The Facebook Timeline update is probably the first UI upgrade in their history that hasn’t been met with barbaric uproar across the internets. It is pretty slick, after all. The flow of information is much cleaner and more importantly, the photos displayed on the Timeline are now much bigger. They almost rival G+, almost. One of the new features that I really like is the Cover Photo. The way it is placed, overlapped by the Profile Picture, makes for some pretty interesting options.
It is not too difficult to take some screen shots of the Cover Photo layout and figure out the dimensions and crops needed to make an integrated Cover/Profile art. But I already figure it out when I did my own, so I might as well share. Click to download a Photoshop Action folder to create yours.
The file above will download as a group of actions. There are actually two separate actions. The first creates a PSD with the dimensions that you will need. After you add your own photo, the next action will create the two separate images that you will need. If you have never used Photoshop actions, check out this tutorial on how to load and use them.
Once you have the “Facebook Timeline” folder loaded into the actions panel just follow these steps:
1. Play the “FB TIMELINE CANVAS” action.
- This action will create a canvas with the necessary dimensions for the next steps. The size of 1704 by 704 pixels is double the resolution I lifted off of a screen shot I took of a Facebook profile. I doubled the size of the canvas simply to insure enough resolution. It is still a small enough file, so the workflow and upload online shouldn’t stress your computer or your Facebook profile at all.
2. Open your the photo you want to use in another Photoshop window and drag it into your new canvas. You can also copy and paste an image or use any other method of inserting your picture.
- A note on the photo you choose: Keep in mind the wideness of the composition. It is way wider than anything I am used to working with. When I used my wake boarding photo I had to use Content Aware Scale to stretch the photo a bit so it would fit right. Also, remember where the profile picture will be located. The actions however make it simple enough for you to make multiple versions with different crops of your photos. Make a bunch and decide what works the best.
3. Once you have your photo positioned how you want it, play the “FB TIMELINE CROP” action.
- Woohoo! Check out that automation! If all goes well, you now have two separate images. A square Profile Picture and the rectangular Cover Photo. The action does not save either file, so that is up to you. If you want to save them for a later edit save them first as PSD’s. If not, just save them as full quality jpegs.
4. Upload each picture to its proper place on your Facebook Profile.
- All done! Go brag to all your friends because you have the coolest Facebook Profile!
Hope you enjoy, here’s some more inspiration: Get Creative With New Facebook Timeline Cover Ideas
Here I am:
I finally have enough room to store new photo/video files. And, the RAID hardware allows an automatic mirrored backup. I don’t even have to set a schedule on ChronoSync anymore.
Here is my camera hanging out of my bedroom window. It’s mounted on a magic arm to a shelving set up and then roped to my desk with some steel cable. I tethered via usb to my laptop so I didn’t have to lean outwards to take every frame.
And Here are the three original pictures that went into the composite:
