Thread: Why are my pictures sideways?

There are few things more annoying than posted pictures that are sideways. With the now ubiquitous use of smartphones this is fast becoming a widespread problem. When a picture is taken with a smartphone it is typically saved in the age old standard of the longest dimension being horizontal. When you view it on the phone you simply turn the phone and hold it vertical. So easy and simple most people don't even realize they're doing it. It's not quite so easy to flip a monitor sideways.

So, to help prevent twisted necks please use a photo editing program to rotate your pictures so they display in the proper orientation, then post them.


Java "Crick in his neck" phile



Edited in later

Different cameras/phones store pictures they've taken differently. In the exif data the width and height specs are given. The forum software orients the image according to that data. Most newer cameras/phones will correctly state the dimensions of an image based on the orientation of the camera/phone when the picture was taken. Some however state the largest dimension of the image as it's width regardless of how the camera/phone was oriented when the picture was taken and add a portrait/landscape exif tag. In those cases the image will display as sideways when uploaded.

If your camera/phone does this to have your pictures displayed properly take the picture oriented so width is greater than height or use any of the vast number of picture editing programs/apps out there to rotate the image prior to uploading.