If you’ve been away from Instagram for a while, or you’re new to the platform, then you might be under the impression that you can only post square-crop photos on the app. Maybe every time you go to upload a vertical (portrait) photo, it is automatically cropped square, despite the fact you’re sure you’ve seen landscape and portrait shots from other users in your feed… frustrating right?
Thankfully, it’s pretty straightforward to post vertical (portrait) photos on Instagram. To learn how, just follow our step-by-step guide below. For any additional information, or if you have any further questions, please direct your attention to the FAQs at the end of this article.
Table of Contents
How to post vertical (portrait) photos on Instagram (iOS/Android)
- Open up the Instagram app on your mobile or tablet device and sign into your account if prompted.
- Tap the (+) icon at the top of the homepage screen to begin creating a post
- Next, select the vertical photo you wish to upload from your gallery; it will now display in the preview pane (square-cropped) at the top of your screen
- Now here comes the important part – to make your vertical photo actually upload in its original portrait 3:4 ratio, you have to tap the icon in the bottom-left of the preview that looks like two arrows pointing away from each other
- Your photo will now be reverted to its original vertical ratio, tap the blue ‘Next’ arrow in the top-right
- Edit your photo as you usually would using the tools provided, and ten tap that blue arrow again
- Write a caption if you like, tag anyone you wish to, add a location, fundraiser, create a promotion, and sync your crossposts if required; when happy, post your vertical photo by tapping the blue tick/check mark in the top-right
And there you have it! The same method works for horizontal (landscape) photos, too, and will save you lots of hassle in the future. Happy posting!
For any additional information, or if you have any more unanswered queries, please see our FAQs below.
Frequently asked questions
Can I post vertical (portrait) photos on both my Feed and my Story?
Yes, absolutely! Instagram is the world’s foremost picture and photo-sharing social networking applications, and as such is designed to enable its users to post just about any crop of image they should like. Whilst it used to be that you could only post square (1:1 ratio) images on Instagram, those days are long gone.
Nowadays, whether your image is a portrait, landscape, or square format doesn’t matter, you can post them all the same. And with the introduction of the Instagram Stories feature, the same applies there, too. In fact, portrait (vertical) photos tend to work better than any other form of an image on stories, since stories use the 9:16 full-screen ratio.
Do I have to crop vertical (portrait) photos before posting them on Instagram?
This depends, but typically not, no. If you’ve taken a typical vertical (portrait) photo with your camera, it will be in a 3:4 ratio, and you will therefore be able to post it on Instagram (with the method we describe above) without needing to first crop it.
However, if you’ve taken a full-screen (9:16 ratio) photo on your camera, then you will need to crop it, before you can post it to your feed. Instagram will do this for you automatically by fitting what it can into space it gives you when following the method we describe above. After which you can drag the part of the image you want to display into the vertical 3:4 ratio frame.
Alternatively of course, you can manually crop any image you like, no matter the original ratio, to fit the vertical (portrait) 3:4 ratio on your Camera Roll/Gallery before uploading it to Instagram, thus saving you having to crop on Instagram.
Which crop or rotation of photo looks best on Instagram?
This is completely subjective, and not a question we can answer for you. Whilst arguably the vertical (portrait) crop looks best on Instagram Stories since they are displayed full-screen portrait, the same does not necessarily apply to Feed Posts. In fact, Feed Posts are displayed in full on the homepage feed whether landscape, portrait (horizontal, vertical), or square. The same goes for if you click on a person’s post from their profile – you’ll always see it in full.
As such, the best way to answer this question is not to ask which crop looks best on Instagram but to ask yourself which crop looks best for the photo itself. Work this out, and Instagram will optimize the display regardless.
How will vertical (portrait) photos display on my profile grid?
As with any photo you post, your Profile grid will remain square-formatted. As such, a square crop (which you cannot necessarily control) will display on your Profile as a sort of thumbnail, the full image only being displayed to the visitor once they click on it. The same goes for landscape (horizontal) photos as it does for portrait (vertical) ones.
