Square photos have predominantly been seen as something of a retro thing, as people recall Polaroid-esque images through Instagram, but the photographic social network isn’t going to limit you to squares only from here on in.
From this week, in fact, you’ll be encourage to think outside the square, with Instagram adding support for landscape images, as well as portrait photos, no longer requiring you to crop a portion of the photo out.
The update will apply to video as well as images, with Instagram’s special colour filtration and effects still able to be loaded on top, allowing you to keep the same processing you’d normally use, but choose whether or not you want the square to begin with, allowing people to see more of the photo.
The only time where you’ll be forced to use a square is inside Instagram’s camera, which itself still uses the square format.
But if you take photos using your phone’s regular camera, you’ll have the choice of the photo’s original orientation — landscape or portrait — as well as still being able to choose the square, with the choice made available through a format icon found in the updated incarnation of the app, which should be rolling out to iOS and Android devices this week.
