background image in LaTeX Beamer presentation

LaTeX
Author

Vinh Nguyen

Published

August 24, 2011

This post shows how one can change the background image in a Beamer presentation:

%% all slides
\usebackgroundtemplate{
\includegraphics[width=\paperwidth,
height=\paperheight]{my_bg_image}
}

%% single slide
{
\usebackgroundtemplate{\includegraphics[width=\paperwidth]{my_bg_image}}
\begin{frame}
\frametitle{Frame with nice background}
\begin{itemize}
\item 1
\item 2
\item 3
\end{itemize}
\end{frame}
}

The above method spans the image to cover the entire page size. To include a smaller image and center it, do this:

\usebackgroundtemplate{%
\vbox to \paperheight{\vfil\hbox to \paperwidth{\hfil\includegraphics[width=1.5in]{name.jpeg}\hfil}\vfil}
}

(I asked this question on the Tex.SX since \hspace{4.5cm} works but \vspace{4.5cm} did not.)