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How to perfectly crop a Facebook cover photo

FacebookPage2Popular web services often require images of specific sizes for use as photo headers or head shots. For instance, Facebook requires a cover photo to be 828 pixels wide by 315 pixels tall.  A Linkedin header is 1400 x 425.

Dotphoto’s editing tools will help you crop and re-size images to specific sizes, so that you can copy and paste photos for use on other web sites.  Follow these steps:

  1. Learn the optimal resolution
  2. Crop to the image you want in the dotphoto edit tools
  3. Re-size the cropped image to meet one of the two dimensions
  4. Crop the re-sized image so that the second dimension is also perfect.

Detailed steps to create a Facebook header are below. These same steps can apply to cropping any photo to any exact pixel size.

1. Learn the optimal resolution.

The dimensions for a Facebook cover photo are 828 wide x 315 tall.  (A Linkedin header is 1400 x 425.)

2. Crop to the image you want in the dotphoto edit tools.

Click on the photo, and then on the edit icon (the pencil) in the upper left to show the editing tools.

Choose the Cropping tools from the edit menu.

Use the Custom size to crop the best part of the photo. In the image below, we cropping out the wrapped pole on the left and leaving the subjects — the carousel animals — in the center of the image. Drag the corners of the cropping rectangle, and, when you have finished, tap the Apply button. Leave plenty of vertical space around your subject: a Facebook cover photo is a wide, short image, and we’ll crop the extra vertical space in step 4.

3. Re-size the cropped image to meet one of the two dimensions. Set the width to 840.

Choose the Resize tool on the right sight of the cropping menu. If you don’t see Resize, scroll the menu to the right.

Set the width to 828, which is the perfect width for a Facebook cover photo. Tap the Apply button on the right. We will crop the height in the next step.

4. Crop the re-sized image so that the second dimension is also perfect. Set the height to 315.

Set the Custom Dimensions to 828 x 315. You’ll have a cropping rectangle that is as wide as your image, and that you can drag up and down to capture the optimal cover photo. When you’re ready, tap the Apply button.

Tap the Save button on the right and Save as a New Image. This will NOT overwrite your original photo.

Go back to the new photo, right-click on it, and choose Copy image.

In Facebook, start a post, and paste the photo into your Facebook post. (Ctrl-V, or Right-click / Paste ) This will add the photo to your Facebook photos so that you can choose it for your Cover Photo.

In your Facebook account, hover over the Update Cover Photo in the upper left corner, and select Choose From My Photos.

Find the new Cover Photo that you just made among your Facebook photos, and choose Save Changes.

You have made a perfectly-sized Facebook Cover Photo.

Posted: 9/11/2017 3:22:07 AM

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