Originally Published on Bottom Up Mind
Yesterday I was walking through Philly's Fairmount Park. There were some beautiful views. So I pulled out my trusty iPhone and started snapping pictures. But I realized I was doing something for the first time. i was looking at the shots and framing some of them so they'd work for Facebook cover photos-- the photos that go across the top of your Facebook home page, with a notch for your Facebook picture on the left side.I've begun going through my photos and posting a new "cover" just about every day I'm home. It's kind of a fun way to showcase my photography and share it with my Facebook "friends."
I'm writing this article because I found it interesting that my photographic eye was "refracted" my my consideration of the use of the photo for a Facebook cover. Since I cover the bottom up revolution, I see this as a manifestation. I'm sure I'm not the only one who's taking photos through "Facebook eyes."
Go to flickr.com and you'll find over 1200 images tagged with "facebook cover." And here's a link to my collection of facebook covers.
I'll be very surprised if, not too far from now, we'll see thousands, if not tens of thousands of facebook covers on flickr. It'll be interesting to see how photography itself is affected by the "Facebook eyes" effect.
Here's the first photo I took, seeing through Facebook eyes:
my first photo taken through Facebook eyes, at Valley Green, in Philly. It is framed so there's room for the Personal photo notch and for the horizontal frame Facebook uses.
And here's one that is not taken through Facebook eyes.
The vertical frame o f this shot does not lend itself
to a Facebook cover.
Now, when it comes to selecting an image for your Facebook cover, you can certainly use images you've already captured or created. But you do want to keep the format in mind. I've played around with a few signs, or images with words, so, it's important that you crop the images so you can read what the signs say.
Here are some examples:
A message chalked on a sidewalk wall at Occupy Philly at City Hall
My ranking on Mediaite.com's Power ranking of media people
Of course, not all the images have words. They're just fun or interesting images I've captured.
One of my "drive-by shootings" taken from my car, near Philly.
marchers walking from Occupy Wall Street, Zuccotti Park to Washington DC. I spent a day walking with them when they crossed into PA.
Three shaved headed cousins and I and my daughter's wedding
Birds on a support of the Trenton Makes the World Takes bridge to Morrisville PA.
Check out more, and my latest uploads to my facebook covers page here.
