Sharing the best of my photos as wallpapers

Published on , 1339 words, 5 minutes to read

An image of Aerial view of a sunset over Los Angeles, California, USA, the sky is cloudy and there are layers of colored light
Aerial view of a sunset over Los Angeles, California, USA, the sky is cloudy and there are layers of colored light - Photo by Xe Iaso, Canon EOS R10, 50mm, f/4.5, 1/4000 s, ISO 100

As I've mentioned in my last post while going down the photography rabbit hole, I've been taking a bunch of photos over the last few years. I recently spoke at a college class about AI and I attempted to record it to share with you all, but the autofocus system on my R10 failed me. I attempted to record myself speaking at the podium, but the camera decided that an out-of-frame student was perfectly in frame and focused on them instead.

So I rage-purchased an EOS R6 Mark ii. It's a lot heavier, a lot chonkier, but overall, it's a much better camera for me in a very subtle way. When I take a picture of a scene with my Helios 44-2 on my R10, it looks something like this:

Lens caps and a steam deck case on top of a printed screenplay. The image is tightly centered around the case and screenplay.
Lens caps and a steam deck case on top of a printed screenplay. The image is tightly centered around the case and screenplay.

But when I take the same picture with the same lens on my R6, it looks like this:

The same image as before, but significantly zoomed out. The desk mat is more visible, an iPhone 13 Pro is visible in the lower right corner, and a TTArtisan 25mm lens is visible on the other side of the screenplay.
The same image as before, but significantly zoomed out. The desk mat is more visible, an iPhone 13 Pro is visible in the lower right corner, and a TTArtisan 25mm lens is visible on the other side of the screenplay.

Look at the difference. I've been throwing so much usable light away with every picture I've taken. Worse for me, I've been throwing away a lot of the character of my lenses. The Helios 44-2 is a Soviet copy of a Carl Zeiss design and they fucked it up in the most glorious way imaginable:

A picture of a tree with lots of bokeh balls swirling around the frame in three dimensions.
A picture of a tree with lots of bokeh balls swirling around the frame in three dimensions.

Yeah. It's gorgeous.

However, at the same time, I think that if I just take all these pictures and hoard them for myself, is it really any better than not taking pictures at all?

The wallpaper pack

I've taken some of my best shots from the last year and turned it into a pack of wallpapers for you to use on your laptops, desktops, and phones. Right now it contains five images:

A blue sky dotted with textured clouds.
A blue sky dotted with textured clouds.
An orange and purple sunset over the Los Angeles foothills. Taken with an iPhone 13 Pro.
An orange and purple sunset over the Los Angeles foothills. Taken with an iPhone 13 Pro.
The Seattle Space Needle on an incredibly blue sky without any clouds in view.
The Seattle Space Needle on an incredibly blue sky without any clouds in view.
Aerial view of a sunset over Los Angeles, California, USA, the sky is cloudy and there are layers of colored light.
Aerial view of a sunset over Los Angeles, California, USA, the sky is cloudy and there are layers of colored light.
The Berlin TV tower on a blue sky, no clouds are visible.
The Berlin TV tower on a blue sky, no clouds are visible.

I've made low-quality versions of these wallpapers available on XeDN. If you want high-quality versions, you can get them by subscribing to my Patreon at the $5 tier or higher. I'll be adding more wallpapers to the pack as I take more pictures, so you'll get more wallpapers as time goes on.

If you use Bluefin Linux, the Space Needle photo is available in your wallpaper selector right now. I'll be working on getting the rest of the wallpapers into the system soon.

Licensing

These wallpapers are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. This means you can use them for any purpose, including commercial purposes, as long as you provide attribution to me and share any derivative works under the same license. If you want to use these wallpapers in a way that doesn't comply with the license, you can contact me to negotiate a different license.

Please feel free to add these wallpapers to Linux distribution packages, just make sure I'm credited somehow. I've been attempting to figure out how to package wallpapers in system packages, but it's surprisingly difficult and undocumented.

Lens-walking

As the weather gets warmer, I've been doing daily walks around my neighborhood. I've been taking my camera with me and slowly working through my collection of weird vintage lenses I got from Facebook Marketplace. I've been getting some really interesting results as I put these things through their paces.

I think one of my favorites is a Makinon 80-200mm f/3.5 zoom lens. It's a very heavy lens at over a kilogram, but it's a lot of fun to use. I got a really nice macro shot of some cherries with it that:

Bright red cherries with the sky blurred out. The borders around the cherries have delicious chromatic abberation.
Bright red cherries with the sky blurred out. The borders around the cherries have delicious chromatic abberation.

Yeah, a 200mm lens is somehow a macro lens. This lets me get really close in and get some really nice shots. I'm probably gonna retake this one when those cherries are in season. I'm pretty sure the glass elements are misaligned internally, making the focus plane totally weird in a way that I can use to my advantage. I love it, if only because of how weird it is.

A macro shot of a rock on the edge of the Ottawa River.
A macro shot of a rock on the edge of the Ottawa River.
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I've been half considering writing articles/videos about the weird vintage lenses I've been collecting. Would y'all be interested in that?

Speaking of fun vintage lenses, I got my hands on a 28mm f/2.8 lens from Image. It's much wider than the lenses I normally use, it's closer to my iPhone's field of view than anything, but I got a really nice test shot with it:

The concrete path near a drainage pond. The path comes up from the lower right side of the frame into the distance.
The concrete path near a drainage pond. The path comes up from the lower right side of the frame into the distance.

I also have a weird telephoto portrait lens (200mm f/3.5 prime) that has a really narrow focal window. This leads to some really weird things that could become wallpapers if I shot them better. Here's a couple of the best:

A group of grain plants, the one dead in the center is clearly in focus, everything else is slightly blurry. Individual raindrops are visible in mid-air.
A group of grain plants, the one dead in the center is clearly in focus, everything else is slightly blurry. Individual raindrops are visible in mid-air.
Prickly seed pods for a local plant. Some seed pods in the center are clearly in focus, and everything else is blurred out.
Prickly seed pods for a local plant. Some seed pods in the center are clearly in focus, and everything else is blurred out.

This lens has a lot of potential.

Above all though, my favorite lens has to be the Helios 44-2. It's just so good.

A group of red fruit-like things on top of a blurred out background. The background blur kinda swirls around.
A group of red fruit-like things on top of a blurred out background. The background blur kinda swirls around.

Those swirls can't be beat. It's just so good for both portraits and landscapes. I've even been shooting video with it. I'm really glad I picked it up. It was worth the month or so of waiting for it to arrive from Bulgaria.

Prints

I'm looking into options for getting prints of my photos made. There's a bunch of services to evaluate, but I'm pretty sure that I could make some side money selling prints somehow. I just need to figure out what the best options would be for me.

I've been having a great time learning the ins and outs of photography over the years. I started on my phone and have gradually leveled up my gear as I've learned more. I hope that you enjoy the wallpapers I've made and that you find them useful. If you have any feedback on them, please let me know. I'm always looking to improve.

Facts and circumstances may have changed since publication. Please contact me before jumping to conclusions if something seems wrong or unclear.

Tags: wallpapers, photography