Tegharghart, Djanet, Sahara, Tassili n'Ajjer national park, Algeria
photo by Chettouh Nabil
website - https://www.instagram.com/nnchettouh/
original image - https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a4/Sunrise_Djanet.jpg
Some photos are just perfect.
‘Desert Beauty’ - Daedvlei, Namib-Naukluft National Park, Namibia
photo by Christoph Fischer
website - https://beautysurroundsyou.com/
original image - https://combo.staticflickr.com/ap/build/images/sohp/2020-top-25/Desert_Beauty_Christoph_Fischer.jpg
One of the Flickr's Top 25 Photos in 2020. Reminds me of this photo by Frans Lanting, which is arguably more famous. But for wallpaper, I like Fischer's more. It's easier on the eyes.
Beautiful as it is, it didn't need any help. I only nicked the top branch of the big tree, so that it doesn't go out of the frame in the reframed photo.
Lodge landscape, Namibia
photo by Robert Miles
website - https://www.flickr.com/photos/robertmilesdesign/
original image - https://live.staticflickr.com/7360/16214150010_43c80e416f_5k.jpg
Yes, that round rock caught my eye. And the tree adds just enogh life to the photo to make it interesting.
I darkened and sharpened the whole thing, so that it's easier on the eyes. Also, increased the saturation to make it more cinematic.
Cosmic Ashtray, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Utah, USA
photo by Galyna Andrushko
website - https://www.instagram.com/galyna_andrushko/?hl=en
original image - https://thumbs.dreamstime.com/z/cosmic-ashtray-unusual-natural-formation-cosmic-ashtray-grand-staircase-escalante-national-monument-utah-united-states-99940937.jpg
Straight out of Dune. In Utah, and there's going to be a plenty more of that state, as it's full of stuff like this.
I did a lot here. The original photo was at least a little overexposed, and while I could get the detail in the sky back, it was very grainy. Anyway, I didn't like the stark midday lighting, so I decided to change that. It was made possible by the Ashtray itself being just under a cloud shadow, and lit only indirectly. So I replaced the sky with sort of a sunset/duststorm variant for a moodier experience, giving the Ashtray a sort of secluded feel.
‘Fog Over a Black Sand Beach’ - Vestrahorn Mountain (‘The Batman Mountain’) & Stokksnes beach, Vatnajökull National Park, Iceland
photo by Unknown
website - N/A
original image - https://wallpapershome.com/images/wallpapers/reykjavik-4200x2804-5k-4k-wallpaper-iceland-mountain-sand-5270.jpg
Couldn't source the photographer. Some wallpaper sites list him as David W Ferguson, but I'm not sure. Anyway, this is the black sand beach in Iceland, with the moody Batman Mountain in the background. There are many similar photos of the subject floating around, but what makes this one special is that mossy mound in the bottom right. It works great as a point of interest, and really draws the eye to it. Also, the sky gives a nice cold contrast.
Nothing much was done to the photo beyond the basics.
Sand dunes, Mũi Né, Binh Thuan province, Vietnam
photo by Chalermkiat Seedokmai
website - https://www.facebook.com/itsme9th/
original image - https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/sand-dunes-in-vietnam-royalty-free-image/509011112
Windows 10 Spotlight verison - https://windows10spotlight.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/81e799f35ba23b5bd7e71f8c2dd3718d.jpg
A great example of complimentary colors, orange and blue in this case. This is another photo where I used the Windows 10 Spotlight version as the starting point. They cropped out most of the sky, and I think it benefits the composition - the whole thing becomes more abstract, the footsteps take over as the point of interest, and they are much more interesting than the sky.
Other than that, only basic adjustments.
’Twilight Hours Around the Great Lakes’ - Nordhouse Dunes Wilderness, Lake Michigan, Michigan, USA
photo by Two-Snap
website - N/A, was https://www.reddit.com/user/Two-Snap
original image - https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjcgmW2QZQw-eLj-EPrXMhuQnFERkKk9vIUtC553vs4Ow_9B74-KEUoeCAIOur3a4-xwDwHt7cuy7hd8GyFZc4vbGGovYuj3EpZ1NMsOmfHim-x4HJZbDYQeILUIYp1HsihQxidka1rxC1uBQzT2Ib-xb0x4rmPDM3K-_H0zRi3TQQFkcB4T4jlKXBMNw=s1800
A photo by the reddit user Two-Snap, who appears to have deleted his or her account in the meantime, so I can't link to the source. I don't even know what I am looking up (Burnt wood in the desert? How does that happen?), but I like the simplicity of the composition, with clearly defined foreground and background. And the crescent moon is in just the right place. It's a pity that the wavy sand got cropped out for the landscape version.
I left everything as is because the colors were quite elegant and the contrast is nice, I only upped the sharpness somewhat.
‘The Sands of Time’ - Lower Antelope Canyon, Arizona, USA
photo by Javier de la Torre
website - hhttps://www.javierdlt.com/
original image - https://www.javierdlt.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/The-Sands-of-Time.jpg
Antelope Canyon. Otherworldly, with some great warm-cold colors going on. As far as I know, the sandfalls are not a natural feature, but something that photographers do by way of throwing some sand on the rock ledges just before taking the shot. They do look nice though, so more power to them, I guess.
I just sharpened this a bit, that's all.
