Quizzes & Puzzles0 min ago
Setting picture as wallpaper on laptop
14 Answers
I have a sony vaio and I want to use the photos I have saved on it as my desktop wallpaper. However it doesn't seem to work very well. The options are to set it as 'tile', 'centre' or 'stretch' however each of these options either cut off lots of the picture or distort it. What am I doing wrong or how can I fix it?
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Computer screens and digital pictures are made up of lots of small dots called "pixels".
Here is a picture which shows what I mean. The picture on the left is the "normal" picture, but the one on the right zooms in, and you can see it is little dots (pixels)
http://photo.net/equipment/digital/basics/pixe ls.jpg
To indicate how many pixels a computer screen is, or a digital picture, then the number of pixels is shown like this: 1024x768.
So this is showing 1024 pixels ACROSS and 768 pixels down.
more....
Here is a picture which shows what I mean. The picture on the left is the "normal" picture, but the one on the right zooms in, and you can see it is little dots (pixels)
http://photo.net/equipment/digital/basics/pixe ls.jpg
To indicate how many pixels a computer screen is, or a digital picture, then the number of pixels is shown like this: 1024x768.
So this is showing 1024 pixels ACROSS and 768 pixels down.
more....
To find out your screen resolution do as follows (this is for Windows XP, but Vista is probably similar.
On your Windows desktop RIGHT click, and from the menu choose Properties.
The "Display Properties" window is shown. Select the "Settings" tab.
In the bottom left it shows "screen resolution". This will show you your current screen resolution in pixels.
Mine is shown as 1280x1024, yours of course could be different.
more....
On your Windows desktop RIGHT click, and from the menu choose Properties.
The "Display Properties" window is shown. Select the "Settings" tab.
In the bottom left it shows "screen resolution". This will show you your current screen resolution in pixels.
Mine is shown as 1280x1024, yours of course could be different.
more....
continued.....
You ask about aspect ratio. This is about the "shape" of the computer screen.
Computer screens come in two main shapes - "square" and "widescreen" (it is not really square, more like a 4x3 ratio, but you know what I mean).
This is a bit like older televisions and newer digital televisions. Older TVs were always "square" (4x3 ratio) whereas new digital TVs are widescreen (say 16x9 ratio).
Because some computer screens are "square" they have pixels sizes such as 640x480, 800x600, 1024x768 and so on. These all give a "square" picture.
But widescreen computer screens have a pixel size such as 1440x900, 1680x1050 and so on. These all give a "widescreen" picture.
more....
You ask about aspect ratio. This is about the "shape" of the computer screen.
Computer screens come in two main shapes - "square" and "widescreen" (it is not really square, more like a 4x3 ratio, but you know what I mean).
This is a bit like older televisions and newer digital televisions. Older TVs were always "square" (4x3 ratio) whereas new digital TVs are widescreen (say 16x9 ratio).
Because some computer screens are "square" they have pixels sizes such as 640x480, 800x600, 1024x768 and so on. These all give a "square" picture.
But widescreen computer screens have a pixel size such as 1440x900, 1680x1050 and so on. These all give a "widescreen" picture.
more....
>mine is 1440 x 900
So if you see my append above, you have a computer screen that is widescreen.
But here is the important thing, your camera takes pictures in 4x3 ratio.
So when you try to put your picture (at 4x3 ratio) onto your desktop (widescreen, say 16x9 ratio) Windows needs to stretch the picture to make it fit.
So it distorts it, making it wider so it fits the widescreen computer screen.
To get round this you probably need to "edit" the picture with some sort of photo editing software and "crop" it so changes from a 4x3 ratio picture to a 16x9 ratio picture.
I have never done this, but I am sure someone will suggest a product that can do this for you.
So if you see my append above, you have a computer screen that is widescreen.
But here is the important thing, your camera takes pictures in 4x3 ratio.
So when you try to put your picture (at 4x3 ratio) onto your desktop (widescreen, say 16x9 ratio) Windows needs to stretch the picture to make it fit.
So it distorts it, making it wider so it fits the widescreen computer screen.
To get round this you probably need to "edit" the picture with some sort of photo editing software and "crop" it so changes from a 4x3 ratio picture to a 16x9 ratio picture.
I have never done this, but I am sure someone will suggest a product that can do this for you.
When people offer pictures for dekstop wallpaper they have to offer it in various sizes, to cover both square shapes and widescreen shapes.
Here is one picture as an example, and you can see it is offered in 9 different pixel sizes (see the right of the picture).
http://wallpaperstock.net/yosemite-usa-ii-wall papers_w9581.html
The top five in the list are all "square" shapes, the next four in the list are all widescreen, and you can see your shape in the list, 1440x900.
Here is one picture as an example, and you can see it is offered in 9 different pixel sizes (see the right of the picture).
http://wallpaperstock.net/yosemite-usa-ii-wall papers_w9581.html
The top five in the list are all "square" shapes, the next four in the list are all widescreen, and you can see your shape in the list, 1440x900.
>I have had look at my pictures and they seem to be either 1200x1600 or 1944x2592.
If you look at the link I gave you on my last reply you can see that 1600x1200 comes under the "square" shape rather than widescreen shape.
This is why your pictures are stretched, to fit into the widescreen shape of your computer screen.
So you need to change the "aspect ratio" of your photo to fit the widescreen format. Note that the pixel SIZE is not so important, it is the aspect ratio that is important.
As I said, this will mean some simple editing of the picture, leaving the width the same but removing a strip along the top or bottom (or both) so the SHAPE of the picture is changed.
Here is a guy who has done that very thing and his gives a brief overview of how he did it.
http://flyingsamphoto.com/digital-photo-guide- art-widescreen-photos.shtml
It may sound difficult, and it may take you a couple of goes, but I think you should be to do it.
You can download a trial of photoshop elements from here
http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshopelwin/
If you look at the link I gave you on my last reply you can see that 1600x1200 comes under the "square" shape rather than widescreen shape.
This is why your pictures are stretched, to fit into the widescreen shape of your computer screen.
So you need to change the "aspect ratio" of your photo to fit the widescreen format. Note that the pixel SIZE is not so important, it is the aspect ratio that is important.
As I said, this will mean some simple editing of the picture, leaving the width the same but removing a strip along the top or bottom (or both) so the SHAPE of the picture is changed.
Here is a guy who has done that very thing and his gives a brief overview of how he did it.
http://flyingsamphoto.com/digital-photo-guide- art-widescreen-photos.shtml
It may sound difficult, and it may take you a couple of goes, but I think you should be to do it.
You can download a trial of photoshop elements from here
http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshopelwin/
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