How to Resize a Photo for Instagram Using Adobe Photoshop CS

This is a tutorial designed for people who wish to be able to properly display their photos through instagram without cropping the photo down! This tutorial uses Adobe Photoshop CS6.

For those of you wondering, this is the link to the photo I used in this example - https://www.flickr.com/photos/stefanm/14941497192... .

ENJOY!

- Stefan Mladjenovic
(https://www.flickr.com/photos/stefanm/)

***EDIT: I MADE A YOUTUBE VIDEO WHICH MAY BE MORE HELPFUL - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJnce2na-Yc ***

Do not create a new document or anything else, just simply drag the image file into Photoshop.

For those of you wondering, this is the link to the photo I used in this example - https://www.flickr.com/photos/stefanm/14941497192/ .

To unlock the background layer, simply double click on the layer (located to the right of the screen, in the layers panel).

Next, from the image menu select "Image Size..."

Image -> Image Size...

Instagram only allows users to upload perfectly square images. The dimensions of such image is 612 by 612 pixels. So, in order to fit into these dimensions we must resize our photo.

If your photo is in landscape (horizontal) orientation, then set the width to 612 pixels and leave the height dimension alone.

If your photo is in portrait (vertical) orientation, the instead set the height to 612 pixels and leave the width dimension alone.

Make sure that at the bottom of the window scale styles, constrain proportions and resample image are selected.

Also from the drop-down menu at the bottom, change Bicubic Automatic to Bicubic Sharper.

Next, from the image menu select "Canvas Size..."

Image -> Canvas Size...

Instagram only allows users to upload perfectly square images. The dimensions of such image is 612 by 612 pixels. So, in order to fit into these dimensions we must resize our photo.

If your photo is in landscape (horizontal) orientation, then change the height to 612 pixels and leave the width dimension alone.

If your photo is in portrait (vertical) orientation, then change the width to 612 pixels and leave the height dimension alone.

Make sure that the Relative checkbox remains unchecked.

To add a new layer, select the new layer button from the bottom-right hand side of the layers panel. It is highlighted in the demonstration image.

We will now drag the new layer to the bottom of the document. This is to make sure that the border will remain underneath the image and will not be placed over the image.

Now, we must colour our empty layer to the desired border colour. To make a flat colour throughout the whole layer (as displayed), simply select the paint bucket tool (G key) then click anywhere within the working space of the document. Make sure that you are currently working on the background layer and not the image itself. IF the colour is not appearing, it is highly likely that you are not using the paint bucket tool, but rather the gradient tool. In this case, simply click shift-G until the paint bucket tool is selected, or left-click on the gradient tool in the tools panel then select paint bucket.

Next, if you wish you may watermark your photo.

Play with the opacity until it fits well.

Congratulations, you have successfully finished your resizing of the image!

This is how the image will look once finally resized and have proper dimensions.

The method I use to get my photos into Instagram is to simply email the photo to myself. I send the image from my computer, then download the image from my phone. Next I find the image in the image gallery and proceed to upload my image to my followers.

Great job everyone! If anyone has any questions feel free to message me on instructables or reach out to me via flickr!

Have a great day everyone and thank you for reading! :)

- Stefan Mladjenovic

(https://www.flickr.com/photos/stefanm/)