How to Do 4 Pictures on an Instagram Story

Want to showcase multiple moments in a single, eye-catching Instagram Story? You're in the right place. An Instagram Story collage lets you share more without overwhelming your followers, perfect for everything from event recaps and product showcases to behind-the-scenes glimpses. This guide will walk you through three simple ways to combine four photos into one beautiful Story, using both Instagram's built-in tools and easy-to-use apps for even more creative control.

The Quickest Way: Instagram’s “Layout” Feature

If you need to create a four-picture collage in under a minute, Instagram’s native Layout tool is your best bet. It’s built directly into the Story creation interface, requires no app-switching, and is incredibly straightforward to use. This is the go-to method for creating structured, grid-based collages on the fly.

Step-by-Step Guide to Using Layout

Here’s how to access and use the Layout feature to craft your 4-photo story:

1. Open the Story Camera: Launch the Instagram app and swipe right from your home feed, or tap the plus (+) icon at the bottom and select "Story."
2. Find the Layout Icon: On the left side of your screen, you'll see a vertical toolbar with various icons (like "Create," "Boomerang," etc.). Tap the Layout icon, which looks like a grid with dividers.
3. Choose Your Grid: After tapping the Layout icon, a grid overlay will appear on your screen. To change the number of photos, tap the "Change grid" icon, which looks like a rectangle divided into different sections. Select the four-quadrant grid.
4. Add Your Photos: Now comes the fun part! You have two ways to add your images:
   • From your Camera Roll: Tap the photo-picker icon in the bottom-left corner (it looks like a small square with your most recent photo). This will open your gallery, allowing you to select an image for the first quadrant. Keep selecting photos for the remaining three quadrants.
   • Take Photos Live: You can also tap the shutter button in the center to take a new photo for each section of the grid. This is great for capturing a series of moments as they happen.
5. Adjust and Finalize: Once all four photos are in place, you can gently drag each one within its frame to reposition it perfectly. When you're happy with the arrangement, tap the checkmark at the bottom.
6. Decorate Your Story: Now your collage is treated as a single Story background. You can add text, stickers, GIFs, music, or polls on top of it just like any other Story.

Why We Love the Layout Method

The biggest advantage of the Layout feature is its sheer speed and convenience. It’s seamlessly integrated into the app, making it perfect for quick, spontaneous collages. However, that convenience comes with a trade-off: customization. The grids are fixed, so you can't adjust border sizes, change the background color, or create a more free-form, "scrapbook" style collage.

Unlocking More Control: The Photo Sticker Method

If the rigid grids of the Layout tool feel too limiting, the Photo Sticker method is for you. This technique gives you complete creative freedom to place, resize, rotate, and layer your images however you want. It's essentially a clever way to use a native feature to build a collage from the ground up, right inside the Story editor.

How to Use Photo Stickers for a Collage

This approach transforms your photos into movable "stickers" you can arrange over a background. Here's a walkthrough:

1. Set Your Background: First, you need a canvas. Swipe right to the Story camera and either take a new photo to use as a background or create a solid color backdrop.
   • How to create a solid background: Tap "Create" mode (the "Aa" icon) on the left toolbar. Tap the color circle in the bottom corner to choose your desired color. Or, take any photo, tap the three dots in the top right, select "Draw," choose a color, then tap and hold on the screen for a few seconds. The entire screen will fill with that solid color.
2. Open the Sticker Tray: With your background set, tap the Sticker icon (the square smiley face) at the top of the screen.
3. Find the Photo Sticker: Scroll down the list of stickers until you find the one for adding images from your camera roll. It often shows a preview of your most recent photos and might look like a circle with a landscape icon or is sometimes labeled "Add Image."
4. Add Your First Photo: Tap the Photo Sticker and select the first picture you want to use from your gallery. It will appear on your Story as a movable object.
5. Arrange and Customize: Use two fingers to pinch and zoom to resize the photo. Drag it to your desired position. You can also rotate it. A neat trick: tap the photo sticker once to change its shape! You can cycle through different options like a soft-edged square, rectangle, circle, star, or heart.
6. Repeat for All Four Photos: Go back to the Sticker tray, tap the Photo Sticker again, and select your next image. Repeat this process until all four of your pictures have been added to the Story canvas.
7. Layer and Decorate: Arrange your photos any way you like - overlap them for a scrapbook feel or align them neatly. The last photo you add will appear on top, allowing you to create layered effects. Once your images are in place, add text, music, or any other elements to complete your design.

Creative Ideas for the Sticker Method

The freedom of this method opens up tons of creative possibilities. Here are a few ideas to get you started:

• Theme Board: Pull together four images that fit a specific mood or color palette to create a visual theme board.
• Product Deep-Dive: Showcase a product from four different angles or highlight four key features.
• Mini Photo Dump: Arrange the four photos in a pseudo-random, overlapping style to create a visually interesting "snapshot" of your day or week.

Taking It to the Next Level: Third-Party Collage Apps

When you need polished, professional, and on-brand Story collages, a dedicated design app is the way to go. Tools like Canva, Unfold, or Adobe Express offer beautiful pre-made templates, advanced customization options, and the ability to maintain a consistent aesthetic across all your content.

Why Use a Third-Party App?

While the native Instagram methods are great for one-offs, external apps are essential for businesses, creators, and marketers who schedule content in advance. They provide:

• Designer templates: An endless library of professionally designed collage layouts.
• Brand identity control: You can use your specific brand fonts, colors, and logos.
• Advanced tools: Features like adding borders, shadows, textures, and stylized text are readily available.
• Batch creation: Easily create multiple Story collages at once to build out your content calendar.

A Quick Walkthrough with an App like Canva

1. Open Canva and search for "Instagram Story" in the templates library.
2. Choose a Template: Browse the templates and find one with a layout that accommodates four photos, or start from a blank Story canvas.
3. Find a Grid: If starting from scratch, go to the "Elements" tab on the left and search for "grids." Drag a four-photo grid onto your blank canvas. It will automatically snap to the edges.
4. Add Your Photos: Go to the "Uploads" tab to upload your four photos. Simply drag and drop each photo from the uploads area directly into a section of the grid.
5. Customize Everything: Now you can change the background color behind the grid, add branded text, drop your logo on top, or add other graphic elements.
6. Download and Upload: Once your design is perfect, download it to your phone as a high-resolution image. Finally, open Instagram, swipe up in the Story camera to access your camera roll, and upload your pre-made collage.

Tips for Making Your 4-Picture Story Engaging

Creating the collage is just the first step. To make sure your Story actually connects with your audience, keep these creative strategies in mind.

• Tell a Quick Story: Your four photos should feel connected. Use them to show a progression, like the steps of a recipe, a "get ready with me" sequence, or highlights from an event in chronological order.
• Harmonize Your Visuals: Choose photos that share a similar color palette or editing style. A cohesive look is much more appealing and professional than four visually jarring images thrown together.
• Mix Up Your Shots: Create visual interest by combining different types of photos. For example, pair a close-up detail shot with a wide environmental shot, a posed portrait with a candid action shot.
• Add Interactive Elements: Don't forget Instagram's powerful engagement tools. Add a poll sticker asking "Which look is your favorite?" or a quiz related to the photos to draw your viewers in and encourage them to interact.
• Guide the Eye with Text: Use minimal, well-placed text to add context or a call to action. A simple title or a brief label for each photo can make your collage much clearer and more effective.

Final Thoughts

Creating a 4-picture Instagram Story is a fantastic way to share more content in a dynamic, digestible format. Whether you're using the fast built-in Layout feature for a quick update, the flexible Photo Sticker method for creative expression, or a third-party app for polished, branded designs, you have plenty of great options at your fingertips.

As you get more comfortable designing your Stories, you might find yourself planning them in advance to create a seamless content calendar. That's a task we've built Postbase to handle beautifully. By using our visual calendar to plan campaigns, we're able to design our Stories and Reels ahead of time, ensuring they fit perfectly with the rest of our content schedule. When you can batch-create your visuals and then easily schedule them with a streamlined tool like Postbase, you reclaim your time to engage with your community.