Hello Steemians!
I get a lot of questions on how I make my cover photos, so I thought i'd put together a video showing you exactly how I do it. In this video I also talk about why creating professional and attractive looking cover photos can make ALL the difference in how people perceive the quality of your content!
In this video I cover the two main parts of creating good cover photos - Getting good raw photos and photo editing.
Getting Good Raw Photos
Lighting is everything! You can fix a lot of things with editing, but if you have shadows all over your face, it will never look good. I have some studio lighting I use in my apartment to shoot my videos and take my cover photos. If you don't have good lighting in your home, then you might be better off shooting your cover photo outside!
Use the Rule of Thirds - I often shoot my photos to be offset. This not only makes the photo look more professional, but it also makes it easier to add text to the photo. I try to shoot the photo with a simple background so that I can easily layer text and still looks good.
This one is for my ladies! A little makeup goes a long way. I'm pretty lazy when it comes to makeup, but even using a bit of tinted chapstick and a touch of bronzer can help you to not get washed out on camera.
The Editing Process
In this video, I actually share a screenshare of myself editing a cover photo! I use an app called Snapseed, but there are plenty of photo editing apps - some free and some paid.
When editing a photo, I focus on adjusting the photo a bit so the colors pop more and I make the subject a focal point. Most raw photos are going to be pretty flat and boring - and so a little bit of editing can go a long way!
Examples of Raw vs. Edited Cover Photos
Callout to listeners/readers:
Do you guys spend much time on creating cover photos? If you do, is your process similar to mine?
If any of you use tips from this video to create a cover... I would LOVE to see it!! Please send me a link to your post so I can check it out!
Also, this was a pretty high level overview. If any of you are interested in seeing me do a deeper dive on anything related to cover photos - let me know!
xo, Lea
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