dotPhoto Blog
How to perfectly crop a Facebook cover photo
Popular 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:
- Learn the optimal resolution
- Crop to the image you want in the dotphoto edit tools
- Re-size the cropped image to meet one of the two dimensions
- 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.
Other blog posts
- How do you preserve your digital photos? 1/27/2021
- Sharing (and Printing) Full-Size Pictures on Facebook Made Easy 6/11/2020
- How to Make Your Home Dazzle in Quarantine 5/22/2020
- Preserving Memories During COVID-19 5/22/2020
- Why Should I Have My Photos Printed? Part 2 5/14/2020
- Why Should I Have My Photos Printed? Part 1 5/14/2020
- 3 Online Safety Tips To Keep Your Data Secure 4/14/2020
- Picture Perfect Prom & Graduation Photos 3/6/2020
- Make The Most Out of dotphoto with Personalized Photo Magnets 1/31/2020
- How can I make a canvas triptych on dotphoto? 1/4/2020
- Share Your Holiday Memories Digitally With dotphoto 12/18/2019
- dotphoto Cyber Week Specials are Here! 12/2/2019
- Creative Holiday Gift Ideas from dotphoto 11/15/2019
- The difference between Metallic and Metal prints 11/2/2019
- NEW! Zero check charge for selling your photos 11/2/2019
- Share Your Memories Online with Dotphoto 10/2/2019
- Got old film? Send it to the Rescued Film Project! 9/27/2019
- New Jewelry or Keepsake Box at dotphoto 9/27/2019
- NEW! Pre-Build Photo Products For Sale 9/2/2019
- Take your own Custom Beach Towels to your next celebration! 7/14/2019
- The dotphoto Custom Frame Shop 7/14/2019
- Latest Photos from Space 7/14/2019
- Memorial Day 2019: Remembering Our Fallen 6/3/2019
- Add comments to your dotphoto albums 6/3/2019
- Mother’s Day is May 12! 5/2/2019
- Your phone is a magnifying glass 5/2/2019
- Remembering Notre Dame Cathedral 4/20/2019
- Where are my Android photos? 4/20/2019
- Pro photographers: add your logo to dotphoto 4/9/2019
- How to remove “red-eye” in photos 4/9/2019
- Organize your photos with the dotphoto Sort command 4/9/2019
- How to use dotphoto for Document Storage 2/6/2019
- Share your holiday photos with a dotphoto slideshow 12/29/2018
- Black Friday Specials at dotphoto 11/23/2018
- dotphoto has the Best Deal on Holiday Cards! 11/15/2018
- dotphoto increases file size to 30 MB per file 11/15/2018
- Make your own dotphoto slideshow 11/7/2018
- Custom iPhone Cases 11/7/2018
- Getting the right colors 10/4/2018
- How many print credits do you have? 10/4/2018
- dotphoto Disaster Re-print Program 9/21/2018
- How to Print a Panorama 9/21/2018
- Use dotphoto to distribute your photos to social media 9/19/2018
- Save Multiple Projects – Great for Cards 9/19/2018
- dotphoto has postcards! Save the date! 9/19/2018
- The Sinkhole Photo Essay 9/19/2018
- Mail a custom photo card from your desk — only $1.99! 9/17/2018
- The Secret 7.6 cent Print Sale 9/17/2018
- dotphoto Beach Towels 9/17/2018
- How to print a photo from a video 9/17/2018
- Introducing the Memo Magnet 8/14/2018
- Citizen Journalism 7/25/2018
- How to print giant posters and framed prints in any ratio or size up to 42″ 7/25/2018
- The Best Time to Be Alive – Happy July 4th! – Free Facebook Cover Photos 7/4/2018
- How to make a dotphoto album completely private 6/21/2018
- 12 Insanely Great Things about Dotphoto 6/21/2018
- The Best Prices on Wrapped Canvases 5/12/2018
- Upload from your iPhone or Android 4/23/2018
- Undelete and retrieve photos 4/23/2018
- How to make a Backup Book 4/18/2018
- Abandoned America: our strange & forgotten past 4/9/2018
- How to download photos from Verizon 4/9/2018
- Toys R Us Slideshow 4/5/2018
- How to re-arrange photos in a dotphoto album 3/31/2018
- Dotphoto Safeguards Your Data. 3/26/2018
- Link to dotphoto & get $5 for every join! 3/4/2018
- How to place large orders on dotphoto 2/28/2018
- Tesla in Space Slideshow 2/27/2018
- Free Mail-4-Me cards for Valentine’s Day 2/5/2018
- Love quotes for Valentine’s Day 2/5/2018
- What is the best resolution for printing? 2/5/2018
- How to take a good photo 2/5/2018
- Have you ever seen a virus? 1/26/2018
- The Best Ways to Archive Photos in 2018 1/26/2018
- 1099 forms for Pro Photographers 1/14/2018
- A better way to share 1/14/2018
- The best photo collections of 2017 1/1/2018
- When your photos matter 12/19/2017
- Free 2-Day Shipping 12/13/2017
- Two ways to print panoramas 11/21/2017
- New iPhone Cases at dotphoto 11/21/2017
- $79 books for only $30! 11/20/2017
- Holiday Card Sale! 11/17/2017
- New dotphoto Easel Photo Panels 11/8/2017
- New Arctic Fleece Blankets 50″x60″ 11/2/2017
- How “free print” sites work 10/30/2017
- Throw Pillows & Pillow Cases 10/27/2017
- The Problems of Portrait Photographers 10/21/2017
- Need some inspiration for your Halloween costume? 10/21/2017
- What is side-loading? 10/18/2017
- Turn color photos into black and white, sepia, and other color transformations 10/13/2017
- Make more money: sell more photos! 10/10/2017
- Reverse image search with TinEye 10/10/2017
- Print your own Halloween mask. 10/6/2017
- Saving books & projects on dotphoto 9/23/2017
- Make your own Presidential Proclamation! 9/21/2017
- The danger of relying too much on your camera 9/15/2017
- How to Get Free Starbucks Refills 9/6/2017
- How to Convert RAW files to JPG files for Uploading 9/5/2017