Photoshop: How To Split Images For Instagram’s Multi-Post Seamless Panoramas [Free PSD]
399K views 8,888 likes 512 comments
Jump to a step in the video (6)
Click a time to play the video from there.
Your choices stick across every tutorial on this device.
An Instagram seamless panorama splits one photo into square tiles that swipe together as a single image inside a carousel post.
Instagram recently added the capability of combining multiple photos in a single post. You can hack this feature to include multiple images of the same photo to create a seamless pano.
All you need to do is split your panorama into multiple images and upload them to Instagram as a single post to get a swipeable panorama.
By swiping left and right, you can view the whole image. The resulting image looks like this:
It’s a really neat effect, and it’s much more impressive than the squares of a single image.
This tutorial is all about how to split images for Instagram’s multi-post seamless panoramas.
Key Takeaways
- A swipeable Instagram panorama works by uploading several separate photo files as one carousel post, so Instagram’s own animation joins them into what looks like a single wide image.
- Instagram accepts up to 10 images in one carousel post, and every tile has to share the same square pixel dimensions.
- The Slice Tool is nested under the Crop Tool, and it exports every slice as its own file in a single pass through Save for Web.
- Building the canvas at 1,080 by 1,080 pixels per tile keeps every exported slice at Instagram’s preferred square resolution.
- Saving the sliced, guided canvas as a template means the guides and slices are already in place the next time a new panorama needs cutting.
- The most confusing part: the preview screen inside the Instagram app still shows a gap between tiles. The swipe only looks seamless after the post actually publishes.
Table of contents
- What You Will Learn
- Requirements
- Keyboard Shortcuts for the Instagram Panorama Template
- Making Your Instagram Panorama Template
- Setting Up Your Photoshop Document
- Divide Your Instagram Panorama Template Using Guides
- Slice The Document
- Place Your Photo Into Your Template
- Export Slices as Individual Files
- Upload the Individual Files To Instagram
- An Instagram Seamless Panorama in Action
- Free Instagram Panorama Template Download
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Conclusion
- Related Links
What You Will Learn
- How to build a reusable Photoshop template for an Instagram seamless panorama
- How to divide a canvas into equal columns with New Guide Layout
- How to cut one photo into separate files with the Slice Tool
- How to export every slice at once with Save for Web
- How to upload the sliced files to Instagram as one swipeable carousel post
Requirements
Before you start
- Photoshop 2018 (version 19.1) or the current version
Keyboard Shortcuts for the Instagram Panorama Template
| Action | Windows | macOS |
|---|---|---|
| Toggle rulers on or off | Ctrl R | Command R |
| Copy the slice name | Ctrl C | Command C |
| Paste the slice name | Ctrl V | Command V |
| Free Transform | Ctrl T | Command T |
| Hold to scale proportionally from the center while dragging a Free Transform handle | Alt Shift | Option Shift |
| Cancel the current transform | Esc | Esc |
| Confirm a transform or crop | Enter | Return |
| Switch to the Move Tool | V | V |
| Center a dragged layer in the canvas while dropping it | Shift | Shift |
Making Your Instagram Panorama Template
To save yourself time in the future, create a Photoshop template file. Re-use it any time you want to post a seamless panorama on Instagram.
You can follow along to see how I created the template, or you can scroll down and download a free Photoshop template to slice photos for Instagram.
There are multiple ways you can split up a panorama into square tiles, but the best method is to use the Slices feature in Photoshop.
Slices allow you to break up an image into multiple pieces and easily save them as separate files.
Setting Up Your Photoshop Document
Go to File > New.
Enter a width of 1,080 pixels and a height of 1,080 pixels.
Instagram works best with square images, and the maximum image size that you can use is 1080 by 1080. Also use the sRGB color profile, which is the color profile that Instagram will use.
This action creates a square canvas, which is the basis for the Photoshop template we’re making.
Now you have to think about how many images you want to use for your seamless pano. The maximum number of images that you can upload to a single post on Instagram is ten, but for this tutorial, we will use only four.
Go into Image > Canvas Size, then click on the center arrow pointing to the left. This will extend the canvas to the right side.
Now you have to think about how wide you want to make the canvas.
You don’t have to do any math, because you can change the Pixels dropdown to Percent, and then type in the percentage that you want.
To have a four image panorama, type 400% in the width box because you want the canvas four times as large to fit the four slices.
Divide Your Instagram Panorama Template Using Guides
Then go into View > New Guide Layout, and under Columns, type 4.
Make sure that nothing else is selected, except for “Clear existing guides,” which will remove any guides that you already have on your canvas.
After you create your guides, your canvas should look something like this:
Slice The Document
Now you’re going to use a tool that you probably have not used before. Nested under the Crop Tool, select the Slice Tool.
The Slice Tool is used heavily in web design, and it allows you to cut up an image so that you could save multiple documents out of a single image.
You can click-and-drag, and follow the guides to create a slice out of the first box. Each of the pieces that you cut up with the slice tool will become a new document.
Keep following the guides and make slices along with the four columns.
When you have sliced the four boxes, you should see four blue labels on the top left of each box. The labels are numbered from 1 to 4.
With the Slice tool active, you can double-click on each slice to bring up the Slice Options. In this dialog box, you can name your slice. It’s a good idea to name your slices because the name of the slice will also be the name of the file when you export.
You can call your first slice “Instagram Seamless Pano 01,” and then change the number with the other slices.
Place Your Photo Into Your Template
Place your image in your working document. There are several ways of doing this, but one easy method is to go to File > Place Embedded.
If you need to transform your document, press CtrlT (Windows) or CommandT (macOS) to fit your panorama in the template.
Tip: Hold AltShift (Windows) or OptionShift (macOS) while dragging a corner handle to scale the photo proportionally from the center instead of stretching it. See Bring Back The Shift Key Proportional Scale and Transform for more on this behavior.
Once you fit the image in your template, you can export your images.
Export Slices as Individual Files
When you’re ready to save, go to File > Export > Save for Web.
Make sure you have JPEG selected, and select maximum for the quality. Then click on Save.
The Save Optimized As dialog box will come up. Make sure that under Slices, you have All slices selected, and then click on Save.
This will save the four slices as separate files, that you can then upload to Instagram.
Upload the Individual Files To Instagram
Once the four images are saved onto your computer, all that you need to do is upload them to your phone so that you can create your Instagram seamless panoramas.
I like using Dropbox to get my photos onto my phone, but you can use any method that you like.
An Instagram Seamless Panorama in Action
Seamless Panorama! #photoshop #photoshoptutorial #panorama #photoediting #seamlesspanorama
A post shared by Jesús Ramirez (@jrfromptc) on
Free Instagram Panorama Template Download
If you don’t want to spend time making a template, you can use mine for free! Download it below!
Don’t forget to watch the video to see how it works!
Tip: Want another free, ready-made Instagram template? Try the Instagram 3D Pop-Out effect template next.
Practice Files
Download the free Photoshop template used in this tutorial, and start slicing your own Instagram panorama.
Frequently Asked Questions
Building a swipeable Instagram panorama starts with slicing one photo into equal square tiles using Photoshop’s Slice Tool. Upload the tiles to Instagram as a single carousel post, and Instagram’s swipe animation joins them into what looks like one continuous image.
Instagram allows up to 10 images in a single carousel post. Four images is a common starting point because it keeps each tile large enough to show good detail.
Build the canvas at 1,080 pixels tall and 1,080 pixels wide for each tile, using the sRGB color profile. For a four-image panorama, that means a working canvas 4,320 pixels wide.
The Slice Tool is nested under the Crop Tool in the toolbar. Click and hold the Crop Tool to see it in the flyout menu.
The preview screen inside the Instagram app is not seamless, even when the slices are correct. The gap disappears once the post is actually published.
Yes. Save the sliced, guided canvas as its own file and reopen it whenever a new panorama needs cutting. Each time, place a new photo and export.
This tutorial uses Photoshop 2018 or the current version. Older versions can still use the Slice Tool, but some dialog names and menu locations are different.
Export the slices with Save for Web, then transfer them to your phone with a cloud service such as Dropbox or Google Photos. Any transfer method works, as long as the files land in your phone’s gallery.
Conclusion
Splitting a photo into a seamless panorama takes one Photoshop template and the Slice Tool, and the same file works every time a new panorama needs cutting.
The technique is simple once the guides and slices are in place, and the free template above skips the setup step entirely.
Comment on the video with any question about building the template.
Selections and Masking Mastery
Complete course includes 2.5 hours of step-by-step lessons, 6 structured modules, downloadable practice files, and custom Photoshop brushes. Everything you need to master selections and masks in one place.
Keep going
Next, learn more Photoshop template tricks in 3 Photoshop Hacks You Probably Don’t Know.
Thank you for this post. Its very inspiring.
You’re welcome!
Jesus, your dedication to educate photographers is so selfless. I am grateful for your expertise and even more that you share it! Thanks for all you create!
Thank you, Shawnie!
download of free template doesn’t work 🙁
You need to rename the file name remove the letter T from the extension
This was a three-for-one. 1) The instagram stitching ended up being a little easier than I thought. I didn’t even think of using the slice tool. 2) Never used the content aware scale before. I tried it on a panorama of mine, with mixed results. I’ll mess around with it more to see it i can get it to work better. 3) I never knew you could save a file as a template and it opens as an untitled file, so you can’t save over it! And that concept works across all the Adobe Creative apps. Then, I looked and found out Microsoft Office has a similar template setting across their apps (Word, PowerPoint, etc)! I feel so informed now!!! Thank you!
You’re welcome, I’m glad it was helpful Brian!
Thank you very much for this helpful tutorial! I am finding that still after I am exporting them, there is still a seem. Am I doing something wrong?
Haley, have you tried posting? The preview before the actual post will show the seam.
Great tutorial. Thank you!
Wow this was such an amazing tutorial, it was super easy to understand and to follow!
I just actually just tried out your bokeh tutorial and this split seamless-panorama tutorial. I split my bokeh image and once I’ve put it on instagram, I can see a vertical line which is slightly different in contrast in the seamless panorama image. I was wondering if you know what error was the line?
Thank you so much for doing these photoshop tutorials, I feel like I’ve learnt a lot in this short time!
Hi from Buenos Aires, Argentina
Great tutorial!!! thank you for all what you share… so clear and useful.
Jesús, another excellent tutorial from you! Kudos to you for your time to educate us on the CC apps.
Thank you!
That’s Great! Thank you very much. Now how we can rejoin this split photos in one again?
I’m a beginner at photoshop.
Is there any way to “Lock” it so it don’t get messed up after uploading another image? Or do you have to upload 3 new images every time after posting this?
very awesome tutorial thank you! when i export it as a jpeg it still ends up as a gif in my folder??
Thanks, this is a great tutorial. I followed the same process to make a single image that would appear across 6 grids in Instagram (3wide x 2 high) but when I export the 6 slices only the first image saves as a JPEG and all others save as GIFs. Any advice on how to fix this?
Great video, Helped a lot
Thank you for your care
Absolutely amazing! Thank you!
.psdt! File. It’s not working or opening in PS
Jesus,
I find that when following the directions for export the slices get saved at the same time, but only one slice is saved in JPG format, while the remaining slices are saved in GIF format. How do I make it so that all slices are saved in JPG format at the same time?
Thank You!! What took me 2 hours trying my own method became 10 mins
For some reason mine exports a three part pano with two jpegs and one gif….what’s going on?
I know this is an old post, but I’m hoping you can help me. I build a template and downloaded yours as well. However, when using either one I get an unknown error when I try to export the slices using export for web. Any ideas of how to fix this?
Jesús,Your are a great Teacher.Thanks You So Much For Providing This Template.Keep Teaching.
Seriously the best post! Have been searching this type of info for a couple years. Finally explained!
Thank you so much for sharing! I have been trying to figure out this method for some time. Everything worked great for me until exporting – I am not sure if you will be able to help.
After selecting “save for web(legacy)” and choosing maximum quality jpeg, my files are still saving as .gif’s even though jpeg is selected. This causes a significant decrease in my image quality… Have you experienced this?
Thanks. really helped me in learning photoshop
i have 1000*550 px photo. how can i avoid bluring when i resize it to fit the canvas?
I am always post Instagram. Really very informative and effective photoshop tutorial,Thanks for sharing the post with us.
I have used this method before, just a pity that the new version of Photoshop have an error with the Export to Web function. Would love to have a work-around for this, just please not…. save all presents and go back to the previous version… Why then an upgrade if they take functionality away?
Hey Jesús,
I never comment on these things. But I just came across your tutorials by chance and I’m speechless. Just checked out a bunch of them, including the new 2021 features. Keep up the good work mate. You’re one in a billion.
Thank you, Darragh!
Hi Jesus, have you tried making it into 10 slices? In my experience, photoshop is reducing the size of the height when the time I’m exporting those 10 sllices. Is there any sugestion for this?
Thank you~
Hi there, thank you so much for this, it really does work. I ended with 3 images though. I sliced it into 2 images but when i exported, i got three, with a 1x1080px image along with the actual two. What might have i done wrong? Is that how it works? Thanks!
Thanks mate for your help, its so usefull this template.
You’re welcome!
You ROCK
Hey Jesus,
what a brilliant explanation – thank you so much !
Best to you
Daniel
Thanks, Daniel!
I have used this method to slice my seamless insta post. But when i export it using the save web option the quality degrades and the shadow that i used in the post messed up completely. I want to export 10 individual photos from one 10800×1080 size photo. Help!
Thank you for concise and clear instructions. I hate how Instagram make the pic quality worse. Any ideas on that?
Thank you, but unfortunately it didn’t work for me. In the final step, going to File -> Export, Export was grayed out. This is exactly why I prefer YT video tutorials – I can watch and go back; especially useful for parts that are not clear. Like in this article, I was ready to give up in the Setting Up Your Photoshop Document section as I couldn’t find the Image -> Canvas Size. Took a bit to realize you had moved on and clicked Create at the bottom. Some of us are quite literal, so if it doesn’t say to click something, it’s best not to, no?
Once again, thank you for the effort, but it didn’t work for me. I’ll keep searching.