How to add a ring light effect to a photo for an Instagram reel cover

Open Photo filters, choose a photo of yourself, go to the Trends tab and tap Ring light. A ring is placed behind your head, the room goes dark, and the Light tool opens so you can change its colour, size and brightness before you download.

Steps

1. Open Photo filters and choose a photo where your head and shoulders are clearly visible. A plain or busy background both work, because the room is darkened.
2. Tap the Trends tab and then Ring light. The page finds the person on your device, places the ring behind the head, a little larger than it, and turns the room fully dark.
3. The Light tool opens with the ring selected. Drag the ring on the photo to move it, and drag its corner handle to make it bigger or turn it.
4. Pick a colour: White, Warm, Red, Pink, Purple, Blue or Orange.
5. Use Dark room to bring some of the background back, Brightness for the ring itself, and Fill light if your face is too dark.
6. Download. For a reel cover, resize the result to 9:16 with the social media image resizer.

The first time you use a light, your browser downloads the small models that find the person, from this site. Until the person is found, the light brightens the whole photo; once found, it lights the person by where they are.

Ring light or diagonal light

Two one-tap lights sit in the Trends tab. They suit different moods.

The diagonal light is a light leak under the hood, so the Light tool shows Direction and Width for it instead of Spread. Turn Direction until the line falls where you want it.

Making it look lit, not pasted

A ring behind the head only reads as real when the light touches the person. Placement Behind does that: it outlines the hair, shoulders and the sides of the face in the ring's colour. A few settings make the difference:

• Dark room at 100% gives the black-studio look most covers use. Around 70% keeps a hint of the real room.
• Fill light lifts the whole person. Keep it low (10 to 25%) or the dark-room look flattens.
• Near the light brightens only the part of the person closest to the ring, such as the top of the head.
• Show light hides the ring itself while keeping its glow on you, for a rim-lit look with no visible lamp.

For two coloured rims, one on each side of the face, use the Two colours setup in the Light tool: a red light behind on the left and a blue one on the right. You can add a ring on top.

Reel cover sizes

A reel cover is a vertical 9:16 picture. Meta's guide for Stories images gives 1440 × 2560 pixels; 1080 × 1920 has the same shape. The app lays its buttons and caption over the top and bottom, and Meta suggests keeping roughly 14% of the top and 35% of the bottom free of anything important. Keep your face and the ring in the middle of the frame. The social resizer's Story or reel size makes the 9:16 copy, and Crop framing lets you drag the photo so your face stays clear of those edges.

When it looks wrong

• The ring is on the wrong spot. The ring goes on the head when the outline of the person shows one; in a crowded photo it may land elsewhere. Drag it to the head.
• Everything is lit, not just you. The person has not been found yet, or no one was found. Wait for the progress bar to finish, or try a photo where you are larger in the frame.
• Hair edges look rough. Lower the ring's brightness a little; a softer glow hides the edge.

Want to see the ring while you pose? The camera with filters has the same Trends lights on the live view, and the photo opens in the editor with the light still adjustable.

Questions

Does the ring light change my face?

No. The light changes brightness and colour on the photo's own pixels. Nothing is generated or redrawn.

Can I use the ring light on a photo of a pet?

Choose Background, then Tap to pick under Keep, and tap the pet. Lights use whatever you picked as the subject.

Is my photo uploaded?

No. The person is found and the light drawn in your browser. The models are downloaded from this site; the photo stays on your device.