Quick n' dirty Watch background pic tutorial

[BarracksSi]

I just wrote this in another thread. No need for Photoshop or any other image editor; you can do it all on your iPhone. If you want to reduce the file size of the end image, you can text or email it to yourself or use another app.

So it has nothing to do with image size? I got an image (Welsh flag) and it was 800x800 pixels. Reduced it in paint.net to 300x300, but made no difference. reduced it to 150x150 and still made no difference :-(

Right, it's about aspect ratio, not image size.

Here's the tricky part, though: with an image like your flag example, Photos wants to crop it in landscape mode -- wider than its height -- unless you force it to "think" in portrait mode.

Use the Crop box first to select a portrait-like area -- tall and narrow -- then tap the aspect icon and select 4:5. It will think that you want it to stay tall, and it'll give you a crop boundary to suit (technically 5:4).

First, this is what happens with a landscape pic and choosing the 4:5 crop straight away:
View attachment 584476

Instead, first, manually select a crop boundary that's taller:
View attachment 584477

…which gives you this:
View attachment 584478

Then tap the aspect ratio icon, select "4:5" in the pop up sheet, and you get this:
View attachment 584479

Hit Done, and you're set. Perfect size for the Watch.

 

[BarracksSi]

Btw, I came up with the 4:5 ratio by checking the AW's pixel dimensions. Guaranteed to work.

 

[ledzepfan1981]

Thanks again for this. Still crops too much off the photo though!

 

[BarracksSi]

Thanks again for this. Still crops too much off the photo though!

Yeah, that's a drawback with pics that you'd want to keep wide.

My workaround would be to view it on the phone, take a screenshot, then edit the screenshot to get the right aspect ratio.

The lowered screenshot resolution is no big deal since the watch's screen is even smaller.

 

[jaymc]

For those with a Mac use Photos app, select the picture you want to edit using Photos. Then Edit > Crop > Aspect > 8:10.

 

[BarracksSi]

My workaround would be to view it on the phone, take a screenshot, then edit the screenshot to get the right aspect ratio.

The lowered screenshot resolution is no big deal since the watch's screen is even smaller.

Here's two samples using the same source image:

While I'm at it, I noticed that the AW automatically adds a fade to the top of a background image:

 

[Mac2me]

I like it with the black band at top BTW. Very legible reading the time. I changed my face to Photo today and the time in the top right corner is displayed right over one of the two people's heads. Wish Apple would send the time to the bottom right corner or give us a choice of placements.

BTW taking a photo on your phone in the Square setting works pretty well for watch use.

 

[Armen]

I just wrote this in another thread. No need for Photoshop or any other image editor; you can do it all on your iPhone. If you want to reduce the file size of the end image, you can text or email it to yourself or use another app.


Right, it's about aspect ratio, not image size.

Here's the tricky part, though: with an image like your flag example, Photos wants to crop it in landscape mode -- wider than its height -- unless you force it to "think" in portrait mode.

Use the Crop box first to select a portrait-like area -- tall and narrow -- then tap the aspect icon and select 4:5. It will think that you want it to stay tall, and it'll give you a crop boundary to suit (technically 5:4).

First, this is what happens with a landscape pic and choosing the 4:5 crop straight away:
View attachment 584476

Instead, first, manually select a crop boundary that's taller:
View attachment 584477

…which gives you this:
View attachment 584478

Then tap the aspect ratio icon, select "4:5" in the pop up sheet, and you get this:
View attachment 584479

Hit Done, and you're set. Perfect size for the Watch.

I just select the picture and pinch/zoom and move it around on the watch itself. Is this different?

 

[BarracksSi]

I just select the picture and pinch/zoom and move it around on the watch itself.

Ah -- it works! Cool.

Is this different?

I suppose, in that you can add space to the top if the photo composition is too bright or cluttered under the time display itself.

Also, I've got a shot of my wife that I knew would be off-center, but I can only see half of her face on the watch, and I can't change it enough via zoom/scroll on the watch. I edited it through the method in the opening post, and it looks a lot better now.

 

[Brien]

Couldn't you just crop an image to the display's native resolution?

 

[Armen]

Ah -- it works! Cool.


I suppose, in that you can add space to the top if the photo composition is too bright or cluttered under the time display itself.

Also, I've got a shot of my wife that I knew would be off-center, but I can only see half of her face on the watch, and I can't change it enough via zoom/scroll on the watch. I edited it through the method in the opening post, and it looks a lot better now.

Only issues I come up with sometimes is positioning the picture so the clock doesn't cover the subject of the picture.

 

[Armen]

 

[BarracksSi]

Couldn't you just crop an image to the display's native resolution?

Sure, but it's easier on the user end (IMO) to get the aspect ratio, or relative height and width, and then let the watch deal with resampling to its native resolution.

That's basically what happens when you pan and zoom on an image and then Force Touch to create the watch face.

 

[Mac 128]

While I'm at it, I noticed that the AW automatically adds a fade to the top of a background image:

This is not consistent, and seemingly dependent on background imagery. It's a quick fix on Apple's part, but the user is going to have to do a fair amount of work to ensure it's a good clean background that looks good with Apple's haphazard solution.

 

[Mac 128]

Couldn't you just crop an image to the display's native resolution?

In case anyone needs it:

38mm -- 272 x 340
42mm -- 312 x 390

I imagine since the ratio will be the same, one could create all custom wallpapers to match the 42mm display size, and it should scale perfectly onto the 38mm display.

 

[BarracksSi]

I imagine since the ratio will be the same, one could create all custom wallpapers to match the 42mm display size, and it should scale perfectly onto the 38mm display.

Yup, exactly. Better explanation than I came up with.

Both pixel counts divide to 1.25, hence the 4:5 width:height ratio.

 

[ledzepfan1981]

Thanks to everyone who replied to this thread, you are all a great help. I'll try the pinch method later (my watch is charging atm).