Screenshot Wallpapers of WoW
One of the things I most love to do when I play World of Warcraft is to take photographs (printscreens) of the scenery. I can look up, down, sideways, etc just like in real life to see things. ITs amazing how many players I know tell me that they never look "up" and miss out on some real treats.
Anyhow, last week I posted a few on a forum I'm on and they got a lot of approval as wallpapers, so I took some screenshots this weekend specifically with the purpose of using them as wallpapers. So they tend to be a little more abstract and less crowded than say pics of characters or mounts and such.
Here is a sample, and look inside for more of assorted scenery and some commentary about the shots.
This one is the Alliance islands of Azure or Blood Myst (okay us hordies get them mixed up)
This just took my breath away. It's a bone dragon flying around underneath a swirling maelstrom. You can't see the depth of the roiling clouds or movement, but it still looks pretty neat.
I tend to stop a lot and look up and down and at angles for odd shots, but I do get attacked (or killed) sometimes from having my action bars vanished and not paying enough attention to whats IN the scenery :)
Hellfire Penninsula and some other parts of Outland have very dramatic scenery. The planets and energy streams seem to look great no matter how you compose the shot. It's tricky, however, to get the stars to really pop out in the screen shots. THe automatic settings of the PrintScreen seem so dark and dull. So much detail flattens and darkens out once its snapped and it really does need to be played with afterwards to bring out the detail we see in-game.
Northrend, my favorite continent, has Shalozar, a favorite hang out. Outland has a similar favorite hangout for my lower level toons, Nagrand. Not only is it home to my favorite mount in the game (talbuks) but the mix of natural fields and the stars combined with the unusual energy streams and planets make great contrasts.
I also love how you can hear the crickets chirp, etc Places like nagrand have excellent ambient audio details
This is a night shot, like many of my others. I tried to bring out the colors and depth of field without compromizsng the coziness of the subdued nighttime lighting. Also, in an annoying but interesting real-life style fashion the clouds move, so I would often get just set up right for a great shot when the clouds would move in and cover the sky! Grr. Patience is needed in virtual photography as well as real world shooting.
Unfortunately this one also has a Roc in it. I try to not get animals in shots, as they look so great in game but always seem flat and distracting in still form.
Click on this shot to see it larger, so much more detail shows up than the smaller place holder LJ image shows.
This is a slightly less abstract one of Hellfire Pennensula. The mountain side is rather attention grabbing, but the contrast of the ground and the space really interests me with sense of perspective it gives. I like the close up gorund, with the shadows of mountain tops further away, each lit by the skyfires above.
The last one is Shadowmoon Valley, and one of my hardest to get shots and one that came out in a way that I really enjoy looking at it.
This one is not in screen-size, its been cropped because I think it really enhances the drama of the action in the shot. Used as a tile, centered on black background, I think it would look very handsome.
It took a lot of tweaking to get those darn clouds to show their in-game depth, and those stupid meteors are so hard to catch on camera. Each shooting sky cloud shot takes literally twenty or more shots trying to get the various comets, lightnings, etc to actually show up in the shot when the button was pressed.
Anyhow, last week I posted a few on a forum I'm on and they got a lot of approval as wallpapers, so I took some screenshots this weekend specifically with the purpose of using them as wallpapers. So they tend to be a little more abstract and less crowded than say pics of characters or mounts and such.
Here is a sample, and look inside for more of assorted scenery and some commentary about the shots.
This one is the Alliance islands of Azure or Blood Myst (okay us hordies get them mixed up)
This just took my breath away. It's a bone dragon flying around underneath a swirling maelstrom. You can't see the depth of the roiling clouds or movement, but it still looks pretty neat.
I tend to stop a lot and look up and down and at angles for odd shots, but I do get attacked (or killed) sometimes from having my action bars vanished and not paying enough attention to whats IN the scenery :)
Hellfire Penninsula and some other parts of Outland have very dramatic scenery. The planets and energy streams seem to look great no matter how you compose the shot. It's tricky, however, to get the stars to really pop out in the screen shots. THe automatic settings of the PrintScreen seem so dark and dull. So much detail flattens and darkens out once its snapped and it really does need to be played with afterwards to bring out the detail we see in-game.
Northrend, my favorite continent, has Shalozar, a favorite hang out. Outland has a similar favorite hangout for my lower level toons, Nagrand. Not only is it home to my favorite mount in the game (talbuks) but the mix of natural fields and the stars combined with the unusual energy streams and planets make great contrasts.
I also love how you can hear the crickets chirp, etc Places like nagrand have excellent ambient audio details
This is a night shot, like many of my others. I tried to bring out the colors and depth of field without compromizsng the coziness of the subdued nighttime lighting. Also, in an annoying but interesting real-life style fashion the clouds move, so I would often get just set up right for a great shot when the clouds would move in and cover the sky! Grr. Patience is needed in virtual photography as well as real world shooting.
Unfortunately this one also has a Roc in it. I try to not get animals in shots, as they look so great in game but always seem flat and distracting in still form.
Click on this shot to see it larger, so much more detail shows up than the smaller place holder LJ image shows.
This is a slightly less abstract one of Hellfire Pennensula. The mountain side is rather attention grabbing, but the contrast of the ground and the space really interests me with sense of perspective it gives. I like the close up gorund, with the shadows of mountain tops further away, each lit by the skyfires above.
The last one is Shadowmoon Valley, and one of my hardest to get shots and one that came out in a way that I really enjoy looking at it.
This one is not in screen-size, its been cropped because I think it really enhances the drama of the action in the shot. Used as a tile, centered on black background, I think it would look very handsome.
It took a lot of tweaking to get those darn clouds to show their in-game depth, and those stupid meteors are so hard to catch on camera. Each shooting sky cloud shot takes literally twenty or more shots trying to get the various comets, lightnings, etc to actually show up in the shot when the button was pressed.