Google Plus Ups the Ante in the Cover Photo Wars

it seems like just last month (but it was longer) that I wrote about Facebook’s change to it’s Cover Photo. You can read all about that here. Google Plus just did them one better by creating an even bigger and better cover photo experience.

Announced in the last month, and rolling out to users in stages, the new Google Plus cover photo is a reasonable 16:9 Aspect Ratio (the same as your HDTV coincidentally) making it quite easy to set your image editing software for the cropping down of your image. Facebook’s cover photo, by comparison uses the rather obtuse 8.51×3.15 aspect ratio.  Google Plus also  allows you a shot a precropping the image if the aspect ratio of your intended photo doesn’t match the new aspect ratio. You can even perform a crop for content to further hone your image’s presentation.

Google Plus also allows you to have quite a large image as a cover photo letting you to expand up to 2120×1192 pixels in screen real estate.  If you have one of those 2560 pixel-wide monitors, you can fill your screen, account for the interface and still see your image at proper resolution – in theory.  However, if you pick a photo with too low of resolution, Google Plus will scale upwards until your image looks like crap. So, if you are going to have a cover image, you better upload a big one or you will end up with this:

No doubt you will want to inspect your cover photo and make certain it can handle the dimensions G+ has to offer.  One word of caution: the image has a semi-transparent overlay across the bottom that allows your Profile Pic and your user-specific data to stand out from the background image. If there is an important part of your image, say a copyright notice, it will be obscured to some extent as in the example below.

Social media is evolving to display things more dynamically and expansively. Visual pop is your first impression opportunity to wow your readers. Keep up with the trend and make certain your cover images can deliver all the website can offer.

Rikk Flohr © 2013

3.33:1 — Crop Ratio Revisited: Against the Wind

In a previous article, I extolled the virtues of the 10/3 or 3.33:1 Ratio for cropping a longer panoramic view.  The other day while shooting with my 4:3 aspect ratio Canon G10 I found myself in a situation again which required (to my aesthetics at least) a panoramic crop.  Eventually, I found myself back in 10/3:1 territory.

The uncropped original  shown above reveals many problems. Notably the reflections on the glass through which I was shooting.  They place a nice grid pattern across the image that will be loads of fun to remove in a pixel-based image editor.  Thankfully, I have excess foreground and sky to eliminate to tighten the composition. The star of my show is the bending steam coming out of the distant power plant stacks. I need to eliminate that which is unnecessary in order to showcase the steam clouds as a subject.

I have a great sky in the lower portion and some decent foreground details with which to work. I also want to include the clock tower as a minor player to frame the right-hand edge and face back into my subject, the steam columns bending in the wind.  A standard 2:1 crop gets me close but doesn’t get me zeroed in on the steam. I need a wider crop accentuate the all-ready wide subject and make it prominent enough to dominate the frame.

Thinking back to my 10/3 Lizard crop of a few articles back, I decided to use the 3.33:1 ratio here. I was pretty happy with what I saw.  Not only did it render the reflections moot, it made my wind-bent steam much more the center of action. I stuck my supporting player, the clock tower, on the RH Rule of Sevenths to balance the edge of the frame and keep it from over powering the intended subject.  I left a rule of fifths foreground/horizon to let the sky dominate.

There is just something about 3 1/3: 1 that works for me. Try it on those tough panoramas and see if the ratio works for you.

Rikk Flohr © 2012

Crop Shop: 10/3 Lizard at Valley of the Gods

When 3:1 isn’t enough and 4:1 is too much…

This was the lizard as presented to me in the wild. I didn’t have enough lens to get closer and fill the frame. He or she was a nervous little guy or gal and I found that if I stayed this far away the lizard would pose nicely without darting into those dark crevices. I composed as best I could avoiding a major distracting splotch of bird droppings on the left and fired the shutter. In-camera, I was happy with the crop but later, in post, I decided to see if I could improve the image’s impact.

The dark line below and the dark holes above were originally intended to be framing elements. The lack of contrast between a dusky red lizard and dusty red rocks wasn’t enough to overpower the shadows on the rock face. My solution: Crop them out.  After trying a variety of crops, I started working toward offsetting the lizard with some open space.  To maximize that open space, I went as wide as I could and just narrow enough to eliminate those competing shadow areas.

Ultimately, I got close and then decided to go for one of my magical crop number. The final aspect ratio ended up somewhere between 3:1 and 4:1 and ultimately I forced a 3.33:1 ratio striving to achieve nice mathematical 10/3:1 ratio. The lizard definitely takes over the picture with the distractions cropped out and the aspect makes for dramatic amount of space where 3:1 was not enough and 4:1 was just too much. Another intermediate ratio I often use is 2.5:1.

When your panoramic crops look a little wide or not wide enough try these intermediate ratios and see if your image doesn’t become a little stronger.

Rikk Flohr © 2012