Stand Tall

I shot this in the olympic park here in Seoul. Sure, this is a pretty straight forward shot but I think its perfect for a nice minimal desktop. It was also one that reminded me of the challenges in shooting wallpaper images for three different platforms because I lined this up and crammed it in the way I am used to, leaving plenty of negative space around and this one in particular, just enough room for an OSX dock or a start bar at the bottom of the hill but in the process forgetting about the crazy auto crop of the iPad. If I were to simply crop a 1024×1024 block out of the middle the horizontal ipad rotation would cut just barely below the hill and the tree would be all covered up by the dock. Yuck. So this time around it was easy enough to simply toss in some black at the bottom of the image for the iPad and iPhone versions but it wont always be that easy. So I may take a new approach to some of my desktops and have some that are better suited for the iPad or iPhone and others that work best on a desktop. Its kind of fun having a new challenge to face.

Anyways, to download the wallpaper pack containing desktop, iPad, and iPhone versions simply CLICK OR RIGHT CLICK HERE. If you are visiting on an iPad, see link below for direct access. Please do not hotlink directly to images or zips, please link straight here to the post. I appreciate that! Also in the zip you will find the handy terms of use for those who need to know. Any commercial use of these are not tolerated unless you have received my permission to do so. Thank you so much for stopping by and check back soon, it seems like I have a lot of great images in store waiting to get the desktop treatment so look out!

iPad visitors, click here to get the iPad version directly on your device, simply touch and hold the image and save it to your device.

iPhone visitors, click here and do the same.

iPad Starter Pack Easy Access

I realized that this may be something to consider once I started making wallpapers for the iPad but the device is not a full computer and will not handle zip files so someone browsing by with one that wanted to grab a few could not easily add them to their photo library.

I think the best way to handle this will ultimately be to start up a sister blog of some kind where I can easily post iPad and iPhone versions of desktop images as well as including them in the zips. This way you could jump on over to a 50ft mini site on your idevice and grab a few wallpapers directly on the device. OR maybe simply add links to the images from each desktop post. Either way would be fine by me.

What do you think?

To get things started here I will include all the ipad wallpapers here in this post for anyone who wants to get them directly on their iPad so follow the read more link to see the thumbnails and click through to the ones you would like to get your hands on. :)

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iPad/iPhone Wallpapers & Hi-Res

As some of you may have already read I recently started contemplating upping the resolution of my desktop images here on 50ft and after a number of really helpful comments I have decided to do just that and from here on out desktop wallpapers will be released at a 2560×1600 resolution for all you big screen users out there. For the most part, unless your crazy enough to chose a “stretch image to fit screen” option, the aspect ratio should crop naturally to fit all smaller screens out there as well. Also within this change I figured I should go all out and start making two other resolutions available in each zip download as well which are image files for the iPad and iPod Touch/ iPhone.

When researching resolutions and approach to making these two new versions for each desktop I realized that it can get a bit tricky cropping the vision originally had when composing my photos into these new aspect ratios. With the phone/touch I have to rethink the orientation of the image and make it available in a portrait crop and also be mindful of where the clock and slide to unlock bars sit on the screen so I can do my best not to cover up any important aspect of the image with these black bars.

Then, there was the even more complicated task of trying to decide on how to crop images for the iPad home screen which was especially tricky at first because I realized that as the device rotates the orientation changes so its not as simple as having one simply 1024×768 image. They must be cropped at 1024×1024 in order to be scalable to both horizontal OR vertical dimensions and I have to be aware of how the image will look in both positions and attempt to frame the composition to work both ways and make sure nothing too important gets totally cut off in the rotation. Whew.

So what I have done is create a simple photoshop file where I have one semi transparent layer that represents the two different orientations and the square space in the middle that will appear in either rotated state. I simply crop an image down to where I think it will work the best and then drag this layer from that file over to see how it will frame in either orientation. I have also done the same for the iPhone and its black bars composition blockers.

Of course, the iPad resolution and thought process is all but speculation until I get my hands on one or someone confirms this idea for me. PLEASE write and let me know if I am totally wrong in my assumptions here :)

I think that these transparency files could easily benefit others out there who wish to make iPad wallpapers and have them function as well as they possibly can in this new morphing wallpaper world so I have put the iPad and iPhone photoshop file transparencies together in a zip for anyone who wants to play around with what I have been talking about here. You can get that zip by clicking here.

Enjoy Your Life

Yes, you read that right, enjoy your life! I love these little cups that are used by many street food vendors around Seoul. You can’t help but feel good eating or drinking from a cup like that right? I was about to toss it in the trash when I realized I could shoot it and share it with everyone because the world needs all the joy they can get right? Right.

To download this moment simply CLICK OR RIGHT CLICK HERE and save the attached zip. After some thought and strategy I have decided to start offering desktops at 2560×1600 to help out those out there with nice big 30“ or 27” mac desktops AND I am now including cropped versions of the wallpaper for both the iPad (hopefully I am getting these right heh) and the iPhone as well! Pretty exciting I thought. Also included are the tried and true terms of use. Thanks so much for reading and enjoy!

50FT iPad Starter Pack

I know that some readers will be waking up in the morning and heading out to grab themselves a new iPad and so I wanted to jump in and offer you a somewhat random selection of 50ft wallpapers in ipad wallpaper resolution. It was tricky figuring out what that would be and sort of changes a lot in terms of how I would frame a shot for use as a desktop because the orientation changes depending on how you hold it so if i frame a subject to the far right or left it will be automatically cropped by the device! So until I have one in my hands to play with the only thing I can offer is this pack of images cropped at the current going size for iPad wallpapers which is a square resolution. Keep an eye on this space as time goes on and as I figure out the best way to handle this new approach to thinking about wallpaper imagery. Until then, enjoy the selection I have pulled together here :) CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD the zip file with all 15 images.

Update: Also, for anyone needing direct access to these images simply visit this post which contains direct links for all visitors needing to grab them straight from their iPad.

This Way

After yesterdays little joketop I thought I should jump right back into something real for everyone to enjoy. I shot this in a ferry boat while traveling about here in Korea. The white wall and arrow struck me as being perfect for a desktop wallpaper as it leaves plenty of space for icons to sit around over there on the right.

To download the full resolution 2560×1600 (!!!) desktop wallpaper simply CLICK OR RIGHT CLICK HERE to download the zip containing the image and terms of use. I am slowly sorting through my thoughts on including iPhone and iPad versions as well inside each zip so keep an eye out for that in the near future as I decide how to go about the transition. Thanks and enjoy!

Portrait Of Chicken

While eating dinner a few nights ago I was struck by the overwhelming beauty of the spicy chicken that I was about to eat. The way the tungsten light was so subtly shining on the sauce just seemed to speak volumes about the state of the world today. The chicken clearly spoke to me in ways that a simple photograph may not be able to fully convey but I had to try to capture the raw intensity that was present before me in this moment so I went and grabbed my camera and snapped this piece I will call, portrait of chicken.

I have decided to make this into a desktop wallpaper so maybe readers can share in the magic of that moment. To download this image in full desktop resolution simply CLICK OR RIGHT CLICK HERE to download the jpg image, no zip, no terms of use, I think the art speaks volumes for itself and I just want to get it out there into the world. Thanks and enjoy!

Edit: yes, this was a joke ;)