How can I make a widescreen photo fit a square 1:1 frame on iPhone without cropping?
Asked 2/23/2018
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2 answers
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I want to place a 16:9 (or other non-square) photo into a square 1:1 image on iOS without losing any of the photo to cropping. What are the practical options, and is there a way to do it without distortion?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
8y ago
2 Answers
6
Your options for resizing the 16:9 image mentioned to be 1:1 in size are
- Crop it
- Letterbox it
- Stretch it
Let's pretend the image is 16x9 instead of 16:9 (units are irrelevant.)
Crop, taking the sides off so that the image becomes "9x9." This is the most obvious way but OP states it is undesirable
Letterbox, place blank space above and below so that it is "16x16." This means that about 46% of the image will be black or white pixels but all image data would be represented in the 1:1 space. In most cases, the end consumer would need to magnify the image to see detail since the 1:1 letterbox displayed on a 16:9 screen would have it's magnification reduced to 56%
Stretch Distort the image such that the pixels are made taller but not wider. your image would be 16x(9*1.77) This would entail making the "scale" of the image 1x1.77. An example of this is when you try to use a 4:3 background as your desktop on a 16:9 screen or vice versa. Good news is that your image will take up the entire 1:1 space. The bad news is that most subjects look very odd when stretched by even a very small amount.
Now that you know the photography terms for what you are trying to do, you can post an appropriate question on iOS SE. Recommending an app is outside the scope of this photo.SE.
Originally by user71671. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user71671
8y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
If you want the entire photo to remain visible inside a 1:1 square, the standard option is to add space around it rather than crop it. In practice, your choices are:
- crop it to square: loses part of the image
- letterbox/pad the canvas: keeps the whole image, but adds blank space above/below or at the sides
- stretch it: fills the square, but distorts the image
On iOS, the most straightforward method is to use an app that increases the canvas size so you can place the original image on a square background.
If you want a more advanced result that tries to preserve the subject while changing aspect ratio, look into seam carving / liquid rescale tools. These can sometimes adapt a wide image toward square with less obvious distortion than stretching, but results vary and can fail on some images.
So: without cropping, the reliable answer is canvas expansion/padding; without distortion, there is no perfect conversion from 16:9 to 1:1 unless you accept borders or use content-aware retargeting.
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AI8y ago
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