To Start...
So, I'm admittedly not very tech savvy even though I enjoy puttering around with it all. But since I'm new using Steemit, I thought I might occasionally post solutions to issues that I stumbled upon myself. Its very possible that most of you already know this solution or a different workaround, but this is good practice for me to get a better handle on the Steemit platform anyway.
The Problem...
I know there are various cloud programs out there to keep your photos and documents. However, I'm rather partial to Google Photos as an image hosting site. So I was confused when I was unable to directly use the Google Photos image address to link to my Steemit Profile Pic, especially when I was able to directly link my photos into the post editor without problem. I was unable to find any specific fix while browsing Steemit's search function. I imagine Steemit's post search functionality will be improved as we go along though. I did read that the file has to be a .jpg or a .png file, so I played around a bit.
The Solution...
Ok. So navigate to your Google Photos account and click on the photo that you want to use. Make sure you click on it to get the larger version.
Next, right click anywhere on the larger photo and choose "copy image address".
Head over to your Steemit Settings at the top right of your Steemit home page and click on settings under your profile.
Now in settings, place the image link you received from Google Photos into the Profile Picture URL. Then place your cursor at the very end of the link text and add the following: "?.jpg" Without quotes of course. Click update, input your password and you should be good!
Conclusion...
Hopefully, this is able to help someone out there. Especially someone who's new to Steemit like me. I'm sure there are other work-arounds for this issue, but this is the one that worked for me. I also doubt that I am the first person to address this issue, but since I couldn't find anything I thought I'd throw this out there. You do not need to add the ?.jpg when you are linking photos into the editor itself, this is only for the profile pic. Thanks everyone!