Call for header images

[branchandroot]

Please note: I ask because I am not much of an artist myself! I don't have the photoshop skills to translate most photos into a good header image. If anyone does, that's perfect, but I can't do much myself with "raw" photos.

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This is a call to all artists! There is a new layout in the works which is optimized for header images (minimal other visuals and it can take two header images via the wizard). Alas, there are few really good banner type images available on the stock sites under suitable licenses.

In particular, I was hoping to get some skylines from various cities (like the set of Expressive skyline themes). Would anybody like to contribute some? Or, for that matter, any other header image?

The images must be licensed such that Dreamwidth can use and redistribute them. This is a liquid layout, so they should also be something that either repeats gracefully or, as in the case of skylines, ends gracefully, perhaps layered over a simple repeating background. See a repeating sample and a non-repeating, layered sample.

ETA: Additional specifications: I wouldn't want to go much over 300px in height. The journal/page titles should be taken into account. While there doesn't necessarily have to be completely open space for them, it does need a space in which a single text color would be readable over whatever the background texture is.

Comments

[nova]

Fixed height or flexible?
Should space for the journal title/other info be taken into account on the image?

[branchandroot]

I think any height up to 300px or so would be fine. I wouldn't want to go too much over that.

Oh, good thought. Yes, it would probably be wise to account for the journal/page titles. While there doesn't necessarily have to be open space for them, it does need a space in which a single text color would be readable over whatever the background texture is.

*goes to add this to the body of the post*

[innerslytherin]

I'm assuming you're talking digital/graphic art, rather than photography? :)

[jenett]

I don't have city for you, but I do have a really lovely lighthouse in fog. (Taken in Boston Harbor last summer)

http://pics.livejournal.com/jenett/pic/0007hkda/g54 is the image: I can crop to 300 high easily if you want it.

[branchandroot]

Oo, pretty! Can that be made to work with a variable-width? That is, can it go on top of some kind of repeating background or fade into a uniform gray or something? (I've done that for a sea photo once before, and wow was that hard! But I'm not a terribly good artist...)

[branchandroot]

Illustrations or vector art will probably be easiest to work with, but photography is also perfectly fine if it can be made to either fade or repeat nicely!

[highlander_ii]

it's not city, it's hockey players, but it could be worked into a header image by someone with some cool photoshop/editing skills:

http://photographybyh2.h2smsk.com/photogallery/displayimage.php?album=31&pos=11


and a couple from Florence, Italy:

http://photographybyh2.h2smsk.com/photogallery/displayimage.php?album=random&cat=4&pos=-148

http://photographybyh2.h2smsk.com/photogallery/displayimage.php?album=10&pos=46


* okay, those are the links to the thumbnails that will get the full-size images, but yeah - if you think it'll work.

[shirasade]

Well, you're welcome to use any of my photos.

Talking cityscapes - here's Tokyo, Singapore, Basel, Zurich, Wellington.

Oh, and possibly a mountain panorama (near St. Moritz, Switzerland): panoramic, with glare, or regular-size.

[poulpette]

I went to Rome three years ago and took a handful of pictures (http://fanfishtour.free.fr/data/ARomanHoliday/index.html). You're welcome to look through the album to see if anything interests you. Just tell me which one and I'll send you the originals (and the optimized ones if you want too). I'd offer to header-ize them, but I lack skills in that area :S

[dianavilliers]

How would something like this suit? I could probably do something sensible with the ends given a bit more time.

[jenett]

I haven't done a lot of photo editing recently, but I think so (on top of uniform gray is probably easiest)

Let me do a bit of fiddling? It'll probably take me until the weekend, the way my week's going, but if anyone else reading this wants to have a try, feel free to fiddle.

[katieastrophe]

I have some photos of NYC taken from the top of the Empire State which could work. I don't have access to them right now but could have them to you by early next week, possibly?

[branchandroot]

Sure, no rush!

[branchandroot]

Oh, that's nice! Yes, if that one can get a repeat or fade or whatever, maybe at the lower end, that would be just the kind of thing I'm hoping for.

[branchandroot]

*rueful* Alas, I also lack the digital art skills to turn those into headers. Maybe someone else on this post can! Some of them could definitely work for someone who knows what they're doing with their photoshop filters and such.

[branchandroot]

Oh, those are lovely! I'm not a good enough digital artist to get the cityscapes into header form, and I will have to hope for someone who is to come onto the post, but maybe I could do something with that mountain panorama. That's just beautiful. Thanks!

[branchandroot]

*wistful* Yeah, I'm hoping for a good photoshopper to come along, because we're getting lots of really good photos that I don't have the skill to rework either. Thanks, though!

[highlander_ii]

I'll poke a couple of my photoshop-inclined friends and see if they have a notion to poke around at things. =)

[jjhunter]

Here's a set for a repeating header image, components created via the coraline.com's 'create a flower' tool. I'd alternate them in the default order for the set.

Small Coraline Flowers (jjhunter_24).

There's another set for the same images at their original size, if you'd like to edit or resize them.

[branchandroot]

Oh, pretty! That could work very nicely, thanks!

[dianavilliers]

Well, that was not easy. This version should tile moderately gracefully, try it out and see what you think.

[ninetydegrees]

Sorry to intrude but I wonder what are the licensing terms for these. Considering DW's stance on advertising, you would have to remove the 'Coraline dot Com' banner and I'm not sure you're free to use these images if you do that.

[branchandroot]

*rueful* I bet it wasn't easy, no. That's a very nice job, though. You can see it here in a first-swipe layout. There's still a wee bit of 'seam' on the right, but only barely and possibly only if you know it's a repeating image!

Thank you, I'm so glad you decided to contribute this! What name would you like the credit to? Your DW name or something else? This will go in both the "designed by" module and the code layer. Ah, and shall I add a "find this person's photos" link to your photobucket account, in the code layer, or another site or leave that off?

[dianavilliers]

Thanks. It's the first time I've done something like this, and I really didn't appreciate how much of a gradient there was accross the sky background.

It's time I started owning my work - Credit to Sarah Wheaton, please, and link to my dreamwidth account. Image postprocessing was done in GIMP, so if you wanted to include that somewhere, I'm sure the GIMP team would appreciate it.

I don't know if you're aware but that layout is not working well in IE at least (I'm at work, I don't get to choose, ok). When I load the page or when I hover over the userpic, the sidebar superimposes itself over the main body. Resizing the window shifts it back to where it should be.

[branchandroot]

*nods* Photos are always hard to repeat smoothly, even the ones that are good candidates.

Sarah Wheaton it is, then! I'll note down all of that.

*bangs head on desk* I thought that bug had been fixed! Argh! I'll ask Afuna about it; what version of IE were you using?