+- MacResource (https://forums.macresource.com)
+-- Forum: My Category (https://forums.macresource.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=1)
+--- Forum: Tips and Deals (https://forums.macresource.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=3)
+--- Thread: Desktop Pictures/Wallpaper (/showthread.php?tid=76200)
Pages:
1
2
Desktop Pictures/Wallpaper - rapayn1 - 04-11-2009
Why is it that when my desktop is set for 1920x1200 (Apple iMac 2.8GHz CD2), only pictures that are 3872x2592 will properly fill my desktop as a nice wallpaper background? It's driving me insane. I have two photos:
Photo #1 - (Looks Fine ... sharp and clear ... no white space on the wallpaper background)
Dimensions: 3872 x 2592
Device Make: NIKON CORPORATION
Device Model: NIKON D200
Color Space: RGB
Profile Name: sRGB IEC61966-2.1
Focal Length: 29
Alpha Channel: 0
Red Eye: 0
FNumber: 9
Exposure Time: 1/125
Photo #2 - (Looks Awful ... pixelated ... too tall ... blurry)
Dimensions: 2852 x 4304
Device Make: NIKON CORPORATION
Device Model: NIKON D300
Color Space: RGB
Profile Name: sRGB IEC61966-2.1
Focal Length: 78
Alpha Channel: 0
Red Eye: 0
FNumber: 11
Exposure Time: 1/500
Since these are both better than 1920x1200, why am I having a big difference in wallpaper quality? Picture #2 is worse if I choose Fit to Screen. Fill Screen looks better but is chopped off on the top and bottom beyond what is acceptable. Stretch to Fill Screen is not good either.
What is the preferred photo dimensions if your display is set at 1920x1200 millions of colors? What application can be used to convert the above photos to that dimension? I have GraphicConverter, iPhoto, Quicktime, ImageWell (free version at the moment), ThumbsUp, Preview, LightZone, Motion Pictures, and an old copy of PhotoShop that won't run on this iMac, but I might be able to get it to run on my daughter's older 500MHz Indigo G3 iMac.
Re: Desktop Pictures/Wallpaper - olnacl - 04-11-2009
Seems to me that the second picture is vertically formatted and if you're trying to fill the screen with it, it has to stretch it horizontally
Re: Desktop Pictures/Wallpaper - mikebw - 04-11-2009
:agree:
Re: Desktop Pictures/Wallpaper - Filliam H. Muffman - 04-11-2009
Graphic Converter is what I would use.
Re: Desktop Pictures/Wallpaper - StingMe - 04-11-2009
Yeah, images will always look best if they are the same pixel dimensions as your current resolution setting (1920 x 1200) - just resize and crop the other images to make them look good.
FYI - neither of those two images are of the same aspect ratio as your LCD...
If you scale down the 3872 x 2592 image to fit the width of your LCD (1920) you'll end up with a 1920 x 1285 image; scale it to fit the height (1200) and you'll end up with a 1793 x 1200 image.
Similarly, if you scale down the 2582 x 4304 image to fit the width of your LCD you'll end up with a 1920 x 2898 image; scale it to fit the height and you'll end up with a 795 x 1200 image.
No matter how you slice it you'll either end up with a distorted image, have to crop the image, or have a blank space around some of the image...
Again, the best thing to do is use a 1920 x 1200 image so you just need to do whatever necessary to create a picture with those pixel dimensions - GraphicConverter should do the trick...good luck!
Re: Desktop Pictures/Wallpaper - rapayn1 - 04-11-2009
Thanks everyone. Thanks for the graphic example StingMe. I used GraphicConverter and it still looked bad. :-( Do I need to set the cameras to take 1920x1200 photos instead of these odder sizes and then trying to use GraphicConverter to change the width and height manually to 1920x1200. What about the HDTV format of 1920x1080? My Canon HV20 HiDef camcorder can take 1920x1080 photos in addition to 1920x1080 video.
Re: Desktop Pictures/Wallpaper - Mike Johnson - 04-11-2009
Speaking of, here are some classic wallpapers from 1994:
http://gadgets.boingboing.net/2009/04/10/it-is-1994-and-you-j.html
No need to thank me.
Re: Desktop Pictures/Wallpaper - Article Accelerator - 04-11-2009
Crop to a ratio of 19.2:12 then resize if necessary to 1920 x 1200.
Re: Desktop Pictures/Wallpaper - StingMe - 04-11-2009
You'd be wasting the resolution of your cameras to capture at a lower resolution and I wouldn't recommend this. Typically, the higher resolution (larger pixel dimension) the image, the more flexibility you'll have for future use.
The thing you need to keep in mind is that you need to maintain (or constrain) the aspect ratio (width vs. height proportions) of your image; otherwise, it will appear distorted. Take the beautiful 2852 x 4304 pixel image on the left - if you simply make the width 1920 and the height 1200 you will end up with the appropriately sized image on the right (not exactly what you want, I assume):
For the image above, here's what I would do in GraphicConverter...open the original image, select Picture-->Size-->Scale. Make sure "Keep proportions" is checked, then in the "Dimension" area select "Pixels" from the dropdown menu (probably "inches" by default). This will show you the width and/or height of the image in pixels. Change the width to 1920 and you will see the width change proportionally. Click "OK".
Select Edit-->Select All and then Edit-->Copy. Now go to File-->New and create a new image that is 1920 x 1200 pixels and then select Edit-->Paste to paste your image. Use the hand tool to position the image and then save it as a JPG to be used as your desktop image:
Alternatively, if you want a little more wiggle room horizontally, you can set the initial scaling to something a little larger than 1920.
Make sense? The exact steps you'll take will depend on the original image's resolution, subject matter, and desired result, but this should get you headed down the right road.
Re: Desktop Pictures/Wallpaper - gabester - 04-11-2009
It would be nice if slideshows and screensavers were smart enough to realize that the monitor is often wide enough to display 2 portrait pictures side by side at a time. So if you've got desktop pictures set to use your iPhoto library or some such and it selects a portrait, it would automatically look for another portrait to use and display them simultaneously. Likewise for slideshows in iPhoto.
Short of manually joining two portraits together to make a landscape picture is there any slideshow or desktop or screensaver software that does this?
g=