PHOTO COMPOSITION
Square, portrait or story: choose your running-card dimensions
Changing the canvas shape changes the crop, even when the photograph and running statistics stay the same.
Choose a shape for the image itself
The share-card maker offers three fixed canvases: square, portrait and story. These are export dimensions, not a promise about how every social service will display the result. A destination can add controls, crop previews or show a different thumbnail.
Think first about your photo. A wide landscape and a close vertical portrait need different framing. The preview uses a centred crop to fill the canvas, so some of the original photograph can sit outside the exported edges.
Compare the three canvases
| Format | Dimensions | Aspect ratio |
|---|---|---|
| Square | 1080 × 1080 pixels | 1:1 |
| Portrait | 1080 × 1350 pixels | 4:5 |
| Story | 1080 × 1920 pixels | 9:16 |
All three have the same width. Story has 840 more vertical pixels than square. That extra height changes both the visible photo area and the placement of the title and statistics. It does not create additional detail in a low-resolution source photograph.
Check the crop before checking the text
Use the share-card maker to switch formats, then update the preview. Make sure the runner, horizon or other important subject remains inside the crop. If the centred crop removes the subject, choose a differently framed source photo.
Next, check the title. A short title gives the picture more room and remains easier to recognise in a small preview. The maker fits text inside the card, but a long sentence can still be a less effective image title than a few words.
Verify the saved image
Download the PNG only after the preview reflects the latest values. Editing the form disables the download until you update it again, which helps prevent saving a card with stale distance or time.
Open the saved image and check its dimensions, crop and pace. Keep the original photo separately: changing the export format later should start from the original, rather than repeatedly cropping an already exported card.