Member Photo Orientation

Why Do My Photos Sometimes Appear Sideways?

When you take a photo with your phone — like holding it sideways to get a wide shot — your phone doesn't actually rotate the photo itself. Instead, it saves the picture as-is and adds a little hidden note inside the file that says "This photo should be shown sideways" (or upside-down, or right-side-up).

That hidden note is called EXIF Orientation.

Most phones, photo apps, and websites are equipped to read that note and display your photo correctly. But sometimes:

• Your computer or a website ignores that note
• So the photo shows up sideways or upside-down, even though it looked fine on your phone

Best Built-In Option for Windows users

Use Microsoft Photos (already installed in Windows 10/11)

1. Right-click the photo
2. Choose "Open with" → "Photos"
3. Click the Rotate icon (top right, a circular arrow)

This rotates the image visually and lets you save it.

Using Microsoft Paint

1. Right-click your photo ➔ Click "Open with" ➔ "Paint".
2. In Paint, click "Rotate" (top menu).
3. Choose Rotate right 90° or Rotate left 90°, depending on what you need.
4. Click "File" ➔ "Save" or "Save as" (to save a new copy).

Another Method Using File Explorer

Here’s a trick using just Windows:

1. Right-click your image file, select “Properties”
2. Go to the “Details” tab
3. Look for the Orientation field
   • If it says something like "Rotate 90 CCW", that’s why it’s showing wrong
4. Now:
   • Open the image in Paint (Right-click → Open with → Paint)
   • Rotate it using Home → Rotate
   • Then: Save As → JPEG (give it a new name so you don’t overwrite the original)

Why this works: Paint actually rotates the pixels, not just the EXIF tag. This means the image will now appear correctly everywhere (email, web, etc.).

Mac Users

Use the Preview app:

1. Open the photo
2. Use the Rotate buttons (in the toolbar or under “Tools” → “Rotate Left/Right”)
3. Save the file (File → Export as JPEG)

This rotates the image effectively, but it also removes some EXIF data depending on how you export.