Can you post photos from PC to Instagram ?

LR/Instagram plugin is da bomb. I didn't even sign up for an account before the plugin was working to my satisfaction, it wasn't worth it. Using it has also taught me discipline to take advantage of metadata assignment within LR rather than at the destination. That said, if you hate Lightroom and/or aren't already a regular user it's not worth installing and learning just to post photos.

My one criticism, that square picture format. I refuse to crop or compose just to make things look pretty in Instagram. While not on topic I'm curious how many do pay attention to this.

gramblr

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Nethawked wrote in post #18282949
LR/Instagram plugin is da bomb. I didn't even sign up for an account before the plugin was working to my satisfaction, it wasn't worth it.

If someone wants to get an Instagram account, but only wants to post about one picture a month on there, would the Lightroom plugin really make much of a difference, inasmuch as time savings and convenience is concerned?

I mean, if I had Instagram I envision myself using it about the same way I use Facebook - one photo every month or two. Maybe not even that much. So I am having difficulty understanding how a plugin would really make that much of a difference. But maybe it would. Any specific explanations about the plugin and how it helps save time would be appreciated.

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for me it works great when I am in the middle of an editing session. So instead of stopping what Im doing and sending to phone and then posting, i can set the IG data and then drop it and go. Never leaving LR so I dont get distracted on my phone as I usually do.

Nethawked wrote in post #18282949
My one criticism, that square picture format. I refuse to crop or compose just to make things look pretty in Instagram. While not on topic I'm curious how many do pay attention to this.

Instagram removed the square format limitation some months ago. The phone app defaults to square but you can override that. The LR/Instagram plugin for LR defaults to uncropped (though you can pre crop if you want square or apply a crop as part of the publish process.

Tom Reichner wrote in post #18283265
If someone wants to get an Instagram account, but only wants to post about one picture a month on there, would the Lightroom plugin really make much of a difference, inasmuch as time savings and convenience is concerned?

Any specific explanations about the plugin and how it helps save time would be appreciated.

It is a workflow improvement. Whether that saving is worthwhile for once a month or not only you can decide.

Without the plugin you need to....
1. Export the image as a JPEG (either cropping to square or leaving uncropped)
2. Find a way to transfer it to your mobile phone or tablet (cable connect, airdroid, dropbox or whatever)
3. Go into Instagram on your phone/tab
4. Select the image and then go through the publishing process which includes cropping (or not), applying filters or other edits, adding a caption and #hashtags*, adding a location and a few other bits. - If you don't want to do any of these things you can just hit Next but it is at minimum a three step process to publish an image.

* As the caption and hashtags are only added in the Instagram app they won't be reflected anywhere in your LR catalog. If for whatever reason you later want to repost the image (maybe a re-edit) you will have to find/re-enter that info again.

Also Instagram still doesn't allow you to store commonly used sets of #hashtags so you need to use a separate app to store them and copy them across.

With the plugin
LR/Instagram plugin creates a publish service that sends an image directly to Instagram in a one step process. You don't need to export a JPEG, transfer it to phone then delete the exported JPEG from your HD. The pluging does a temp export for you, publishes to Instagram and then automatically deletes the temp JPEG.

More importantly it adds an Instagram field to the metadata area in LR which allows you to type in a Caption, Hashtags and Geolocation. This info is then stored in your catalog forever. I find it a lot easier to enter hashtags in LR as you can just cut and past wholesale from similar images or, as I do, use a text replace app to enter various presaved hashtag sets.

The plugin also works by creating a Collection (or Smart Collection). This is good because you can easily see which images have been published to the service without having to go to the Instagram app and scroll back through all the images.

I made mine a Smart Collection - while sorting/culling/editin​g images I just add the Keyword "pub2instagram" to an image and it gets added to that collection. When you are ready you just go to the collection and press the Publish button.

Tom, Dan did a beautiful job of explaining the benefits. The mobile-only policy Instagram adopted isn't friendly to DSLR photographers. For just one image a month it may not be worth it, but if LR is already a part of your workflow then it's absolutely beneficial.

Thanks for taking the trouble to provide such clear, detailed explanation and guidance. Much appreciated.

Well. I sympathize with Tom. I cannot find the transition point between "programs" and "apps" (appetizers?). And, "hashtags"? That's a pound sign (idiots)! I have a hard time convincing myself of the usefulness of Instagram, for my purpose, which does not involve marketing. But I do use the Lightroom plugin for a few postings there. I try to keep it in perspective....we are not the customers of social media, we are their product.

KeithS wrote in post #18686308
Well. I sympathize with Tom. I cannot find the transition point between "programs" and "apps" (appetizers?). And, "hashtags"? That's a pound sign (idiots)! I have a hard time convincing myself of the usefulness of Instagram, for my purpose, which does not involve marketing. But I do use the Lightroom plugin for a few postings there. I try to keep it in perspective....we are not the customers of social media, we are their product.

To marginally expand on my previous comment on this point. They are Application Programs, just as they are on any computer, well other than the Operating System Programs. So really from a computer science perspective they are all the same thing. In general Apps = Programs there is no difference. Where the difference mostly arises is that the term App became common for programs running on computers with restricted performance, such as phones and other mobile devices. They also want to make the battery last as long as possible, so that also has a significant effect on processing performance. So you are quite limited with what you can do, in comparison to say a fully specced up desktop computer. The restricted, in comparison, screen size is also a limiting factor for performance and functionality.

So an application program for a mobile device is only going to be able to support a small subset of the functionality that a corresponding application program designed to run on the full powered desktop system will be able to support. They are all application programs, it's just the processing power of the device it is designed to run on that affects the performance potential of each. So please don't get hung up on the names they use. Actually where they release software for low power/performance mobile devices that shares a product name with the software for a high power/performance systems the calling it an App at least makes the required distinction in the two products for you. That is all the difference really is.

I have also noticed that many simple programs that would have performed certain basic tasks within the high power/performance systems that in the past would have been called utilities, seem to be being renamed Apps, and sold/distributed through an "Appstore". This also is simply a means to attempt to leverage terminology that was coined for the mobile market, to traditional computers in a way that will make the owner of the "app store" who is usually the developer/publisher of the operating system even more money. It's much better for them is they can convince you that they need to control the distribution of all software to your computer. It's one of the consequences of the fact that almost no software is distributed via physical media any more. It then becomes much easier for the OS to limit where it will allow you to install software from.

Alan

an update to the overall thread...with windows 10 you can just download instagram in the windows store, and post easily from you PC

What I always do, working with Safari on a Mac, is work in "Developer Mode".

Using this mode the browser shows itself to servers like it is an iPhone, iPad, Firefox, Chrome or even Edge browser.

That way you get to see the upload button that you'd see when you open Instagram on your phone.

Just a very simple web uploader workaround, no other parties involved.

If you don't have flickr, facebook, google drives or any online photos storage, you can try one of these:

You can attach your pics in your draft email from your PC then open up your email in your phone and download the pics from your draft email, and then delete your email's draft, that's it.

Or if you have whatsapp, you can send your pics to one of your friends/families using web.whatsapp.com and the pics will be automatically downloaded into your phone under Whatsapp Images

thijs wrote in post #18722152
What I always do, working with Safari on a Mac, is work in "Developer Mode".

Using this mode the browser shows itself to servers like it is an iPhone, iPad, Firefox, Chrome or even Edge browser.

That way you get to see the upload button that you'd see when you open Instagram on your phone.

Just a very simple web uploader workaround, no other parties involved.

Works on Chrome in Windows 10 too.

thijs wrote in post #18722152
What I always do, working with Safari on a Mac, is work in "Developer Mode".

Using this mode the browser shows itself to servers like it is an iPhone, iPad, Firefox, Chrome or even Edge browser.

That way you get to see the upload button that you'd see when you open Instagram on your phone.

Just a very simple web uploader workaround, no other parties involved.

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Sounds good!

Could you give us some more information, such as explain how to get my iMac into developer mode? . Like, the different steps and all the different things to click on to get my computer running in that mode?

I prefer to run Chrome, but will use Safari if I absolutely must.

Thanks.

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Tom Reichner wrote in post #18820847
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Sounds good!

Could you give us some more information, such as explain how to get my iMac into developer mode? . Like, the different steps and all the different things to click on to get my computer running in that mode?

I prefer to run Chrome, but will use Safari if I absolutely must.

Thanks.

.

You aren't putting the iMac into developer mode, but the web browser.

Use these menu items (same on a Mac, see https://www.sitepoint.​com …th-device-mode-in-chrome/ )