ReadMe
Document Intimate
Plantscapes
This screensaver self installs by clicking on the Install Icon and simply
following the prompts. Select this as
your ‘Default’ screensaver.
The screensaver can be
viewed in several different ways depending on the settings you choose in the
'Settings' box. To access the 'Settings' box: follow this path: Desktop>My
Computer>Control Panel>Display>Screensaver. This opens a window in
which at the left center you find a drop down box in which you may pick the
screensaver of your choice. If the box shows “Intimate Plantscapes” (as it will
if you have designated this screensaver as your 'Default' screensaver during
the set-up procedure,) then next to this drop-down window appears a 'settings'
check box. Click on this.
In this window you’ll see
“General,” “Image” and “Transitions.”
Start with “General.” Decide whether you want
the images to show small titles or not. If you do want titles, choose placement at the top of the image. (If you
choose the placement at the bottom, they will be superimposed on the
Photographer’s logo, which has been embedded randomly at left or right bottom
of each image.)
Under “Order” choose sequential or random. The screensaver images
have been loaded in a specific sequence to give optimal visual transitions. If
you select 'Random' order, this built-in selection is lost, with unpredictable
(but possibly exciting) outcomes.
Under “Image” we suggest you check box # 2: “enlarge to fit current screen size.“ The
image will fill the screen.
Under “Transitions” there are some 40 different transition effects to
choose from.
When you open the
screensaver for the first time only these transition-effects operate randomly : Sweeping Blinds
Wipe, Venetian Blinds Wipe, Dissolve Wipe, Sparkle Wipe. These are the effects the Photographer finds
pleasing. It is not necessary for you
to make any changes here. However, you
can experiment with different effects if you wish. To select these effects,
check the individual boxes of your choice back on. Do not just highlight the names - make sure you leave a
check-mark in the white square box.
To see more of Peter Van
Rhijn's images or to order prints, digital print files or other
screensavers: please visit Peter's
website at www.naturephotos.com
Other screensavers
available are: Cool Waters, Deserts, Mountain Magic, Wildflowers, and Shoreline
Dreams. Future projects include Autumn Scenery and Forests.
System Requirements
Windows
95/98/NT/2000/ME/XP
Video Display of 256 or
more colours (24 bit colour recommended)
Minimum 800x600 Display
Setting (1024 x 768 preferred)
Please respect the Photographer’s
copyright by refraining from attempts to copy, multiply or resell images
contained in this screens
About the
images in Intimate Plantscapes.
Most of the images in this screensaver are from 35 mm original slides. 35 mm equipment is lighter and is much easier to use for in-the-field close-up work. One of my favourite lenses for close up work is the Canon 200 mm Macro lens, which is a marvelously creative tool for selective focus photography. Selective focus images are often soft, dreamy and misty. It is not unusual for people to ask me if a soft focus or haze filter was used. I do not use such filters. The effect is actually the result of extremely shallow depth of field and is achieved by focusing on a relatively nearby object with a long lens, which is kept wide open. If the lens is a fast lens (large front element) and its close-focusing capability is good, the image which may be created bears little resemblance to reality as seen with the naked eye. Such an image can only be seen while viewing the subject through the lens.
Arachnophilia. This is a view of a spider web
with the blue sky in the background.
Spider webs covered with dew are common during
late-summer mornings in meadows after clear cool nights.
Arachnophobia. Without the sky in the background, this spider web is a bit gloomier
than the previous image. No real need
to be phobic here: these early dewy mornings are often cool and the spiders are
usually still snoozing.
Grass. This image was taken in a waste place where some escaped Mustard or
Canola and Dame’s Rocket provided the colourful background for the blooming
grass.
Grass
and Loostrife. This is an image of some grass with sunlit purple loostrife in the
background. Selective focus is quite
capable of getting rid of very high-contrast (sunlit) backgrounds by smoothing
them out in a very pleasing way.
Meadow
Morning. This image was captured while lying on my
stomach looking at some plain grass with purple flowers in the background. Freeman Patterson used to call this ‘wet
belly photography’.
Blueberries. An image captured in Northern Ontario (Temagami area) one cool clear
morning while the dew was still on the berries and the sun was still behind the
trees. The light is very blue since the
main light source is not the sun but the blue sky. Since the subject itself is blue this is actually a good
situation although it does make the reindeer moss somewhat unnaturally blue.
Lingenberries. These berries were captured in the Yukon during the early fall.
Lingenberries are really a small kind of wild cranberry. They make great jam.
Spring. Young leaves unfolding in a
forest. The blue colour in the
background is due to an abundance of blooming blue forest violets in this spot.
Grass
and Dew. Blooming
grass covered with dew. The background
colour is probably purple loostrife.
Yucca. This close-up of Yucca was shot
in Zion National Monument (Utah) where Yucca grows abundantly in the wild.
Wild
cucumber. A
curled-up wild cucumber branch, looking for a foothold, was captured in the
meadow behind my house. The blue in the image is sky; the colours towards the
bottom are vegetation including pink Touch-Me-Not.
First
Snow.
There’s a little story associated with this image. In the late seventies
I was an avid cross-country skier. One
day in early winter I had driven an hour and a half to my favourite ski area
when I discovered I had brought two left ski boots. I always drive around with my camera gear, so I decided to make
the best of the day and create ‘photographic masterpieces.’
Windblown
Grasses. This
image was also the result of the cooperative effort between X-C skiing and
photography. Having skied along the
frozen Magnatawan River to the shoreline of Georgian Bay (Ontario) I
encountered these grasses, blowing in the wind.
They were shot with a regular 50 mm lens on
Kodachrome 64, my preferred film in the late seventies.
Frozen
Still Life. This image was taken in 1984 in North
Vancouver. Not only did I have my
camera gear with me (on my back), I also carried my six-month old son, Robert
in a ‘Snugli’ on my stomach. After
taking this photograph the next challenge at hand was to change my son’s
diaper…
Pine
Needles. This
image was captured along the coast of Maine, in an area where pine trees grew
together with bushes, which turned bright red in autumn. For more images from this area (‘Wonderland’)
visit the ‘Autumn’ section of the ‘naturephotos.com’ website.
Blue
Cohosh. The unfolding leaves of Blue Cohosh in spring.
Blue forest violets are responsible for the hues in the background.
Goatsbeard. This is a 6x7 format image,
taken with my Mamiya RZ 67 with a 127 mm lens. The image is the seed head of
Goatsbeard. Goatsbeard seed heads
resemble very much the dandelion seed heads but are three times larger. I found a specimen growing on a slope amidst
Crown Vetch, which provided the purplish background hue. The blue in the image is the sky.
Canadian
Primrose. This
tiny flower blooms abundantly in early spring along the rocky shore of Georgian
Bay on the Bruce Peninsula.
Springbeauties
and Club moss. This
image is a good example of the intentional inclusion of vegetation which
surrounds the main subject. Rather than
doing some ‘gardening’ (i.e. removing non-essential subject matter) I usually
look for situations where surrounding vegetation can serve as a ‘prop’ to
enhance my compositions. One caveat may be in order here: the ‘prop’ should not
compete for attention with the main subject- including another flower of a
different species, which would likely not work well.
Springbeauties. A simple dreamy image of a pair of Springbeauties. Just like the other selective-focus images
in this screensaver, this is an example of an artistic-pictorial approach to
nature photography. The naturalistic
approach would be less tolerant with regards to the lack of focus or sharpness.
Peter Van Rhijn, ANEC,
Toronto, February 2003