How to use Instagram Stories: the definitive guide

The basics

Making history

To go to posting stories, you need to swipe from the left to the right side of the screen on the Instagram home page (where you read your feed). To take a photo or shoot a video, you need to click on the circle at the bottom of the screen, and with a swipe down you can open the media selection window from your library. There is another way to create a story: select the tab of your account (where your photos are shown) and click on the + next to your profile photo.

Shooting modes

Instagram Stories supports five capture modes.

Live. By choosing this mode, you can broadcast from the camera of your smartphone. When the broadcast ends, the video can be shared to Instagram.
Normal mode. A quick tap takes a photo, a long press takes a video.
Boomerang. Boomerangs are short, looped animations. This mode is suitable for shooting dynamic videos.
Writeback. With this mode, you can shoot video in reverse.
Free hands. In this mode, a quick tap will start a 15-second recording and you don't have to hold down the record button.

Filters

The choice of filters in Instagram Stories is small, but as a rule, it turns out to be enough. Filters can be changed by swiping left or right.

Supported photo and video format

Photos and videos in Instagram Stories are vertical. Horizontal media is cropped on import. To select the desired area of the photo for publication in the story, you can use the frame cropping in a standard photo editor. The maximum video length is 15 seconds. Remember that a longer video will shrink when imported. You can only upload pictures and videos that have been taken in the last 24 hours.

Masks

Another borrowing of Instagram Stories from Snapchat. To go to the masks, you need to tap on the icon to the right of the camera change icon.

Stickers

To attach a sticker to a story, you need to click on the corresponding icon after taking a photo, or simply swipe up on the screen.

Geo-location, temperature and shooting time stickers

In the first line of the sticker selection screen, you can choose to add geodata to the history, the current temperature in the place where you are, and the publication time.

Adding selfies to a story

On the next line of the sticker selection screen, there is an icon with a camera. Choosing such a sticker will allow you to take a selfie and embed it in your story. Moreover, the borders of the photo can be either blurred or emphasized with a white frame. With this feature, you can create fun collages or express your opinion about what is depicted in the story with a joyful or judgmental grimace.

Resizing a sticker

Use two fingers to make the sticker larger or smaller. Having selected a "sticker", pinch your fingers together to reduce it, or spread them apart to enlarge it.

Attaching a sticker to a video element

Select any of the stickers, press and hold your finger for a couple of seconds. A time slider will appear in front of you. Select the second with the element to which you want to attach the sticker, set the desired location and size of the “sticker” and click “Attach”. Now the sticker will be attached to the selected video object.

Adding hashtags

You can use tagging to add a hashtag to a story, but it's easier to select the appropriate sticker. Tap on it will change the hashtag display style. When your friends see the tag, they can go to posts tagged with the same tag with one click.

Quick selection of stickers

To avoid scrolling the screen for your favorite sticker every time, swipe right when selecting. You will see a list of recently used "stickers". There is a separate group of stickers that fit especially well on portraits. To navigate to them, swipe left.

Removing stickers

To remove an accidentally added sticker, press and hold your finger on it. A trash can icon will appear at the bottom of the screen, and you need to move the extra "sticker" there.

Painting

To proceed to drawing, click on the corresponding icon between the stickers and text icons in the story editing window.

Types of brushes

The user has four brushes at his disposal.

Regular brush. The same basic brush from any graphics editor.
Marker. It differs in the shape of the brush and the degree of transparency.
Brush with a neon stroke. Similar to a regular brush, but with a choice of stroke color. The base color remains white.
Rainbow brush. One brush - seven colors.

A choice of eraser is also available.

Brush size

The size of the brush is adjusted using a special slider that opens by clicking the icon with three dots in the lower left part of the screen.

Color selection

Also, when drawing, a choice of brush colors is available: they are located at the bottom. You can move between the three standard palettes by swiping left or right. Hold your finger over one of the circles to choose your color.

Fill

To fill the frame with one color, select a brush, press and hold your finger anywhere on the screen. After filling, you can open part of the photo or video using the eraser.

Text

To start typing, select the "Aa" icon to the right of the paint icon.

Styles and alignment

To adjust the color and size of the text, follow the same steps as for painting with a brush. You can also zoom in and out with two fingers.

In the upper left corner, when typing, a button appears with an indentation adjustment. You can position the label to the left, right, or middle. The second function button when typing is the letter A in the box. By clicking on it, you can switch between three styles of displaying the inscription.

3D text effect

To give the text a volume effect, create two identical text boxes, but in different colors. Place them almost on top of each other, with a slight shift: you get 3D text.

User tag

To tag a user in your story, type the @ symbol when creating a caption. Start typing a nickname and Instagram will suggest options from among your friends. In much the same way, you can attach hashtags: use the # symbol for this.

Other

Saving stories

Click on the three dots in the upper right corner when in your Instagram profile. To automatically save your stories, go to the story settings and move the "Save published photos" slider to the active position.

Adding Music to Instagram Stories

There is no function to add musical accompaniment to videos in Instagram Stories. But there is still a way to add audio to the story. Many people may have noticed that the music playing on your smartphone is not interrupted when watching other people's stories. The same works when creating a video: just turn on the song in a streaming service or, for example, in the social network "VKontakte" and start shooting the story.

Rotate video

To avoid cropping the edges of a video when publishing to a story, you can use special applications that rotate the video by 90 degrees.

Publication in the history of old photos and videos

If you are late with the publication and 24 hours have passed since the shooting, a little trick will help you upload a photo or video. Just send the pictures or videos you want to WhatsApp and save. There is also an easier way - using special applications.

Posting long videos

Use any video editor to post videos longer than 15 seconds to your story. You can delete some sections, split the video into several parts, or increase its speed. For users of iOS devices, the App Store offers an application that automatically divides a long video into several 15-second segments.