The first thing that you need to recognize is that Instagram forces you to publish your photos in a square format, sized at 650px by 650px. The 2nd thing that you must understand is that you should export the pictures at the right size and resolution if you desire to keep the images looking sharp and of high quality. That indicates that they must be exported at 650px on the lengthy side.
For my workflow, I make use of Lightroom, Photoshop, DropBox, as well as Instagram to take care of all of the prep work as well as publishing. I've tried a few other methods to publish my pictures on Instagram, yet the adhering to workflow has given me the best and most constant results.
If you don't wish to experience the process that I follow below, and just intend to upload pictures without IG cropping your photos, there are applications that you can install on your smartphone like Squaready as well as InstaSize. I don't utilize either of those applications myself.
App To Resize Photos For Instagram
Tip One - Lightroom
The first thing that I do is process my pictures normally, as well as prepare them for exactly how I print them, or post them to my website. You could assess that procedure in previous messages in this same post-processing area. I will not repeat all that here.
As soon as you have actually do with all of your post-processing of the photos, then you can start selecting the photos that you wish to prepare for uploading to Instagram.
In the Library module, choose all of the photos that you want to publish to Instagram, and also create a new collection of them. You can call it anything that you like, yet I suggest that you utilize "IG" in the name, either at the beginning or completion, to make sure that you remember exactly what it is for.
As soon as you have chosen them, and have actually produced a new collection, you should undergo and also see if you can crop any of them to a 1-to-1 proportion. You can make use of the crop tool for that, as well as choose 1 × 1 as the ratio.
The ones that can be exported as 1 × 1 in proportion, can be refined entirely in Lightroom, as well as could utilize your normal watermark (I used mine on the instance listed below). These will certainly be exported at 650px x 650px.
The ones that are able to be resized as squares are easy, which is all you need to provide for them in resizing. For all of these, you can jump to Step 3-- DropBox, and avoid Step 2-- PhotoShop.
For the pictures that do not look good in a 1-to-1 proportion, you will wind up exporting these at 650px on the lengthy side, however without any watermark on them. See the settings listed below. I recommend that you export these into a dedicated folder. Once they are exported, you will certainly proceed to Step 2-- PhotoShop.
Step Two-- Photoshop
The whole factor of this action is to position your image on a 650px by 650px background, and to add your watermark to the bottom of the square. Doing it by hand is a tiresome process if you try to do it by hand, so I suggest that you execute a set process as well as utilize an activity to automate the process, which will make it straightforward to repeat over and over.
If you do not know how to create Activities in PhotoShop, you will certainly have to examine that initially. Once you comprehend the process after that the following guidelines will certainly make sense to you.
Your activity will should do the adhering to things in this order:
- Open your photo from your import folder and tons it to a layer. By default, it is loaded as a history. I replicate the history to a brand-new layer, and call it "car", leaving the opacity at 100%.
- Then it should open up Image > Canvas Size as well as established the elevation to 650px.
- Create a brand-new layer, as well as label it "black".
- Load the "black" layer with the black color utilizing the paint pail tool.
- Use File > Open to open your watermark logo design that you intend to position at the bottom of the photo. Place it on a brand-new layer as well as name it "logo".
- Move the "logo" layer listed below the cars and truck layer.
- Relocate the "black" layer below the "logo" layer.
- Shut the watermark that you previously opened.
- Conserve the completed 650px by 650px photo to a brand-new folder someplace on your disk drive (you will should have actually already developed this folder before developing the action).
- Close the documents in Photoshop.
When you have the action, you can open PhotoShop at anytime, and run the File > Automate > Set Refine command, and pick the folder where you have actually kept the pictures that were not currently at a 1-to-1 ratio.
Tip Three-- DropBox
When you have exported all of your images, you should obtain them approximately Instagram There are programs that enable you to publish from your COMPUTER to Instagram, yet I located that I had issues obtaining the hashtags to work properly when I used them, and also I needed to begin a new account to deal with the hashtag issue. The repair was to just continue to use my mobile phone as well as utilize the Instagram app to post the images, yet to do that I should have the pictures where my phone might access them. The most convenient method was to utilize DropBox to obtain the photos where my Instagram application might access them.
Go to DropBox.com and enroll in it. Download and install the application to your phone and also login to it. Use the DropBox.com internet site to upload your images to your on the internet storage. I suggest that you use folders to organize your photos. In my instance, I have a "Photos" folder, as well as inside it, I have an "Instagram Photos" folder. Inside that folder, I produce folders as I need them, in order to divide the photos right into smaller sized, simpler to view, areas.
Once you have actually uploaded a collection of images into DropBox, you await the following action, and that is to get your smart device as well as open up the Instagram app.
Tip 4-- Instagram
Now, you must already have the Instagram and DropBox apps on your mobile phone, and you are ready to publish one of your images on Instagram.
Open the app, and also click the blue switch in the middle of the icons at the bottom of the display. The take image display will pack, as well as in the lower left-hand edge, you will certainly see an icon that looks like a "landscape/mountain" icon (simply to the left of the "take a photo" switch). Click on it, and also it ought to prompt you to "Choose a Resource" for your photo, as well as the DropBox icon need to be shown as one of the selectable sources. Click it as well as you will see your DropBox folders and also files provided in a documents internet browser. Navigate to the image that you submitted that you wish to upload to Instagram and choose it.
From there, you publish it to Instagram similar to you would other image that you just took.
Step Five-- DropBox
This last action is not needed, however extremely recommended. In order not to lose track of just what you have actually submitted currently, you ought to return right into DropBox and remove the picture( s) that you have actually currently posted. This will make it easier over time to not post the very same photos multiple times.
Final thought
That's it, my whole procedure to preparing my pictures for Instagram. It's not complicated, yet adhering to these directions will make certain that you are uploading images in the best high quality that Instagram can sustain.