Windows XP Bliss UPDATE: Azul needed too!

[Geo]

Hey there guys, I'm sure most if not all of you will recognise the following image:



Well the copy of that image that ships with XP is only 800x600 and Google yields no results when searching for a higher resolution version.

I was just wondering if there's any technical way of enlarging that image to say, 1440x900 or above without it looking terrible.

Windows scales wallpapers horrible, and I'm no expert with Photoshop.

Can any of you help?

Oh and obviously I'm aware some height data will have to be lost for a widescreen resolution... so if anyone can make this bigger, keep it 4:3 for the moment!
Thanks in advance guys!

[HPDarkness]

The Highest resolution version I have is 1280x1024 :/
http://img82.imageshack.us/img82/7829/bliss1cz.jpg

[Aumaan Anubis]

Must it be the exact image?

Google images features a multitude of variations of the "bliss" image that are larger, and therefore, the "enlargening," or in some cases, shrinking, I suspect, of the image would result in less "terribleness."

Or so I suspect.

But I did the normal resizing in photoshop, without any extra fancy edits or whatnot, and it's not that bad. But I suspect you've probably already done that.

[Geo]

I'm pretty sure that 1280x1024 is upscaled, it's blurry as hell when viewed at its original size. =/

And yeah I've tried enlarging it in Photoshop with some minor sharpening and it still looks terrible.

I'm sure someone on here had a method of upscaling images and reducing how bad they looked.

Thanks anyway though guys.

[Tural]

Sup.
http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/251/blissil2.jpg


I just did a quick crop. If you'd like to tweak it yourself, you can download the 4510x3627, 25.8mb stock photograph here. (Wiki had a link to the high resolution image :3)

[WaeV]

Anyone ever seen this image? Taken from the exact spot, six years later.

[Tural]

I noticed that in looking. It's very bland, and doesn't make the statement the photographer desired. Simply put, it's insignificant, and their attempt at a message was lost.

[ScottyGEE]

Cool stuff.
It would have be pretty orsm being the photographer there. I'm sure that view woulda been cool

[bcnipod]

I must agree with Tural on that, I personally don't like the "Bliss" picture but a lot is lost in that second one, it has nothing to me.

[trepdimeflou]

I noticed that in looking. It's very bland, and doesn't make the statement the photographer desired. Simply put, it's insignificant, and their attempt at a message was lost.

I disagree. The "bland" look was probably exactly what they were going for. The most obvious message, whether intended by the photographer or not, is that the beauty and glamour of Windows XP, six years later, is lost. The low, oppressive sky coupled with a dreary colour palette are in all likelihood intentional.

You also have to take in mind the post-processing done to every commercially available stock photograph. This process increases the sharpness, clarity, and intensity of the colors in the photograph. In all reality, the bliss photograph started something like this:

[antszy101]

I completely agree with the above statement.

[WaeV]

I disagree. The "bland" look was probably exactly what they were going for. The most obvious message, whether intended by the photographer or not, is that the beauty and glamour of Windows XP, six years later, is lost. The low, oppressive sky coupled with a dreary colour palette are in all likelihood intentional.

That's what I got from it. The name of the image is "After Windows".

[Tural]

I disagree. The "bland" look was probably exactly what they were going for. The most obvious message, whether intended by the photographer or not, is that the beauty and glamour of Windows XP, six years later, is lost. The low, oppressive sky coupled with a dreary colour palette are in all likelihood intentional.

I'm aware of that, that's what I addressed, I need not it be explained to me. I'm stating that their attempt at that message was poorly executed. Knowing the facts about the location hurts the ability to take the message strongly. A better image would be your example of it before processing, not the simple photograph of the scene with the vines growing. The landscape is a failure of execution, because it is covered with vines from the vineyard there. It does not serve to show the scenery as bland. The grass there is still green and thriving.

They're taking a picture of a vineyard, not of the hills, it is not the same execution. The sky there is the sole legitimate piece of their message.

[Geo]

Thanks Tural.

[Geo]

Back Again Guys!

This time I'm after a high(er) resolution version of the popular Azul wallpaper.

I've tried various searches and yielded no results.

Any help is greatly appreciated!



EDIT: I think this might be a tough one, Tural...

[ScottyGEE]

Wow that shot is amazing. I would like that boat to be gone though...
I will also download this high resolution version if found.

[Tural]

Might be that the stock was never released. I'll keep looking, though.

[Brendando]

This may seem slightly offtopic, but a great site with lots if high res nature wallpapers is interfacelift.com - have a look over there for something you like, if that's the kind of thing your looking for: I'm using one of the wallpapers from there on my XP setup, and it's very reminiscent of the original wallpapers.

[noscottno]

The above person is correct. That site rocks!

[bibbit]

I didn't even know that wallpaper existed. I looked anyway but found nothing.