Microsoft has mentioned its Open Call project before, which allows outside photographers a chance to submit desktop themes to the company for the chance to be chosen as official Windows 8/8.1 releases. This week, Microsoft released some new Open Call themes and also offered some information on how they are selected in the first place.
Microsoft's blog post reveals that the company gets thousands of themes submitted each year to its ongoing Open Call project. However, Microsoft picks just 5 percent of those submissions for posting on their official themes web page. There are quite a few requirements for any Open Call submission, not the least of which is that the images must be the original work of the author, whether they are photos or artwork. The images must be of high resolution and quality, and "should be dramatic, beautiful, interesting, or serene, not dull, depressing, or controversial."
The newest themes that have been added to Microsoft's gallery include one by Australian photographer Tracie Louise that shows locations in and around Queensland, shown above, along with another set of images that showcase a number of highly colorful birds.
Another new theme comes from California photographer Tom Mansfield. Titled Sierra Sunsets, it shows the sun going down behind pine trees and, if you look closely, the distant Sierra Nevada mountain range.
Photographer Nick Boyer, a veteran Open Call creator, actually has a sequel to a previous theme of his, Night and Dark, as a new entry. Night and Dark 2 has a variety of photographs that all have the same light and darkness motif. You can check out even more new Open Call theme submissions at the blog site.
Source: Microsoft | Images via Microsoft
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