Tuesday, August 31, 2021

Instagram Size Limit

Insta is ideal for square, or close to square, photos.  Horizontal orientation (called landscape) does not have clear limits though; however, vertical orientation (called portrait) has certain size limits, not sure why!  Keep in mind 0.8 wide by 1.0 tall; anything taller than this aspect ratio (slimmer) will be cropped by dear, stupid Insta!  This is not the case with Facebook, thank God!

See the beautiful portrait below for example.  It's 2466x3600 pixels; the aspect ratio thus 0.69x1.00.  



Try to post it to Insta and it will crop the long side to reach the 0.8x1.0 limit.  So you'll have one of these two (either or).  And none is what you want, right?


So, what's the remedy?  The easiest way is to add two strips at two longitudinal sides, at a total width of 414 pixels to make the overall size 2880x3600; thus the aspect ratio of 0.8x1.0.  Something like this:


The strips may be white or black or any colour you wish.  I have selected black to be clearly visible.

If you're good in Photoshop, the second method is adding the two strips as before, but copy-paste portions of the photo edge to the strips.  


And finally, a better way as an alternative to the first method is making a nice and wide frame, like this one:


If you have hired a photographer and you're posting the professional photos, please, please keep in mind that chopping feet is a big composition sin, the first basic rule in photography.  The cropped photo may be embarrassing for the poor photographer.  If in doubt, please consult your photographer; ask her/him to fix the size for Insta and s/he will gladly do it.

P.S. To find out the size (pixel count) of your photo, keep the mouse (cursor) on the photo in your file browser, and you'll see the size.
P.S. (2) The exact number is 0.78x1.00.  I have rounded it to 0.8 for the sake of easier calculations.  I often keep the long side of my photo made in Lightroom at 3600 pixels, so by experience, 2800 pixels is safe for the width.

No comments:

 
Free counter and web stats