautiful portraits of New Yorkers on instant film. According to Antoine, the finite medium he uses to capture these portraits is ultimately a way to rebel against the age of “unlimited content” that we currently live in. His Instagram account regularly showcases photos of his subjects holding these just-printed, one-of-a-kind frames, along with a behind-the-scenes story about each. If the weather’s nice and you find yourself in NYC, we recommend taking a stroll down Prince and Broadway and commissioning Jean Andre Antoine to make one of his awesome analog portraits.  

Film Camera Tokyo, @Filmcameratokyo

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A post shared by FILMCAMERATOKYO (@filmcameratokyo)

The official Instagram account of a camera shop in Harajuku, Japan is one of our favorites for creating serious gear lust. The account regularly features beautiful analog cameras that the store has for sale, including those from Hasselblad, Leica, Contax, Rollei, Fujifilm, Pentax, and many more. Everything that is featured can be purchased through their online shop—and they ship worldwide. Though we’ve yet to buy anything, we love this account for its beautiful product shots of analog gems and also the fact that it exposes us to cameras that we will likely never spot in the wild. 

Rita Harper, @__rita.p

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A post shared by Rita Harper (@__rita.p)

This documentary photographer from Atlanta, Georgia shoots the majority of her assignments and commissions on medium format film cameras. She’s done work for The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, National Geographic, and The Guardian. And her Instagram account features an intimate view of life in both Atlanta and New Orleans, Louisiana. Her portraits are beautiful and her in-depth captions offer additional details about the lives of the individuals she is photographing.

Photodom, @Photodom.nyc

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A post shared by photodom. (@photodom.nyc)

The Instagram account of one of our favorite Brooklyn-based camera shops and print labs offers an awesome mix of inspiring photographers to follow, used film cameras for sale, specialty film news, analog photography memes, and extremely cool photo accessories and apparel (also for sale). It’s also the best way to keep up to date when hard-to-come-by films get restocked and when rare analog cameras become available in-store.   

Jane Pain, @Jane_____pain

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A post shared by 𝒥𝒶𝓃𝑒 𝒫𝒶𝒾𝓃 (@jane_____pain)

Capturing New York City’s gritty underground community one 35mm frame at a time, this is one of our current favorite Instagram accounts. In @Jane_____pain’s feed, you will find plenty of bodily fluids, grimy bathrooms, and scenes from epic parties and house shows that you were probably not cool enough to get invited to. Although the frames featured on this account might not be traditionally “beautiful,” we love the aesthetic. You can almost smell these photos, and we think that’s a good thing.

Ethan Moses, @Cameradactyl

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A post shared by CAMERADACTYL Cameras (@cameradactyl)

Ethan Moses is one of our favorite analog tinkerers and his account @cameradactyl is where you can get a behind-the-scenes look at how he makes his 3D printed cameras and camera accessories—aka “professional toys.” One recent highlight on @cameradactyl includes the process of building and making portraits with a massive 20×24 camera that shoots direct positives to photo paper. He also gives followers insights into repairing prisms, making bellows, soldering camera parts, and complete camera teardowns. If you are the type of photographer who loves seeing how the sausage gets made, this is a great account to check out. 

Chris Cook, @Cook_studios

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A post shared by @cook_studios

Chris Cook’s film portraits are tasteful and extremely beautiful. His Instagram feed features a mixture of B&W and color work—some shot in the studio, others out on the streets—ultimately highlighting his eye as a fashion and lifestyle shooter. His captions are typically brief, but occasionally he will share a full contact sheet or keep the edges of his film frame intact, giving some additional insight into what film stocks he’s working with.

Edie Sunday, @ediesunday

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A post shared by edie sunday (@ediesunday)

There is some beautiful imperfection to be found on Edie Sunday’s feed—the kind of happy accidents that make film photographers fall in love with the medium. Her soft-focused frames often utilize double exposure and camera movement and have cotton-candy-like hues. There’s lots of beautiful self-portraiture to be found on her account and everything feels a bit dreamlike in the very best way. 

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Hot on the heels of a nationwide Facebook ban last week, Russia has announced a forthcoming ban on Instagram starting March 14, 2022. Both Instagram and Facebook are properties of the parent company, Meta.

Not just banned, criminalized

Related: How to disable your Instagram profile from being embedded on a website

The official announcement came from the Russian communication agency, Roskomnadzor, who accused Meta of allowing posts on Instagram calling for violence against Russian citizens.

Prior to the announcement, a Meta spokesperson had said, “As a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine we have temporarily made allowances for forms of political expression that would normally violate our rules like violent speech such as ‘death to the Russian invaders.’ We still won’t allow credible calls for violence against Russian civilians.”

In addition to the ban, Russian authorities have gone a step further, labeling both Facebook and Instagram as “extremist” entities, making it a criminal offense for either to operate in Russia.

What about other popular apps?

Meta also owns the popular messaging app, WhatsApp, which as of press time, has not been banned. Twitter, which is not a Meta property, was also banned last week, around the same time as Facebook.

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If you’re only posting one photo at a time on Instagram, then you’re missing out on a valuable photographic storytelling tool. Instagram hasn’t always allowed photographers and cretors to post more than one photo at a time, but now the carousel-style posts have become a staple of the social media app. Not only does it make posting more convenient, but it offers unique creative opportunities. A multi-image post can tell the story of a day or show a specific subject from different angles in a cohesive way. Multi-photo posts can improve the performance of your content. According to HootSuite, carousel posts, or posts with multiple images, generate 1.4x more reach and 3.1x more engagement. That amount of engagement can make a big difference, which makes learning how to post multiple photos on Instagram worth the effort.

When it comes to approach, you have options. You can share multiple pictures on both your Instagram story and feed. There are even a few ways to tackle the same task within your stories. Here’s how to upgrade your posting game.

How do you post multiple pictures on Instagram?

A carousel represents your best opportunity to post multiple images on the main feed. Carousel posts allow you to share up to 10 images at once, and people can then swipe through the photos. You can also share a mix of pictures and videos in carousels, which is a nice feature.

Carousel posts are ideal when you have a series of photos taken of a single subject or event. Perhaps you want to share multiple images from your vacation, for example. Instead of writing up captions and hashtags for numerous posts, you only have to do so once. And, as mentioned above, they also tend to have higher visibility and interaction than single photos, which is always a good thing.

Creating a carousel post is simple and can be done on either the app or desktop version.

Creating a carousel post on the app:

1. From either the home page or your account page, tap the plus icon in the top right corner.
2. Select Post.
3. On the right side, where you can select which gallery you want to pull photos from, there is an icon of two squares stacked on top of each other, like pages. Tap that icon. You can also tap and hold on an image to start a carousel.
4. If you want the images to be an aspect ratio other than square, tap the expand arrows on the bottom left corner of the image before selecting other images. This has to be done before selecting other images. Note: All photos will be the same aspect ratio, so if you start with a 3:2 horizontal image, Instagram will crop all of the following pictures to be 3:2 horizontal as well.
5.  You will see a number 1 in a blue circle on the photo you had selected. Tap up to 9 more photos in the order you want. When necessary, you can adjust how to crop each image as you choose them.
6. If you want to remove an image or change the order, tap twice to remove it from the lineup. The order will shift down to replace the one you removed.
7. Tap the arrow on the top right to move to the next step in posting, the editing process. You can choose to skip this or edit each image individually.
8. Write your caption, select the various settings you like to use, and then post away. 

On a computer:

1. On the top right corner of the website, click the plus sign to create a new post.
2. A window will pop up, allowing you to select or drag and drop photos. Select the photographs you want to share.
3. If you like using an aspect ratio other than a square, click the expand arrows in the bottom left corner and select which aspect ratio you would like. You can drag the image to adjust the crop as well.
4. If you want to change the order, click the stacked squares in the bottom right corner and drag and drop the photos in the order you like.
5. Click “Next” in the top right corner to get to the editing step.
6. Click “Next” in the top right corner to write the caption and change any settings. 
7. Click “Share” to post your carousel.

How to add multiple photos to an Instagram story

While you can share multiple photos to Instagram stories by adding them one by one, it can become tedious if you know you’ll be posting a handful. Luckily, Instagram makes it easy to add up to ten at once. 

1. Either tap and hold on your story circle or click the plus in the top right corner and select “Story.”
2. Tap “Select” in the top right corner or tap and hold on any photo that you want to add to your story.
3. Circles will show up in the top right corner of each picture. Tap on the images you want to share, up to ten, and the circle will turn blue with a number indicating the order.
4. Select “Next” in the bottom right corner.
5. Choose “Separate” to make each photo its own story.
6. Add any text or stickers that you want to each individual story and select “Next” to choose who you share it with.

How to make an Instagram story with multiple pictures

If you really have a lot of photos to share and don’t want to have a million stories, or perhaps just want to share a grid of images for a different look, Instagram has a built-in way to do so. Of course, if you want more control of the grid layout and style, you can always use a third-party app to create it and share your story. But if simplicity is your thing, follow the steps below.

1. Start with steps 1-4 from above.
2. Select “Layout” in the bottom left.
3. On the top right, you will see a white grid icon; tap that if you wish to change the style (there are only two options, however).
4. Add any stickers or text that you want.
5. Tap the > in the bottom right corner to choose your audience and share.

Apps for more elaborate designs

If you’re looking to tweak the carousel design, there are apps out there that will cut and export your images so that they look better as an audience swipes through them. An app called Series ($2 per month) can cut up a single image or several images to fit specific carousel layouts that wouldn’t otherwise be possible. It’s a simple way to make your images stand out even more.

Why can’t I post multiple pictures on Instagram?

If you can’t post multiple pictures on Instagram in the methods mentioned above, it may be a sign that your app isn’t up to date. You can check to see if you have the latest version of the app by going into Settings and then About and App updates. 

If your app is the current version and you still can’t share multiple images, it may be a bug or related to poor internet connection.

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