Consider this: while browsing Flickr, you encounter a nice photo and wish to use it as your desktop background. You look for the “All Sizes” button so that you can get the photo in it’s hi-res glory, but that button is nowhere to be found. You decide to settle for the low-res preview, right-click the pic, and choose “Set as Desktop Background”. You minimize your browser, only to discover that the photo is missing, and your desktop is one solid color.
The reason for these oddities is that Flickr is blocking you from downloading the photograph in question. Free Flickr accounts are not allowed to offer full-size downloads. Additionally, Flickr pro users can select an option that restricts people from downloading their photos. Flickr accomplishes this blockage by placing a fake, transparent image over the actual photograph. When you right-click and try to set the photo as your desktop background, you actually get the fake transparency. This fake transparency is also placed over images belonging to free accounts, and is referred to as “spaceball.gif”.
There are a few different ways to get around spaceball.gif. Here are two of them:
Method 1: Firefox User Script
Install the “Flickr remove spaceball” Firefox user script, and you’ll be able to go back and set the photo as your desktop background. I tested this user script with Firefox 2, and it worked like a charm (after installing the script, you must refresh the Flickr photo page).
If the Firefox user script doesn’t work, you can try the brute force method.
Method 2: Brute Force
The brute force method is guaranteed to work, and really isn’t all that complicated: take a screenshot, paste it into MS Paint, then cut out and save the photograph.
- With the photograph clearly visible on your screen, press the “Print Screen” button on your keyboard.
- Start up MS Paint, and click Edit → Paste.
- Use the cropping tool
to draw a box around the photo. - Click Edit → Copy
- Click File → New. If you’re asked to “save changes to untitled”, say no.
- Click Edit → Paste
- Click File → Save, and save the photo to your My Pictures folder.
- Go to your desktop, and right-click in an empty space.
- Select “Properties”.
- Go to the “Desktop” tab, locate the file you just saved, and set it as your desktop background.
Respect the Photographer’s Copyright
All free Flickr accounts have the transparent “spaceball.gif” option turned on by default. Additionally, paid Flickr accounts can willingly use spaceball.gif to block downloads for whatever reasons they wish. Some photographers may be using this option because they’ve placed restrictions on how their artistic works may be used. If this is the case, you should not employ the methods described in this article to use protected Flickr photographs in any way that infringes on the photographer’s rights. Check with the photographer before you take action.
