By Ian Marker, Account Associate
Over 95 million photos and videos are shared on Instagram each day and with accounts depicting epic travel scenery or mouthwatering food setups, we can tell that not many posts are taken inside the native Instagram app anymore. More often than not, we’re transferring our best photos, shot on cameras, from our computer to our phone for posting on Instagram. But how can we be sure we’re sizing our photos correctly and not allowing for the dreaded compression inside Instagram’s app?
Even though the whole concept of an Instagram image is based on a square format, the company has let us branch out in recent years and we can now post photos that are square, landscape or portrait (horizontal or vertical). While this does allow us to have more creative possibilities in the composition of the photos we take, there are still restrictions on the aspect ratio of the photo and Instagram will make you crop, causing for your image to look not as strong as you intended.
I’ll try to keep the breakdown simple, so you (and I) can refer back to this when necessary!
- Square Photos: 1080×1080 pixels, a 1:1 ratio when cropping at 72 pixels per inch (ppi).
- Landscape Photos (horizontal): 1920×1080, a 16:9 ratio when cropping at 72 ppi.
- Portrait Photos (Vertical): 1080×1350, a 4:5 ratio when cropping at 72 ppi.
Most standard digital cameras (DSLRS, mirrorless, point & shoot, etc.) shoot in a 4:3 aspect ratio so if you’re shooting for Instagram specifically, know that there will have to be some cropping involved before you can post your final image to Insta.
I think it is worth mentioning, and also reflected by Dustn.tv, that even if you’re posting landscape or portrait photos to your feed, the photos will still appear to be square when you view your overall profile.
Visual branding for your company or personal life is important to conveying the best part of your product to your viewers. Starting with getting the best quality photos you can is a step in the right direction. If you’re curious to know more about getting quality photos for your brand, shoot me an email at [email protected]. And if you’re a more visual person like myself, check out this video by my internet friends “Becki and Chris.” They gives a great explanation on this topic as well.