Google+ actually has two different templates you can choose from to set as your cover photo. One of them, the “Single Big Banner” pictured above. The other, a set of five smaller images pictured below.

I went ahead and created two different templates for you guys to use. One for the single big banner and another for the set of five small images. You can get them below.

Get ‘em both (ZIP) 12.8MB

Video

Tutorial

We’ll take a look at splicing this image into both the Cover and Profile images in Adobe Photoshop CS6 Beta. It’s available free to try over at http://labs.adobe.com/downloads/photoshopcs6.html No excuses for not having Photoshop!

Step 1

We’ll begin by opening the Single Big Banner template in Photoshop. If you get a message saying, “This document contains unknown data which will be discarded to keep layers editable…” Just click, “Keep Layers“.

Depending on your settings, You should see exactly what I see here;

If you don’t see the Guides, go to View > Extras, Win: Ctrl-H Mac: Cmd-H

The purple area in the photo represents the cover photo area. The red to the right indicates where it’ll be cropped as Google+ crops the cover photo. The black area is where the profile photo will sit.

Step 2

Lets import our image to be used. From the various methods of opening an image in Photoshop, I chose to go to File > Place and opened an image of a zebra.

Make sure this new layer is above the Reference layer so you can see to position it.

Our goal is to have this zebra’s body show as the cover photo and head be our profile photo. I’ve resized and positioned it to this result;

STEP 3

We now need to extract our cover and profile photos from this template. With the photo layer selected go to the Rectangular Marquee Tool () and select the cover photo area. You can refer to the guide layer to help with your selection.

Once done, go to Edit > Copy.

Note: If you have more than one photo layer, turn off all layers except the one’s that are part of that sequence of photos. After you make the selection, go to Edit > Copy Merged instead. This will copy all visible layers merged into one.

Create a new document, File > New and we can name this, “coverphoto“. The size here should be 940 x 180 pixels since that is the size needed for Google+ cover photos. Click OK.

Go to Edit > Paste. You should now see the comple cover photo. Go to File > Save As and save this in whatever format you prefer and that Google+ allows. I chose JPEG with a quality of 8. Google+ also allows animated GIFs as your Cover Photo.

STEP 4

Now that our cover photo has been extracted, we need to go get our profile photo. Go back to the Single Big Banner Template and just like before, we’ll need to make a new selection using the Rectangular Marquee Tool. This time, select the area in black if your looking at the guides layer. This will be our profile photo.

Go to Edit > Copy or Copy Merged depending on if you have single or multiple layers.

Go to File > New and create a new document. We’ll name this, “ProfilePhoto” and leave the size as-is.

In this new profilephoto document, Go to Edit > Paste. Your profile photo is now placed inside that document.

Go to File > Save As and save this in whatever format you prefer and that Google+ allows. I went with JPEG at a quality of 8. Preferably the format you used in the last step.

STEP 5

Now all that’s left do do is to place these image on our Google+ page. Upload the cover photo in the cover photo area and then upload the profile photo. Google+ may want to crop your profile photo but don’t allow it. Make the selection over the entire photo and you’re done!

Five Icon Template Usage

Open the 5IconSet.psd template in Photoshop. Again, If you get a message saying, “This document contains unknown data which will be discarded to keep layers editable…” Just click, “Keep Layers“.

If you don’t see the guides, go to View > Extras, Win: Ctrl-H Mac: Cmd-H

You may be overwhelmed by all the guides and extras you see in this template. Not to worry as you won’t need to touch those. I’ve placed those slices in this template that’ll help us out later when saving this photo.

Place your image within this document. File > Place.

Align this placed image within the document exactly how you’d like it to appear on your Google+ profile. You can use the reference layer to help you out.

Now, remember those slices I’ve added? This will allow us to save all these images with a click of a button! Simply go to File > Save for Web. I chose JPEG with a High quality around 60. Click Save… and make sure the Format is set to, “Images Only“. Choose a file name and click Save.

You’ll now have a new folder titled, “Images” and within this folder you’ll see the five icon images along with our profile image to be uploaded straight to Google+. Such a time saver than having to select each photo individually.

That’s all! Just upload these five icons as your cover photo in Google+. Then upload the profile photo depending on the style you’re looking for.

That’s it! We’re done. You’ve just created a very neat looking cover photo that coincides with your Google+ profile picture in Photoshop! Look through some of the inspiration links I’ve posted below. You’re only limited to your imagination! If you know how to create animated GIFs you can even animate your cover photo to make it stand out even more!

Inspiration/References

• 13 Creative Google+ Cover Photo Hacks
• Google+ Cover Photo – Tips and Tricks

If you happen to trick our your Google+ profile using the methods in this tutorial, leave your Google+ profile link in the comments below. I’d love to see what you guys come up with and maybe even share them.

As you can see, he’s holding mini Joe in his profile picture while his cover photo shows the rest of that image. If you look closely, you can even see mini Joe’s hat and part of Joe’s hand protruding from his profile image. What an awesome effect!

More Examples/Inspiration

• 25 Funny and Creative Facebook Timeline Covers
• Facebook Timeline Cover: 40 (Really) Creative Examples
• Clever Creative Facebook Timeline Covers (Smosh)
• Daniel Neubauer (Facebook Page)

Video

Tutorial

Let’s take a look at how to create this effect in Photoshop! We’ll take this Lion photo;

and turn it into this

I went ahead and created two pre-made templates for you to work from. One for your profile page and another for your fan page since they both slightly differ. You can get them below.

*Fan Page template has been updated as of April 26th.

Step 1

We’ll begin by opening the template in Photoshop. If you get a message saying, “This document contains unknown data which will be discarded to keep layers editable…” Just click, “Keep Layers“.

Depending on your settings, You should see exactly what I see here;

If you don’t see the Guides, go to View > Extras, Win: Ctrl-H Mac: Cmd-H

STEP 2

We need to import or create the image to be placed in our timeline. I copied the image from online and pasted it into Photoshop. You can either drag a new photo into the document or you can go to File > Place and import the photo that way.

Make sure this new layer is above the Reference layer so you can position it. I’ve included a practice layer in the document in case you want to follow along but don’t yet have an idea on what you want to do. You can show or hide that layer if needed. There’s also two placeholder layers that you can show or hide if needed as well. These are there to help align your image.

Our goal here is to get the lions head within the profile image boundary. Fit the image exactly how you want it to appear.

STEP 3

We now need to extract our cover and profile photos from this template. With our photo layer selected, go to the Rectangular Marquee Tool () and select the cover photo area. Refer to the guide below that shows the cover area in red. The guides will help with your selection.

Once done, go to Edit > Copy.

Note: If you have more than one photo layer, turn off all layers except the one’s that are part of the image. After you make the selection, go to Edit > Copy Merged instead. This will copy all visible layers merged into one.

Create a new document; File > New and we can name this, “coverphoto“. The size here should be 851 x 315 pixels since that is the size needed for Facebook’s cover photos. Click OK.

Go to Edit > Paste. You should now see the complete cover photo. Go to File > Save As and save this in whatever format you prefer and that Facebook allows. Facebook recommends a JPG photo. There’s been some issues with uploading PNGs to Facebook.

STEP 4

Now that our cover photo has been extracted, we need to go get our profile picture. Go back to the template document and just like before, we’ll need to make a new selection using the Rectangular Marquee Tool. This time, select the blue area as shown in the reference photo below. This will be our profile picture.

Go to Edit > Copy or Copy Merged depending on if you have single or multiple layers.

Go to File > New and create a new document. We’ll name this, “profilepicture”.

As you can see, we have a slight problem with the width and height (161×161). Facebook’s profile images must be at least 180px wide. To fix that, change the document size to 180 x 180 pixels. Click OK.

Go to Edit > Paste. Your profile photo is now placed inside that document. But, you can see a white edge since the image is too small.

To fix this, we’ll need to size this image to our document. Go to Edit > Free Transform, Win: Ctrl-T Mac: Cmd-T and size the image up to the document.

Our profile picture is now complete. Go to File > Save As and save this in whatever format you prefer and that Facebook allows. Facebook recommends a JPG photo. Lately, there’s been some issues with uploading PNGs to Facebook.

STEP 5

Now all that’s left to do is to place these images on our Facebook page. Upload the cover photo in the cover photo area and the profile photo as your profile picture.

That’s it! We’re done. You’ve just created a very neat looking cover photo that coincides with your profile picture in Photoshop! Get creative and you’ll probably have people ask, how did you do that!? Well, you can send them here if you want . Again, look through some of the inspiration links I’ve provided at the beginning of this post. You’re only limited to your imagination! These same steps will help you set up the Fan Page template as well.

GALLERY

• Daniel Neubauer
• TEDS Photography

If you happen to trick out your Facebook timeline using the methods in this tutorial, leave your Facebook profile link in the comments below. I’d love to see what you guys come up with and maybe even share them.

In this tutorial, I’ll show you how to create a neat looking vintage Valentine’s effect in Sony Vegas Pro 11. You’ll also learn how to group Event FX into their own presets.

Here are the settings used in this tutorial;

Sony Color Corrector

Sony Color Curves

Sony Gradient Map

Twitter: “@robsproductions”
http://twitter.com/robsproductions

Facebook:
http://fb.me/robertsproductions

Site Post:
http://robertsproductions.net

Music: Jason Shaw

Happy Valentines Day!

In this tutorial, I’ll show you how to create a rotating starburst effect with the help of Photoshop in Sony Vegas Pro 11.

Photoshop: Starburst Effect
http://j.mp/wT0TOv

Twitter: “@robsproductions”
http://twitter.com/robsproductions

Facebook:
http://fb.me/robertsproductions

Music: Klaypex

Download Project Files 2.4MB

Download

Get “Cache My Work”
http://j.mp/AuQjOX

Have you ever wondered if there was a way to save all open applications when you log off like you can on the Mac? You can shutdown, logoff, restart your computer and when you log back in, all your applications will re-open. Windows has no built in features for this but I think I found a good alternative. It’s called “Cache My Work”. It basically does all that! Saves open applications and folders when you logoff/restart or shut down your computer and they will then reopen when you log back in!

Twitter: “@robsproductions”
http://twitter.com/robsproductions

Facebook:
http://fb.me/robertsproductions

Join the Community!
http://community.robertsproductions.net

Music: Kevin MacLeod

If you have any suggestions for Windows tips or any pc tips, go ahead and leave those in the comments below.

In this Photoshop CS5 tutorial, I explain the way I’ve found to create a mosaic out of multiple photos. If you find an easier way of doing this in Photoshop, please let me know in the comments!

Alternative Mosaic Software: http://j.mp/wDPE83

Twitter: “@robsproductions”
http://twitter.com/robsproductions

Facebook:
http://fb.me/robertsproductions

New Forum:
http://robertsproductions.net/forum

Music: Klaypex

In today’s tutorial, I show you how to turn film negatives into positives using Photoshop CS5.

Twitter: “@robsproductions”
http://twitter.com/robsproductions

Facebook:
http://fb.me/robertsproductions

Site:
http://robertsproductions.net

Music: Jason Shaw

Be sure to follow the tutorial on how to create the LCD Display in the previous post here before getting started on this.

In the previous tutorial, we created the text 888.8. In this tutorial we need to change your text to the time format.

Change the background text color to a dark Red such as 700218. Opacity: 10-15%.

Add an Outer Glow with the following settings;

Add a 3px Stroke with the color: 79041f

That’s it! You can add some text to the side showing AM or PM with the same layer styles.

Download Clock .PSD 48.3KB

Download .ZIP

Learn how to create this Scale!

<<Previous Post

Just in time for new years, IceflowStudios shows us how to create Abstract Fireworks!

View Tutorial

In this tutorial, I’ll show you how to create snow in After Effects using one of its built in tools, “CC Particle World”. I’ll also show you how to render that snow with an Alpha Channel so that you can use it in most video editors and make it snow in your videos! You’ll even learn how to add this snow in not only Sony Vegas but in Premiere Pro too!

Download Snow Footage: http://goo.gl/FqAxw
KeyDisplayer: http://goo.gl/YOY4l
Free Holiday “Lower Thirds”: http://goo.gl/DOPZ1

Facebook: http://fb.me/robertsproductions
Twitter: http://twitter.com/robsproductions
Site: http://robertsproductions.net/
If you come across any questions, feel free to ask! ask(at)robertsproductions.net

Music: ” Jason Shaw”