How-To Geek
Ask The Readers: What’s Your Source for Awesome Wallpapers?
With the increasing size and resolution of computer monitors, there’s oh so much more to show off. This week we want to hear all about your tips, tricks, and sources for finding and/or creating awesome desktop wallpapers.
Whether you search the internet far and wide, hit up a select few high-quality wallpaper sites, or go to great lengths to craft your own custom wallpapers for your specific monitor setup, we want to hear about it. Where are the best sites? Do you use a wallpaper management app? Do you create your own wallpapers?
Sound off in the comments with with your tips and tricks, and don’t forget to check back on Friday for the What You Said roundup!
Got Feedback? Join the discussion at discuss.howtogeek.com
Comments (95)
Jason Fitzpatrick is warranty-voiding DIYer and all around geek. When he's not documenting mods and hacks he's doing his best to make sure a generation of college students graduate knowing they should put their pants on one leg at a time and go on to greatness, just like Bruce Dickinson. You can follow him on Google+ if you'd like.
- Published 01/4/12
I recommend any wallpaper fan checks this site out…
http://wallbase.cc/
wallbase.net
thepaperwall.com
For mobiles: zedge.net
wallbase.cc
DesktopNexus
Interface lift
DeviantArt
Alphacoders
I use only images I have created myself.
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
If you like pictures of space.
I usually search for wallpapers, but I’ve been using desktopnexus since it detects your screen’s resolution after you click the download button so that you don’t have to resize it to your screen manually.
Wallpaperswide.com is the best web page for wallpapers, in my opinion.
simpledesktops.com and Lifehacker’s Wallpaper Wednesdays.
+1 for wallbase.cc hit the random button and browse your heart out
Digital Blasphemy
http://www.digitalblasphemy.com/
I use the RSS feeds that bing produces, nice images and then every once in a while a new one will appear that definitely grabs my attention.
Interface Lift
Desktop Nexus
Digital Blasphemy
Webshots – Pro shots
Deviant Art
My Own
You can’t get much better than NASA’s Image of the Day archives.
i second Desktop Nexus!
Webshots Pro
I second Digital Blasphemy! Ryan’s a wonderful artist and is provides great content!
http://www.digitalblasphemy.com/
Wallbase.cc here. Some times deviantart, sometimes google. Also my huge cache of wallpapers I thought I might use some day so I saved them.
Well, i had about 6 sites listed but it wouldn’t let me submit them. Thought i was a spammer :(
Everyone once in a while I will grab wallpaper from one of my favorite shows (Breaking Bad, Top Gear UK, Doctor Who), but most of the time, I will just use the default wallpaper for the operating system I am using (Windows, Lion, and Ubuntu). I just feel as if the stock, default wallpapers were designed to fit in with the particular operating system. It is nice, clean, and consistent for some reason.
Every once in a while*
*edit to my previous comment. Typing too fast.
Desktop Nexus (mostly because the wallpapers are sized for your screen). HTG’s Asian Angel does a wonderful job of digging out the best of the best.
I prefer pictures of clouds as my desktop background. Since I couldn’t find any good pictures after searching for a while, I jumped on an airplane, and took a bunch of pictures.
http://kalhounmedia.com/Clouds2.jpg <– That is my current background, and when I get tired of it, I have a few more good ones to use before I need to get more. I have also used pictures of waterfalls and lighthouses that I've taken myself as backgrounds. Someday, I would like to take/create an HDR picture with the moon to use as a background.
Interface Lift
I only use Interface Lift. I have like 300+ wallpapers on a folder so they change once an hour and I continously save new wallpapers to that same folder.
Interfacelift and
http://www.chercheimage.net
are both awesome.
I like the bing search too.
Besides my own digital camera? I’d have to pick NASA’s Atronomy Pic of the Day.
Desktop Nexus
I stick to photos I’ve taken myself, usually of landscapes or ones with friends in them (memorable moments usually).
Even with a basic point a shoot camera I get some really good wallpapers with no editing required.
I rotate them about every 15 minutes or so(default Win7 manager). Even with that you can go days without seeing a specific picture.
@InDiSent:
I posted 2 links to my own website, since I said I like to make my own wallpapers, and it did the same thing.
Essentially… you guys. And Lifehacker. I then also supplement my wallpaper collection with screenshots I’ve taken in games.
My Nikon D90. Probably not helpful, but that’s where I get them. Don’t need an app since Windows has a random background changer, but I did make a keyboard shorcut to pick a new random wallpaper in Fluxbox.
Desktopography – http://desktopography.net/
My own camera generates great scenery pics. Why download a Wallpaper when I can go take a pic myself. Not only that, the pic is copyrighted by me.
DesktopNexus, DeviantArt, sometimes even google…
Devian Art’s the only reliable source.
Bing RSS FTW!
Interfacelift hands down the best for all platforms.
And deviant art.
these are my fav
carwalls.com
flash-screen.com
interfacelift.com
I use DeskTop Nexus or NationalGeographic.com
Desktop nexus ,Been creating wall papers for years ,Has the best wall papers high res,So far 304,357,896 have been downloaded from desk top …Give it a visit……….
try this site:
http://nik.bot.nu
There are a lot of cool wallpapers here and it’s pretty easy to browse through them.
http://simpledesktops.com/
Simple and only PNGs, love them
wallbase.cc
I use 4walled.org, that site have an huge database of pictures.
wallbase.cc
I almost exclusively use the Windows 7 themes by Microsoft. They’re awesome. Also, the subreddit r/wallpapers on Reddit.com.
Desktop Nexus
Webshots
interfacelift
deviantart
windows personalization gallery
i second the bing! rss feeds. cool wallpapers and i dont have to waste time manually looking for a nice wallpaper.
Google advanced image search using specific keywords and dimensions for my triple monitor setup at work. Most of the time it ends up taking me to jootix.com.
wallpaper on google, o the topic you are interested in google image
I use my own images of my own aquarium.
I only use my own photographs. I like local landscapes.
I make my own. Gimp rules!
Devient Art. Is there any better?
Digital Blasphemy is awesome! I have been getting all of my wallpapers there for years. Has wallpaper for single, dual and triple screen monitor setups as well as for all varieties of smart phones. Some images are free some require membership, which is very reasonably priced. i have been a lifetime member for years now.
http://www.digitalblasphemy.com
/wg/ – if you don’t like imageboards, there are multiple scrapers as well
wallbase.cc
metArt !
Shorpy
http://www.shorpy.com/
InterfaceLift
DesktopNexus
Fine art web sites like these and more:
http://www.artic.edu/aic/
http://www.metmuseum.org/
I usually use google images, set it to search for my screen resolution and search away
Wallpaper abyss – Alpha coders
http://wall.alphacoders.com/
My first choice is my own photos, not altered in any way. The NASA photos are awesome, though.
How often does everyone change wallpaper? I usually need a change after about 3 weeks.
I use http://nik.bot.nu/ and sometimes http://ponibooru.413chan.net/
Images found online are talored to fit double monitors using Irfanview.
The wallpaper has to be such that it looks fine on the lefthand vertical monitor and the right monitor in landscape view.
I am using a waterfall picture to which two small animated doves have been added.
I use Webshots for my wallpapers and screen savers. I have dozens and dozens of wallpaper collections that I rotate and use. I often extract pictures out of Power Point shows that people email me. (Open the pps in PowerPoint, then save as a complete web page.) I also got quite a few from HTG.
National Geographic has huge archives of amazing photos.
Vlad Studios
I got a lifetime for the price of a monthh membership a year or two ago. Mostly used for multiple monitor wallpapers.
How to Geek, once a week.
Desktop Nexus
Webshots.com
Deviant Art
Once I had ‘moving’ wallpaper that was a waterfall and it flowed into a river. This came right up to the edge of my desktop and appeared to trickle over the edge onto my desk. I kept a cloth handy .. it was so realistic, I thought it might get into my keyboard!!
I lost everything in a crash. Please help me find it again .. I have searched the world for it.
Thanks ever so much.
xxoxx
Desktop Nexus and Wallpaper Abyss are both great – each will size the wallpaper to your monitor, whether a regular monitor or big-screen TV, as I am using. Both sites have amazing numbers of walls in just about every category you can think of.
I should also mention Wallbase – have got some great walls there.
All three sites are completely free.
I’m starting to use my own pictures and Windows 7. Super easy and fun.
Been using Webshots Pro for years. Over 689 million photos of about all categories. You can also upload your own photos and use them as wallpapers and/or screensavers too. With the Webshots Desktop, you can customize it any way you want. I recommend checking it out. webshots.com
Over the years I have collected a good repository PG-13 level sci-fi/fantasy and landscape wallpapers from 2 sites McAfee SA and WOT rated green resources:
http://www.digitalblasphemy.com/freegallery.shtml and http://visualparadox.com/. (digitalblasphemy crops up in other posts in this thread, it’s artwork speaks quality and talent) nothing gross goes on my monitor that doesn’t make for a mellow or breath-taking view. The standard Windows packs are OK but IMHO can’t touch what I get from 2 sites worth bookmarking as the free galleries do change with older ones dropping off to make way for rising-star digital artists works of very unique wallpapers from newer artists.
All are malware free (checked with almost every ‘anti-bug’ known prog on & off site since 1998 thru todays scheduled scans), royalty free if not used for commercial purposes and suitable for the best in computer newer technology monitors. Often overlooked is a wallpaper changing utility controlled by a freeware prog I have used for 15 years called ‘Wallpaper Changer’: coded out of Germany it’s a very nice wallpaper customizing utility for the 350+ hi-grade digital pieces of artwork I have on my (XP & W-7) 2 computers, burned to disk & flash-sticks, FTP-ed and shared with friends, gifted to M8′s with new computers or for special occasions, and present me with a beautiful (exists only in the mind of the artists and the program they used to put them together pixel by pixel, none are just regular JPG’s of anything you would find outside of a talented imagination) wallpaper I’ve set to change @ random with each boot-up. Wallpaper-Changer © even gives me desktop text under each icon with text styles, colors and sizes I choose against a pure wallpaper back-ground. Text floating right under the icons on top of my wallpaper rocks :-), those boxy text icon backgrounds some wallpaper changers use just give U a black box with white text inside and I won’t use them. Wallpaper Changer runs on Windows 98SE-7. Loads when you tell it to, and closes after changing the the wallpaper, @ random or a-z settings, saving RAM and closing an active process U don’t need running in the background doing nothing. The task-bar icon allows me to change themes with a r-mouse click to suit my mood or celebrate a holiday. FYI it’s best U grab the highest definition/resolution wallpapers both sites offer, Wallpaper-Changer shrinks or expands the images to fit any size monitor, try to avoid BMP’s neither URL offers them, they are large (1MB+) files and require RAM just to keep them up & running in the background on a desk-top sometimes making for unstable views. U can find out all there is to know about the latest Wallpaper-Changer build (1.60) here: http://www.wallpaperchanger.de/ IMHO a good wallpaper changer is vital if you want to run through a good collection of what U have collected, pulls JPG’s from any folder, even family pictures if that’s what U want, you may feel differently. Sure beats doing a manual search and change every time U want to change your wallpaper.
Started collecting their best stuff in 1998 and some of the JPG’s are now not even in their archives or on the WWW, those were some wonderful bits of artwork.
Hope that helps, I posted this a while back, it was taken down as ‘spam’, I don’t think it is, but this ain’t my project! Hopefully this time round it will remain up long enough to help change the standard Window back-grounds into SO much more for those who want the unusual.
Road Dog
I’m with Grant on this one. I almost always make my own wallpapers. I have a tendancy to use the same one for ages without changing it, so when I do I want it to be exactly what I have in mind.
I use 4walled.org and of course I come to how to geek for them too :P
My favorite sources are rewalls.com and also interfacelift.com .
simpledesktops.com is also a nice place to find (as the name says) simple wallpapers.
I like
http://www.desktopnexus.com
because it has auto-adjust screen resolution feature.
stuckincustoms.com
I import wallpaper photos from many sources listed by other posters here, but my own camera is the primary source for the 2200 wallpaper photos that I currently have. I take pictures in rather high resolution (4000×2664) with my camera then resize and crop them to 1680×1050 (to fit the 16/10 aspect ratio of my computer monitor screen) to use as wallpaper. I also normally resize to 720×480 (4″x6″ print ratio) any photo that I email to save bandwidth and download size for the receipiant.
wallcoo.com
wallcoo.net
It depends on what kind of wallpaper mood i am into that day. I use Google images to look up HD wallpapers. If i find one that i like there is usually a link that sends me to a website full of similar wallpaper. Overall Google images works best for me.
Absolutely http://simpledesktops.com/
They’re unobtrusive.
I hardly ever see my desktop, though! It’s usually covered with windows (especially my laptop at home – there’s only so much real estate)!
I use my own digital camera (12x, 10MP) and take photos frequently (garden, clouds, sunsets, fall colors). Make a selection and use it as wallpaper which is changed every few days. The current one was scanned off a Christmas card, another was downloaded from junk mail and manipulated to fit the screen (4/3)
I go to National Geographic web site for some amazing real world shots.
It depends on what kind of wallpaper mood i am into that day. I usally search Google images for HD wallpapers because it leads me to link where there are similar wallpapers i like. There are many great websites but i think Google images is the best to find what you looking for
i’ve bookmarked all the links you guys post.
images-dot-google-dot-com – almost every time.
Usually, I get in a mood and I want a wallpaper to match. I can usually find whatever I want there.
To get high-res I just look for large images.
I say almost always but every now and then I run across a site that has a nice background or I’ll happen to take a great photo.
WEBSHOTS……The best!
Wallbase.cc anyhting better ??
I strongly recommend you try:
http://johnsadventures.com/software/backgroundswitcher/
Smashing Magazine
NASA
or fire up photoshop, let the creativity flow on the canvas… :)