Please help me with this banner image

[mickscool]

Hi Friends,
I am tryin to make a banner for my website.I am no graphic artist,but I've tried to create a banner as shown in my attachment.Please tell me if it looks ok or not.And,i would be obliged if someone could make it look better.
Thanks
Mick
p.s: here' s the image
http://www.geocities.com/mickscool/temp.jpg

[mickscool]

Hi Friends,
I got no response so I have used this banner to make my homepage,i would love to hear your feedback .. before i move on.The url is:
http://www.myjavaserver.com/~jhutty/butterfly
The main worry i got is resolution of the images used,please lemme know if you face any problems viewing the image or any other problems.
Thanks
Mick

[wizard]

I don't have any problems viewing the image... the only thing I noticed was the butterfly seemes to have been shrunken vertically. It makes it a little distorted.

My only other complaint is the pic of the cactus on the left: it's obvious where the image ends and, in my opinion, does not look good. Maybe something like this will work better (see attachment). That or stretch your page so it fits the browser window (vertically) entirely.

[jmcdonald21]

I agree with wizard. The banner looks pretty good. I am not sure if there is a vertical "smoosh" or it's perspective and photo. Wizards fade idea on the cactus is good also. A gradient can help clean those hard edges. Also, a gaussian blur set vertically to 5 or so ( just on the bottom edge) may help. It will make things smoother and less obtrusive.

[jmcdonald21]

Maybe something like this?
Attached:

[mickscool]

Thanks Wizard and Jmc,
Yeah..that idea given by wizard really suits well with the homepage.And about the image,I just tried to make the banner look bigger by expanding it..and i guess that creates the distortion.I would work on that too.Thanks for your help guys.
mick