Instagram photo question?

[Olivia]

i have an ipod touch, and when i go on Instagram i see my friends have photos of themselves and on the sides of the picture are strips of white, i wanted to know how to get the white sides, its almost as if they've taken the photo and before they uploaded it zoomed it out, it looks really cool, please does anyone know?

[Silas]

Okay not sure if this is what you're looking for but I'll try anyway. (I have an Iphone)

If I take a vertical rectangle photo and then upload it to Instagram I will usually have black on the sides of the photo because Instagram only publishes Square photos. So when you choose the photo you want to upload and "scale" it, the smallest it will go will be the full vertical photo with black stripes on either side of the photo where the square is not filled. Sometimes with horizontal photos (or even vertical) I'll have to zoom out (slide two fingers towards eachother on the screen) and take a screen shot at the same time - which can be kind of tricky - so that I can get a small enough photo that I can scale it to the correct dimensions that I want. I really hope this made sense, sorry if it doesnt.
As for the white, I'm not sure. Instagram usually has a black background, however I do know that one of the filters has a thick white border that will surround your photo.

again, hope this helps and sorry if it doesnt!!