ImJustCreative Desktop Pictures No.5 - ‘Lone Donkey and Cart, Siwa Oasis’

This is the fifth Desktop Photograph, in my ongoing series. Slowing down in release rate, surprises me how long it all takes to get the numerous sizes together and added to the site in their various guises. Let’s say one or two releases a week, that sounds doable. As with some of the previous, I have individually created 14 stunning screen resolutions, all of which have been re-sized, cropped as required.

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.

Lone Donkey and Cart, Siwa Oasis

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

+ 640×480px
+ 800×500px
+ 960×600px
+ 1024×640px
+ 1280×800px
+ 1280×960px
+ 1280×1240px
+ 1344×840px
+ 1440×900px
+ 1600×1000px
+ 1600×1200px
+ 1680×1105px
+ 1920×1200px
+ 2560×1600px

A little history lesson

This totally amazing shot (even if I do say so myself) was taken during the same trip as my first Desktop Picture release of the Desert Sunset.

Nothing special behind the shot other than I was visiting a very remote part of Egypt called Siwa Oasis, close to the Black and White desert. At this time I was on top of a high ridge taking in some ruins. As I peeked over the edge of one of the ruins walls, I saw this lone donkey and cart making it’s away across the Oasis. The photo does not do the sheer scope of this landscape justice, sadly I did no have my ’super wide angle’ so I had to make do with my 28-200mm zoom. Ideally anything lower than 20mm would of made a dramatic difference to this shot.

But even so, it just struck me as a beautiful image, wondering what must be going through this farmers mind. How often did he make this trip, was it a one off, what was in the back of the cart. All questions with no answers except any clues that the photo gives.

It was a ‘be in the right place at the right time’ shot for sure. Somewhere so vast and hot, yet here was one man and his donkey.

Classic.

End of.

Photoshop

Some work in Photoshop for sure with this shot, but nothing unrealistic. The shot was taken at around midday, the heat was painful, and the colours were pretty startched out. The landscape was naturally almost devoid of any colour or warmth. So in keeping with a lot of my images from Egypt, taken around sunrise or sunset, I attempted to bring some warmth into this shot.

Nothing hard here. Just doubled up on the main image layer and set to Linear Light which really popped up the contrast. Created a Hue Adjustment Layer, altering it to the warm orange, also pumping up the saturation a little. Then I created a subtle black vignette around the edges, to create a darkened halo effect.

The aim was to darken the overall picture, add some warmth and colour which I feel I have been able to do. Am happy with the result.

Taken with my ‘average’ 28mm-200mm ‘travel’ zoom and a battered, sand encrusted Canon E300D. Still working to this day even after 2 months in some of the most damn inhospitable places I have ever been to.

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.