"Why are some parts of my images cut off when I post them to Instagram??"
Answer
'Portrait v.s. Landscape' - if you hear those words and don't yet associate 'Vertical + Horizontal,' this quick blog post is for you!
What's in here
Why you should know these terms, and why they matter when you post multiple images in one post to Instagram is what we're gonna cover below. It won't take long to get you posting properly, and showing off the FULL beauty of your images on IG (not some oddly cropped portion of them!)
I see this mistake SO often, even from people in the wedding industry! You are not alone.
We'll start from the answer and work backwards...
What you should be doing!
When you make a post on IG with multiple photos, the photos you choose to post together need to ALL be shot (or cropped) in the same orientation.
There are 2 orientations; Portraits and Landscape.
Orientation?
The easiest way to define orientation is: the direction the camera was held when the photo was taken. Check out what I mean with the 2 example photos below.
The first one is shot with the camera aimed Vertically, Portrait Orientation.
Think of portrait, as in when you take an up close portrait of a person. The focus is all on the person. You often get up close, and turn the camera vertically, to capture more of your subject. A Portrait.
And the second is shot with the camera aimed Horizontally, Landscape Orientation.
Think of a giant landscape photo, you want to get as wide of a shot as possible, your subject? Is now a wide, expansive landscape. You would turn your camera horizontal to capture as much as you could. A Landscape.
Portrait (vertical) orientation
Landscape (Horizontal) orientation
The mistake people make that crops their IG photos
When posting multiple photos in one post, people include images shot in both portrait AND landscape orientation. That's no bueno!! Instagram automatically orients all the photos in your post to match the first image, regardless if it they are similarly oriented!
For example: I choose 3 photos in my IG post,
1st image is shot Vertical,
2nd is horizontal,
3rd is vertical.
That 2nd photo is going to be SUPER cropped on either side, because IG is going to match the orientation of the first photo in my post.
Our Goal when posting to IG?
To share images in their FULL force, not a close up of the upper corner, losing a big, impactful part of our photos. When sharing multiple photos in one post, we are telling a story. When the images in that story are cut off, that means losing the true grandeur of the stunning photos you worked so hard to create!
Re visiting the answer
SO, back to what we should be doing!
When creating a multi-photo post on IG, choose a set of photos that were all taken in the same orientation, (all portrait, or all landscape) and this will avoid your images getting cropped in silly ways.
I hope this helped you expand your photography knowledge, and gave you a small. powerful tool to help plan out some good-lookin posts in the future!
Thanks for coming by, and much love to you my friend!
Katie Arnst,
WestbyWest.c0