7 Instagram Story photo hacks

These Instagram Story hacks will save you time and make you the best storyteller in town, no pun intended.

1. Create “progression” posts that build on an image for Instagram Story photo hacks

Build the drama over several Story posts, by adding new elements to the same base image. Oooh, the suspense!

How to do it:

1. Craft a Story post as usual with video, photos, text, stickers, or drawings
2. Before you upload it, click the save icon (a downward-facing arrow above a line) at the top to download your composition to your camera roll (if you’ve added any gifs or music, this will save as a video)
3. Upload your story by clicking the Send To button on the bottom right corner
4. Next, start a new Story
5. Select Create, then go to your camera roll and select that first story you’ve saved
6. Now, you can seamlessly build on top of that first story with additional elements
7. “Save” this new creation to your camera roll and upload
8. Repeat as necessary
9. Create a “revealing” Story series

2. Uncover a mystery image with the help of the eraser tool. This next hack involves skills from trick #3 and #7, above. Hope you’ve done your homework because this is absolutely a test.

How to do it:

1. Add an image in create mode
2. Now fill the screen with color (see trick #3!)
3. Select the eraser tool
4. Erase a bit of the color layer to reveal a small sliver of your image underneath
5. Hit the save button to download this to your camera roll… but do not upload yet
6. Uncover some more of the image by continuing to erase the color layer, hitting the save button at various stages to capture the reveal step-by-step
7. When you’re done collecting all of these images, start a fresh Story post and upload that very first image
8. Post the next saved images one by one so that followers will see the image being uncovered in stages
9. Compose a multi-image story

3. The more images, the merrier! Use the paste tool to throw as many photos into a Story as you’d like. Who would dare stop you?!

How to do it:

1. Open your camera roll and select a photo
2. Tap the share icon, and click copy photo
3. Back in the Instagram app, click in a text box and select paste
4. Repeat to pile on the pics
5. Hide hashtags and @mentions

4. Preserve your aesthetic vision by tucking unlighting hashtags or tags out of sight. It’s the digital equivalent of hiding your electrical cords behind your mid-century-modern desk before Architectural Digest comes a-knockin’.

How to do it:

Method 1

1. Type out your hashtags and mentions
2. Hit the stickers button and select your camera roll
3. Add an image from your camera roll, which will be placed on top of your hashtags to obscure them
4. Resize your image to fill the screen: the hashtags are technically there for Instagram to read, but human eyes won’t be able to see!

Method 2

1. If you start off creating a post with an image, add a text box on top and type your hashtags and mentions
2. With the text box still active, click on the rainbow wheel at the top of the screen
3. Tap the eyedropper icon
4. Tap a spot on the photo to change the text to that same color and blend in
5. Resize the text box if necessary
6. Express yourself with even more fonts

5. The standard Instagram Story fonts are just the tip of the typographic iceberg.

If the in-app typewriter or Comic Sans-knockoff lettering isn’t doing it for you, find something more exciting to paste in.

How to do it:

1. Head to the Instagram Fonts Generator website on desktop or mobile
2. Type in your message and hit enter to see your font options
3. Copy the message and paste into the Instagram Story text box

Pro tip: If you have a branded font, add your text right to an image with Photoshop, Over, or another image editing app, and then upload to Stories from there.

6. Layer text to add a shadow effect for Instagram Story photo hacks

For text that pops, try this double-up trick.

How to do it:

1. Type out your text, then select all and copy
2. Start a new text box and paste in that text
3. With text still selected, click the rainbow wheel at the top and choose a different color
4. Shift that text ever so slightly and layer underneath the original text so it looks like a shadow effect

7. Change text alignment in seconds

Put your Tinder skills to good use here: a quick swipe of the text will spice things up and shift things left, right, or back to center in a snap.

How to do it: As you’re typing, quickly swipe to the left or right to realign.