How to Make an Instagram Carousel in Photoshop (The Easy Way!)

Photoshop can be a lot when you're just trying to make a great Instagram carousel.

Don't worry, I had to watch so many YouTube tutorials and figure it all out step by step, so I’m breaking it down to make this super easy for you.

Whether you’re a photographer, designer, or creative just trying to tell a story or showcase your work, this method is going to help you create scroll-worthy carousels that look seamless and polished right in Photoshop.

1. Start With a New Photoshop File

Open Photoshop and create a new file.

If you're designing 10 images in the vertical 4x5 aspect ratio (a little taller than a square), set your dimensions like this:
Width: 10800 px
Height: 1350 px
Resolution: 300 pixels/inch

Want to make 20 images at once? Just double it:
Width: 21600 px
Height: 1350 px
Resolution: 300 pixels/inch

This setup gives you a long horizontal canvas, perfectly proportioned for Instagram’s 4:5 post format.

2. Add a Guide Layout for Perfect Slices

Go to the top menu bar and hover over View, then click on New Guide Layout

In the popup window:

• Set the number of columns to match how many images you want (for example, 10 or 20)

• Gutter: Set to 0

• Leave everything else as default

Now your canvas is divided into equal Instagram-friendly sections

3. Start Designing Your Carousel

With your guide layout ready, you can start designing.

Pro tips: Name or number your layers to stay organized, especially on a large canvas

Try overlapping images across columns, adding text, or using more than one image in a section

If 20 images feel like too much to look at all at once, break it up into two 10-image canvases. It’s easier to zoom in and work with details

Designing this way lets you see your story all at once, making sure your content flows and feels intentional. Plus, it’s fun

4. Slice It Up

Once everything looks the way you want:

Right click the Crop Tool on your toolbar and select the Slice Tool

At the top of your screen, click Slice From Guides

Photoshop will automatically slice your design into perfectly sized images

5. Export for Instagram

Now it’s time to save your images:

1. Go to File → Export → Save for Web (Legacy)

2. In the settings:

   • Make sure Original is selected in the top left

   • Format: JPEG

   • Quality: 100

3. Click Save

4. In the save window:

   • Choose your folder

   • At the bottom dropdown, make sure it says All Slices

   • Then hit Save

Now your carousel is ready to post to Instagram, all as separate images but perfectly aligned and flowing together

Creating carousels in Photoshop like this helps me

• See all my photos in order

• Plan a strong visual story

• Make sure there’s variety and consistency

• And honestly, just have fun designing

Thank you to all the creatives and photographers out there who share Photoshop tutorials—I watch SO MANY of them. Photoshop can definitely be intimidating, but this method is what finally clicked the easiest for me.

Hope this helps someone else out there streamline their creative process and have a little more fun with it