Are you going to do any new Halloween items?

I would love to see some new ones out here.



Thanks. Tina

I am a real big fan of Escher and one of the reasons I like the original Haiku is that it always reminds me of Escher's "Three Worlds". I can't say that this is the case with the new version, because the underwater-part is nearly not visible and the viewing angle shifted.

The leaf itself looks fantastic and much more realistic.

but I do enjoy the old one slightly more. The reason lies entirely in the rock pattern. It's darker, less pronounced and even on an Apple 23" Cinema Display I can barely make out the tree lines. The original with the light gray approach was a huge favorite of mine, back when I had a full screen iBook.



Notable rendition, but I definitely prefer the original hues.

I loved the first Haiku and I really like this one. The detail is awesome. Well done, Ryan.

I much prefer the newer Haiku Image to the old one. I think the pebbles in the background are more pronounced. The leaf color also provides for a interesting contrast.



Adi.

I much prefer the newer version. I think the detail on the leaf and the water effects are pretty amazing.

The direct, top-down view is alright, but capturing the angle of the original seemed even more interesting - from my point of view.



Also, a slightly lighter (background) variant (similar to the original) would look good, too, if you found yourself bored with nothing to do.

That was a joke.



All in all, looks great. Keep up the good work!

The bright orange is nice, but I kinda like the old one better because you can see the rocks. In this one, the leaf is so bright that it detracts from the rest of the scene. But the leaf itself definitely looks good.

I've always wanted an update of this. Thanks so much! The rocks are much better in this one; they were a bit busy in the original but this really calms them down. I love how the ripples are gentler too. My one complaint is that it's focusing squarely on the leaf. In the 2000 version, you just about perfected the view. It was off to the side and a bit farther away, so the actual image was a scene which just happened to include a gorgeously fiery leaf. But when it comes down to it, this is still breathtaking. Well done.

It just looks like a flat orange leaf on black water on both of my LCD screens. The original is one of my all time favorites as well; a little less realism is what made it so lovely. The shades of blue in the original are so beautiful, it could make a person weep. I would vote to bring back the blue -- you outdid yourself on the original!

Great work!



I noticed on my CRT at work that you can't see the stones or reflections well except to notice there is a slight difference in shading.



However, on my LCD at home the stones are clearly visible and it looks fantastic.



Personally, I'm a big fan of dark backgrounds as it makes my desktop icons stand out so they are easy to find and see.



Keep up the good work, I never regret my membership fee.

The original Haiku might be my favorite work that you've done, definitely top 3. I enjoy the new Haiku as well, but I would like to add some constructive criticisms if I may.



One thing that changed between the original and the 2007 is the color palette. The water and rocks beneath in the original were brighter blue. In my eyes, this created a better feel for the environment surrounding the leaf, and greater color depth. I think that moving the background closer to that color scheme would bring back some of the charm I feel is missing from the new version.



The leaf in the new version is fantastic. I love it. I am not sure if this is intentional or if you wanted to do something different, but since there is only one ring of ripples around the leaf this makes the stem appear to be in the air and not touching the surface of the water. A second set of rings centered around the end of the stem would make it appear that it too hit the surface. In the original, the ripples also had a reflection of orange in them from the leaf, but I noticed this is not present in the new version. I don't know that I prefer one or the other right now.



The tree reflection is so subtle that I didn't pick up on this in my first viewing. I think that part of the reason goes back to the color palette used for the water. In my eyes, it is too dark. If the water and rocks beneath it were closer to that lighter blue, the darker browns of the tree's reflection would stand out more and add that extra element of realism I think you are trying to capture.



Those are my three points, and this is the first public comment I've ever left after following your work for the past decade. It's fantastic, and keep it up. I hope now that you've taken the bold step of revisiting this piece that you will continue to work on it. It's a wonderful piece and I'm sure many people take away different things from it. I would love to see you play around with it some more, the new Haiku is definitely one I would like to see have multiple pickle jar versions available.

first off, the image is flat out amazing. good job ryan!



@ken

i hope the next time you post to this site you use at least one brain cell before posting.



the purpose of the comment system, in my opinion, is to give *constructive* criticism.



saying you are "disapointed in the lack and lack of quality" not only tells me you can't spell, but have nothing to say that can help make this image better.



unbelievable.

Ryan,



This image is beautiful. I used to live in Massachusetts and fall was my favorite season. Your new version of "Haiku" brings me right back to that time. I think the reflections of the trees and sky above really add something special. (Is it my imagination, or is there a little bit of fall color in the reflections of the trees?)



It's always hard to please everyone when you make a new version of an old favorite, but in my opinion this is a great companion to the original. I also think that "Haiku 2007" is a gorgeous piece of art that stands all on its own.



Keep up the great work. I look forward to seeing what you create next. :-)

The background is very dark ! Not one of the best by a long shot ! Sorry.

For what it's worth, I think the new update is great.

you've got to be kidding me, as a member i must i've never been so disapointed in the lack and lack of quality,



you've really got to step it up a bit i know you have some die hard members like i used to be that is going to attack my post but your going to lose alot of members if you don't step it up alot

I must say, I've wanted to see a new render of Haiku for a while (pretty much since the day I got my widescreen monitor.) I never mentioned it on the site because I was a bit worried that I'd be disappointed by the end result.



I guess I forgot what site I was on. Ryan, this new render is great. My only gripe about the original was that the leaf looked a bit odd, and the new one looks so much better. I do have to jump on the "maybe you could lighten the water up a bit" bandwagon, but you've really done a great job revitalizing an old favorite.



Many thanks.

Think I like the original a little more - not the leaf, but the water is clear so you can see the bottom?

Of the two, I like the new one better. I personally thoght that the underwater rocks and what not in the first were to busy. this is simpler and thats how I like it.

Um.. yeah.. I'm pretty sure you went out and took this picture with your digital.. Even though its not even fall..! Amazing revitalization of the original. The colors are amazing on the LCD. I would encourage people to upgrade those CRTs.!

This reminds me of sitting near a creek at my grandparent's long ago as a kiddo. I live in Florida - if you've ever sat by the side of a creek near dusk, and seen the sun's rays shining through the treetops in the evening before sunset, you might understand. Evening comes early beneath a canopy of trees, and this is just exactly something that one might see.



To me, this is priceless as it brings back some long forgotten and precious memories. It speaks to my heart. Thank you :)



Brightest Blessings.

I love the detail, but the overall picture seems a tad dark for the implied peacefulness. The trees are nice though, maybe that helps make up for it.

I like the older one better. The new version doesn't have enough under the surface of the water. The submerged rocks in the older one really brought it to life. This one just seems like a leaf on a black piece of paper.

ryan, i love haiku, i bought it as a wall hanging not to long ago, but i think the water needs to be a tad lighter. if there's a feflections i can't tell. also a few rocks like the original would be nice.

Thanks for bringing this one back!!

Very nice work. Other than angle and way-too dark water, I like overall improvement of the image of 2000.

Once you're done tweaking Haiku (and have finished the multi-monitor versions :) ), you really should consider doing an animation of it.

I think that this is one of those situations where you just really can't make improvements. Oh sure, you can make the leaf look more real or add in reflections that may or may not have been possible when the original was created or any of several things to improve on the realism, but the original just has that undescribable something that the new one does not, or at least not the same way. Don't get me wrong, I do like the new one, but I still like the old one better, everything just seems to meld together so effortlessly. It is hard to improve on such elegant simplicity.



Keep up the good work !



-D

I agree with some of the others as far as tilting the angle, lightening it up (either brighter reflection and keep the water/rocks dark, or from below the water?). For dualscreen or widescreen or other renderings, I think it would be nice to see multiple leaves (only a few more so it still seems like only a few fell into the water) or some change of texture to help fill the extra space. Again, awesome start, I look forward to the finished product.

Pros

The leaf looks absolutely beautiful in the newer version. Definitely more real looking.



Cons

The angle on the old version is much better and I like how there were rocks of different sizes in the water. It wasn't just a leaf in the old version. Now the rocks add a repetitiveness that just seems blah. Like all it is is just a leaf in the newer one.

The water is too dark and If there is a reflection...I didn't see it. I think a slight reflection would be really cool if it stood out more and to do that the water needs to be lightened just a little. Maybe the water color should be between the newer version and older version.

First, I want to say that the original "Haiku" is probably my absolute favorite of all of your work. This will probably explain why I'm being so picky about the update.



I think the angle of the original did a lot to add to the emotion of it. It seemed like a random glimpse into a beautiful forest scene: there was light, shadow, and a beautiful leaf that just happened to fall on the water while we were looking. The update, though, seems as if a photographer set the photo up, like he put the leaf on the water to take a picture of it. The angle just doesn't seem as natural as the original.



I think the leaf itself is beautiful, and I like the darker water with just the hint of rocks underneath and the reflection of the surrounding trees, but the viewing angle just seems to take a little something away from it.

I like it, but the old leaf was more off-center, I think that was more visually pleasing (well, for me anyways). For dual-monitor make sure the leaf doesn't get split, so moving it off-center more would be practical too. =D



Keep up the good work!

I agree with a lot of the comments. It's a little flat. It would be better if the water was brighter and the camera was pitched down a little.



Nonetheless, great work as always!

I really do like the re-do of this image, and I have used the original for quite some time. The only problem is the background came out quite dark, at least to me.



I threw it through The Gimp, and lightened up the background considerably, and it looks a LOT better to me.



I really don't like manipulating other peoples works of art though, and feel I'm really doing something bad when I do.



Would it be possible to request a 'pickle jar' version of this image with a much lighter background? It would probably look 1000 times better than the fast hack job I did in The Gimp :)

As others have said, the leaf looks flat...it needs some depth. Also, where is it's shadow?

Topic says it all..

since the rocks in the background are more pebbles instead of larger rocks that kinda frame the leaf, the picture just looks a little flat and boring.

But only because I feel there is a large amount of room for improvement. Mainly in color composition though. The modeling is superb. It does come up short when compared to the original (repeating what many others have said) but I wonder if you published this much the way you published Chameleon, as a work in progress to see where we all thought you should take it?



In my opinion I would make the sky sunny (or sunnier). I would think that it would increase the contrast in the reflections and brighten the rocks in the river which would in turn be much more visible in the shadows of the trees. This would effectively accomplish what you stated you were looking for as well as meet what others have stated they found lacking in this render.



Worth every penny as always. I love the work you do.

I agree that the colour's a bit off on this. The original was far more 'sunny,' and the water had a bluish vibrance that's missing from this one.



This is a personal preference, but I'd also pitch the camera angle down about 25-30 degrees.

i loved the original Haiku, and i'm glad that you've updated it, but i thought that the new one looks a little sickly (like 1950s Radiation green).



i turned the vibrance (?) and saturation up in lightroom, then removed all the green and reduced the yellow, and i much prefer it now. would you like me to send you the changed one?

I really like this, but I find that the dark spots to be fairly fuzzy and not shiney and smooth as water should be, and honestly, I've never looked at a river/creek bed and saw all the same color rocks

Ryan,



Although this version of Haiku has its own strengths, I prefer the original over this one.

This one seems too dark to me and, in my opinion, lacks the character I felt with the original. I appreciate the effort you put into this but it's not going to be a wallpaper I would choose to put on my screen.

I have long enjoyed your work and always have a wallpaper from Digitalblasphemy on my computer. So keep up the great work you do.



Sincerely,

John

This is a beautiful rework. I do miss the rocks though. 9 none the less.

I always thought the idea behind the original was great, but that it just didn't appear real enough.



You've made a great improvement with this one. The rocks look far better than the original, and the ripples also look much better than they did in the original. The texture on the leaf looks extremely detailed and realistic. My only problem with the leaf is that it feels a bit flat. I think some minor improvements to the shading around the grooves in the leaf, as well as a slight change to the shadowing underneath it, would improve this picture even further.



In any case, great job! I give it a 9/10.

Not much time, I just wanted to say that I like the new darker scheme, but the leaf is too straight, like it was just pasted on. If you altered the pitch you are viewing from, I think it would be a major improvement. Also the ripples just seems a little too perfectly round, but that's not a major thing. Overall looks good.

Murky stones beneath

Wilting autumn hovers near

Summer ripples fade



...Absolutely Inspiring!! :D

This is well done. I think the really striking thing about the original was the clarity of the rocks below the water. Perhaps a re-render with them more visible? That being said, this does the original justice.

I rated it a 9 and love it. But damn if people didn't draw my attention to stuff and now it bugs me. The leave looks like it's on a bubble of ripples instead of causing them. I like the darker look better and the leaf is great. I like someone's idea of seeing it from below though...picklejar maybe. Still and 9 anyway

"Haiku" has always been one of my favorites and I'm glad to see you do an update but the background is just too dark; I can barely see the stones. Maybe you could lighten it a few notches so more detail is visible?

this version of Haiku looks pretty good but the original Haiku had a more calm and relaxing feel to it. This one has a darker more gloomy feel to it.

I agree, this does look good except that those ripples just do not look right at all. If the ripples were fixed it would be better.

The image quality is excellent and an improvement on the first. However, the form of the ripples coming from that shape is completely incorrect and ruins the illusion.



If I was you, I'd correct that.

I really like this one. But I also really like the orginal. It's to hard to say which one I like better.

I love the re-take on Haiku, as the original's a personal favorite testified by the fact that it's matted and framed and mounted on a wall at the house :). However, on my 1280x1024 LCD I'm having the same problems as a few other people with Haiku 2007, I can barely tell that there's anything in the image besides the leaf, even at full resolution. I LOVE the dark water, but for me it's so dark that it almost isn't there. Anyway, just FYI! Thanks for all you do Ryan!

I actually like the new leaf better, but other shading you describe just doesn't come out on my 1280x1024 LCD monitor. It's almost but not quite a leaf in the middle of a black background.

Again...



Can you please create a PPC Theme?



I can do them myself, but when I do them, the Digital Blasphemy logo is usually cut away, and I would have liked to give credit to which it due...



thx.



Eyal Hamtsany.

Perfect for this time of year! I think its a good improvement on the original. I am partial to darker wallpapers, so I personally prefer the dark rocks.

Very nice. The reflection of the trees in the water definitely makes it. I just wanted to add that I think a really cool pickle jar shot would be to take the picture from under the leaf in the water. Maybe a silhouette effect would be cool. We could also see the trees from this angle.



Anyway, I figured that would be a nice way to tribute the old one without actually being the old one. Good work, keep it up.

Heh, I recall making a request that you do a new one, im a Canadian public servant the old haiku has been my wallpaper ever since i found it.



That's an outstanding retake on the original.



Any chance we get a dual screen version ?

After an initial reaction of not liking the darker water and less visible rocks, I opened the old and new in tabs and went back and forth. I've actually come around to the dark.



However, I agree with Erik in that you don't get a good sense of depth with the new leaf. In the original, because of the lighter background, you could see more of the shadows of the leaf's points on the surface of the water. Now there's almost none of that. I see a few points that seem like they should be facing down and making their own circle of ripples, but they don't. The top and left sides of the leaf give you NO depth cues. The following sounds much harsher than I really mean it, but the more I stare at the leaf the more it looks like a cut-and-paste from a completely different picture.



Don't get me wrong, I really like the picture - I made it the background for my work laptop.. I think there's just a few things that can be tweaked to make it look even better.

Very nice expecially for this time of year...would like to see the rocks just a little bit more but I still think its great the way it is.

I really like the detail in the leaf, but I wish the camera angle were more like the original. This one looks to be more straight on from above which decreases the sense of depth in the leaf. I'd probably like it if the background were a bit lighter as well.



Overall, I'd say it is a good revisiting of the original theme, but I think a little bit more tweaking could improve it aesthetically.

I love the leaf in this updated version it's much more detailed than the older version. The only downside is that the background is a lil dark...Other than that great work!

Beauty through simplicity. Love it Ryan.

Having compared old to new, I think the new one is better. The leaf looks much better and I think the darker background really adds something - I can't quite put my finger on it but most likely it's because it keeps the leaf as the main focal point. With the old one the surrounding scenery is a little more distracting. Here, you can see the rocks underneath but it's more subtle - dare I say it, it's a little more classy!

I actually went to change my wallpaper today to Haiku and decided to check and see if there was anything new on digital blasphemy. This is very much one of my absolute favorites.



From the old one, I miss the rocks and the little bit of green on the leaf.



In the new one, I love the increased detail and can see how people who have icons and stuff on their desktops will appreciate the darker, more subtle background more.



Bravo either way. Thank you very much for all your work and artistry!

I think I like this version more. The leaf seems to stand out more and easily draws my focus. I can't wait for the 3-screen version so I can show it off at work.



-Ben

The leaf is an improvement, but the background is too dark, even with a bright LCD screen.

I think the leaf looks incredible, and the reflections of the trees above are visible, but not distracting. Plus you can still see the rocks at the bottom of the water... I have them side by side on my dual monitors and I really do think you've improved this image.... and you're right - it's not a picture.

I think the dark water looks fine and is not the least bit unnatural. . . seems to me we're looking at the leaf in slightly deeper water at dusk. Nothing wrong with that!

I think it's beautiful. I LOVE the colors in this one. I think it's lovely being dark - it really sets off the leaf. I never really liked the original, the colors were a bit too washed out for me. But this one is perfect for my tastes. :)



Thanks for a great year of images, Ryan!



Liz

I really, really like the leaf on this wallpaper, and I like the background better without the rocks, but there's something about the water pattern.... Jamie N. got it right, it looks like plastic, rather than water.



That's really the only change I would make, to tweak the water a little bit. Otherwise, it's great.

I understand the reasons for it being so dark but you have to really stare at the image to see anything but the leaf, at first it looks like it is just a leaf on a black piece of paper.



A little illumination would be beneficial, otherwise it is a wonderful update

I really like the leaf; its got 100x more detail and realism than the original. However, I dont like how you cant see the rocks very well. I think that if you change the angle a little bit and make the water clearer and make the rocks more visible, it will be a definite improvement.

its nice, but i dont think it comes close to the original.



the camera angle in this one is mundane, and losing the rocks was a bad idea (yes some rocks are visible in this one, but they're all under water and so dark you can hardly see them). Also the ripples need some interference patterns; as it is they just look plastic.



It's nice but it could be better, IMO. Sorry.

The original Haiku has long been one of my favorites. I really like this one, too, though. The dark background has just enough texture to be interesting, and the leaf really stands out.



I think I prefer this one for a background image because of the dark background - I have lots of space for widgets and icons and such without covering up the image :o)

The leaf is much improved, but I prefer the original water. All this water seems to reflect is storm clouds, and I liked being able to see the rocks in the stream.

This is close enough to fool most people to think it is real. :)



Not me, tough. Water waves are very hard to get look real and interesting at the same time.

I love the original, but I think you may have made the background just a touch too dark. The contrast is amazing, but it appears that there's nothing but the leaf.

Either way, amazing work!

Although dark, this is not my kind of wallpaper (prefer landscapes & planet scenes). However, I absolutely appreciate it's beauty. The leaf looks 100% photorealistic, in color and texture.



So maybe the theme is not my style, but it's definitely a great piece of art!



8*

I've encountered the same obsolete software problem recently with some of my own old files, so I sympathize with your dilemma!



Haiku is one of my own top favorites, so I couldn't imagine improving on that! The contrast between the leaf and the water is very high, and I was taken aback by that. I'm undecided about the dark water myself, because to me that is quite unnatural. However, the image itself is very striking - like a jeweler's display of precious gems on black velvet. It certainly appeals to the artistic side of me, though the naturalist side of me wants to pull out the original version! My two sides will have to agree to disagree on this one!



Great job, Ryan!

The subtle power of this one just caught me off guard. That leaf looks real. I love how you can barely see the reflection of the trees above in the water. This one went straight to my desktop, so far my favorite of the year.

You never fail to impress me!! I am a true fan! I can not tell you how many times people here at work comment on my DB wallpaper! I direct them to this website. Keep up the good work!