Have you ever experienced uploading multiple pictures on Instagram to only find out that one of your photos have been cropped. We understand how frustrating this is especially when one of your friends or family member have been taken out of the picture. The question now is why does this happen and what could you do to make it stop?
The reason why your photos are cropped is because Instagram by default has set all photos to be cropped into a square aspect ratio. If you do not wish to use this setting, do not worry as you could override this by selecting original option before you post. By doing so, you will be able to retain the original aspect ratio on your photo.
Instagram Aspect Ratio Basics
Instagram has different requirements for each and every feature it has – for example – Stories, Reels and Posts. Generally, it would accept any image that is between 320p and 1080p which means, anything smaller than the required size would be blown up and anything that is bigger would be downscaled to 1080p.
Videos, on the other hand, could be more complicated. However, it has the same principle as it could only accommodate up to 1080p.
Instagram Posts
Back in the days, Instagram had all posts in a 1:1 aspect ratio which means, if you have a large sized image, you will need to crop it down yourself. This means, your picture quality would decrease. The good news is, currently, you will now be able to upload any picture in portrait or landscape and square one. This means, you could have photos in 1:1, 1.91:1 and 4:5 ratio.
1:1
1:1 is a ratio which many would recognize as square pictures. This aspect ratio is the easiest to upload as Instagram has an auto-cropping function which would do the job for you.
Modern technology has now even adapted to this and are mostly capable of taking 1:1 photos.
1.91:1
The 1.91:1 is considered as the horizontal aspect ratio. This might seem weird as the standard aspect ratio that most smartphone cameras have is 16:9. If you set up your photo on Instagram in 16:9 aspect ratio, unfortunately, it would give you vertical black stripes on its sides.
4:5
The 4:5 aspect ratio is a portrait style. It is mostly used for selfies. This aspect ratio is easy to upload as well.
Instagram Stories
Instagram Stories support 9:16 photos with maximum resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels. This is perfect as most mobile cameras take pictures in 16:9 format. If you wish to change the aspect ratio, do not worry as Instagram Stories allows this. In fact, you could upload anything which has ratio aspect 1.91:6 to 9:16.
Instagram stories are viewed vertically which means, if you upload any photo that is in a landscape format, your photo would automatically have huge black and white bars. This would mean that your image would be smaller which could be too small for viewing. This is why it is recommended for you to upload photos that are only in portrait style.
Instagram Reels
Instagram Reels are videos which are similar to YouTube’s. They are shorter clips but are uploaded and viewed as series of clips which have about 30 to 90 seconds long.
In Instagram, you could upload a series of short videos as reel. Aside from videos, reels also accept photos and images.
How Does an Instagram Carousel Work?
Instagram Carousel is a feature which allows you to post up to ten photos all at once. The photos would have a single tile and you would see one image which would be your cover photo. Viewers would have to swipe the photos to see each and every image.
For you to be able to do this, you would need to set your first photo into a full view. This way, Instagram will not automatically crop it. By doing this, all of the photos that you would upload following the first photo would have the same aspect ratio. Once you have your first photo uploaded, you would need to do the following steps:
- Tap on the + button
- Select posts
- Tap select multiple
- Select 10 photos/videos you would wish to upload
- Click Next
- Crop your photo as you would wish to
- When done, click next and click post
To edit the interface, select the order of your photos and videos. Drag and drop on your timeline and tag the people you would wish to tag. You could add your location and captions.
How to Crop Instagram Photos in the App
- Upload your photo
- Tap Edit
- Select Adjust
- Move the photo around, zoom in or out according to your preference
- Tap done
- Review the final preview image
- Post or edit
How to Crop Instagram Photos on Your Desktop
- Go to the menu
- Click create button
- Drag and drop the photo from your folder
- Drag your photo and zoom in or out
- Switch to standard aspect ratio according to your preference – 1:1, 4:5 or 16:9.
- Click Next and post the image
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