Resizing with Aspect Ratio

[Josie]

How is this photo?

[Alfred]

24 minutes ago, Josie said:

How is this photo?

It’s slightly compressed vertically, but I only know that because I have the original to compare it with. It looks quite natural.

[walt.farrell]

1 hour ago, Josie said:

This is one of my friends images and he filled his canvas in affinity designer with the image, I want mine to look like this

No, he didn't "fill the canvas" with that image. The canvas is the brown area surrounding the image, just like the swirly version that @Alfred showed.

You cannot make a rectangular image fill a square space completely. You must have something (brown, swirly, or whatever) around the image, or you must crop the rectangular image so it is square, losing some of the existing image. Or, you must distort the image, as you've tried so far.

[Josie]

This is what my friends photo looks like on Instagram and I want mine to look like as well, how do I do that?

[Alfred]

12 minutes ago, Josie said:

This is what my friends photo looks like on Instagram and I want mine to look like as well, how do I do that?

I presume you’re not planning to buy a blue double-breasted jacket and grow a beard! 

Please be more specific about your goal. Do you just want a blurred background, or is there more to it than that?

[walt.farrell]

8 minutes ago, Josie said:

This is what my friends photo looks like on Instagram and I want mine to look like as well, how do I do that?

1. Start with a photo that is square.
2. Or, start with one that is a rectangle, and place it's over another image that is square. ( @Alfred's suggestion above).
3. Or, start with one that is a rectangle but where you can crop it to a square without losing anything important, and crop it.
4. Ask your friend exactly how he did it (but it was probably one of the above 3 methods, as there are no others that I know of).

[Josie]

I want to know how to make my image fit to canvas so it covers the whole thing?

Thanks

[Josie]

My friend says he uses his computer and holds shift when he scales his photo. But I don’t have a computer I only have an iPad to use.

[walt.farrell]

3 minutes ago, Josie said:

I want to know how to make my image fit to canvas so it covers the whole thing?

You use one of the three methods I mentioned. You do not just grab a corner or edge of the image and just stretch it, as you seem to be trying. 

Or, there is another method I didn't mention: reshoot the photo with a different aspect ratio, or including more background so you can crop some of it out and end up with a square like you want.

[Josie]

Somewhat like this?

[Josie]

How do I make my photo look like this? Because this is perfect but it’s not turning out like that or what I want it to be.

[Josie]

And not like this?

[dmtp14]

this is a bit off topic, but as I recently followed a few threads of @Josie:

@walt.farell and @Alfred: your patience and willingness to share knowledge is outstanding...thank you for that!

[walt.farrell]

12 hours ago, Josie said:

My friend says he uses his computer and holds shift when he scales his photo. But I don’t have a computer I only have an iPad to use.

You don't need to hold Shift. 

1. Make a new document with the dimensions you want.
2. From the Document menu in Designer, Place your image.
3. With the Move Tool active, grab a corner node of your image and stretch it. It will automatically maintain its proper aspect ratio and will look proper, not stretched.

However, if you want a square result, this can only work if you start with a square image. 

Your friend used an image that was appropriate for getting a square result. Or he placed a rectangular image over a square background. Or he created additional background to a rectangular image, and then cropped to a square.

Your image cannot simply be stretched to fill a square without looking distorted. You will have to use one of the approaches that @Alfred or I have suggested.

[Alfred]

The image that looks like this

originally looked like this:

As you can see, it’s simply been cropped (mostly at the bottom but also slightly at the top) so that instead of having a 2:3 aspect ratio it has a 1:1 aspect ratio.