How to Resize a Landscape Photo for Instagram

You’ve captured the perfect landscape photo - be it a sprawling mountain range or a serene beach at sunset - but when you upload it to Instagram, the app aggressively crops it, cutting out the best parts. It’s a frustratingly common problem. This guide will show you exactly how to resize your landscape photos so they look sharp, retain their quality, and appear on the feed exactly as you intended.

Understanding Instagram's Rules for Landscape Photos

Before you can fix the problem, you need to understand why it happens. Instagram is a visually-driven platform with specific rules about the size and shape of the images it allows. When you upload a photo that doesn't fit its rules, the app makes an automatic (and often poor) decision on how to crop it for you. The two main concepts you need to know are aspect ratio and resolution.

What is Aspect Ratio?

Aspect ratio is simply the relationship between the width and height of an image. It's written as a ratio, like 1:1 (a perfect square) or 16:9 (a standard widescreen TV). For horizontal, or "landscape," photos, Instagram has a preferred aspect ratio that allows the widest possible image.

• The Ideal Landscape Aspect Ratio for Instagram is 1.91:1.

This is the ideal number. Any photo wider than this ratio will be automatically cropped by Instagram. If your photo is less wide (for example, at a 16:9 or 3:2 aspect ratio), Instagram will accept it without cropping, but it won't fill the maximum horizontal space available.

What is Resolution?

Resolution refers to the number of pixels in your image, which determines its clarity and detail. Instagram has a maximum width it will display for any post, and resizing your image to this width gives you the best balance between quality and file size, helping you avoid the platform's heavy-handed compression.

• The Ideal Landscape Resolution for Instagram is 1080 pixels wide.

By pairing the ideal aspect ratio (1.91:1) with the ideal width (1080px), you get the perfect dimensions for a landscape Instagram post: 1080 pixels wide by 566 pixels tall. When you resize your photo to these exact dimensions, you take control away from Instagram's algorithm and ensure your photo looks perfect.

Why Sizing Your Photos Before Uploading Matters

Taking a few extra moments to properly resize your photos makes a significant difference in how your content is presented. It’s not just about avoiding a bad crop, it’s about professionalism and quality.

• You Control the Composition: You, the artist, decide what stays in the frame. Don't let an algorithm cut out an important element on the edge of your photo.
• Maximize Image Quality: When you upload a large, high-resolution photo, Instagram compresses it heavily, which can lead to a soft, grainy, or artifact-filled image. By resizing to 1080px wide yourself, you apply a much more controlled compression, preserving more detail and sharpness.
• A Consistent and Professional Feed: Consistently posting well-formatted images gives your grid a polished, professional look. It shows attention to detail and respect for your own work.

How to Resize Landscape Photos: Step-by-Step Guides

You don't need to be a professional photo editor to get this right. Whether you're on your phone or computer, there are excellent free and paid tools to help you resize your images perfectly. Here’s how to do it with some of the most popular applications.

Method 1: Using Adobe Lightroom (Desktop and Mobile)

Lightroom is the industry standard for photo editing and organizing, and it makes cropping and exporting for Instagram incredibly simple. The process is similar for both Lightroom Classic (desktop) and the Lightroom Mobile app.

1. Open the Crop Tool: Import your photo into Lightroom. In the Develop module (desktop) or at the bottom of the screen (mobile), select the Crop tool.
2. Set the Aspect Ratio: Next to "Aspect," you'll see a dropdown menu. Click it and select "Enter Custom..." For the custom ratio, enter 1.91 to 1. The crop overlay will immediately snap to the correct shape.
3. Re-Compose Your Shot: Drag the crop box around your image to frame the exact composition you want. All the important elements should be inside the box. You can also drag the corners to resize the box, but the 1.91:1 shape will remain locked. Once you're happy, press Enter or click "Done."
4. Export with the Right Settings: This is the most important step for quality. Go to File >, Export.
   • Image Format: Choose JPEG.
   • Color Space: Set to sRGB (the standard for the web).
   • Quality: Drag the slider to around 76-80. This provides a good balance of quality and file size, preventing heavy re-compression by Instagram.
   • Image Sizing: Check the "Resize to Fit" box. From the dropdown, select "Width &, Height." Uncheck the Height box and leave the Width box active. Enter 1080 into the "W:" field. This will set the width to exactly 1080px, and Lightroom will automatically calculate the height (566px) based on your crop.
   • Resolution: Set this to 72 pixels per inch, which is standard for web images.
5. Click Export: You now have a perfectly sized image ready for Instagram.

Method 2: Using Snapseed (Free Mobile App)

Snapseed is a powerful and free photo editor from Google that is perfect for on-the-go resizing. It just takes a couple of quick steps.

1. Open Your Photo: Launch Snapseed and tap anywhere to open your landscape photo from your camera roll.
2. Select the Crop Tool: Tap on "Tools" at the bottom of the screen to open the menu, then select "Crop."
3. Choose the Aspect Ratio: On the bottom toolbar, tap the aspect ratio icon (it looks like a box with arrows). Scroll through the options until you find 16:9. While not the perfect 1.91:1, 16:9 is a standard widescreen format that Instagram accepts without vertical cropping and is the closest option available in Snapseed for a wide landscape. For more precision, you would need a different app that allows custom aspect ratios.
4. Adjust the Frame: Drag the crop box to frame your photo. Once it looks good, tap the checkmark in the bottom right corner to apply the crop.
5. Export and Resize: Tap "Export" at the bottom of the screen. In the export menu, choose "Export" (not "Save" or "Export As"). This will create a new, resized copy of your file. Go to settings within the Export menu and set the image sizing to max out at 1080px horizontally. Snapseed does a good job of optimizing for sharing.

Method 3: Using Canva (Free Online Tool)

Canva is a fantastic free web-based tool that makes it incredibly easy to create posts with the exact dimensions you need.

1. Create a Custom Design: On the Canva homepage, click the "Create a design" button in the top right corner. At the bottom of the dropdown menu, select "Custom size."
2. Enter the Instagram Dimensions: A box will appear asking for width and height. Enter 1080 px for the width and 566 px for the height. Click "Create new design."
3. Upload Your Photo: You now have a blank canvas with the perfect dimensions. On the left-hand menu, go to "Uploads" and upload your landscape photo.
4. Position Your Photo: Once uploaded, drag your photo onto the blank canvas. It will likely be much larger than the canvas itself. Double-click the photo to enter cropping/panning mode. You can drag the photo left or right and resize it to perfectly fit the frame. This gives you complete manual control over the composition.
5. Download Your Image: Once you are happy with the framing, click the "Share" button in the top right. Select "Download," choose JPG as the file type, and make sure the quality is set to around 80. Click "Download," and your perfectly sized photo is ready to go.

The "No Crop" Hack: Posting Ultra-Wide Panoramas

What if your image is a super-wide panorama and cropping it to 1.91:1 would ruin the photo? You can use a classic workaround: adding borders to fit it into a friendlier aspect ratio. By placing your panoramic photo inside a taller frame (like a 4:5 vertical post), you can display the full width.

This method, often called "letterboxing," adds blank space above and below your image.

How to Do It in Canva:

1. Create a Vertical Canvas: In Canva, create a new custom design with the dimensions of a vertical post: 1080 px wide by 1350 px tall. This is the optimal 4:5 aspect ratio.
2. Set a Background Color: Click on the blank canvas and choose a background color (white, black, or a color that complements your photo).
3. Place Your Panorama: Upload your ultra-wide landscape photo and drag it onto the vertical canvas.
4. Resize and Center: Shrink the photo down until the entire width is visible within the frame. Center it vertically, leaving you with clean borders on the top and bottom.
5. Download: Export this new image. When you upload it to Instagram, the app will see a perfect 4:5 image and won't crop anything. You will have successfully shared your full panoramic photo.

Final Thoughts

Getting your landscape photos to look right on Instagram comes down to taking control before you upload. By cropping to a 1.91:1 aspect ratio and resizing to 1080 pixels wide, you ensure that the platform displays your work precisely as you envisioned, free from awkward crops and harsh compression.

Perfecting your individual images is just one part of building a great social presence. Once your content is ready, we know that planning and reliably scheduling it across multiple platforms can be a challenge. At Postbase, we built our tool to solve that exact problem. It’s a clean scheduler with a visual calendar that just works, especially for short-form video and the formats that matter today, helping you plan your content with confidence and get hours back in your week.