Natural Earth III – Gallery
Download desktop pictures and iPhone wallpapers
Antarctica
Iberian Peninsula
Himalayas
Greenland
Middle East
Southern Africa
Amazon Basin
Australia and New Zealand
North America
Night – North America & Caribbean
Night – Asia
Night – Europe & Middle East

iPhone wallpapers (320 x 480)

About the gallery

The 3D images above were rendered in Natural Scene Designer Pro 5.0, which produced the atmosphere, haze, and lighting/shadow effects. The wide-angle camera lens used to create the scenes magnifies the size of continents on the spherical surface of Earth. This was done for dramatic effect and to give the scenes geographic focus.

Adobe Photoshop manipulation to the images includes adding background stars, shadow adjustments, and major edits to the clouds. The night globes are a combination of separate day and night scenes rendered with identical camera settings—clouds are absent to show continental outlines distinctly in the dim light. The lens flare filter (105 mm) in Photoshop produced the setting sun effect.

Globes that show the entire planet derive from 8,192 x 4,096 Natural Earth III textures. The oblique views use more detailed 16,200 x 8,100 textures.

For globes with ocean bathymetry go to: www.shadedrelief.com/natural2/pages/globes.html