Split an image in 3 parts

Why three is the number people ask for

A profile is three columns wide. Three pieces fill exactly one row, and one row is the smallest split image that still reads as a split image.

The other half of the visitors are printing. A triptych is three panels of one picture hung with a gap between them, and it has been a way of framing a wide photograph for far longer than social media has existed.

A row across your profile

Three tiles at 1:1 fill the top row. The catch is the order — your newest post goes top left, so the panels go up right to left. The right-hand one first, the left-hand one last.

Theyre numbered that way already. Post 1, then 2, then 3, and dont let anything else go out in between, because theres no reordering a profile grid afterwards.

Printing a triptych

For a print, switch the shape to Original rather than 1:1. Three squares out of a wide landscape means throwing away the top and bottom of it, and a triptych normally wants the whole frame.

Panels	Paper	Hung with 3 cm gaps
3 × A4 portrait	21 × 29.7 cm	about 69 cm wide
3 × A4 landscape	29.7 × 21 cm	about 95 cm wide
3 × A3 portrait	29.7 × 42 cm	about 95 cm wide
3 × A3 landscape	42 × 29.7 cm	about 132 cm wide

Where to put the cuts

Two vertical lines land on your picture whether you plan for them or not. Faces are the obvious thing to avoid, but a cut through the middle of a word in a sign is worse — the eye tries to read it and stalls. Check the horizon is level too, it shows badly once it crosses three separate frames.

How to split an image in 3

1. Pick 3×1 for three columns, or 1×3 for three stacked bands.
2. Add your picture and drag it until the cuts land somewhere sensible.
3. Set the shape — 1:1 for a profile row, Original for a print, 4:5 for a carousel.
4. Download all three, then post right to left if they are going on a profile.

Questions