How to make Reel with photos

Lately, scrolling through your Instagram feed , you come across more and more often the Reels published by your friends, who use this function to share their passions and tell themselves through multimedia content. So, you thought you’d like to join in the fun and share some photos with a Reel, maybe along with a video and some background music. The problem is that you are not yet very familiar with the features of this platform and, therefore, you would need help to achieve your goal.

How do you say? Did I guess? If that’s the case, don’t worry: I’m here to help you out, detailing the steps you need to put into practice. In the course of the next few lines, it will be my care to show you, step by step, how to make a Reel with photos (and even videos) using the Instagram app for Android and iPhone. From PC, unfortunately, at the time of writing, the function is not yet available.

So make yourself comfortable, smartphone in hand, and take a few minutes to devote to reading the next paragraphs. I am sure that, by carefully following the directions I am about to give you, you will easily be able to create a great Reel with your photos through the Instagram app and share it with your followers. I just have to wish you a good read and have fun!

Index

• How to make Reel with photos
• How to make Reel with photos and videos

How to make Reel with photos

If you agree, let’s get to the heart of the matter immediately and see how to make Reel with photos using the Instagram app for Android (also available on alternative stores for devices without Google services) or iPhone .

As already pointed out above, at the moment it is not possible to create and share Reel from a PC, neither through the web version of Instagram , nor through the social network application for Windows 10 and later .

To get started, start the Instagram app by recalling it from the Home screen or from the app menu of your mobile device. You will immediately see your feed : now locate the icon with the + symbol located at the top right, or swipe from left to right on the same screen to open the function for creating and publishing posts, Stories and Reels.

Once this is done, touch the menu at the bottom of the screen, which shows the items Publish , History , Reel and Live and scroll through the items until you select Reel . After this step, you will have entered the real section dedicated to the creation of Reels.

To create a Reel with one or more photos, tap the icon with the + symbol , at the bottom left, to open your Gallery . If you wish, you can select another folder on your smartphone or tablet from which to import the photos, simply by tapping on the Gallery item and then on the name of the folder you want to open. Now, tap on the icon of two overlapping squares that you find at the top right next to the Green screen item : in this way, you can select more than one photo to process and mount them one at a time.

So identify the photos you would like to use for your Reel and select them, pressing in the order you want them to appear in the Reel , then press the Next button . On the next screen, you can process the photos one at a time: first, you can change their size and adjust the zoom by touching the images with two fingers, moving them as you please.

In the section below you can instead indicate the duration of the image in the Reel: by touching the edges on the right and left you can crop the clip, displaying the duration indicator and adjusting how long the photo will be shown on the screen. Once you have set up the montage as you wish, click on the Add item and wait for a few seconds for the photo to be processed. When the operation is complete, you will be shown the second image: repeat the same procedure for each of the photos you have selected.

If you need to go back and change the duration of the photo or delete one, fear not, you can do so by tapping the icon that shows the preview of the last image you uploaded, located to the left of the central ▶ ︎ button. Then tap on the photo you want to edit in the previews shown at the bottom right, then click on the Delete icon (with the trash can symbol ), to remove it, or on the Edit icon (with the scissors symbol ), to make the changes you want exactly as you did before, i.e. tapping the left and right edges to trim the clip to your liking. Once you have the result you want, confirm the changes by pressing on the itemCut and then click Finish to exit the screen.

At this point, you can move on to adding effects and sounds to your Reel. Tap the Preview button to view the montage: at the top, you will find all the icons to customize your content and prepare it for publication. Both effects and music and stickers will be applied to all photos .

If you want to edit or add the music now, you can do it by pressing on the music note icon and access the Audio controls : press on the Add / Edit item to search for an audio track to overlay the photos. Choose the part you want for your video by moving the indicator to the right or left and confirm your choice by pressing on the End item .

Once you’ve selected your music, you can adjust its audio by tapping the appropriate slider and moving it up or down. If you are not familiar with this function and need further information, I invite you to read the guide I have dedicated to how to put music in Instagram posts , also valid for the Reels; in case you want to use your music, you can refer to this guide where I have covered the topic in detail.

If you also want to add filters and effects to your photos, touch the icon with three stars to access the gallery of available filters: swipe the preview icons to the left or right to view the filters applied to the photos and, once you have selected the one you you want, confirm it by pressing the √ symbol at the top right.

To add stickers, on the other hand, click on the sticker icon and then on the Search item to type in keywords and look for suitable ones. Once you find a sticker, tap it to add it to your photos and move it around, using two fingers to adjust its size). Finally, you can also add text by tapping on the “Aa” icon and typing what you want, change the font by pressing the thumbnail buttons visible on the screen and adjusting their size by touching the circle on the indicator on the left of the screen, moving it towards the ‘up or down.

Finally, you can use the pen tool by tapping the curved line icon and select the stroke type and color and tap the screen to write or draw what you want. Finally, confirm the changes by pressing on the √ sign, top right.

How do you say? Are you not satisfied with the result and would you like to start over? You can do this with a simple tap on the “X” icon and then on the Delete item . Remember that by doing so, you will lose your video . If, on the other hand, the assembly is ready to be shared, you can save the Reel on your device and then share it, or go directly to sharing: to save it, tap on the download icon (the down arrow) and then on the Save button . Wait for the video to be processed and, when everything is ready for publication, tap the Next button to display the Share screen .

Here you can write a caption in the appropriate entry field, or tap the Cover item to select the image you want to be shown on Instagram. If you wish, you can choose an entirely new one by pressing the Add from gallery item , indicating by pressing the image you want to use and confirm it by tapping the End item .

If you prefer not to share the Reel also on your profile, locate the item Share also in the feed and move the lever from ON to OFF : in this way, it will be viewable only from the Reels screen . Once you have set your preferences, you can choose whether to save the Reel as a draft by pressing the Save draft button , or proceed with publication by tapping the Next button . Finally, confirm the operation with a last tap on the Share button . Finally, wait for the Reel to be processed and that’s it!

How to make Reel with photos and videos

Perhaps, rather than creating a Reel with just photos, you would like to combine photos and videos into a single montage to share on your Instagram profile. Well, this is also possible simply by selecting a video together with the photos from the Gallery of your device when creating the Reel, or by registering one directly through the Instagram app, both on Android and iOS . For this procedure the same limitations apply as I pointed out in the previous chapter : it is not possible to do it from a PC, neither from the Web version of Instagram, nor from the application for Windows 10.

The first part of the procedure is the same as I have just shown you: access the section dedicated to Reels and select the photos following the same steps that I indicated in the chapter dedicated to how to make a reel on Instagram with photos .

If you want to use a video that you have already saved on your device, you can select it by pressing them from the Gallery together with the photos, and then confirm your choice by tapping on the Next item . On the next screen you can edit, as well as the photos, even the video you have chosen, according to the same methods I described for the images: by holding down the video on the screen with two fingers you can adjust its size and select the sectionyou want to embed in the Reel by moving the edges of the indicator at the bottom of the screen, left and right, until you identify exactly the part that will be included with the photos. Repeat the same procedure for all the photos and clips chosen and, when you are satisfied with the result, confirm the editing by touching the Add item , at the top right.

If, on the other hand, you would like to record a video to add directly to the Reel, you can proceed to the selection of the images and, once added and processed as I have indicated, start the recording from the main screen, which shows your camera already active and ready for use. . Configure the front or rear camera by tapping the camera icon at the bottom right and the flash settings by pressing the flash icon at the top: when you’re ready to record, press the purple and orange ▶ ︎ buttonlocated in the center of the main screen. When you have completed your video, you can finish shooting by pressing the center ▉ button. For more information, I recommend that you consult the guide I wrote specifically on how to record videos with Instagram .

To delete the video, cut it or change its size, tap on the preview that appears next to the ▶ ︎ button to access the section dedicated to editing where, as I described above, you can delete (by touching the icon with the trash can symbol ) o cut (by pressing the scissors symbol instead ) both the selected photos and the video and confirm the changes by pressing the Cut and then End items .

After this step, tap the Preview button to see the result of your montage and apply, as I have already described, music, filters, stickers and text, which will also be extended to the video. When you are satisfied with your Reel, you can move on to publication by pressing the Next button : in the next section you can indicate the caption, select a cover image and indicate your sharing preferences exactly as described in the previous chapter.

Now, you can finalize your Reel by confirming its publication by pressing the Share button . You didn’t think it would be that easy, did you?