Banners anyone?

August 2, 2007 9:18 AM

Where can I find good free banners for my website? Preferably ones with a nature theme, or a metropolitan theme (preferably related to San Francisco).

I am creating a small site which is far from complete. But one thing I need is a new banner for the top of the page there. The ones I have found online through my google-fu are less than inspiring. Who knows of some good places to find free banners?

posted by LoopyG to Computers & Internet (15 answers total)

Best answer: Attribution-required creative-commons pictures of San Francisco
posted by adamrice at 9:25 AM on August 2, 2007

Response by poster: Thanks adamrice, but I am thinking more of the long-and-skinny shape, something like a 4:1 width:height ratio.
posted by LoopyG at 9:28 AM on August 2, 2007

You are probably limiting yourself greatly by looking for pictures of a set ratio. You could always get a high-res image (like at adamrice's search) and crop it to 4:1 using Photoshop or any other imaging program.
posted by daninnj at 9:36 AM on August 2, 2007

Why not just take a chunk of the BART map that shows some very recognizable place names? Adjustt and crop it to he size you need. I am into transportation and that would be urban in an unexpected way sort of banner instead of the usual skyline, golden gate, trolley kind of action.
posted by jadepearl at 9:38 AM on August 2, 2007

Best answer: vox banners. I don't know what 4:1 means, but they are free.
posted by goml at 9:46 AM on August 2, 2007

Response by poster: The reason I was limiting myself to an aspect ratio is most "full-size" images would require cropping (since resizing would distort everything). In general, the subject of the images is large and in the center of the image, which means the top and/or bottom would be cut off. But I will open my search to these images and hope I find one where the subject is small enough that cropping out the top and bottom wont affect it
posted by LoopyG at 9:53 AM on August 2, 2007

Response by poster: Also, to clarify, I want banners that are kind of like the shape you see at the top of most wordpress blogs. For example: (http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/).
posted by LoopyG at 9:55 AM on August 2, 2007

yeah, any 1024x768 image should fit the bill, once cropped.

flickr has plenty of larger images, just look for the 'all sizes' button next to the photo and click on it.

here's a quick example of something i cropped in Paint with the second photo from adamrice's link: example banner crop.

the sizing isn't quite leaderboard, but it's at least as high quality as that pixelated junk on getrichslowly.
posted by fishfucker at 10:49 AM on August 2, 2007

oh. huh. nevermind. i guess that's pretty much what you said.

I've personally found that most images look pretty good 'letterboxed". Bridge stuff and city views particularly.
posted by fishfucker at 10:51 AM on August 2, 2007

Best answer: a search for San Francisco panorama brought up this site. I like the bridge photo. The photographer's e-mail is right there, and he might let you use one as long as you're not selling it.
posted by desjardins at 11:08 AM on August 2, 2007

Mod note: removed the link to your site from the question, put it in your profile if you'd like people to look at it, thanks.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 12:11 PM on August 2, 2007

For whatever it's worth, I use a 4:1 aspect ratio on my own website banners (which I extract from my own photos), and I discover a lot of interesting views by cropping them that way.
posted by adamrice at 12:24 PM on August 2, 2007

Response by poster: sorry jess. didnt realize self-linking was disallowed when asking a question on AskMe.
posted by LoopyG at 1:04 PM on August 2, 2007

Check out iStockphoto.
posted by rush at 1:39 PM on August 2, 2007

Oops, here's a more specific set.
posted by rush at 1:40 PM on August 2, 2007