One picture runs behind every page on this site. It was chosen by looking at it; what the measurements decided was only whether it works.
Cropped and re-encoded for the web; not otherwise altered. The original is on Wikimedia Commons, and the licence is here. The photograph is cropped, softened and lifted in the midtones for use as a background; the original is linked above and is unmodified there.
Taper is a price that steps down, level by level, until somebody meets it — and a floor underneath that it will not pass. The picture of that is a terraced hillside: a descending stair of water-holding levels, each one lower than the last, ending on the valley floor. It is the product as a landscape, outdoors, in daylight, which is also what a light page needs. Which photograph represents a brand is a decision, not a measurement; what the measurement decided was only whether this one works behind glass, and the palette solver refuses to write a stylesheet whose surfaces do not clear it.
10 candidates, with the licence and author recorded at the moment each was downloaded rather than remembered afterwards. The description beside each is what the picture shows, written from looking at it.
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