Modern smartphones are incredible cameras. Sure, the over-the-top multi-camera models like the iPhone 12 series are ridiculously good, but any high-level phone released in the last couple of years is more than capable of shooting awesome pictures.
Instagram controls how your photos are displayed, so there are a couple of hard limits you have to stick with. Every photo is 1080 pixels wide. This is a lot smaller than what your phone is capable of shooting, so you’ll lose some fine details when you upload your photos. People won’t be able to zoom in or read text.
How to shoot great Instagram photos
Also, every photo is cropped to a small, centered, 161-by-161-pixel square on your profile, so if all the cool stuff is at the edges or in the details, it won’t show clearly in the previews.
You don’t have to remember the specific numbers, though. When you upload a photo, Instagram will automatically resize it to the correct width and force you to crop it to an allowed aspect ratio. Just remember the app will:
- Crop portrait photos shorter than your phone can take them.
- Display landscape photos smaller than less-detailed images, because the width is fixed.
- Crop or cover anything close to the edges of your images.
Keep these notes in mind when you’re setting up your shots. You can always crop a photo tighter, but you can’t magically add details if you accidentally go too tight with your composition.
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