great photograph for background image

[kar-tar]

I found this image while browsing on flickr for a new desktop background:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/aphasiafilms/112508861/

It's not just good, I think it's freakin' perfect for a Ubuntu background. The colors are dead-on, the composition of the image (detail in the center, blur/dark on the edges) is perfect for a desktop. I humbly nominate this as a default or at least included background.

I got in touch with the photographer and he said that if the Ubuntu team wanted to use it, he'd be happy to 'touch it up' a bit. (Apparently he thinks there are flaws with the image...)

[ComplexNumber]

its ok, but its a bit overbearing IMO. its likely to distract a bit too much from the applications on the desktop. i personally think its best to have a less bright and attention seeking image. if it does go with a particular theme, it would probably be industrial amber here (http://www.gnome-look.org/content/pre1/38044-1.png).

[kar-tar]

I don't know... I wouldn't say that it's more distracting than the default backgrounds of Microsoft, Apple, or most other Linux Distros. Many backgrounds feature bright landscapes, giant text, a full prism of colors, and very bright or high contrast design. This photo of a softly glowing bulb is positively demure by contrast. I'm of the opinion that the current default desktop image is excessively bland, and has room to be a little bit "louder" before it becomes in any way distracting.

Most Ubuntu users (so it seems to me) are somewhere in the "power user" category - not newbs (to computers in general at least) but not big-time unix/linux geeks either. I think most everyone here customizes their desktop to some extent, and I doubt any default background image will remain on very many desktops for a long time. Still as it's pretty much everyone's first impression of a fresh install (*especially* since Ubuntu - wisely - goes with a blank canvas approach to default desktop configuration) it would be nice to have something more grabbing than an abstract brown swirl.

Also, having worked with the image as my background for a day now, it's much less imposing when it's a full screen, the shrinking of the flickr image on the small preview makes the image look sharper than it is. You pretty much forget that it is there until you're shutting down the system and all the windows close.

Man I really like that photo.

[ComplexNumber]

I wouldn't say that it's more distracting than the default backgrounds of Microsoft, Apple, or most other Linux Distros. Many backgrounds feature bright landscapes, giant text, a full prism of colors, and very bright or high contrast design.
thats probably why most of them look awful. something simple like this (http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/16306892/) or this (http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/6553526/) is more applicable.