Prepping Photos for Instagram Posts

[DannySands]

Hi PP Community. I posted this question a year ago without getting a response so wanted to ask again. I’d like to use photos that I already have and prepare them for Instagram. This requires resizing them, of course, and changing resolution. Ideally I’d like to do this via the Photos extension.

I do see that I can create a new file using canvas sizes set for IG (thank you, Pixelmator team). However how do I start with an existing photos, that may be proportioned differently, and create a cropped, re-proportioned, and downscaled image for IG? I tried playing with preset cropping formats and with image resize and trim but I can’ seem to get it right.

Can anyone tell me the best workflow for re-proportioning images to a specific dimension?

Thanks.

Danny

[EllenM]

Not in Photos.app unfortunately. I´d use one of the 4 IG templates and drag+drop images directly from Photos onto the Pixelmator Pro template and work+export from there then.

[DannySands]

Thanks EllenM. I'm willing to accept not doing it in the app. But I'd like more details on your instructions.

Example:

I have a 1301 x 610 landscape I want to crop to a smaller square photo for IG. I want to get the resize and crop just right.

What you have told me is:

1. File-New and choose the IG template
2. Drag photo into the layers above the template

That part is fine, but then PP has just chosen a section from the middle of the photo to include in the new square image. I see how I can drag that layer around to change which section is selected, but how do I see an overview of the photo, select the best part of the image, and resize it to maximize the viewable part of my landscape photo?

[EllenM]

I guess you want to see the "whole" picture - not just the square.
In this case you might not need a template: just drag the image onto Pixelmator Pros app icon - call the Crop tool and use a custom size of 1080x1080px for instance:

Apply and export. Like so?

[DannySands]

That’s helpful. But, as in your example image, how would I scale it down so I can include more of the picture?

[EllenM]

I guess we can´t have anything - but I for sure was expecting your question.
Best guess from my experience (I´m relatively new to Pixelmator Pro) is to call "Crop" (C) and go for "Square" - wherever you click&drag it stays 1:1. Once satisfied with content hit "Apply". To avoid any further resampling on the target site you need to adjust image size before exporting.

[DannySands]

Thanks for your help EllenM.

Can anyone else advise me on best workflow to scale or resize an image to fit a template of a different proportion?

[Aurelija]

Thanks for your help EllenM.

Can anyone else advise me on best workflow to scale or resize an image to fit a template of a different proportion?

The following may not be the best method (I, personally, would probably use the one EllenM suggested), but perhaps it helps:

1. Create a blank document from an Instagram template
2. Using the Slice tool (K), make a slice of the current canvas
3. Using Rulers (Command-R) add guides at each of the canvas edges (just click and drag from the top and the left rulers)
4. Hide the white background layer and insert your image
5. Choose Image > Reveal Canvas and using the Arrange tool, resize and position your image
6. Press K again and export your image

You can save this template (the slice and the guides) as a PXD file or as a project in Photos to save yourself a few steps the next time you need to perform an export like that.

[EllenM]

It would be absolutely lovely if we could scale content while maintain absolut size while using the crop tool like so perhaps:

Once enabled it will prompt scale handles and make the whole image visible with some transparency.

[Aurelija]

That's one of the possible solutions. I suspect there could be some problems with rotated images or images that are cropped just slightly but it's an interesting idea nevertheless.

[EllenM]

Well - call it Transform then.

[DannySands]

Hi Aurelija. I don't think I understand the purpose of the Slice tool in this context. What I'm really having a problem with is resizing a photo and choosing the best part of it. I can resize it but I need be able to see the underlying template layer I'm sizing to. When I use the Arrange tool I have no visibility into the template size because my image layer is covering the template. Reveal Canvas doesn't help with that.

Perhaps I'm missing something?

The following may not be the best method (I, personally, would probably use the one EllenM suggested), but perhaps it helps:

1. Create a blank document from an Instagram template
2. Using the Slice tool (K), make a slice of the current canvas
3. Using Rulers (Command-R) add guides at each of the canvas edges (just click and drag from the top and the left rulers)
4. Hide the white background layer and insert your image
5. Choose Image > Reveal Canvas and using the Arrange tool, resize and position your image
6. Press K again and export your image

You can save this template (the slice and the guides) as a PXD file or as a project in Photos to save yourself a few steps the next time you need to perform an export like that.

[Aurelija]

Hi Aurelija. I don't think I understand the purpose of the Slice tool in this context. What I'm really having a problem with is resizing a photo and choosing the best part of it. I can resize it but I need be able to see the underlying template layer I'm sizing to. When I use the Arrange tool I have no visibility into the template size because my image layer is covering the template. Reveal Canvas doesn't help with that.

Perhaps I'm missing something?

I assume since you want to crop images and fit them into a template, these images are larger than the template you're using? If that's the case, some sections of the image will remain hidden outside the edges of the canvas. Reveal Canvas will show those hidden sections. However, if you do that right after you insert the image, you'll lose the reference of the template — the canvas will be resized to fit the image. That's where the Slice tool and guides come in.

The guides will let you see the boundaries of the template after you reveal the canvas. In the meantime, the slice you create will let you export the image using the original template dimensions, without having to re-crop.

I've recorded a quick screencast to hopefully illustrate what I have in mind a little bit better: http://upload-cdn.pixelmator.com/Instagram-Template.mov

And you can download the template file used in the video here.

Hope that helps!

[DannySands]

It's been awhile since we've discussed this topic and PXP has a number of new features. So let me again raise the question: what is the most efficient workflow to prepare photos for sharing on Instagram (taking into consideration their preferred photo sizes and resolution)?

Here is the workflow I've evolved:

1. Create New picture using one of the Instagram dimensions. That will be the Template layer.
2. Add a Photo layer containing the selected photo.
3. Reduce opacity of Photo layer to about 50% so I can see the underlying template size.
4. Reveal Canvas to see the whole Photo layer. Zoom out as necessary.
5. Reposition and resize Photo layer to align with the Template layer, retaining a good composition.
6. Crop as necessary. I created crop sizes for Instagram dimensions.
7. Trim canvas if needed.
8. Increase Photo layer opacity to 100%.
9. Use ML Super Resolution, if needed.
10. Export as Web Image.
11. Upload to Instagram.

Does anyone use a different workflow? Maybe one that is more efficient?

Thanks.