ImJustCreative Desktop Pictures - ‘Brighton Pier and Starlings’

This is the third Desktop Photograph, in my ongoing series. Rattling these Desktop Wallpapers out at some speed at the moment. Previously, I have individually created 14 whopping screen resolutions, all of which have been re-sized, cropped as required. This time, I will be releasing just a few initial sizes of the Desktop Pictures, with the rest to follow.

Feel free to modify these Desktop Pictures as you wish for your own personal use on your computer, but they are Protected under Creative Commons Licence, so should be not used for for commercial gain or passing of as your own work. All photos are taken by myself.

Desktop WallPaper - Brighton Pier and Flock of Starlings at Sunset

Instructions for downloading Desktop Pictures

When selecting a screen resolution from the download lists below, you will need to ensure your browser does NOT prevent new windows from being opened. Selecting a link will open a new browser window where the image will be displayed. Downloads DO NOT occur automatically, you must drag and drop the picture from the browser window to your hard drive.

14 Available Resolutions

+ Brighton Pier & Flock of Starlings at Sunset
+ 640 x 480px
+ 800 x 500px
+ 960 x 600px
+ 1024x 640px
+ 1280 x 800px
+ 1280 x 960px
+ 1280 x 1024px
+ 1344 x 840px
+ 1440 x 900px
+ 1600 x 1000px
+ 1600 x 1200px
+ 1680 x 1105px
+ 1920 x 1200px
+ 2560 x 1600px

A little history lesson
This re-enforces the importance of always carrying your camera with you, for all the unexpected opportunities. I often get caught short on this matter, frequently just hurling numerous expletives at myself for ‘yet again’ forgetting my camera.

No such ineptitude this time, or is that inaptitude. Whatever. Story is as thus…

Took the car into Brighton for some time out of my small sleepy town of Seaford in East Sussex. This would of been around November I think. Small detail I know, but if you can look at the picture and know what the weather was like, if its not apparent from the photo, I always finds this adds to the atmosphere of the photograph. So it was dang cold. I mean really bloody chilly.

So car parked in Churchill Square Cap Park, courtesy of NCP. Then onwards through Churchill Square shopping center. As per usual ritual, took in some quality time with Borders. Rambling up and down the aisles soaking up the atmosphere. Nice.

So, had enough of Borders, and moved onto Starbucks over the street and actually got a rare sofa seat near the window, joy. Nothing better than seating at the window, in a sofa, with a latte and all the life and colour of Brighton passing right in front of you.

However, it was about 3pm and the sky started turning this beautiful blue, orange, red and other marvelous hues. It was at this point that I was stirring with the possibility of getting out of Starbucks, quickly running to car park, courtesy of NCP, getting my camera and shooting off down to the seafront to get some sunset Brighton Pier shots. Important for me as I have none.

At this point though, I was knackered and feeling less than motivated to get up from the sofa and back into the cold, and all this time… time was running away from me.

I was caught in a dilemma of knowing I should make the effort, thinking I would be out of time anyway, and feeling quite snug in said sofa courtesy of Starbucks.

Time ticked on, I actually started to sweat at this point because I knew I was letting a wonderful opportunity pass before me, as I looked out of the window some more, the colours just seemed to get even more stunning, goading and mocking me for being a lazy git.

Finally. Finally, racked with guilt I shoot out of Starbucks and make it double time to car park. All this time the light was getting darker and darker and I was cursing myself that once I had finally made the effort it would of been all to late. Typical life story scenario.

So pressing on, snap camera up, run down 4 levels, over street, over busy main seafront A259 and finally onto promenade.

And lo and behold.

The most gorgeous spread of colours, with the pier silhouetted against the dramatic skyline and not to mention the double bonus.

The swarming flocking starlings in their incredible sunset dance over the downtrodden beaten up pier.

If you have never seen this, then it’s one of those rare treats that really take your breath away. And finally after driving past countless times on my way home from work minus camera, here I had my chance.And boy, did I make the most of it. Every angle, every lens, up beach, down beach, in water, from promenade, east and west of pier.

In total, five 1Gb Flash Compact cards filled up with photos. Nothing to chance here.

End of.

Photoshop
Although the standard photographs are of high quality, with true warm hues, for the purposes of a Desktop Picture some work was done, hopefully to enhance the already dramatic scene. Basic Hue changes for the sunset, some darkening of the actual pier and some doubling up on layers, using my old favorite combo of setting one to Overlay and the other one was set to Luminosity both at 100%.

The aim was to darken the overall picture but retain some of the natural strength of the actual sunset and reflections in the waves.

Given I was caught by the ever darkening sky, my ‘average’ zoom with only f5.6 lens, and a Canon E300D the images came out pretty well. Remember that the pier is some way out, with the starlings flitting around in this incredible aero dance, trying to get pin sharp shots proves very taxing on my non pro gear. But I was very pleased, more than I thought I would be.

I will be releasing more Desktop Pictures each week, so in time I will have a healthy collection, so do subscribe to my RSS feeds to be kept in the loop, or check back on my Desktop pictures page for new additions or search for Desktop Photographs.