How to Post Multiple Pictures on Instagram with Different Orientations

Trying to post a mix of vertical and landscape photos in a single Instagram carousel is one of the platform’s most common frustrations. You line up your perfect shots - a tall portrait and a wide-angle landscape - only for Instagram to force an awkward crop on one of them, destroying your composition. This guide breaks down exactly how to post multiple pictures with different orientations in one seamless swipe-through gallery, with no weird cropping required.

Understanding the Instagram Carousel Problem

Before we get to the solution, it helps to understand why this happens. Instagram’s gallery posts, or carousels, apply a single aspect ratio to every photo and video in the set. That aspect ratio is determined entirely by the first image you select.

• If the first photo is a square (1:1), all subsequent photos - even if they were originally vertical or horizontal - will be forced into a square frame.
• If the first photo is a portrait (4:5), all other photos will be cropped to fit that same tall 4:5 frame.
• If the first photo is a landscape (1.91:1), Instagram will force all other slides into that wide format.

This is what leads to those frustrating moments when your stunning landscape shot gets its sides chopped off, or your carefully framed portrait is brutally cropped at the top and bottom. You’re forced to compromise the integrity of your photos just to fit them into the same post. But there’s a simple and effective workaround that pro creators use every day.

The Universal Solution: Padding Your Images

The secret to bypassing Instagram’s cropping restrictions is surprisingly simple: you make all of your images the same aspect ratio before you even upload them. You do this by adding "padding" or borders around the images that don't fit the desired frame.

For example, let's say you decide you want your entire carousel post to be square (1:1 aspect ratio) because it's a clean, safe format. To achieve this, you would:

1. Keep your square photos as they are.
2. Take your vertical (portrait) photos and place them onto a square background, which will add white or colored bars to the left and right.
3. Take your horizontal (landscape) photos and place them onto that same square background, which will add bars to the top and bottom.

The result? You end up with a collection of perfectly square images. Some contain vertical photos with sidebars, and others contain horizontal photos with top and bottom bars. When you upload these new, edited images to Instagram, the app sees them all as 1:1 squares and doesn’t need to crop anything. Your original compositions remain completely intact.

This technique can be applied to create a 4:5 portrait-oriented carousel as well, which is often preferred because it takes up more vertical real estate on the mobile screen. The principle is exactly the same: put every image onto a 4:5 canvas before uploading. Now, let’s see how to actually do it using popular (and free) tools.

How to Create Padded Images: A Step-by-Step Guide Using Canva

Canva is one of the most accessible and user-friendly tools for this job, and it’s available on both desktop and mobile. We’ll walk through the process of creating a square (1:1) carousel foundation, but the same steps apply for a 4:5 aspect ratio.

Step 1: Set Up Your Canvas in Canva

First, you need to create the square background where you'll place all your images.

• Open Canva and click “Create a design” in the top right corner.
• From the dropdown menu, select “Instagram Post (Square)”. This will automatically open a blank white canvas perfectly sized at 1080x1080 pixels. This is your template for every photo in the carousel.
• You can change the background color from white by selecting the canvas and choosing a new color from the color picker at the top left. White is classic, but black can create a more dramatic feel, and a brand color can reinforce your identity. For this guide, we’ll stick with white.

Step 2: Upload and Position Your Vertical (Portrait) Photo

Now it’s time to add your first photo - the tall one that usually gets cropped.

• On the left-hand menu, click “Uploads” and then “Upload media” to add your photos to Canva.
• Once uploaded, drag your vertical photo from the uploads panel onto the white square canvas.
• Canva will likely try to automatically fill the frame with your photo. Don’t let it. Instead, resize it down so the entire photo is visible within the square frame.
• Center the image so that there is an equal amount of white space on the left and right sides. Canva's smart guides (pink lines) will appear to help you find the exact middle.

You’ve just successfully "padded" your portrait-oriented image into a perfect square without losing a single pixel of your original photo.

Step 3: Download Your First Finished Image

With the image perfectly centered, it’s time to save it.

• Click the “Share” button in the top right corner.
• Select “Download” from the menu.
• Choose your preferred file type (PNG or JPG is fine) and click the purple “Download” button.

That’s the first image for your carousel done and saved to your computer or phone.

Step 4: Repeat the Process for Your Horizontal (Landscape) Photo

Now, you need to do the same for your wide shot. Don't start a brand new design, just modify the one you’re in.

• Delete the vertical photo you just placed on the canvas.
• Go back to your “Uploads” panel and drag your horizontal photo onto the blank square canvas.
• Resize and center the photo. This time, the white borders will appear at the top and bottom. Use Canva’s guides to make sure it’s perfectly aligned in the middle.
• Once you’re happy with the position, download this image just like you did in Step 3.

Continue this process for every photo in your planned carousel, placing each one on the same square canvas and downloading the final padded version. By the end, you'll have a folder of images that are all 1080x1080 pixels, ready for Instagram.

Step 5: Upload Your Padded Images to Instagram

This is the easy part. With your images prepped, the Instagram upload is seamless.

• Open Instagram and tap the “Create” (+) button.
• Select the “Select Multiple” icon (the layered squares).
• Tap on your edited, padded images in the order you want them to appear in the carousel.
• Because all of the images are already in a 1:1 aspect ratio, Instagram won't crop anything. You will see your mixed-orientation images display perfectly within their padded frames.
• Proceed with adding filters, captions, and hashtags as usual, then post.

Alternative Tools for Padding Your Images

While Canva is a great all-around choice, many other apps can help you achieve the same result. The core process is always the same: start with a new canvas of a desired size (like 1080x1080) and place your image on top of it.

• On Mobile: Apps like InShot, Snapseed (using the "Expand" tool), and CapCut (even though it's a video editor, its canvas tools are excellent for this) are fantastic for padding images quickly on your phone. Most have a "Canvas" or "Background" feature where you can select an aspect ratio and it will automatically add borders to your photo.
• On Desktop: For those more comfortable with advanced photo software, Adobe Photoshop, Affinity Photo, or the free web-based tool Photopea are perfect. The process involves creating a new document at your target size (e.g., 1080x1080px), using the "Place" command to import your image onto a new layer, and then resizing and centering it before exporting.

Creative Tips for High-Impact Carousels

Now that you know the technical trick, you can start thinking creatively about how you present your mixed-orientation photos.

1. Choose Your Aspect Ratio Strategically

We've focused on the square (1:1) format because it's the safest and most traditional. However, an even better option for audience engagement is the portrait (4:5) aspect ratio. A 4:5 post takes up more vertical space on a user's phone screen, making it more visually dominant and attention-grabbing. To do this, simply start your canvas in Canva (or any other editor) at 1080x1350 pixels. Your vertical shots will almost fill the frame, while your horizontal shots will have larger top/bottom borders. The final effect is polished and professional.

2. Get Creative with Border Colors

Don't feel limited to a plain white background. The "padding" you add is real estate you can use to your advantage.

• Black Borders: A black background can give your photos a premium, gallery-like feel and make colors pop.
• Brand-Colored Borders: Use one of your primary brand colors for the background. This is a subtle yet powerful way to maintain brand consistency throughout your feed.
• Gradient or Textured Borders: For an even more stylized look, use a subtle gradient or a light texture as your background. Just be careful not to create anything too distracting that takes attention away from your actual photos.

3. Tell a Cohesive Story

The ability to mix orientations is a powerful storytelling tool. It allows you to guide a viewer through a narrative more effectively. You could, for example:

• Show a full-body portrait of a person (vertical), then swipe to a wide landscape showing their surroundings (horizontal).
• Begin with a detailed close-up shot of a product (vertical), then swipe to see the product in a broader lifestyle setting (horizontal).

By removing the constraints of a single aspect ratio, your carousels can become much more dynamic and engaging. They can offer both zoomed-in focus and big-picture context in a single post.

Final Thoughts

To post multiple photos with different orientations - like portrait and landscape - in one Instagram carousel, you simply need to make them all a uniform aspect ratio before uploading. By using a free tool like Canva to place your photos on a square (1:1) or tall (4:5) background, you add padding that prevents Instagram from cropping your original images.

Prepping a perfect visual-storytelling carousel takes time and attention to detail. Once your photos are edited and formatted, you need a workflow that guarantees they get published reliably. At Postbase, we built our visual calendar and scheduling features to be rock-solid simple. You can drag and drop your carefully prepared content right onto the calendar and trust that it will go live exactly as planned, allowing you to focus on creating great content, not fighting with your publishing tools.