obi's wallpaper

erosionous zone wallpaper

2011-06-14T02:54:00.000+10:00

Today's wallpaper is made from a photo taken looking in the opposite direction from the 'eating away wallpaper' that I posted a few days ago. The rock formations are known as the Twelve Apostles, of which sadly only seven or eight remain standing...

1920x1200

This wallpaper has got me thinking about how out of focus scenic shot are contradiction. However, I find they make good wallpapers as they both physically and mentally relaxing. The blog has come along nicely and I hope to buy a lens next month so I can take some purposeful shots in the near future.

the guggenheim wallpaper

2011-06-12T04:40:00.001+10:00

Another night wallpaper for those of you after something darker. It was late in the day when we decided that to walk to the museum and although it look close on the map, it took us around an hour or two to get there by which time it was dark.

1920x1200

I was not happy to see that there was work taking place on the famous building too. But in hindsight it kind of makes for an interesting photo. So there are a few collections starting for form such as this urban one as well as the nature shots and the car shots. Is there a theme (photographic) that you would like to see?

stylized wallpaper

2011-06-10T00:19:00.001+10:00

I keep gravitating back to Cuba. I guess it makes sense, I had just bought my camera and was taking a lot of photos. This one is more a photograph than a wallpaper but I thought some of you might like it. Personally I like the photo but it does feel a little strange having people on your desktop ;)

1920x1200

For those of you who share my feelings about having people on your desktop, you might like to know that only moments after this photo was taken, a wave sprayed up over the seawall and washed this couple away. And in the same vain, tomorrows wallpaper will come along and wash this one away...

p.s no one was washed away but they did get a soaking ;)

eating away wallpaper

2011-06-09T01:30:00.000+10:00

I thought I should deliver the beach wallpaper that didn't show up yesterday! I called this one 'eating away' because often when I look down a coastline like this, it reminds me of bites been taken out of an apple ;)

1920x1200

Was going to be my day off tomorrow and I had planned to catch up on all things blog related. However, because of the university exams they are short of staff at the moment at the new job. So hopefully on the weekend I will get a chance to catch up and tidy up a few things that are bothering me. take care bloggers and wallpaper fiends ;)

on the water wallpaper

2011-06-08T01:51:00.000+10:00

Venice was an amazing place to visit. It it so unbelievable that peoples actually live here 24/7. I mean, just image popping out to get some milk and hoping into your boat... crazy. Anyway I know I was planning to put up a beach wallpaper for all you lucky school boys and gals on holiday or on break from uni. I got a little distracted and ran out of time looking through my europe folder but I'm sure not too many of you will mind looking at this one for a day or so ;)

1920x1200

Ok completely of topic and I apologize but has anyone out there had any dealings with bitcoins? I only ask as since starting this blog, I have become intrigued with all things internety and this caught my eye. Oh and on another side note my sister has started or should I say restarted her blog; check it out and let her know what you think here. Thanks!

escapism wallpaper

2011-06-07T01:04:00.002+10:00

After the urban trend of the past week or so, I realized that a lot of my readers are on school break and therefore, might be after something a little more relaxing. I'm not sure what the start date for university is in the US or UK but either way enjoy whatever time you have left, and if a trip to the beach is out of the question then hopefully you will find a little escapism in today's wallpaper.

1920x1200

This was taken at a nice secluded beach near where I grew up. I upped the vibrancy to make the blue sky and yellow sand sing a little. Too much?.. and would you like to see more shots like this? take it easy people ;)

popo wallpaper

2011-06-06T00:04:00.000+10:00

I don't think you need to be an educated person to guess where this photo was taken. I saw the police car turning in front of me and took a quick shot. There is a lot going on on this wallpaper so it might not suit those who like a minimal feel to there desktop. But it is interesting to look at all the people in the background and wonder what they are up to and to browse through the impressive amount of advertisements!

1920x1200

Oh an early start tomorrow as I have to attend an orientation day at my new job. Thanks for all the kind comments and I'm glad my wallpapers are getting some use. And as I like to end most post with a question, how many ads are there in today's wallpaper?

street blur wallpaper

2011-06-05T02:25:00.002+10:00

I probably would not of taken this shot if it wasn't for the the school bus which had got my attention just moments earlier, which I tried to get a photograph of but it was way too blurry. This gave me the idea of trying the slow shutter technique (from yesterdays wallpaper) that I had just learnt.

1920x1200

I didn't really have time to study the results and experiment with this one and I'm certain it would have been better if a tripod was used. That being said, I still think this one make a pretty good wallpaper simply because it's a dark photo and the vanishing point is interesting, so it was worth me including. enjoy!

grand central wallpaper

2011-06-02T22:07:00.001+10:00

As we continue along the new york stint of wallpapers, it was only a matter of time before grand central station made an appearance. This is actually one of my favourite shots I took while in new york and it happened by chance. As we were walking back to the hotel we passed by grand central station and although it does not look like much from the outside, we thought we might as well go in and check it out. Super glad we did and while my fiancée' was buying some magazines I darted up some steps and got this shot. hope you like!

1920x1200

It was pretty dim and softly lit so I placed the camera on the ledge, using the strap under the lens to get the right angle and took a long exposure shot (2-4sec). This is what gives the ghosting effect. People who where in a hurry and moved during the exposure are the ghosts, while the people who stationary and standing around in that time are in focus. If you are trying for the same effect it is best to have the camera on a tripod or on a stable surface, then experiment with the shutter time and study the results. You will find the right setting soon enough and after a while you will be able to judge what settings to get the look you are after ;)

empire view wallpaper

2011-06-02T01:36:00.001+10:00

Today's wallpaper is probably not for those scared of heights! The photo was taken atop the empire state building looking towards the chrysler building. Despite the the fact that it was freezing cold and there was a tone of other tourists there, the view was crazy good.

1920x1200

Another quick wallpaper today as I have an early start tomorrow. I went for a black and white as the colour was very noisy but instead of using the B&W filter, I used the 'isolate blue' filter as this cleaned up a lot more of the noise which must of been in the red, yellow and green spectrum. More new york to come...

new york wallpaper

2011-06-01T01:02:00.000+10:00

Well I opened a new folder today of photos I took while in America and thought I would kick things off with this street shot in New York. The image is pretty busy, so I thought going neutral with the colour was a good idea. If this paper is not to your taste, I will be posting a few more from America during the week so hopefully something will hit the spot!

1920x1200

A quick post tonight as I have an early start (for me) for work tomorrow. As far as the blog goes, I think I'll go back to a grey background. It is a work in progress and a real learning experience, so thanks for all your feedback ;)

policia wallpaper

2011-05-31T01:59:00.002+10:00

I was pretty keen on yesterdays wallpaper and after going on about the busy foreground I cropped out, I thought you might like this shot taken moments before. I left all the street chaos, including a rather retro looking policeman and motorbike, in this one so you have an idea of what the people on the balconies are looking at. enjoy ;)

1920x1200

I just got done formatting, repartitioning and generally de-bloating my sisters new netbook (10") and jumped back on my pc (22") and everything looks ridiculously big. It kind of feels like the giant level in the original mario... any thoughts on the new look of the blog? It's not quiet there yet, I need a better background, but I wanted to get rid on the three columns which was restricting page layout options. Do you like the this layout or was the old one better?

street watching wallpaper

2011-05-29T02:41:00.000+10:00

Now that I am going through my photos looking specifically for ones to be made into wallpapers, I see certain things in photos which had previously gone unnoticed. Today's wallpaper is a prime example. The original photograph was taken from across the road on the footpath opposite this building. I had never really thought much on the photo as I was always distracted by the foot-traffic and road in the foreground.

1920x1200

I think cropping out the foreground has really changed the perspective of the image, making it much more interesting. Also the single perspective and less clutter makes it much more suited for use as a wallpaper... finding your icons is hard enough without beings distracted by whatever these people are looking at ;)

easy rider wallpaper

2011-05-27T02:09:00.001+10:00

Believe it or not I'm not actually a car nut, it's just that when I was surrounded by these old beasts in Cuba I got a little trigger happy with the camera. This one is a bit different to the previous ones though. The photo was taken on an unusual angle and the effect I have gone for in Adobe Lightroom is a bit different too. I hope you like it ;)

1920x1200

Here is a link to 'drive by' an earlier wallpaper of the same car. It might be nice to use them on a rotation together or just to check it out to see the different styles you can achieve using Adobe Lightroom.

reflection wallpaper

2011-05-26T01:29:00.000+10:00

After the 100th post I thought it would be a nice time to reflect on how things are going on obi's wallpaper. I have committed to posting a new original wallpaper ever day for a year (365), I have approximately 10,000 photograph of which I guess 1 in every 100 is suitable to be used for a wallpaper (100). So it would seem that this is the end of the road...
However, I have found that a lot more of my photos can be used with a bit of cropping and fixing up. I have also taken a few more photos since starting the blog, which has been good since I needed some motivation. Hopefully I will pick up a cheap 50mm 1.8f lens in the next couple of weeks which should produce some nice soft focal images ripe for wallpapering ;)

1920x1200

Going forward, I think one thing I have to sort out is how best to make it easy for new visitors to the blog to browse through the ever growing collection of wallpapers. I'm not sure if I should use categories, tabs or tags either it something has to be done. Any help or suggestions regarding this would be great.

100th post wallpaper

2011-05-25T00:09:00.000+10:00

THANK YOU for all the support and feedback over the past 99 posts, it has made a huge difference for me. Today's post will be the 100th obi's wallpaper post which means there is now 100 free original wallpapers up for grabs on the blog. Now might be a nice time to check out the view mode and get all nostalgic ;)

1920x1200

I thought it was only fitting to make a special celebratory wallpaper. I used an excellent little program called Andrea Mosaic which lets you do all kinds of cool mosaics and best of all it's free. I currently have it set as my wallpaper and I fully understand if you chose not to use this one, it is kind of insane as a wallpaper. Thanks again for all your support, help and suggestions it has made making these wallpapers enjoyable. I think it's time for a new look for obi's wallpaper, any thoughts?

ham sandwich wallpaper

2011-05-24T01:34:00.000+10:00

Well on the eve of the 100th wallpaper post I thought it was about time to deliver on past promises. A while back I posted 'weathered wallpaper' and mentioned there was more to come. After taking the first photo I leant back in from the window and checked the shot, when out the corner of my eye I saw this. I'm pretty sure the man in the photo is enjoying a ham sandwich as then seem unusually popular in cuba...

1920x1200

When my computer crashed I had to format the drive my Adobe Lightroom catalogue was on so I lost the edit settings which I made on the weathered wallpaper. Rather than trying to match it I just went for a style that I though suited the image, and worked as a wallpaper.

red tractor wallpaper

2011-05-23T01:02:00.001+10:00

I'm glad that a few of you liked yesterdays wallpaper and that you saw fit to add it to your collection. Skydiving seemed to be a common theme regarding yesterdays question, which if interesting as it is definitely something I want to do too. Today's red tractor wallpaper is a move away from the street lights of the past week, however it does dovetail a little with the decay theme which has been in the past few posts. Enjoy!

1920x1200

I have been checking out your blogs most days but have not had much time to comment as I have started a new job. Just wanted to let you know that I am amazed at all original and diverse posts I am seeing. Keep it up fellow bloggers ;)

where's my house wallpaper

2011-05-22T02:54:00.003+10:00

Five street light wallpapers in a row! Is that a straight or a flush? This is actually one of my favourite photos I took while in cuba. It is taken from the seafront promenade, looking away from the sea obviously. There is almost an unbroken chain of buildings right along the seafront, until you reach this gap, where it appears the building has just up and vanished. Or more likely, crumbled after years of neglect and constant sea winds.

1920x1200

On a completely unrelated topic, does anyone have something they want to do before they die? I'm thinking more 'fight club' than 'bucket list', like paint a self portrait or build a house. Personally, I have lots of things I would like to do, but to chose only one is really difficult. If you can pick only one thing, what would it be?

downtown wallpaper

2011-05-21T02:32:00.001+10:00

This downtown wallpaper was made from another photograph taken while I was in cuba. I will leave it up to you as to whether or not this is considered another street light paper, but they do at least feature in the scene. It was a very bright photo so I pumped up the black to make it a little more wallpaper friendly.

1920x1200

A quick one today as it has been a long week and I'm off to bed. Post number 100 is just around the corner. If you have suggestion on what I should do or any requests please let me know in the comments.

negative light wallpaper

2011-05-20T02:34:00.001+10:00

So I have pressed on with the street light wallpapers for another day, but as usual, I'm trying to keep things a little fresh. I really liked the street light in this photo but the original image was really white and too washed out for a wallpaper. I flipped the colours and went with a cold negative effect which is a bit abstract but I think it can work as a wallpaper especially if you're a customizer with a dark theme.

1920x1200

When I say I flipped the colours that's not giving adobe lightroom the credit it deserves. One feature I really like in lightroom is that when you run the mouse over your presets (effects) then the preview icon is updated on the fly. This is really handy to get ideas, then you can just tweak the settings to fine tune your image. Oh and I'm glad you like the /view mode I mentioned in my last post.

street light wallpaper

2011-05-19T00:49:00.000+10:00

Okay so I'm not sure if today's wallpaper is technically a street light, however yesterdays wallpaper definitely was... This got me thinking I might hunt through my photos and see if I can post string a few street light themed wallpapers together.

1920x1200

This one is certainly not as moody as the last but I think the sepia suits this one. It is autumn in Australia and I have been meaning to get out and take some photos at the park before it's too late, maybe some night shots too ;)

better times wallpaper

2011-05-18T00:16:00.001+10:00

I felt a mood change was in order for today's wallpaper and I have gone for something a little darker. After picking a pretty bleak photo to begin with I desaturated it, gave it a bit of a cold blue tint then added a fairly heavy vignette. I hope someone out there gets a lift from this deeply depressing wallpaper ;)

1920x1200

Has anyone tried looking at their blog in view mode?!... If you don't know what I mean then click here to see this blog in view mode. You can use the menu to change modes between 5 different options, snapshot and mosaic look cool. All you have to do is add "/view" to your blogs url e.g. http://obiwallpaper.blogspot.com/view and that's it!

finlandia wallpaper

2011-05-17T01:47:00.001+10:00

Finland is probably better known for it's snow covered scenery but at summer time the place is equally beautiful. I was actually surprised how warm the summer days were, coming from Australia I assumed their idea of hot would be a cold day on our scale but in fact it would of been about 30 degrees celsius or (googling) around 86 degrees fahrenheit.

1920x1200

A friend of mine Claudia has started a blog and is posting her excellent photographs, if you like this kind of thing then go say hello over at 'fotografia' and welcome her into the blogosphere ;)

colour redux wallpaper

2011-05-16T00:33:00.002+10:00

I think I might of not so subtly hinted at it in the last post that there was a colour version on its way. So for those of you who like a splash of colour on their desktop then this is for you! And yes that is a nod to apocalypse now in the title ;)

1920x1200

Yes a short post today is there is not much too say and I have an early start tomorrow. Thanks for all the support, I am still looking at lenses for my camera, maybe a portrait/macro lens around 90mm 2.8f or something similar. Oh let me know if you prefer the chrome or colour version for future reference?