While you may not have millions to sink into the creation of a profile picture, you do have the time to carefully consider which profile picture would be most effective for marketing your online writing and products.

Profile Picture Ideas
Source: Blonde and Beautiful Images

Profile Picture Idea 1 – Hot Celebrity

Using a hot celebrity as your profile picture has many advantages.

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (from Amazon.com)

First of all, hotness always wins you many popularity points. Second of all, celebrities have their own multi-million dollar marketing machine, so you get to ride on the coat tails of their money and success.

If you choose to use a celebrity picture as your profile, pick a popular, well-liked, character rather than just a generic photograph of a celebrity. For example, instead of being plain-old Johnny Depp, be Jack Sparrow!

Unlike Johnny Depp, the reality; Jack Sparrow, the fantasy, is just as famous, has funky eye-makeup, is roguishly charming, can sword-fight inside and on top of a very large wheel, and occasionally, even cheats death. Truly, there is no reason to be “just Johnny Depp”, when you can be Captain Jack Sparrow.

While picking a character, choose one that you can effectivelyrole-play online. If your profile picture says Jack Sparrow but your articles and online postings say Hannibal Lecter or Lois Lane, then there is a real problem.

Profile Picture Idea 1 – Hot Celebrity

There are many compelling, memorable, and lovable, television and movie characters; so pick one that is not overly used (e.g. all versions of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie) and that helps to enhance the products and articles that you are marketing. However, be aware that you always run the risk of someone else coming along and using the same celebrity profile picture.

Another alternative is to morph your own picture with the picture of a celebrity. Social psychology studies show that people are more likely to trust faces that they are familiar with. By combining your own face with a well-known and trustworthy face; you get to stay original, and still tap into the trust and positive personality already established by somebody else.

However, this may risk your readers’ trust. Using a not-well-known or morphed celebrity profile picture may be seen as trying to pass yourself off as something which you are not. When that gets revealed, all that you say, and all that you do, may become suspect. Whether that was your original intent or not, does not matter, as long as your audience perceives it to be true.

Therefore, make all this clear in your profile page. Better yet, write an article about the origins of your profile picture and profile name. I always enjoy such articles because it reveals the writer in a very personal way and establishes a special bond.

Write an article about the origins of your profile picture and profile name.

Profile Picture Idea 2 – My Pet

My profile picture.

After talking about hot celebrities, cats and dogs seem to be somewhat of a let down.

But wait a minute, shibashake the self-proclaimed expert on profile pictures uses a dog profile picture, so perhaps there is something more to this cats and dogs business?

Well, I must confess that I did not put much thought into my profile picture when I first joined the HubPages community. I was a young and foolish pup then, and did not know a lot about writing online, seo, affiliate programs, Google AdSense, or web traffic analysis.

I just wanted to shock and awe everyone on HubPages with my brilliant dog articles on Cesar Millan, The Dog Whisperer. In my haste, I slapped on a goofy picture of my dog, and put down the first name that came to mind; which was thankfully, the name of my website.

I used my website name as my profile name.

Even though there was a lot less shock and awe than I expected; I was very lucky in two respects.

First of all, I used my website name as my profile name.

In this way, there is greater continuity of experience, for my readers, across my own website, HubPages, eZine, Squidoo, and other online writing and social networking sites. Although not by design, shibashake, became my brand name, and my goofy dog became my brand logo.

Second of all, the goofy dog picture worked out pretty well for promoting my many dog related articles.

The dog profile picture appeals to many of my readers who are dog lovers themselves. The picture also integrates well with my dog website which has many other related pictures, of my four-legged brand logo.

There are, however, also some rather large disadvantages. A dog picture will not appeal much to non-dog people. In fact, it may even turn away some readers who dislike or fear dogs.

In addition, the picture may not showcase my non-animal related articles well. After all, why would you want to learn about online communities, social networking, and positive communication from a dog?!

Before using a picture of your pet as your profile picture, make sure that it does not overly limit your target content or readers.

Make sure that your profile picture does not overly limit your target content or readers.

Profile Picture Idea 3 – My Hobbies

A variation on using the picture of your dog or cat, is to create a composite profile picture of your hobbies, interests, or writing topics. In this way, you can explore your creative side and make something that is truly stunning, unique, and encapsulates your online persona.

However, creating such a profile picture will be very challenging and may require several iterations. Make sure to get input from trusted friends and family members who are not afraid to give you an honest opinion. You can also solicit online opinions, but be prepared to grow a thick skin before doing this.

Profile Picture Idea 3 – My Hobbies

Profile Picture Idea 4 – Abstract Pictures

Unlike pictures of you, or your pet; abstract pictures are less personal.

By abstract pictures, I pretty much mean everything else. An abstract profile picture could depict scenery, objects, or more complex scenes with multiple people and animals.

Unlike pictures of you, or your pet; abstract pictures are less personal. Because of this. there is less risk of alienating anyone. It would be pretty unusual for someone to get angry over a picture of a flight of stairs.

An abstract profile picture is also less topic specific. As a result, you could use the same profile to promote a wider variety of subject matter.

However, the strength of abstract profile pictures, is also its weakness. It is difficult to become friends with scenery or a flight of stairs. Because abstract pictures are less personal, it is more difficult to establish trust with your readers. An abstract picture encourages identification with larger things such as the environment, patriotism, or peace; rather than with the individual. Therefore, more work may be needed to establish your personality and individuality, while promoting your brand.

When choosing an abstract profile picture, find one that has many positive associations, and few or no negative online connections. For example, choose something that represents positive qualities, that will help in your self-promotion campaign, such as vision, endurance, or trust.

Integrity (Wave Crashing By Cliff) Motivational Poster Print from Amazon.com

Best Profile Picture Idea

Which is the best profile picture for me to use to get the most web traffic?

Unfortunately, there are no easy answers. Each class of profile pictures have their own strengths and weaknesses. Carefully consider your content, target audience, and online goals, before choosing a profile picture.

Once you have picked something, it is best to stick to it so that you are always accumulating goodwill on that same brand name, and brand logo. If you find that to be too tedious, some picture tweaking is acceptable, but always keep the visual subject (e.g. you, your dog, Jack Sparrow, the abstract representation of vision) constant.

Best Profile Picture Idea
Source: http://shibashake.com/blog-art/

A photo greeting card usually consists of one or more of the following elements –

• Background paper.
• Photo frame.
• Empty area in which to insert our personalized photo.
• Card decorations (for example the balloons and teddy bear).
• Card lettering.

Here we describe how to make our own photo greeting cards. We also include a variety of basic image elements including textured background paper, frames, and more to help you get started.

Make Photo Greeting Cards
Source: Photo Greeting Cards at Zazzle

Photo Greeting Cards 1 – Background Paper

The first step in making a photo greeting card is to create appropriate background paper. We can create a simple background by just filling it with a flat color, but this will produce a less compelling card as is shown below.

Example photo greeting card background. Click on the gallery picture links for a full sized image.

Instead of a flat color, we want to texture our background.

• Pattern overlay – The second thumbnail below shows a background with a patterned overlay. I created this by overlaying a patterned brush onto my flat color layer within Photoshop. There are many free Photoshop brushes that we can get on the web.
• Textured background – There are many ways to create a textured background using Photoshop. Since we are making a greeting card here, we may want to create a paper textured background (3rd thumbnail below). I created the paper textured background using Filter Forge.

  We can also create our textured background using tiles and brushes. For example, the 4th thumbnail below features a folded cloth background that I created using these folded fabric brushes.

To the right are some free greeting card backgrounds, for your personal card making needs. Click on the picture to get a full-sized version measuring 1000 pixels by 1400 pixels.

If you are thinking of getting Photoshop, you can usually get it for a lower price at eBay. Just make sure to check the rating of the seller.

Example photo greeting cards with different backgrounds.

Photo Greeting Cards 2 – Photo Frames

Example photo greeting card frames.

Once we have our card background, we want to create a frame for our photo. To the right is a simple frame I created with various Photoshop layer blending effects. I used Bevel and Emboss, Satin, and Gradient Overlay(see settings below).

We can also create frames by using Photoshop brushes or Filter Forge.

To the right I created a few free frames that you can use for your personal greeting cards.Click on the picture to get a full-sized PNG version of the frame.

Once we have chosen a frame, we can cut out a section of our card to accommodate our personal photographs. A simple way to do this is by using the Magic Wand tool in Photoshop (Shift-w).

• I just select the Magic Wand tool (Shift-w) and click in the space within the frame.
• This will select the space within the frame.
• Then, use this selection to cut out a section of my card so that it is transparent.
• Finally, I just layer my greeting card template over my photograph, so that it shows through the cut section.

Photoshop layer blending effects to achieve the metallic look of my card frame.

Photo Greeting Cards 3 – Lettering & Decorations

Example photo greeting card decorations.

Finally, we want to add lettering and decorations around our card. This is the part that I enjoy most because I get to compose together different objects and images to create a compelling background picture.

In general, we want to pick decoration items that –

• Fit our photo card theme. For example, for birthday card pictures, I decided to use a cute clown, teddy bear, and rocking horse as decorations. Flowers are also a great addition because they fit into almost every theme.
• Integrate well with our card color scheme. We want to pick decoration colors that fit well with our card lettering and background color.

If we are using Photoshop, there are a variety of fonts and font blending options to choose from. I usually use the Drop Shadow blending option to make my lettering stand out.

We can also create lettering from within our card creation software or site. However, most of these interfaces will likely not have the range of blending effects that are available on Photoshop. Usually, I create my lettering in Photoshop and them import them into my card creation site as a PNG file.

Photo Greeting Cards 3 – Lettering & Decorations

Free Photo Greeting Cards

Hope you enjoyed this tutorial.

Below are several completed photo greeting cards. You can put in any lettering that you want, and personalize it with your own photographs. Feel free to use these templates for your personal card making needs. Click on the pictures to get a full sized PNG version measuring 1000 pixels by 1400 pixels.

By removing the background, we can isolate our favorite photo elements and combine them with other pictures, drawings, or 3D art, to create something creative, unique, and compelling.

For example, the dog pictures below were created by combining photos of my Siberian Husky Lara, with various fantasy backgrounds. Puppy Lara is starting to contribute a lot to HubPages, so I wanted to honor her hard work and efforts with these special picture awards!

This tutorial explains in detail, how we can remove the background from any photo using PhotoShop. We can also remove backgrounds using GIMP and evenMicrosoft Office, but the PhotoShop tools are easy to use and allows me to remove a background in about 12 minutes.

How to Remove Our Photo Background Using PhotoShop

Step 1

Load our picture into PhotoShop.

Step 2

Create a new layer by going into the Layer Menu at the top of the screen and selecting New >> Layer.

Step 2 – Create a new layer by going into the Layer menu at the top of the screen and selecting New Layer.

Pop-up window for creating a new layer.

Step 2 will produce a pop-up window for creating a new layer (see right).

Make sure that color is set to none, and mode is set to normal.

Click on OK, and a new layer (Layer 1) will be created, which we can see on the right side of the screen.

We will build a background mask in this layer.

Step 3

Make sure that the photo layer is selected by clicking on it.

A new layer (Layer 1) has been created, which we can see on the right side of the screen.

Step 4

Step 4 – Right click on the Brush Tool at the left of the interface and select the Pencil Tool.

Now, we want to trace the edge between our foreground element(s) and the photo background.

To do this, right click on the Brush Tool at the left of the interface and select the Pencil Tool (see right).

We can set our pencil width by clicking on the width button at the top of the interface (circled red in the picture below). I usually use a size-9 pencil width.

We can set our pencil width by clicking on the width button at the top of the interface. I usually use a size-9 pencil width.

Step 5 – Set the opacity of our background mask to 70%.

Step 5

Set the opacity of our background mask to 70%. I find that this makes it easier to trace out the foreground objects.

Step 6

 – To effectively trace the edge, we may want to zoom in on our photo by clicking Ctrl+. Ctrl- will zoom out of the photo.

Once we are zoomed in, we can carefully paint over the appropriate edges (see below).

Step 6 – To effectively trace the edge, we may want to zoom in and then carefully draw around our foreground elements.

After we finish edge tracing, we get a black outline around our foreground objects (puppy Lara and her computer).

After we finish edge tracing, we get a black outline around our foreground objects.

Right click on the Quick Selection Tool at the leftside of the interface. Select the Magic Wand Tool.

Step 7

Next, we want to paint over the rest of the background area.

To do this, right click on the Quick Selection Tool at the leftside of the interface. Select the Magic Wand Tool (see right).

Step 8

Click the Magic Wand Tool anywhere on the photo background. This will select the rest of the background area, as defined by our edge line.

In the picture below, there is a dotted line showing the background area that is selected by the Magic Wand Tool.

Step 8 – There is a dotted line showing the background area that is selected by the Magic Wand Tool.

Select the fill-color of our choice and click OK.

Step 9

Now we want to fill in our selected background area with a solid color. We do this by going into the Edit Menu at the top of the screen and selecting Fill (see below). Pressing Shift + F5 is a faster way of achieving the same results.

This opens up a pop-up window that lets us select our fill-color (see right). We want to use the same color as our edge-line. Black works best for me, but some people prefer using bright red or blue. Select the fill-color of our choice and click OK.

This will fill our selected background area with a solid black color. Note – we are filling in the background areas in our new mask-layer (Layer 1) and *not* our photo layer.

Step 9 – We fill in our selected background area by going into the Edit Menu and selecting Fill.

Step 10 – Reset the opacity of our mask layer (Layer 1) to 100%.

Step 10

Reset the opacity of our mask layer (Layer 1) to 100%. In this way, we can clearly see our background mask and whether it is properly defined.

At this point, we may make whatever adjustments to the background mask by repainting over certain areas using the Brush Tool or erasing certain areas using the Eraser Tool.

At this point, we may make whatever adjustments to the background mask by using the Brush Tool and Eraser Tool.

Step 11

Select our mask layer (Layer 1) by clicking on it.

Step 12

Go into the Select Menu, and choose Load Selection.

Step 12- Go into the Select Menu, and choose Load Selection.

Step 13 – Click on the Invert check-box.

Step 13

This gives us a Selection pop-up menu. Click on the Invert check-box (see right).

This will select our foreground object, i.e. it will select all the areas that are not colored black.

The dotted line in the picture below shows our selection.

Step 14

Select our photo layer by clicking on it using the layer interface to the right of the screen.

The dotted line in the picture below shows our selection.

Step 15 – Remove our photo background by clicking on Add a pixel mask button at the top right of the screen.

Step 15

Remove our photo background by clicking on the Add a pixel mask button at the top right of the screen.

Note – This only works when we have our foreground object selected, and our photo layer active.

Step 16

 – Turn-off our background mask by clicking on the eye icon next to the layer.

Success!!

Now, we can integrate puppy Lara and her computer with whatever backgrounds or artistic effects that we want.

Success!! We have now removed our photo background.

The process above may seem like a lot of work, but once you get used to it, it actually goes rather quickly. It takes me about 12 minutes to remove a photo background.

I created the picture below, after spotting a group of deer while walking with puppy Lara. I think Lara and her young deer friend look very peaceful together.

Let’s go wild and unleash our creativity on some really cool dog art!

Siberian Husky Lara and her young deer friend look very peaceful together.

Creating dog art allows me to combine both of these passions.

My dog art process begins by taking lots and lots of dog photos. Most of the time, I engage in opportunistic photography. If I spot my dogs doing something funny, endearing, strange, or artistic, I quickly grab my digital camera and snap as many pictures as I can.

When I am outside the house, I rely on my iPhone.

Occasionally, I will have a specific artistic goal in mind. In these cases, I set up the necessary props, get my dogs into position using treats, and take many dog pictures from a variety of angles. Being dogs, they usually will not stay still for the whole process, so there are also many natural pose variations.

For example, I recently created a set of HubPages related dog art. To achieve this goal, I posed puppy Lara in front of my laptop, and just let her naturally model for the camera.

Once I have all the photos, I go through them and pick the ones that I like most. I try to include those with the greatest variation in terms of pose and angles.

Then, I go through each of the selected pictures and remove their background using PhotoShop. Each background removal takes me about 12 minutes, which is why the filtering step above is crucial.

After removing the backgrounds, we are ready to start generating some fun dog art!

Dog Art 1 – Object Art

A great place to put our dog art is on every day objects such as mugs and t-shirts.

In this way, we can enjoy our dogs in a greater variety of contexts. It also allows us to share many unique, and personalized gifts with our friends and family. I love personalized gifts because each one of them tells me a special story about the gift giver.

One of the key challenges in placing dog art on objects, is that there is no standard rectangular boundary. As a result, it is often necessary to create our own frame.

We may explicitly put in a decorative frame (see below), or the frame may just be the natural boundaries of our subject, for example, the natural outline of the dog and computer (see above).

I get most of my decorative frames from the Renderosity art store. The frames usually come as Photoshop brushes or PNG images.

Here are some object art examples that I have created on Zazzle.

We explicitly frame the image with a decorative heart.

Dog Art 2 – Fantasy Art

I am a big fan of fantasy art and backgrounds.

Fantasy art is very creative, and often features perfect beings in magical realms that only exist in our imagination. The scenes are compelling, and usually painted in highly saturated colors.

For example, the dog art pictures at the beginning of this article were created using fantasy backgrounds by Sveva.

Below are several other fantasy pictures I created to make a calendar of my dogs. Dogs always seem magical to me, thus it seems appropriate to see them in these wonderful, fantasy worlds.

Dog Art 3 – The Human Dog

Another popular form of dog art is to depict a dog in human form; in a way that captures the dog’s character. Dogs have become our very close companions, therefore it is natural that our art, stories, and writings would reflect that close human-dog relationship.

Below are the human alter-egos of my two dogs.

Shiba Inu Sephy has a jaunty tail that bobs up and down while he is walking; which always makes me think of him wearing a hat. Sephy also has the fine features, and rich red hair of the Shiba Inu breed. He is very much a rogue and a scamp, but he is loyal and has the heart of an angel.

Siberian Husky Shania has the lovely, dark Sibe mask around her eyes, and is very fluffy all over. She is a very sweet dog, but she is active and always ready for action.

Continuing with the human-dog theme, below is a picture of my Shiba Inu in bad-ass human form, walking a digital dog!

Notice his “I love dogs” t-shirt.

As you can see, the dog art possibilities are fun and endless. Do not be afraid to explore the wild side, and let your creativity run loose.

Dog Art - Bad-ass Shiba Inu dog walker.