Instagram Finally Steps Out Of The Box With Their New Landscape and Portrait Feature
No more having to experience the trauma of choosing between cropping out your new haircut or your new shoes.
By Rohini Rajaratnam — 28 Aug 2015, 05:28 PM
If you're an avid Instagrammer, you would have constantly found yourself contorting to try and fit the length of a picture into Instagram’s iconic square frame. Right?
And it sometimes results in you challenging your flexibility to fit the picture into the square
Image via StalkingPicsThank the heavens cause that chapter is finally done as the minds behind Instagram just rolled out their new support for potrait and landscape pictures
Instagram just announced it’s letting you upload landscape and portrait-oriented photos to the platform, which means you no longer have to rely on janky screenshot hacks or third-party apps to get that sunset gram of the lake looking just right.
The move is in response to user demand for more framing variety, and is also intended to encourage users to shoot more video content.
wired.com
Now when you access your photo gallery from within the updated app, you’ll see a format button above the camera roll. You can use this button to toggle between square and full-size images. From there, you can zoom in and out to choose the best crop for your photos.
But what else will this new feature bring about? Well, here are a few ways you can take advantage of this new addition:
1. Use the extra space to create drama
When your subject is running, flying or falling from one side of the frame to the other, a portrait or landscape photo can amplify the image’s sense of motion by creating visual space where the subject will continue moving. Subjects looking to the side, too, can continue to gaze farther across the image.
time.com
2. Get up close
Those beautiful rolling hills in the distance don’t have to be the only thing in the photo any more. The added height or width allows you to further dramatize your images through a low close-up shot that blurs the background and accentuates the foreground.
time.com
3. Play with composition and perspective
While Instagram’s prior square crop called for images to be centered, more space means more leverage for composition and positioning. Now, those shots can convey a sense of space that suggests the grandeur of a landscape or tension between subjects. Both vertical and horizontal photos can include more background without feeling cramped, providing greater context and breathing space:
time.com