I'm looking for a nice warm, sunny photograph that I can use
occasionally as a desktop image. I've done a lot of browsing in
G****e images but am not having much luck finding what I want.
Here are my criteria:
1. Photograph, not painting.
2. Temperate zone, not tropical or desert.
3. Landscape preferred.
4. Plenty of green. (Hard to have a temperate landscape without it.)
5. Some flowers okay, but not overwhelming. (And sorry, friends, but
I don't prefer pink.)
6. A building or man-made construction or two okay as long as they are
beautiful: e.g., a temple, a medieval bridge, a castle. However,
structures should not dominate the scene.
7. Water ok, but too much makes it a cool scene. I am looking for warm.
8. No words visible in or on the picture (no signs, no title or
copyright notice, etc.).
9. Large enough to fill or nearly fill screen with good, clear resolution.
10. Most important: overall effect is warm, golden, sunny, warm,
yellow, orange, warm, bright, warm. Not hot (red) but warm.
11. Downloadable.
This is for my own personal use and enjoyment. I am a great respecter
of copyrights and have no plan to violate any. I have various other
seasonal, thermal, and mood images in my desktop collection, but
nothing that just makes you feel warm to look at it. (My "cool" ones
are great! I use those on hot days.)
A successful answer will include links to one or more pictures that
meet my criteria. Rate offered is for one. Bonus points for each
such link beyond the first, to a maximum of ten. Second bonus if I
pick one for my desktop.
Thank you,
Apteryx
Formal garden, such as Japanese garden, ok but not preferred. |
Hi apteryx,
Many of the images found by a Google Images search will be unsuitable
(or unavailable) for use as a desktop image, even if they meet your
other criteria.
Instead, I have searched the stock.xchng repository:
"stock.xchng: the leading free stock photo site"
http://www.sxc.hu/
At this site you can browse 79,000 photos, mostly high resolution and
of good quality, and virtually all available free for noncommercial
use (many are free for commercial use too). The photos are submitted
by photographers hoping to gain publicity for their work.
You can browse without registering, but you must register to download
the high-resolution versions. I've not received any spam or had any
other problems since registering six months ago.
I spent an enjoyable time browsing for images that match your criteria
- however, the ones I'm presenting here do not all match your
criteria. It's entirely up to you how many of them you count as
"answers".
In any case, I expect you'll want to browse the stock.xchng site yourself.
I liked "Forest in Amsterdam" by Menno Hert, although there's a limit
to how warm Amsterdam can be made to look!
http://www.sxc.hu/browse.phtml?f=view&id=67885
Another autumn scene is "Forest" by Uschi Hering. It's in Germany:
http://www.sxc.hu/browse.phtml?f=view&id=65344
One that I find warming is "Colourful French scene" by Philip Jackson.
It's not a landscape, and it is in vertical format (although it's
large enough to be cropped):
http://www.sxc.hu/browse.phtml?f=view&id=58231
Another vertical format photo that really heats me up (but again is
not a landscape) is "red street scene" in Paris by Philipp
Kleinschmit:
http://www.sxc.hu/browse.phtml?f=view&id=7002
Kyoto has never seemed warm to me, and you've discouraged Japanese
Garden photos, yet I'm keen to list these two "Autumn in Kyoto" photos
by Michelle Miralles because of the wonderful spots of bright color in
them:
http://www.sxc.hu/browse.phtml?f=view&id=123784
http://www.sxc.hu/browse.phtml?f=view&id=123786
There is some small writing on the canoes in this shot, but the warm
colors may work well enough for you that this is acceptable. The shot
is "Quinta da Boa Vista 11" by Celso Pupo Rodrigues:
http://www.sxc.hu/browse.phtml?f=view&id=129155
I'm playing fast and loose with your criteria here, but "FireAndAshes"
by Mark Harris warms me up:
http://www.sxc.hu/browse.phtml?f=view&id=126086
Another photo that warms me just by looking at it is "Chillis" by Emma Payne
http://www.sxc.hu/browse.phtml?f=view&id=4977
I guess I'd better finish up with one more that's actually a landscape
- "Rapeseed and Alone Tree" by Vullioud Pierre-André:
http://www.sxc.hu/browse.phtml?f=view&id=129326
Search Strategy:
I searched by keyword at stock.xchng, including for:
"warm temperate"
heat
landscape
warmth
bright
sunny
hot
scenery
Regards,
eiffel-ga |
Request for Answer Clarification by
apteryx-ga
on
09 May 2004 15:54 PDT
Thank you, eiffel, for taking my question and for your search efforts.
You've got a fine selection of beautiful photos here, no doubt about
that, and I admire them all.
For my specific purpose, though, I've got to give you half-and-half on
these. The ones that are hot and red were explicitly excluded, and of
course by "plenty of green" I meant greenery and not just the color.
I'll give points for the autumn landscapes even though autumnal scenes
(especially with mist rising) speak of chill, not warmth, because they
do have the specified hues and subject matter.
The only one that really fills the bill, in my estimation, is the last
one, which is full of the very color that I find not only most warming
but most cheering. It's a little light on greenery, but the sweep of
color makes up for that.
So if you bow out now, I will be giving credit for five out of ten
because that's the number that come closest to fulfilling my terms,
even though only one of those looks warm to me. I don't expect you to
second-guess my taste, so I'm basing my valutation on criteria and not
on my personal like/don't-like.
However, I am not going to be able to use any of them. I ought to
have mentioned and didn't (so this is my fault) that I am not willing
to sign up for anything, not even a free account, unless very strongly
motivated with regard to something I can't do any other way (such as
GA). So I can't log in and hence can't download the images. I'm
sorry that I didn't spell out what I mean by "downloadable," but
that's what I meant--that I can just acquire the picture without any
registration or login or any other hoops. This is one reason why a
gallery such as G****e's images is ideal.
Now it's up to you: you may take the fee plus $9.28 tip to which I've
agreed, and I'll close the question and open another one. Or you can
take another shot at it if you wish, with this feedback as a guide.
Apteryx
|
Clarification of Answer by
eiffel-ga
on
10 May 2004 00:06 PDT
Hi apteryx,
I, too, am most reluctant to sign up for anything. You won't find me
browsing the New York Times online, for example. What I look at before
registering is how useful the site will be to me, and what the site's
motives are for needing me to register. For me, personally,
stock.xchng met both criteria.
But I respect your choice. You have kindly offered me two options, and
I'm choosing to "bow out". When searching from Google Images, it just
takes too long to investigate the ownership and permissions of each
photo. You will only need to do that once (for the image that you
choose), but a researcher must do it for every image that is presented
in the answer.
As you have not found an image that you will use amongst those that I
presented, please don't feel the need to pay the offered tip - the
original question price will be fine.
Regards,
eiffel-ga
PS: The last photo (the one which came closest to your needs) was
found using the search term "crops".
|
Request for Answer Clarification by
apteryx-ga
on
15 May 2004 21:32 PDT
Thank you, eiffel, for letting me know your decision. It is the case
that I won't be using any of these, but I do want to offer you
something extra anyway for your efforts and will when I rate the
answer. I left the rate low because I expected to be tipping.
I am not quite sure I understand about investigating ownership and
copyrights, though. Unless an image specifically claims copyright
protection, why would there be any problem with copying something down
for private personal use on my desktop? I would not assume that
people post their photos in a place that's accessible to the whole
world in order to keep others from getting at them. If I posted some
pretty pictures on a website and someone admired them enough to
download for their own enjoyment, I'd be flattered and delighted.
What is the need for the checking that you think you would have to do?
If I were going to look for images often, I might be willing to sign
up with stock.xchng, but not for a rare or one-time thing.
Thanks all the same--
Apteryx
|
Clarification of Answer by
eiffel-ga
on
16 May 2004 04:27 PDT
Hi apteryx,
You asked: "Unless an image specifically claims copyright
protection, why would there be any problem with copying something down
for private personal use on my desktop?".
Indeed, it is extremely unlikely that any problem could arise from such use.
But in most countries, every image is automatically copyright, even if
the author doesn't "specifically claim copyright protection". And in
your question you stated that "I am a great respecter of copyrights
and have no plan to violate any". Technically, copying a copyright
image without permission is a copyright violation.
You have not stated which country you are in, but it is likely to be
the United States where there is a "Fair Use" defense against
copyright infringement. Various forms of "fair use" defense are
available in many other countries as well. But "fair use" is not a
RIGHT to use copyrighted images for private enjoyment - instead, it's
a defense against a claim for damages due to copyright infringement:
"There are no clear-cut rules for deciding what's fair use
and there are no "automatic" classes of fair uses. Fair use
is decided by a judge, on a case by case basis, after balancing
the four factors listed in section 107 of the Copyright statute.
The factors to be considered include:
"1. The purpose and character of the use, including whether
such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit
educational purposes -- Courts are more likely to find
fair use where the use is for noncommercial purposes.
"2. The nature of the copyrighted work -- A particular use
is more likely to be fair where the copied work is factual
rather than creative.
"3. The amount and substantiality of the portion used in
relation to the copyrighted work as a whole -- A court will
balance this factor toward a finding of fair use where the
amount taken is small or insignificant in proportion to the
overall work.
"4. The effect of the use upon the potential market for or value
of the copyrighted work -- If the court finds the newly
created work is not a substitute product for the copyrighted
work, it will be more likely to weigh this factor in favor of
fair use.
Fair Use Frequently Asked Questions
http://www.eff.org/IP/eff_fair_use_faq.html
So, in order to present images that comply with your explicit request
to "not violate any" copyright, I was assuming that you would only be
interested in images for which the copyright owner had explicitly
given permission for copies to be made.
Regards,
eiffel-ga
|
Request for Answer Clarification by
apteryx-ga
on
16 May 2004 13:25 PDT
Eiffel, thanks for the education in copyrights. From the literary
side, and having read the American Publishing Association's booklet on
copyright, my understanding was that the main point is not to diminish
the copyright holder's value in the work or compromise his right to
control the reproduction and distribution (publication) of his work.
Where no publication whatsoever is taking place at my end (which is
what I meant by not violating any), it seemed to me not to be
pertinent, any more that I am infringing copyright to look at the work
in the first place.
Anyway, your answer explains what puzzled me, and I won't ask any more
of you in regard to this question.
Thanks very much for all your help.
Apteryx
|
Clarification of Answer by
eiffel-ga
on
16 May 2004 13:59 PDT
Thanks for the kind comments and tip, apteryx.
|
