I don't particularly like the cover photo feature (profiles, groups, etc.) and wish to disable it completely. Is this possible to do? If so, can you please explain how?

Thank you.

Hi David,
In that case you need to have simple customization at code level.
Here is some instruction as
Please copy and paste below files at
root/templates/current_template/html/com_community
then do the following otherwise at the time of upgrade the jomsocial package it will be undone.

For the frontpage at root/components/com_community/templates/default/frontpage.guests.php
remove the code

<div class="row-fluid hero-area">
...
</div>

<div class="js-focus-cover">
...
</div>

<div class="js-focus-cover">
...
</div>

<div class="js-focus-cover">
...
</div>