--- title: Instagram’s New Photo Options: 4 Ways to Take Better Pictures description: The app's latest feature makes it easier to take landscape and portrait photos. How can you make the most of this new change? canonical: https://time.com/4013980/instagram-photos-app-horizontal-vertical/ author: Rachel Lowry article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-08-27T22:10:34.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:43:47.316Z og:title: 4 Ways to Take Advantage of Instagram’s New Photo Options og:description: The app's latest feature makes it easier to take landscape and portrait photos. How can you make the most of this new change? og:url: https://time.com/4013980/instagram-photos-app-horizontal-vertical/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6520928c0c1d7839/6988613ccd1bba759c6fcea7/11312451_1652594695026639_782297123_n.jpg?branch=production&width=596&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 596 og:image:height: 335 og:image:alt: 11312451_1652594695026639_782297123_n og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 4 Ways to Take Advantage of Instagram’s New Photo Options twitter:description: The app's latest feature makes it easier to take landscape and portrait photos. How can you make the most of this new change? twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6520928c0c1d7839/6988613ccd1bba759c6fcea7/11312451_1652594695026639_782297123_n.jpg?branch=production&width=596&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 4 Ways to Take Advantage of Instagram’s New Photo Options > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME In the Loop: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition In the Loop is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. Essential insights into the unfolding AI revolution. In the Loop makes sense of the ideas and technologies transforming how organizations operate, compete and communicate, with essential reporting, analysis, scoops and exclusive conversations. 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It publishes Tuesdays and Fridays and is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who writes TIME's In the Loop? Harry Booth, a tech reporter at TIME, writes In the Loop. #### Is In the Loop free? Yes. In the Loop is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-loop-2026q3/newsletters?i=11a76a12-b985-4513-9365-082b97043f53&cr=time-nl-loop-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Instagram Video in Landscape [Watch (HLS stream): Instagram Video in Landscape](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/J0cz9UeK.m3u8) (0:16)  _Published 2015-08-27. Instagram Video in Landscape_ by [Rachel Lowry](https://time.com/author/rachel-lowry/) ## Rachel Lowry Aug 27, 2015 10:10 PM UTC  Instagram by [Rachel Lowry](https://time.com/author/rachel-lowry/) ## Rachel Lowry Aug 27, 2015 10:10 PM UTC Instagram has rolled out its biggest change yet: users can now post landscape and portrait photos and videos. While the updated app offers obvious advantages to amateur photographers, these four simple tips might help you take better pictures: **1\. Use the extra space to create drama**When your subject is running, flying or falling from one side of the frame to the other, a portrait or landscape photo can amplify the image’s sense of motion by creating visual space where the subject will continue moving. Subjects looking to the side, too, can continue to gaze farther across the image. **2\. Play with composition and perspective**While Instagram’s prior square crop called for images to be centered, more space means more leverage for composition and positioning. Now, those shots can convey a sense of space that suggests the grandeur of a landscape or tension between subjects. Both vertical and horizontal photos can include more background without feeling cramped, providing greater context and breathing space:  Instagram **3\. Get up close**Those beautiful rolling hills in the distance don’t have to be the only thing in the photo any more. The added height or width allows you to further dramatize your images through a low close-up shot that blurs the background and accentuates the foreground. **4\. Emphasize leading lines**The classic sunset pic, with the horizon parallel to the ground, leaves a lot outside the frame when constrained to the 1:1 ratio. With the horizontal option, you have more room for “leading lines” — paths that reach towards the main subject of a photo, such as a road leading off toward a sunset — to make your beach at dusk or moonlit mountains that much more spectacular. ### See Instagram's Layout App in Action  Josh Raab for TIME  Josh Raab for TIME  Instagram  Josh Raab for TIME  Josh Raab for TIME  Josh Raab for TIME  Olivier Laurent for TIME ## Transcript [00:00] [ BLANK_AUDIO ] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4013980/instagram-photos-app-horizontal-vertical/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4013980/instagram-photos-app-horizontal-vertical/"},"headline":"4 Ways to Take Advantage of Instagram’s New Photo Options","datePublished":"2015-08-27T22:10:34.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:43:47.316Z","description":"The app's latest feature makes it easier to take landscape and portrait photos. 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