Should food photos be horizontal or vertical?

Oct 27 • 2022

Over the past few months in The Growth Collective (what’s that, you ask? Check it out here!), I’ve been seeing a lot of peeps wondering whether they should be taking horizontal photos or vertical photos.

So I thought I’d pop in your inbox and settle the debate once and for all:

90% of your food photos should actually be…

VERTICAL!

Think about it this way:

What are all the ways you use food photos online? The majority of them probably end up on Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, etc.

And on all of those apps, vertical photos take up 👏 more 👏 scrolling 👏 real estate! 👏

We’re all viewing these photos on our phones, so a horizontal photo takes up less space, aka viewers won’t end up looking at your photo for as long as they would if it was a vertical shot.

vertical vs horizontal food photos of pumpkin pie

Now, this isn’t to say there are ZERO uses for horizontal photos. They look great on websites as banner images or if a client needs some for a project.

But there are lots more applications for vertical photos!

So when in doubt? Go vertical.

Debate, settled. 😏