Posting photos on Instagram in full size without prior preparation is difficult. The social network diligently crops the edges of the picture, other people’s and not only arms and legs, heads, and parts of the landscape. Previously, it was necessary to avoid difficult situations with the help of separate software, but now several local solutions have appeared that allow you to publish entries with almost no additional processing in graphic editors.

By the way, before we plunge headlong into the topic, I would like to mention one more headache for social media users. This is the age-old question: “How to resize a photo for a Facebook cover and profile picture?”. You will find the answer to this question in Skylum`s article about resizing photos for Facebook covers.

Why does Instagram crop a photo?

In the bearded years, Instagram only allowed you to upload square pictures. This was due to the concept of the social network. Then the creator of Insta Kevin Systrom was inspired by the Holga film camera, which produced square retro pictures (yes, it was not a Polaroid, although it was the one depicted on the logo).

But times change and such a large project could not remain unchanged. Today, the aspect ratio of images on Instagram is determined not so much by an idea, but by the need to save space on servers and adapt content to vertical screens of mobile equipment from different manufacturers.

How to add a photo without cropping and keep the quality?

You can add a full photo in the following ways:

• with no white background;
• vertical;
• as a panorama.

With no white background

It has long been possible to take a picture and immediately upload it to Instagram without the white background that was previously used to get into standard proportions. An automatically arranged transparent margin will now appear around the edges. It is better to immediately follow the proportions of 16 to 9 and choose a resolution of 1067×600 pixels.

However, I note that if you maintain an Instagram profile as a portfolio of a photographer, and not as a visual diary, the white square frame very well reflects the seriousness of your work. This is not suitable for all photographers: most often street photographers and photojournalists resort to this. Steve McCurry’s profile might be a great example for you. Yes, and his work in itself: this is true craftsmanship!

Vertical photo

A full-length photo on Instagram is now added without much experimentation. Finally, a separate button appeared in the interface that allows you to stretch out a vertical shot and add everything in full size, but with frames on the sides.

Panoramic photo

You can upload a rectangular photo to Instagram, stretched horizontally and designed as a panorama experimentally, using separate software. SwieablePanorama and InSwipe help you cut the image into pieces and load the pieces into a grid of 3 or 6 frames that are easy to scroll from left to right. The combination looks unusual and even advantageous against the background of the usual publications in the news feed.

How to resize photos for Instagram?

Adjusting the original image to the proportions of the social network is a task, although annoying, not at all difficult.

Manual cutting

Even the graphic editors pre-installed in Windows or macOS operating systems will help to crop the photo manually and achieve a full display of the image on the pages of the social network. If Photoshop or Lightroom was at hand, then there will be no problems either.

Image size compression

An alternative to Paint, Photoshop, and Lightroom is a tried and true tool that’s been around the web for a long time: Canva. With the special templates pre-selected for different social networks, it helps to upload a photo so that Instagram does not cut anything superfluous.

Instagram also provides special sets for posts, stories, covers for the eternal “Stories”, avatars, and even grids.

The bottom line

So, you have spent up to half an hour of your time and have already learned:

• why does Instagram crop pictures at all;
• how to upload a photo without losing anything important;
• how to adjust the original photo to the proportions of Instagram.

In addition, you already know about resizing photos for Facebook covers (you followed the link on Skylum`s blog I left above, didn’t you?), and also got acquainted with the work of a real master of reportage photography, which you probably did not know before. As for me, this is not bad. It turns out that you can easily resize a Facebook profile picture or add a photo without cropping and keep the quality

In the next article, we will talk more about photo editing software before posting to Instagram, Facebook, and other social networks. In the meantime, I wish you creative success and I hope that this text answered your question.