How to post portrait photos on instagram
How To Post Portrait or Vertical Photos on Instagram Without Cropping
When Instagram was launched, it only allowed users to upload square photos. This meant that a substantial portion of your photos had to be cropped.
Instagram’s square photo dimensions became a major drawback to photographers and Instagram users as the image quality, content, and resolution of images were often be sacrificed.
Fortunately, Instagram has seen the need to resolve this major issue. Instagram has given its users more freedom to be creative with their images. Now, pictures can be uploaded in landscape or portrait orientation.
Understanding Instagram Images
So how can you post portrait photos on Instagram without cropping?
The vast majority of Instagram images are squared off. That’s fine for the most part, but it does tend to impact the composition of a photo — especially if it’s a portrait or landscape subject.
When you upload an image or load it into Instagram, the image is automatically cropped to 4:5. No one wants to put a lot of time and effort into capturing the perfect photo only for Instagram to ruin it by cropping the image.
Instagram did add different orientations not long ago, but images still take a little tweaking to get right. Now, you can post images at a maximum size of 600 x 600 for square images, 1080 × 607 for landscapes, and 480 × 600 for portraits. The actual stored size differs slightly, but when you measure images within Instagram, these are what typically come up.
So, if you’re one of the many Instagram users that’s tired of having their photos cropped, let’s take a look at how you can post portrait or vertical photos on Instagram without cropping.
How to Post Portrait Photos on Instagram
Depending on the size of your image, you may now be able to post a portrait image on Instagram without having to crop it.
Here’s how you can check:
Step 1
Open Instagram and create a new post.
Step 2
Select the image you want to upload from your photo gallery.
Step 3
Select the small crop icon in the bottom left of the main image screen.
Step 4
Adjust the image within the grid until it’s to your liking.
Using the crop icon shifts the shape from the usual square to its vertical or portrait orientation. This way, you won’t need to shave off the edges of your photos.
How to Post Landscape Images on Instagram
What if you want to post a landscape picture without cropping?
Well, fortunately, the same process above works in landscape orientation too. Since the two sizes were added to Instagram, it will pick up the shape and size of the image and let you post the most suitable size.
The same instructions apply for portrait and landscape photos, so you can simply refer to the above steps and select a landscape image that you want to upload.
Manually Cropping Instagram Images
Sometimes, the image just doesn’t look right with the new setup on Instagram and you need to do a little bit of manual editing first.
The new orientation feature is good but also has a few glitches, and if it won’t show your image off at its best. It may be better to manually edit the image and upload it as a square — even if it means sacrificing the composition.
There are a lot of photo editing apps that can help you edit your images first before uploading them to Instagram.
Just follow these simple steps to get started:
- Download the image to your computer and load it into your image editor.
- Crop your image to 5:4 using the image editor, and edit the photo so the subject is front and center.
- Upload the image to Instagram.
If that doesn’t quite work or leaves the image subject hanging out to dry, you can add a white border to either side of the image to create the 5:4 ratio.
This can often make the image look better. It has the advantage of leaving your image in its original form, but it will be slightly smaller than usual.
This method works great if you aren’t happy with the way your image looks when you upload it straight to Instagram without editing.
Third-Party Image Editors for Instagram
There are a number of third-party apps that can help prepare images for Instagram and help you resize an image with or without cropping. Even though you can now post portrait and landscape, these apps still make life a little easier when preparing something for publishing.
Two of the photo editing apps we can recommend are No Crop & Square for Instagram for Android and Whitagram for iPhone. Although, there are a lot more photo editing apps for you to explore.
Both of the apps mentioned above achieve the same goal as the manual editing method and will resize your images for Instagram. If you want to keep everything on your phone and not download it to your computer, these and other apps like it are well worth a try.
Final Thoughts
Most photographers find squaring off an image takes something away from the effect.
Instagram users have been stuck on using the square dimension for years, but thanks to the app’s recent updates, there is now more flexibility in uploading photos.
Adding portrait and landscape orientation gives the professional photographers and those enthusiastic amateurs more options when composing their shots.
Want to find more apps to help you create eye-catching Instagram posts?
Check out our article on the Most Popular Instagram Apps.
How to Post a Portrait Image or Video to Instagram Without Cropping
InstagramJulia Enthoven
3 min
Instagram crops all vertical posts to a 4:5, which means part of a vertical video or photo is cut off. But, if you add a white background before publishing to Instagram, you can post the full 9:16 portrait without cropping.
Instagram crops all vertical posts to a 4:5. Unless your video is under 30 seconds, it won't work on Reels. That means that it’s impossible to fit a full 9:16 video into a normal Instagram video post.
If you take a screenshot, film a video clip on your phone, TikTok, or Snap, or if you want to post a Story to your feed, Instagram makes you crop part of it out unless you resize it first.
To post a full vertical video or image on Instagram without cropping to 4:5, add a white background to make it into a square. Then, you can post the photo or video without cropping out or changing the size. This technique works for pictures, GIFs, and videos. Here’s a step-by-step tutorial:
- Upload to a Resizer Tool
- Add a Background
- Download and Share
Step 1: Upload to a Resizer Tool
Open Kapwing’s resizer and upload the vertical or portrait photo you want to post.
Kapwing’s resizer is free to use and online, so you don’t need to download an app. It supports images, GIFs and videos.
Note: If you want to edit or add filters to your photos, make sure to do this before resizing. That way, the white background won’t be affected by the color changes and adjustments.
Step 2: Resize and Add a Background
Choose the 1:1 option for Instagram (Kapwing also supports 16:9 sizing for YouTube and other formats). You can change the background color and use Kapwing’s zoom and positioning tools to zoom in, crop, or add a border. Click “Export Image” once the preview matches what you want your post to look like!
Choose a new size on the right panelTo take up more vertical space in the Instagram feed, you can also choose to resize your post to 4:5 (the “FB/Twitter Portrait” option on Kapwing).
Step 3: Download and Share
After a few moments, your image or video will be ready for download – you can remove the Kapwing watermark for free by signing into your account.
Since your photo/video now has a 1:1 aspect ratio, you can now download and publish it without cropping on Instagram.
If you're not signed into a Kapwing account, sign in or sign up using your Google or Facebook account – once you've signed into a Kapwing account, the watermark in the lower right corner will be removed from your final image.
Steps for saving the image on iPhonesI hope this article helps you share your un-cropped vertical videos and portrait photos with the world! Kapwing’s one-click editor was designed for people with no previous editing expertise, so don’t be afraid to try it out.
For more information on how to resize a video for Instagram, check out this video tutorial:
For more ideas, tutorials, and features, check back in at the Kapwing Resources page or our YouTube channel! And remember to tag us @KapwingApp whenever you share your content on social media– we love to see what our creators are passionate about!
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How to post portrait or vertical photos on Instagram without cropping
Instagram has made many relevant updates to make sharing photos and videos more fun and user-friendly. When Instagram was launched, it only allowed users to upload square photos. This meant that a significant portion of your photos could be cropped. Instagram's square photo sizes have become a major disadvantage for photographers and Instagram users as they sacrifice image quality, content, and resolution. Instagram has always said that they only allow square images to ensure a consistent browsing experience. As more professional photographers started using the app, this approach fell flat.
This method works great if you don't like how your image looks when you upload it directly to Instagram without editing.
Use the Image Prep App for Instagram
There are a number of third party apps that can help you prep your images for Instagram and help you resize your image with or without cropping. Even though you can now post in portrait and landscape orientations, these apps still make life a little easier when preparing something for posting.
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We can recommend two photo editing apps: No Crop & Square for Instagram for Android and Whitagram for iPhone. However, there are many more photo editing apps for you to explore. Both of the apps mentioned above achieve the same goal as the manual editing method and will resize your post-ready images or add black or white borders on both sides to make them fit better. If you want to keep everything on your phone instead of downloading it to your computer, these and other similar apps are worth a try.
Final thoughts
Most photographers find that squaring an image removes the effect. Instagram users have been fixated on using the square measurement for years, but thanks to the latest app updates, there are now more options for uploading photos. The addition of portrait and landscape orientations gives professional photographers and those keen amateurs more options when composing their shots, while also expanding our experience as Instagram users. Every winner!
Want to find more apps to help you create compelling Instagram posts?
Check out our article about the most popular Instagram apps,
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in Portrait and Landscape modes)
Appendix Instagram will allow users to post their photos and videos in both Portrait and Landscape modes. Representatives of the company announced this yesterday, August 27.
In this way, Instagram intends to expand on the all-encompassing square format that the service is so well known for.
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According to Instagram's official statement, about one in five posts does not follow the accepted format, so the company decided to prioritize the "visual story" of users, rather than the parameters in which it is told.
Extract from Instagram statement:
“The square format has been and will continue to be a part of us. However, the visual story you are trying to tell needs to be at the forefront, and we intend to make this process as easy and fun as possible.
Approximately one in five photos or videos posted by users are found to be out of square format, and we know how difficult it is to share this type of content on Instagram. Friends are often cropped out of a group photo, objects in videos are compressed, and the Golden Gate Bridge fails to capture the full picture.
Now, when you select a video or image, you can click on the format icon and adjust the orientation in portrait or landscape mode. After you share a photo, it will appear in full size in the feed.
Step 1. Make sure you have the latest version of the application. To do this, in the App Store, select the " Updates " tab and, if necessary, update your version of Instagram.
Step 2. Launch the app and click on the camera icon to select the photo or video you want to share on the service.
Step 3. By default, Instagram will display content in a square format. To change it, click on the " Format " icon and adjust the orientation in the " Portrait " or " Landscape " modes.
Step 4. Press the button « Next » and continue posting images or videos as usual.
The update is now available to all Instagram users.
