How to Quickly Adjust Image Aspect Ratios Without Cropping
These days, images come in hundreds of different digital and physical formats, making it more important than ever to be able to change the aspect ratio of your image. You might want to transform a landscape photo for vertical social media stories, or resize a portrait image for a horizontal banner. Maybe you need to fill some extra space in your scrapbook or cut down an image to fit a holiday card. In the past, the only way to change the aspect ratio of a photo was to crop it down to size. However, this method risks cutting out entire portions of your image, leading to lost details or awkward compositions.
These days, there’s an alternative method to cropping that keeps your entire image intact: Expand AI. This one-click tool intelligently scans and extends your image's background, letting you switch orientations from landscape to portrait – and vice versa – without sacrificing any details or resolution. In this article, we’ll show you how to use Expand AI to change the aspect resolution of any image, and a few scenarios where this method comes especially in handy.
Why Change Image Orientation With AI?
When changing the aspect ratio of a photo, traditional cropping often forces you to lose parts of your image, impacting the overall look and feel. Expand AI changes the game by extending your image outward rather than forcing your image to be more compact. This keeps most of your original composition intact while still allowing you to transform the orientation and aspect ratio. Just take a look at the difference below. The top image has been cropped, while the one underneath used Expand AI:
With Expand AI, you aren’t limited by choosing photos that were taken in a certain aspect ratio, which comes in handy whenever you’re creating designs or printing photos. You can easily change the size and orientation of any image for vertical social media posts, horizontal profile headers, and square profile pictures. For physical prints, you can use Expand AI to transform event invites, photo albums, wall art, and more.
Expand AI is also a particularly useful feature in digital marketing and advertising. For instance, you can take wide landscape shots and effortlessly fit them into vertical platforms like Instagram Stories, or transform portrait product photos into horizontal banner ads without losing essential details. You can also resize photos for flyers, postcards, posters, and other physical marketing materials. The tool can be used in a single click – just input your desired aspect ratio and you’re ready to go. This flexibility helps you smoothly adapt the same piece of content to dozens of platforms in minutes.
How to Change Photo Aspect Ratio Using Expand AI
Changing image orientation with Expand AI is quick and simple. Whether you're creating social media content, designing a wedding invitation, or quickly adjusting visuals for marketing materials, you can rely on Expand AI to generate a realistic background that makes contextual sense. Here’s how to change the aspect ratio of your images while keeping their original quality intact:
Step 1: Open Your Photo in Expand AI
Click this link to open the Expand AI tool directly. If starting from the Photo Editor, you can find Expand AI in the Edit tab.
Step 2: Choose a New Aspect Ratio
Select your desired aspect ratio and orientation. The dropdown menu presets are the most common aspect ratios found in social media and print. You can choose between presets for easy selection, or create a custom size. We’re going to print and frame this image as wall art, so we’ll choose a classic 8x10 ratio that’s perfect for printed photos.
Expand AI will instantly analyze and expand your image. If you’re not fully satisfied with the newly expanded background, click Generate Again to create a new one. You can also use the Fade Edge slider to adjust the place where the original image and AI-expanded background meet.
Step 3: Save Your Expanded Image
Once you're happy with your adjustments, just click Apply and then save your image using the Save button at the top of the canvas. We recommend saving as a PNG for digital use or a PDF for print.
Our image is now perfectly formatted as an 8x10 landscape image for use across multiple platforms, no cropping required! Using Expand AI here maintains the beautiful flowers in the background – and even adds new ones – instead of cutting them out.
More Creative Ways to Use Expand AI
Expand AI is perfect for creatively reformatting your images and repurposing your content across multiple platforms. Here’s some situations where it comes particularly in handy:
Turn Landscape Shots Into Instagram Stories
Have amazing horizontal or panorama travel shots? Expand AI can easily transform these into a vertical format for your Instagram Story without losing any of the impact of the original photo. Combine your landscapes with these editing tips for a social media post that’s guaranteed to grab attention.
Use Portrait Product Photos for Banner Ads
Portrait product photos often don't work for horizontal banner ads. Expand AI solves this by filling in the sides naturally, creating banners without compromising your product details. You can also create banners and headers for your personal social media.
Create Easy Email Headers and Slideshows
Need visuals that can be added seamlessly to email headers or slideshow presentations? Expand AI can adapt your images to fit these formats exactly, making it easy to drag and drop them into place.
Perfect Your Images for Any Platform With Expand AI
With BeFunky's Expand AI, changing image orientation from landscape to portrait or portrait to landscape is easier than ever. This frees you from the limitations of traditional cropping and allows you to quickly repurpose content for multiple uses. Upgrade your photo editing today with Expand AI!
