Make and post a grid
Choose the photo
Pick one with the main subject near the middle and some detail in every part, so no tile is just empty sky.
Split it into tiles
Open the free Instagram grid maker, choose 3:4 tiles and 1 to 5 rows. It numbers the tiles in posting order.
Unpin posts
Pinned posts sit at the top of your grid and push the picture out of line. Unpin them before you start.
Post tile 1 first
Post tile 1 (the bottom-right piece), then 2, 3 and so on, without posting anything else in between. The top-left piece goes last.
Why 3:4 tiles?
Instagram's profile grid shows posts as 3:4 rectangles. Square tiles still work, but the grid crops their left and right edges, so the picture no longer lines up perfectly. Posting 3:4 tiles avoids that.
| Rows | Posts | Full picture at 3:4 tiles |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | 3240 × 1440 px |
| 2 | 6 | 3240 × 2880 px |
| 3 | 9 | 3240 × 4320 px |
Keep it working after you post
- Every new post shifts the grid by one place. To keep the picture together, post in multiples of three.
- In the feed, followers see one tile at a time. Give each tile a caption that makes sense on its own and invites people to check your profile.
- Want each tile to be more than a fragment? Make every post a carousel whose first slide is the tile and whose next slides tell the story, for example with Glassy.