Skip to Content
Skip to Table of Contents

← Previous Article Next Article →

ATPM 7.06
June 2001

Columns

How To

Extras

Reviews

Download ATPM 7.06

Choose a format:

Desktop Pictures

Flowers and Southern California

Flowers

Spring has finally arrived. Jens Grabenstein is happy to share pictures of flowering trees and blossoming flowers with you. The images were shot around his place on Long Island and during a short trip to Boston. Jens used his Canon EOS 300 with a 28-80mm zoom lens and 200 ASA 35mm Kodak Gold film to take these pictures. After development the images were scanned with a UMAX flatbed scanner. Resampling and retouching were performed with Adobe Photoshop 5.5.

Southern California

These desktop pictures were taken by Lee Bennett while on a trip to southern California in May 2001. Five pictures are from the San Diego Zoo’s Wild Animal Park, one is from Balboa Harbor, and one from the Riverside vicinity. All images were taken with a Nikon Coolpix 990. Resampling and retouching were performed with Adobe Photoshop 6.01.

Downloading all the Pictures at Once

iCab and Interarchy (formerly Anarchie) can download an entire set of desktop pictures at once. In iCab, use the Download command to download “Get all files in same path.” In Interarchy, use HTTP Mirror feature.

Contributing Your Own Desktop Pictures

If you have a picture, whether a small series or just one fabulous or funny shot, feel free to send it to editor@atpm.com and we’ll publish it in next month’s issue. Have a regular print but no scanner? Don’t worry. E-mail us, and we tell you where to send it so we can scan it for you. Note that we cannot return the original print, so send us a copy.

Placing Desktop Pictures

Mac OS X

Switch to the Finder. Choose “Preferences…” from the “Finder” menu. Click on the “Select Picture…” button on the right. In the Open Panel, select the desktop picture you want to use. The panel defaults to your “~/Library/Desktop Pictures” folder. Close the “Finder Preferences” window when you are done.

You can also use the pictures with Mac OS X’s built-in screen saver. Choose “System Preferences…” from the Apple menu. Click the screen saver button. Then click on Custom Slide Show in the list of screen savers. If you put the ATPM pictures in your Pictures folder, you’re all set. Otherwise, click Configure to tell the screen saver which pictures to use.

Mac OS 8.5-9.1

Go to the Appearance control panel. Click on the “Desktop” tab at the top of the window. Press the “Place Picture…” button in the bottom right corner, then select the desired image. By default, it will show you the images in the “Desktop Pictures” subfolder of your “Appearance” folder in the System Folder, however you can select images from anywhere on your hard disk.

After you select the desired image file and press “Choose,” a preview will appear in the Appearance window. The “Position Automatically” selection is usually fine. You can play with the settings to see if you like the others better. You will see the result in the little preview screen.

Once you are satisfied with the selection, click on “Set Desktop” in the lower right corner of the window. That’s it! Should you ever want to get rid of it, just go to the desktop settings again and press “Remove Picture.”

Mac OS 8.0 and 8.1

Go to the “Desktop Patterns” control panel. Click on “Desktop Pictures” in the list on the left of the window, and follow steps similar to the ones above.

Random Desktop Pictures

If you drag a folder of pictures onto the miniature desktop in the Appearance or Desktop Pictures control panel, your Mac will choose one from the folder at random when it starts up.

DeskPicture

An alternative to Mac OS’s Appearance control panel is Pierce Software’s DeskPicture, reviewed in issue 5.10 and available for download.

apple

Also in This Series

Reader Comments (1)

anonymous · January 26, 2002 - 17:59 EST #1
Your web page is very helpful, I wanted to look at blue flowers for my wedding and got some ideas. Thank you.

Add A Comment





 E-mail me new comments on this article