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Stephen Walton
As a photographer you can’t just whack a photo onto social media these days and expect it to look on point. Instead knowing the best sizes for images on social media will help you decide what to post, and where.
The sizes for images on social media differ from platform to platform. Getting the same image optimised for Twitter and Instagram for example require different crops to make the most of the native display of the app.
Therefore, you may need 2-3 versions of the same photo to render it at its best. I am going to show you the best sizes for images on social media.
• Cover Photos (that’s the area at the top of a profile) – 820px x 312px
• Profile Pictures – 200px x 200px
• Post Pictures – 630px x 1200px
Remember that portrait orientations fill the frame more when viewing on social media apps than horizontal photos.
• Cover Photos – 1500px x 500px
• Profile Pictures – 400px x 400px
• Post Pictures – 1024px x 512px
• Image for Instagram Stories – 1080px x 1920px (vertical for best display)
• Profile Pictures – 200px x 200px
• Post Pictures – 1080px x 1080px
We’ll never miss an opportunity to guide you on the best sizes for images for general photo uploads to websites too. Here are our recommendations for optimisation of your photos when posting to other websites.
• Smart Sharpen your pictures by 10%
• Convert to sRGB colour space (Save for Web Legacy in Photoshop).
• Resize photo to around 1500px on the longest side.
• Increase exposure / brightness by 5-10%.
• Oversaturate colours by 15%.
• Use the Bicubic Smoothen rendering.
• Convert to sRGB colour space.
• Resize photo to around 1500px on the longest side.
• Change the image resolution to 250 DPI.
• Retain 100% JPG quality
• Increase exposure / brightness by 5-10%.
• Oversaturate colours by 15%.
• Use High Sharpening for Screen.
Even if you aren’t using Photoshop or Lightroom to edit your photos, it’s best to keep the image size between 1300px – 1500px on the longest side.
Image: It’s best to crop your images for each social media platform before you upload them. This allows you to decide which images look best in different formats. Some may not work at all.
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