Google's #teampixel photo contest has put the spotlight on some truly great content so far, and now Google wants to give the best photos an even bigger spotlight by featuring them as backdrops for Chromecast users. A post on the Pixel's product forum indicates that eligible posts simply have to have the #teampixel hashtag, can come from Twitter, Google+, or Instagram, and have to follow a few simple rules. So long as a photo is family friendly and free of logos, people, watermarks, and branding, it can be considered. The post does suggest a few different possible topics that are generally safe and photogenic, such as landscapes and buildings, and indicates that horizontal photos would work best.

The #teampixel photo contest has been going on since May and has resulted in quite a few great collections of photos being featured on Google's blog in a weekly roundup. Up until now, beyond popularity on the platform that they're posted on, this has been the only limelight these photos have enjoyed. The vast number of Chromecast users out there guarantees that photos that end up as backdrops will see far wider exposure. There are millions of Chromecast users out there, and whenever they're not actively using their Chromecast to consume content but still have it turned on and plugged in, their TVs, monitors, and other HDMI-compatible displays will be showing off these photos.

To recap on the original rules of the photo contest, only those with a Pixel or Pixel XL may enter. A photo can be retouched if a user wishes to do so, but completely vanilla photos only touched by the device's own processing are perfectly fine for the contest. Once a photo is posted up with the #teampixel hashtag on the user's social media platform of choice, Google has full rights to use that photo as they wish with or without any further consent from the user. Presumably, even while the contest to make the best #teampixel photos into backdrops is going on, Google will still be posting up their weekly roundup. Google's post on the product forum did not indicate the criteria for a photo to become a backdrop or how many will become a backdrop, or even how often. This means that the weekly roundups may end up having the same content as the new backdrop collection, though it's just as likely that the best of the best will end up as backdrops and the runners-up will be in the weekly roundups. Google filed a trademark for #teampixel not long ago, so these photos could end up going beyond backdrops and collections, or could simply stay in the Chromecast backdrop library indefinitely.