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Lightroom Classic users can post photos to Instagram using the Lightroom for mobile app. The instructions below show you how to do it.
How to share photos in Instagram from Lightroom Classic
1. Create a Collection in Lightroom Classic for storing photos which you will share on Instagram. Make sure you check the Sync with Lightroom box (marked below).
2. When you add photos to this Collection, Lightroom Classic creates Smart Previews (if they don’t already exist) and synchronizes with Lightroom for mobile.
Read The Ultimate Guide to Using Smart Previews in Lightroom to learn more about this process.
3. Open Lightroom for mobile. Your photos will appear there once the two programs have synchronized (below).
4. Tap on a photo to view it full size, then tap the share icon in the top right corner (the one with the arrow pointing upwards out of a box, see below).
5. Tap Open In…, select Small – 2048px for Image Size, then tap the Instagram icon to upload the photo straight to your feed. If you want to add the photo to your story, use the Import with Instagram icon instead.
6. Write a caption for your photo, including any hashtags you want to add, and tap Share. Lightroom for mobile publishes the photo on Instagram.
What if I don’t have Lightroom for mobile?
Lightroom for mobile is a free download, but if you don’t have it there’s another way to post your photos to Instagram from Lightroom Classic. There’s an extra step involved, and that’s exporting your photos from Lightroom Classic to a Dropbox folder on your computer (you can simplify the process by making an Export preset). Then go to the Dropbox app on your mobile device and open your photos in the Instagram app.
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14 comments
Hi Brenda, no that would be harder. Remember you can only upload photos to Instagram from a mobile device. That means you’d have to transfer your screenshot to a phone or tablet first. Much easier to do it this way. Plus, it’s easier to keep track of which photos have been uploaded to Instagram in Lightroom.
Is it possible to upload more than one photo to Instagram from Lightroom using Lightroom Mobile? I am able to upload photos in separate postings using the method you describe above, but I would like to know if I can have multiple photos in a single posting.
Hi Alice, as far as I know you can only share one photo to Instagram at a time.
Hi Andrew, good post. Thank you for wrting that up. Just thought i would follow up to see if there is an update on the ability to share more than one image at a time? Is this still limited to just one at a time?
Hi Ivy, yes it’s still limited to one photo at a time.
Hi there! I found your post while doing some “googling”
I used lightroom mobile to edit some photos from iphonex and then uploaded them to instagram. I wanted these photos printed but when I uploaded them from instagram to shutterfly, the quality dropped when printed resulting in grainy pictures (although shutterfly didn’t give any low quality notices)
Any suggestions for how to print higher quality images that have been edited in lightroom mobile? Thanks 🙂
Hi Farren, Instagram compresses your photos leading to a loss of image quality. Try sending your photos so Shutterfly straight from your Camera Roll for better quality.
Andrew Great article. I have a problem. I can load the photo to instagram but it doesn’t appear in my photos. What am I doing wrong? I’m using LR Classic 2020. When I upload to instagram my screen is different from step 6 on in your explanation.
Hi Richard, sorry I don’t know. I just tested it and it worked fine for me. Are you logged into the Instagram app on your mobile device?
Yes. I have found a workaround by putting my photos in camera roll and then uploading.
Hello,
When I “Create Collection”, it’s not giving me the sync option? Everything else looks the same to your screen grab but that. Thanks
Hi Wilson, couple of questions for you:
Which version of Lightroom are you using?
Are you signed into your Adobe account when using Lightroom?
Have you enable syncing in the activity center?
Do you have more than one Lightroom Catalog (you can only sync one Catalog)?
The answers should help us figure out the solution.
LR/Instagram no longer works. Instagram has changed their protocol and the plug in no longer works. Any other suggestions for those of us who don’t want to fill our phones/tablets with photos taken from our DSLRs? (And don’t want to spend the money on Creative Cloud)
Hi Sharon, you can do it with Dropbox. Simplify the process by making an Export preset to save the photos in your Dropbox folder. Go to the Dropbox app on your mobile device and open your photos in the Instagram app.