Just about every modern operating system with a graphical user interface has the option to set a desktop background. Provide the most suitable copy!
Although computers nowadays come with at least 8GB of RAM by default, it is nonsense to waste memory space on a desktop background unnecessarily. Certainly 24 megapixel photos or larger are still heavy in size. Of course: your operating system will scale the photos for you. But you can end up in ‘problems’. Your photo may look strange because it was not cropped properly, or it may look stretched or squashed. All solvable by pre-adjusting the photo intended for a desktop background.
Find out the screen resolution
You can adjust this in any photo editing program. In this article, we use Artstudio Pro for the change, an app for iOS / iPadOS. But that could just as easily have been GIMP on Linux or Photoshop or Paint.Net on Windows. The advantage of the iOS way is that you can prepare some photos from your camera roll on the couch or on the go! Either way, the first thing to do before you start editing is to find out what screen resolution the monitor has. With Windows 10 you do this through the app Settings (Start menu). Click on it System and then on Display, where you are under Screen resolution finds what you are looking for. Write down or remember this.
Ratio
Start your photo editor and open a photo you want to use as the desktop background. Then click on the crop tool of this photo editor. In most of these types of programs you can specify the desired aspect ratio here. In Artstudio Pro and Photoshop, for example, this can be done very easily by just entering the numbers found for the horizontal and vertical resolution. In other words: if you have a screen with a resolution of 1920 × 1080 (full hd), you simply enter those values ​​in the cropping tool. Older and often slightly less flexible image editors can only handle a set of default values.
It is good to keep in mind that a Full HD screen has an aspect ratio of 16: 9. An antique resolution that was very common in the past is 1024 × 768, which equates to an aspect ratio of 4: 3 (the more square-looking monitors). Photos taken with a compact camera are often stored in that 4: 3 aspect ratio; photos taken with an SLR or mirrorless camera in 3: 2 ratio. In short: sometimes there are some calculations and cutting is necessary.
From 4: 3 to 16: 9
In our example, we take a 12 megapixel smartphone photo with a resolution of 4032 × 3024. That’s just a few calculations 4032: 3024 = 1.333. We want to use the photo as the wallpaper on a screen with a resolution of 1920 × 1080, so enter those values ​​in the ratio fields of your crop tool (or choose 16: 9). Then crop in that 16: 9 ratio. Then resize the photo to 1920 × 1080 pixels. In Artstudio Pro, choose the Resize Image option in the Image menu. Enter the desired values ​​in the appropriate fields. If available in your program, choose the best resample method or let the software select it itself. After resizing, an unsharp mask often helps to get the photo razor sharp (again). You can often find this blur mask in the filters section of the editor (in ArtStudio Pro under Filters, Sharpen and Unsharp Mask).
File format
Now save the photo. In order not to see jpeg compression side effects in the image (you will be staring at this image all day…) it is best to choose .bmp (Windows) or .png (Linux). It is also possible to use .jpeg in Windows 10, but then set the highest quality to 100 percent if you’re exporting (or using Save as) in your photo editor. Make sure that you do not do the ‘normal’ Save used, because then you overwrite the original photo! In our case, we save the image anyway as .jpeg. In addition, you should keep in mind that Windows internally throws a round of compression over it.
Set wallpaper
Time to actually set the image as your desktop background. As an example, we will use Windows 10. For example, save the modified image in a specially created folder on the system disk, something like Wallpapers suffice. In the Explorer, right-click on the image and then click on in the opened context menu Use as desktop background. In principle, you are now done, although it is always worthwhile to right-click on an empty piece of the desktop. Select the option from the menu Adjust to personal preference.
Fine tuning and slide show
If you have done everything correctly, you can select the option in the opened window Centering choose under Select the desired view. Your image will then be shown to fit exactly. An image that has a different aspect ratio can be made ‘fit’ via the option To fill (but then you have no control over cuts and the like). If you do not like the background and you want to return to the default background, you will find it under Choose your image. Finally, if you are a type who cannot choose, it is worthwhile to prepare a whole series of photos for your screen, in the manner described above. Place them all in the Desktop wallpapers folder. Then choose in the window Settings (right click on empty piece Desktop, Adjust to personal preference) below Background on Slideshow. click on Leaves and browse to the Desktop Wallpapers folder. click on Choose this folder and you will see the background change periodically. The time interval can be set with the selection menu below Change image each (default is 30 minutes). The playback order is also adjustable. below Select the desired view you can choose again for prepared images Centering.
