{"id":5242,"date":"2020-04-16T20:17:58","date_gmt":"2020-04-16T20:17:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/?p=5242"},"modified":"2025-05-25T23:26:08","modified_gmt":"2025-05-25T23:26:08","slug":"virtual-backdrops-and-wallpapers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/2020\/04\/16\/virtual-backdrops-and-wallpapers\/","title":{"rendered":"Virtual backdrops and wallpapers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Freebies to beat those lockdown blues<\/h2>\n

This is a collection of virtual backdrops and wallpapers that you may download, manipulate and enjoy, for free. These images were created by capturing and saving a large number snap-shots of an open source music visualisation application for GNU\/Linux called ProjectM<\/a> – not to be confused with a 2008 computer game with a very similar name.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I originally created these as desktop wallpapers for computer systems. A purpose for which they work pretty well, even if I do say so myself. However, as a keen photographer I discovered they could also be deployed as rather unusual backdrops for my studio photography. I also have rather a lot because I have been creating them over a period of  several years. <\/p>\n

Bearing in mind that many of us are stuck in our homes due to the coronavirus lockdown, I thought that rather than leaving these on my Linux media server gathering dust, I’d share them so that other folks might have some fun, using them as backdrops for some of your own photographs.<\/p>\n

Downloading<\/h2>\n

Simply browse through the gallery below, then…<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Click or tap on the image you would like to download, and wait for the larger image to appear.<\/li>\n
  2. Right-click (if using PC) or long-press (if using smartphone) on the image that has just appeared and click\/tap “Save As”. The exact wording may vary from one web browser to another, but the basic principle remains the same.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Technical notes<\/a>, usage tips<\/a> and Creative Commons licence<\/a> are at the bottom of the page.<\/p>\nngg_shortcode_0_placeholder\n

    <\/a>Technical notes<\/h2>\n

    All of these images in lossless portable network graphics (PNG) format, size 1920 x 1080 pixels, with an aspect ratio of 16:9. This may seem a tad small by modern standards, bearing in mind that today’s cameras have an awful lot more pixels than these things do. However, I needed  to make them a size that could be easily handled and downloaded. You may also wish to crop the edges to use the more commonly used 3:2 aspect ratio of many digital SLR cameras.<\/p>\n

    Fortunately, being in a lossless format means they generally scale up quite nicely, especially if your bitmap editing software has “stair scale-up<\/em>” function. Using the stair scale in the “EG” GIMP plugin, I can scale them up to 3840 x 2160 pixels perfectly usably. What every method you use to upscale, at least you will not<\/em> be troubled by nasty JPEG artefacts. PNGs don’t have any of those. And of course, if you are producing images for the worldwide web, then 1920 x 1080 pixels is perfectly adequate as it is.<\/p>\n

    <\/a>Usage tips<\/h2>\n

    Best way to use them is to import one as a layer into your bitmap editor (e.g. GIMP or Photoshop). You can alter them very easily by using simple tools such as:-<\/p>\n