Hi. This is Marty from Blue Lightning TV.
I'm going to show you how to create a fun, creative Facebook cover picture
as one of many Polaroid snapshots of your favorite memories.
The Photoshop template that I provided to you gives you the flexibility to add, replace
and reposition your photos as often as you like.
The template is located in my video’s description of project files.
The top layer is a preview overlay, which allows you see how your cover photo art and
profile picture will look on your Facebook page.
The gray layer, "Cover Photo Here" will be replaced with a background image that you'll
ultimately place your Polaroid snapshots onto.
The "Profile Picture" layer will be where you place your profile photo into
and the layers below it will be where you'll place your meaningful photos.
Remember, you can add and/or relocate these Polaroids anywhere on your background.
Click the thumbnail of the "Cover Photo Here" layer to make it active.
If you're working on version CC or later, I'll show you the next step in a minute.
If you're working on a version earlier than CC,
find and open an image that you'd like to use for your background.
To place it into the Facebook template, press Ctrl or Cmd +A to select it and Ctrl or Cmd + C to copy it.
Open the template document and press Ctrl or Cmd + V to paste it into it.
To resize and reposition it, open your Transform Tool by pressing Ctrl or Cmd + T.
Go to a corner and when you see a diagonal, double-arrow,
press and hold Alt or Option + Shift as you drag it out or in.
Then, drag it to a location you like and press Enter or Return.
Merge your background image layer with the layer below it by pressing Ctrl or Cmd + E.
If you're working on CC or later, to replace the grey background with your photo,
go to File and Place Embedded.
Find your image, click it and click "Place".
Resize and position it.
Then, merge it with the bottom layer.
Open the "Profile Picture" folder and click the top layer to make it active.
Open a photo that you'd like to used for your Profile Picture using the steps that I showed
you earlier for the version of Photoshop you're using.
Click the chain-link icon to unlink the layer mask and the layer next to it.
Drag the layer mask next to your profile photo.
Make the layer below it active.
We'll trash or delete it, since we don't need it anymore.
To do this, if you're working on a version of Photoshop earlier than CS4, drag it to the trashcan.
If you're working on CS4 or later, just press the "Delete" key on your keyboard.
Make your profile picture layer active, open your Transform Tool and drag it over the area
of the template where you want it placed.
To angle the image, go to a corner and when you see a curved, double-arrow, rotate it.
Finesse its size and location and press Enter or Return to accept it.
Close the folder and open the "Polaroid 3" folder.
Make the top layer active.
Open an image you'd like to place into the top left Polaroid snapshot.
As before, unlink the layer mask, drag it next to your image,
make the layer below it active and either trash or delete it.
Make your image layer active and open your Transform Tool.
Drag it into the Polaroid template, rotate it, resize it and position it until you're
happy with its angle, size and location.
Then, press Enter or Return.
If you want to adjust the location and angle of the entire Polaroid including its white
frame, I'll show you how to do that after we've placed all of our images into the other
Polaroid templates.
Using the exact steps as you used for the top, left Polaroid, place your other images
into the rest of the Polaroid templates.
To reposition and/or angle your Polaroids, first make sure that "Auto-Select" is not checked.
Click back the chain-link icon to link the layer and the layer mask. Then, collapse the folder.
Now, you can reposition the Polaroid and angle it it by using your Transform Tool.
To reposition and/or angle another Polaroid, open its folder, activate the chain-link,
close the folder and make the layer active.
Repeat these steps for the remaining Polaroids.
Next, we'll save our Profile Picture and Cover Photo, so we can upload them to our Facebook page.
Click off the eyeball icon next to "Preview Overlay" to hide it.
Make the "Profile Picture" layer active and make a composite snapshot of your visual image
by pressing Ctrl +Shift + Alt + E on Windows or Cmd + Shift + Option + E on a Mac.
Open your Channels panel.
If you don't see it, go to Window and Channels.
Ctrl-click or Cmd-click the "Cover Photo CROP" channel to make a selection of its shape.
Go to Image and Crop.
Deselect it by pressing Ctrl or Cmd + D.
We're going to save it as a "Save for Web" image.
If your working on a version earlier than CC 2015, go to File and "Save for Web", however,
if you're working on version CC 2015 or later, go to File, Export and "Save for Web (Legacy)",
which opens the Save for Web window.
Save it as a JPEG with a High compression.
Optimized should be checked and make sure "Convert to sRGB" is also checked.
sRGB is pretty much the default color space everywhere you look.
Most browsers, applications, and devices are designed to work with sRGB.
Click “Save”.
Save it to your Desktop and name it "Facebook Cover art".
Then, click "Save".
Open your History panel.
If you don't see it, go to Window and History.
Click "Load Selection", which is just above "Crop".
This reverts your document to the time just before you cropped it.
Ctrl-click or Cmd-click the "Profile Picture CROP" channel to make a selection of its shape.
Go to Image and Crop.
Save it the same way you did earlier for your "Cover Photo Art".
The "Save for Web" window remembers the settings from the last time, so just click "Save".
Name it, "Facebook Profile Picture" and click Save.
As before, in the History panel, click "Load Selection just above "Crop".
Open your Browser and your Facebook page.
Click "Add Cover Photo".
If you see this message, click "OK".
Click "Upload Photo" and find your "Facebook Cover Photo" file.
Click it and click "Open".
There's no need to reposition it because the template I provided is perfectly sized for
Facebook, at least for the time being.
Click "Save Changes".
Click "Update Profile Picture" and click "Upload Photo".
Find open your Facebook Profile Picture"
and click "Save".
This is Marty from Blue Lightning TV.
Thanks for watching!