How to Post Tall Photos on Instagram

Posting a tall, vertical photo on Instagram without it getting cropped can feel surprisingly complicated. You frame the perfect shot, you love how it looks, but when you go to upload it, Instagram relentlessly forces it into a square, cutting off the top and bottom. This guide will walk you through exactly how to post your full-sized vertical photos, from understanding Instagram’s specific rules to using simple and free methods to prepare your images for a perfect, attention-grabbing post.

Why Tall Photos Are Worth the Extra Step

In a fast-scrolling world, every pixel of screen space counts. A taller, vertical photo simply takes up more real estate on a phone screen than a traditional square or landscape photo. When someone is scrolling through their feed, your larger image has a slightly better chance of stopping their thumb. It’s more immersive, more impactful, and feels more native to the mobile experience.

Think about how you use your phone. The vast majority of apps, websites, and content formats are designed for a vertical orientation. By embracing the 4:5 portrait aspect ratio, your content feels more modern and aligns perfectly with the dominant formats on the platform, like Reels and Stories. This creates a visually cohesive and professional-looking feed.

• Increased Visibility: More screen space means the user's eyes stay on your content for a fraction of a second longer, increasing the likelihood of engagement.
• Enhanced Impact: A full-length portrait of a person is more dramatic, a shot of a towering waterfall is more majestic, and a fashion look is better showcased when you can see the whole picture.
• A Modern Aesthetic: A feed with vertical images just feels more current and optimized for how people use Instagram today.

Instagram's Rules: Understanding Aspect Ratios

To master the tall photo, you first have to understand Instagram's technical limitations. The platform has strict rules about the shape - or aspect ratio - of the images you can post to the feed. Stray outside these rules, and you'll face the dreaded automatic crop.

What Exactly *Is* an Aspect Ratio?

Don't let the term intimidate you. An aspect ratio is simply the relationship between an image's width and its height. It's expressed as a ratio, like "width:height." For example:

• 1:1 means the width and height are equal, creating a perfect square.
• 16:9 is the standard for widescreen TVs and YouTube videos, it's much wider than it is tall.
• 4:5 is a rectangle that is slightly taller than it is wide. This is our target for vertical photos on the Instagram feed.

When you take a photo with your phone, its default aspect ratio is usually around 4:3 (a bit taller than wider) or 16:9 (if filming video), which don't perfectly align with Instagram's accepted dimensions.

The Most Important Numbers to Know

For the main Instagram feed, you're primarily working with three supported aspect ratios. Knowing these will help you control exactly how your images appear:

• Square (1:1): The classic Instagram format. A safe bet, but it doesn't maximize your vertical space. The ideal pixel dimensions are 1080px by 1080px.
• Landscape (up to 1.91:1): This is the widest you can go. It’s great for sweeping scenic shots but takes up the least amount of screen space in the feed. Ideal dimensions would be around 1080px by 566px.
• Portrait (up to 4:5): This is the golden ticket. It's the tallest aspect ratio Instagram allows for a single image post in the feed. The perfect pixel dimensions are 1080px by 1350px.

The key takeaway is that 4:5 is your maximum height. If you try to upload a photo that's taller than that - like a screenshot or a photo with a 9:16 aspect ratio (the standard size for Stories and Reels) - Instagram will force you to crop it down to fit within a 4:5 frame.

The Simple Way to Post a Tall Photo (Works 90% of the Time)

Sometimes, the fix is right inside the Instagram app itself. If your photo is already close to the 4:5 aspect ratio, you can often post the full version with just one tap.

Follow these quick steps:

1. Open the Instagram app and tap the + icon at the bottom to create a new post.
2. Select your chosen photo from your camera roll. By default, Instagram will likely show it as a cropped 1:1 square.
3. Look in the bottom-left corner of the photo preview. You'll see an icon that looks like two angled corners or a "frame" symbol (<, >,).
4. Tap this icon. This will "zoom out" the image to show its full, original aspect ratio.

If your photo is exactly 4:5 or very close to it, it will now fit perfectly inside the frame. If your photo is slightly taller than 4:5, Instagram will adjust it to fit the 4:5 constraints, which might still crop a tiny bit off the top and bottom, but it's often better than the aggressive square crop. This simple trick is the first thing you should always try. But what happens when your photo is way too tall and you absolutely cannot afford to lose any of it? For that, we need to prep the photo beforehand.

The No-Crop Method: How to Fit *Any* Tall Photo

If you have an extra-tall photo (like a 9:16 shot) and you want to post the entire thing without compromise, the secret is to add borders. The goal is to place your tall photo onto a 4:5 canvas, and then fill the empty space on the sides with a solid color (usually white or black). This way, the final image you upload is a perfect 4:5 rectangle, even though your original photo remains untouched in the center.

This sounds complicated, but dozens of free mobile apps make it incredibly easy.

Popular Apps for Adding Borders

You don't need expensive desktop software for this. A quick search in the app store will give you many options, but here are some of the most reliable and user-friendly choices:

• Canva: Incredibly versatile and easy to use. Perfect for creating a custom-sized canvas.
• Adobe Express: A powerful mobile editor from Adobe that has simple resize and background-fill features.
• InShot: Primarily a video editor, but its photo editing features include a handy "Canvas" tool for this exact purpose.
• Snapseed: Google's powerful photo editor has an "Expand" tool that can cleverly add borders to your image.

Step-by-Step Guide Using Canva (As an Example)

Let's walk through the process using Canva, since it's one of the most popular and straightforward tools for this job.

1. Open the Canva app and tap the purple + icon in the bottom corner.
2. Select "Custom Size" from the menu.
3. Enter the pixel dimensions for a perfect 4:5 Instagram post: Width: 1080 and Height: 1350. Tap "Create new design."
4. You now have a blank, perfectly sized canvas. Tap the purple + icon on the editor screen, go to your "Uploads," and add the tall photo you want to post.
5. Once uploaded, tap the photo to add it to your canvas. Use your fingers to resize and position it in the center. You'll see empty space on the left and right - these will be your borders.
6. Select the canvas itself (by tapping the empty background behind your photo) and choose a "Color" from the bottom menu. White or black are classic choices that create a clean, unobtrusive frame.
7. Once you're happy with the alignment and background color, tap the "Share" icon (an arrow pointing up) in the top-right corner, select "Download," and save the image to your phone.

That's it! You now have a photo file that is perfectly formatted to 1080x1350 pixels. When you upload it to Instagram, it will fit seamlessly in the feed without any cropping needed.

Tips for Making Your Tall Photos Stand Out

Getting the technical size right is a great start, but how do you make your vertical content truly shine? Here are a few best practices to keep in mind.

Think About the Grid Preview

Even though your photo will appear as a 4:5 rectangle in the feed, it will still be cropped to a 1:1 square on your main profile grid. Instagram automatically takes the center square of your image for this preview. When you're composing your shot or resizing it in an app, make sure the most important visual element - a face, a product, a focal point - is located in the middle part of the frame. This ensures your profile grid remains visually balanced and compelling, even when it’s not showing the full picture.

Follow Basic Composition Rules

A tall frame offers a great canvas for visual storytelling. Use composition techniques to guide the viewer's eye:

• Leading Lines: Roads, pathways, buildings, and staircases are incredibly powerful in vertical photos, drawing the viewer up or down through the narrative of the image.
• Rule of Thirds: Just because the frame is tall doesn't mean you should abandon this fundamental rule. Imagine your image divided into a 3x3 grid and place key elements along those lines or at their intersections for a more dynamic composition.

Maintain a Cohesive Feed Aesthetic

If you're using the border method, consistency is what separates a professional look from a messy one. Decide on a border color - be it white, black, or even a specific brand color - and stick with it. A consistent frame helps tie your entire grid together visually, even if the content of the photos varies. This small detail can make your entire profile look more deliberate and polished.

Final Thoughts

Posting tall photos on Instagram is a fantastic way to make your content more engaging and visually stop the scroll. It all comes down to working within the platform's 4:5 aspect ratio, whether you use Instagram's own resizing tool or a simple app to add borders for a perfect fit. That one small adjustment can make a huge difference in helping your posts grab attention in a packed feed.

Once you’ve mastered formatting your photos, consistently planning and scheduling them is the next move. We built Postbase with a clean visual calendar that actually makes planning content feel simple. You can see how all your posts - from tall photos to Reels - will look together, ensuring your feed is always cohesive. It’s designed to help you schedule content across every platform reliably, without the complex features of older tools that slow you down.