In several themes you can use an image of your own for the header (the possibility isn’t always obvious when you view the thumbnails under Appearance > Themes, as some of them sport no image at all). The image can be a jpg or a png, or an animated gif.
Two thirds of those themes also include the option to “Hide Text”, i.e. exclude the regular blog title and tagline from showing in the header. This is useful when you want to incorporate the blog title and the tagline in the design of the image itself.
You add the image in Appearance > Header, or in Appearance > Themes > Header (the tab shows only when you have loaded a theme that supports this option). In all themes except Regulus, you get an image uploader, and select the file from your computer. In Regulus you get a “Current Theme Options” tab instead, and you must paste the URL of the image, so you must have already uploaded it via Media > Add New.
The image needs to be in specific dimensions (varying from theme to theme – very few themes share the same ones). When you upload an image, you are supposedly able to crop it to those dimensions. But this may result in poor image quality, or not work at all. So it’s best to upload images in the dimensions specified by the theme.
| Supported in | Dimensions (px) | Hide Text option | Header tabs |
| Adventure Journal [optional] | 920 x 360 | no | above image |
| Ambiru | 500 x 225 | yes | below image |
| Andrea [optional] | 1270 x 260 | yes | below image |
| Autofocus [optional] | 800 x 216 | yes | below image |
| Benevolence | 700 x 225 | yes | no |
| Black-Letterhead | 760 x 200 | yes | no |
| Blix | 690 x 115 | yes | below image |
| Blogum [optional] | 945 x 150 | no | above image |
| Bold Life [optional] | 950 x 264 | no | above image |
| Bouquet | 1100 x 180 | yes | below image |
| Bueno [optional] | 930 x 198 | yes | above image |
| Chaotic Soul | 760 x 151 | no | no |
| Chaos Theory [optional] | 780 x 180 | yes | below image |
| Chateau [optional] | 960 x 260 | yes | above image |
| Chunk [optional] | 800 x 140 | yes | below image |
| Clean Home [optional] | 900 x 200 | yes | above image |
| Comet [optional] | 960 x 200 | yes | default above image [*] |
| Connections | 741 x 142 | yes | above image |
| Contempt | 750 x 140 | yes | below image |
| Coraline [optional] | 990 x 180 | yes | above image |
| Day Dream | 527 x 273 | yes | below image |
| Digg 3 Column | 904 x 160 | yes | above image |
| Dusk to Dawn [optional] | 870 x 220 | yes | below image (in sidebar) |
| Duster [optional] | 1000 x 300 | yes | below image |
| Elegant Grunge [optional] | 956 x 160 | yes | above image |
| Enterprise [optional] | 960 x 80 | yes | below image |
| Fjords 04 | 900 x 200 | yes | no |
| Forever [optional] | 885 x 252 | yes | below image |
| Fresh & Clean [optional] | 920 x 116 | yes | below image |
| Freshy | 780 x 95 | no | below image |
| Fruit Shake | 980 x 285 | no | below image |
| Fusion [optional] | 980 x 148 | yes | bottom of image |
| Greenery | 740 x 171 | yes | top of image |
| Grid Focus [optional] | 970 x 175 | yes | no |
| Iceburgg | 790 x 150 | no | above image |
| Imbalance 2 [optional] | 210 x 170 | yes | next to image |
| iTheme2 [optional] | 978 x 288 | yes | below image |
| K2-lite | 780 x 200 | yes | bottom of image |
| Koi [optional] | 980 x 200 | yes | below image |
| Kubrick | 760 x 200 | yes | no |
| Liquorice [optional] | 900 x 235 | yes | below image |
| Manifest [optional] | 500 x 160 | no | above image |
| Matala [optional] | 940 x 150 | yes | below image |
| Misty Look [optional] | 760 x 190 | yes | above image |
| Modularity Lite [optional] | 950 x 200 | no | above image |
| Motion | 50 x 50 | no | pages above, categories below |
| Mystique [optional] | 940 x 200 | yes | below image |
| Neat | 700 x 200 | yes | no |
| Neo-Sapien | 480 x 250 | no | above image |
| Next Saturday [optional] | 615 x 85 | yes | no |
| Nishita [optional] | 1024 x 295 | yes | below image |
| Notepad [optional] | 974 x 240 | yes | above image |
| Nuntius [optional] | 980 x 155 | yes | default below image [*] |
| Ocean Mist | 736 x 229 | no | bottom of image |
| Oulipo [optional] | 712 x 80 | no | below image (left sidebar) |
| P2 [optional] | 980 x 120 | yes | no |
| Parament [optional] | 950 x 200 | yes | below image |
| Piano Black [optional] | 951 x 160 | yes | above image |
| Pilcrow [optional] | 770 x 200 | yes | above image |
| Pink Touch 2 [optional] | 690 x 185 | yes | no |
| Pool | 795 x 150 | yes | below image |
| Prologue [optional] | 726 x 150 | no | no |
| Quintus | 1100 x 250 | yes | below image |
| Reddle [optional] | 1120 x 252 | yes | below image |
| Redoable Lite | 730 x 180 | yes | below image |
| Regulus | 730 x 140 | yes | top of image |
| Retro-fitted [optional] | 1020 x 150 | yes | below image |
| Retro MacOS [optional] | 758 x 180 | no | below image (in sidebar) |
| Rubric [optional] | 215 x 150 | yes | no |
| Rusty Grunge [optional] | 658 x 240 | no | above image |
| Sapphire | 740 x 180 | yes | no |
| Selecta [optional] | 940 x 150 | no | above image |
| Shaan [optional] | 950 x 100 | yes | above image |
| Simpla [optional] | 750 x 120 | no | no |
| Skeptical [optional] | 940 x 200 | no | above image |
| Spectrum [optional] | 938 x 150 | no | above image |
| Splendio | 980 x 174 | no | above image |
| Strange Little Town [optional] | 950 x 200 | yes | above image |
| Structure | 960 x 120 | yes | below image |
| Suburbia [optional] | 155 x 155 | yes | below image |
| Sundance [optional] | 984 x 242 | yes | below image |
| Sunspot [optional] | 257 x 157 | yes | below image (in sidebar) |
| Tarski [optional] | 720 x 180 | no | below image |
| The Morning After [optional] | 960 x 70 | no | above image |
| Titan [optional] | 960 x 180 | no | below image |
| Triton Lite [optional] | 960 x 270 | yes | above image |
| Twenty Eleven [optional] | 1000 x 288 | yes | below image |
| Twenty Ten [optional] | 940 x 198 | yes | below image |
| Under the Influence | 980 x 180 | yes | below image |
| Vertigo [optional] | 960 x 240 | yes | above footer! |
| Vigilance | 920 x 180 | yes | below image |
| Vostok [optional] | 600 x 126 | no | below image |
| Wu Wei [optional] | 700 x 144 | yes | above image |
| zBench [optional] | 960 x 200 | yes | above image |
[Grid Focus: see here]
[iNove: see here]
[NotesIL: header displays your blavatar]
Check these workarounds too:
Custom header image in Inuit Types
Hiding title and tagline in MistyLook
Custom header image in Motion
Notes:
• The width for Under the Influence refers to the default version of the theme (its width is customizable).
• if you have applied CSS customization, the uploader in Appearance > Header usually doesn’t work: you have to upload the image in Media > Add New, get its URL and add the image via CSS editing.
• In a few themes, if you set a “featured” image to a post or a static page, it shows up in place of the regular header image when viewing that post or page – see my post on featured images.
• You can select a random display of several images (the option shows up in Appearance > Header only after you upload more than one image).
[*] If default menu replaced by custom menu(s), can be above image, below image, or both.
____________________
Bonus: the Misty Look bridge photo. Since the default header image of that theme is much liked, here’s the complete photo (click on it for the full-size version):
 |
| Stock photo by Agnes Scholiers aka TouTouke |
https://wpbtips.wordpress.com/
wordpress tips 
My theme, Andreas09 doesn’t support customizable headers with the above method. I do have the CSS editing option, and have experimented trying to find which rule should contain the image, but with no success. Do you by chance know if it’s even possible on this theme?
Posted by GrokSurf | December 19, 2009, 20:15@GrokSurf: I’ve no idea, as I haven’t tried CSS editing at all. You should ask at the CSS section of the wp.com forum: we’ve got several experts in CSS (devblog, thesacredpath, and others) who can tell you for sure.
Posted by Panos | December 19, 2009, 21:54GrokSurf’s question posted in the forum and answered by thesacredpath:
http://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/custom-header-via-css?replies=11
Posted by Panos | December 20, 2009, 04:50Just the info I was looking for. Thanks!
Posted by Pied Type | May 27, 2010, 22:09@Pied Type: You’re welcome! (In this blog you can find several pieces of info not included in the WP Support docs – especially on themes.)
Posted by Panos | May 28, 2010, 05:10People,
I feel tha I must begin this reply with an apologee. I don’t know where to go to find the answer to fix what I see as a problem. This is particularly awkward after my latest post on my aphasia blog http://www.byonaphasia.wordpress.com entitled “What I Know is Revelant” essentially pleading with people not to assume that because I have aphasia, I have lost all of intelligence. Aphasia, due to a traumatic brain episode, has taken away some of my ability to communicate, in both directions (in and out). I am sure I have over looked the answer to my question, but right now I can’t find it. I love the picture of the tree-lined path with a solidary walker that is used in the sample of the Twenty-Ten Theme. So I adapted that theme. However to my surprise the banner picture that comes up when I post something is a wild filigree print that I don’t think is appropriate for postings about aphasia or epilepsy. Is there a catalog of usable banner pictures? How can I select one that I like? Please I need simple, step-by-step insturctions at this point. I couldn’t follow the steps to change the banner appearance that I found on the dashboard page under appearance. Please believe me this is frustrating. Three years ago, I was not hesitant about trying anything on the computer. Today, I have trouble following what seem to be simple directions. The reason I started blogging was to have an outlet for the 40 years worth of knowledge that I accumulated working in higher education. After I got started with that, some people encouraged me to also tell people what I learned about aphasia and epilepsy through living with them. Thanks.
Posted by By Baylis β2 | September 10, 2010, 20:10Hi Baylis, and welcome to the WordPress community.
To change the header image, you click “Header” under Appearance in your dashboard sidebar. You’ll see the eight options available for the theme; click on the one you prefer, then scroll down and click “Save Changes”.
Posted by Panos | September 10, 2010, 22:02Hi Panos,
You mention that
“You add the image in Appearance > Custom Header, or in Appearance > Themes > Custom Header (the tab shows only when you have loaded a theme that supports this option).”
Supposedly the Bueno theme has this option but it doesn´t appear anywhere in the Panel. You mention also that in Bueno the header is “optional” what do you mean by that? do I have to buy the upgrade or something? Please help!
Posted by Arturo | February 7, 2011, 05:30Hi, but check point 1 here:
https://wpbtips.wordpress.com/comment-guidelines/
‘Our’ Bueno is not ‘your’ Bueno.
Posted by Panos | February 7, 2011, 09:03Thanks – just saved me a lot of work finding the new header size & Theme
Posted by captnmike | October 14, 2011, 03:09I think I know you, Captain!
Posted by Panos | October 14, 2011, 14:09Hi — newbie here.
My apologies if this is a dumb question, but does “[optional]” in the WordPress-hosted themes above mean you have to upgrade in order to change the featured image?
Does this mean that themes without the “[optional]” allow you to change the image without upgrading?
Posted by rosewardsky | October 27, 2011, 03:18Hi,
All my theme surveys have to do with the free, no-upgrade, out-of-the-box wordpress.com themes as found under Appearance>Themes in your dashboard. In the rare cases in which I’m talking about something that requires an upgrade, the specific upgrade is clearly mentioned (for example, there may be a note somewhere in the vein of: if you have the Space upgrade you can also do such and such).
Most themes that support header images have a preloaded one, and require one: you can leave the original image in place, or you can upload your own in its place, but you cannot eliminate the header image area (unless you buy the Custom Design Upgrade). The ones that say “optional” have no preloaded header, the header image area will show up only when you upload an image in Appearance>Header, and will disappear again when you remove the image. So “optional” means just optional, that is, the theme allows you to add a header image if you wish.
Posted by Panos | October 27, 2011, 03:52PS Header image and “featured” image aren’t the same thing – see here:
https://wpbtips.wordpress.com/2010/08/23/featured-images/
Posted by Panos | October 27, 2011, 03:55thank you very
Posted by xuthi | December 1, 2011, 17:38Thank You Very Much.
Posted by Irfan Handi | December 6, 2011, 06:19Thks :)
Posted by Abed Saragih | December 8, 2011, 21:02