When you try to upload a photo captured on any smartphone to Instagram, you might have noticed that the photo doesn"t fill the entire Instagram post, causing those annoying borders. This is because Instagram expects photos in a 4:5 aspect ratio, while modern smartphones capture images in a 4:3 or 16:9 aspect ratio. When you upload photos, Instagram either crops them to fit or adds white borders to maintain the original photo if you choose the "Fit" option.
To solve this common problem, the Instagram team is now testing a new feature called "Expand your image." This new feature uses Generative AI diffusion models to expand the edges of your photo to fill an Instagram Story. Meta"s AI model can analyze the picture you are uploading and expand the image with appropriate content. As you can see from the image below, Instagram was able to extend the image by generating images of a tree on the top and a human hand at the bottom.
While the new "Expand your image" feature performed impressively in the above photo, it may not work well in all scenarios. However, with the rapid improvements in AI, we can definitely expect it to get better over time.
While this new feature is exciting, Instagram already offers several AI image editing features for its users. The Restyle feature allows users to reimagine their images by applying the visual styles they describe. For example, they can transform their pictures with prompts like "watercolor," "collages from magazines and newspapers, torn edges," and more. The Backdrop feature changes the scene or background of an image using prompts like "put me in front of a waterfall" or "surrounded by cats".
Any image created using AI on Instagram will be indicated by a watermark on the bottom left so that people can identify it among human-generated content.
Source and Image Credit: Sam Sheffer