Desktop Pictures
Lighthouses and Mobius
Florida Panhandle Lighthouses
Assistant Webmaster Lee Bennett offers desktop pictures of lighthouses from the Pensacola and Apalachicola regions of the Florida panhandle, taken over Christmas weekend, 2000.
The photos were taken with a Nikon Coolpix 990. Resampling and retouching were performed with Adobe Photoshop 4.01.
Mobius
About The Images
“These images were all created in Bryce, and some contain custom 3D models I created in Ray Dream Studio. I tend to find working in a 3D environment to be a bonus in the creative process: for example, you can grab the light source and move it while three quarters of the way through the image; and you can always rotate things around to get different views, instead of in the 2D world where you’d normally have to start back at the beginning.
“One of the other benefits of working in a 3D environment is that you can create one image, and a month later open the same file, rotate the image around while zooming in on one specific spot and end up with a completely new image. My art is often inspired by something material or physical, yet most of the time I don’t sit down with a set goal in mind; the images are created mostly through expression.
“For anyone getting started, the best piece of advice I can give is this: when you find that you don’t like an image you’ve been working on, do not delete it; instead save the file and come back to it a few days or weeks later. Who knows? You may later see something in the image that you hadn’t previously, or you might suddenly start brainstorming over how to finish the image.”
About MobiusCo
“Currently MobiusCo comprises one person, but the company’s long-term goal is to develop a team of four to five programmers and digital artists which will work on joint programming and graphic design projects, along with helping each other out with personal projects. For the time being however things are at the development stage. Most people relate MobiusCo to me, and that is how I like to keep it; this way the company name is the name that is remembered.
“Currently I am a student at Kent State University working on two degrees: one in Computer Science, and another in Graphic Design. I tend to create this kind of digital art as a way of relaxing. Just as some people play sports or drink or go for a walk, so I prefer taking a few hours to a few days out to work on these images. Eventually I plan to place poster size prints of my work up for sale so that people may be able to enjoy them on their walls or in their offices instead of just on the desktops.
“I know this does not give you much information about me as a person, but there is not much to give. To me the main interest is the work and not the person behind it. All the images are an expression of me as a person, and so I think the images can convey more about me then any words.”
Copyright Note
“These images are the sole property of MobiusCo, and are distributed for private use only. Anyone who downloads an image may use that image for their own personal use and not for any commercial or monetary gain. Images may be re-distributed with prior permission from and credit given to MobiusCo, along with a link to this Web site. If you wish to use any image for commercial use, permission shall be given upon request, depending on the intended use.”
Previous Months’ Desktop Pictures
If you haven’t seen the rest of the series, it includes: Yellowstone National Park, Drops, Toronto, Niagara Falls, Monaco, Montréal, Bahamas, Clouds, Aerial, Made with Macs, Landscapes, Northwest, Animals, Spring Flora, National Parks, Insects, Konstanz, Mark Montgomery’s Desktop Pictures, Konstanz Part II, British Columbia, New York, France, Northeast, From ATPM Readers, New York II, Washington, D.C., Lighthouses, and Mobius.
Downloading all the Pictures at Once
iCab and Interarchy (formerly Anarchie) can download an entire set of desktop pictures at once. In iCab, use the Download command to download “Get all files in same path.” In Interarchy, use HTTP Mirror feature.
Contributing Your Own Desktop Pictures
If you have a picture, whether a small series or just one fabulous or funny shot, feel free to send it to editor@atpm.com and we’ll publish it in next month’s issue. Have a regular print but no scanner? Don’t worry. E-mail us, and we tell you where to send it so we can scan it for you. Note that we cannot return the original print, so send us a copy.
Placing Desktop Pictures
Mac OS 8.5 and Newer
Go to the Appearance control panel. Click on the “Desktop” tab at the top of the window. Press the “Place Picture…” button in the bottom right corner, then select the desired image. By default, it will show you the images in the “Desktop Pictures” subfolder of your “Appearance” folder in the System Folder, however you can select images from anywhere on your hard disk.
After you select the desired image file and press “Choose,” a preview will appear in the Appearance window. The “Position Automatically” selection is usually fine. You can play with the settings to see if you like the others better. You will see the result in the little preview screen.
Once you are satisfied with the selection, click on “Set Desktop” in the lower right corner of the window. That’s it! Should you ever want to get rid of it, just go to the desktop settings again and press “Remove Picture.”
Mac OS 8.0 and 8.1
Go to the “Desktop Patterns” control panel. Click on “Desktop Pictures” in the list on the left of the window, and follow steps similar to the ones above.
Random Desktop Pictures
If you drag a folder of pictures onto the miniature desktop in the Appearance or Desktop Pictures control panel, your Mac will choose one from the folder at random when it starts up.
Also in This Series
- Parting Shots · May 2012
- Tsavo National Park, Kenya · April 2012
- Rwanda · March 2012
- From ATPM Readers · February 2012
- Easter Island · January 2012
- Disney World · December 2011
- The Netherlands · November 2011
- Easter Island · October 2011
- New York City · September 2011
- Complete Archive
Reader Comments (2)
I work at quad graphics (a printer in wisconsin) as a technical consultant.
I am working on a demo portal for our sales people to use in showing potential clients how are portal operates in collecting information used in our variable data printing process.
I'm using the made up company name of Mobius Solutions for the electronic mockup and am trying to find a good picture of a mobius strip to use as a logo.
Do you have one I could use? Or could you make one for me or tell me how. In a perfect world i would like to get a mobius strip using the colors blue, yellow red and white and I would not like to have to pay anything for it. Anyone up for the task?
Thanks,
Phil
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