The pictures from the fifth collection on the Internet Archive are currently not the highest resolution, but are still better than the most common versions floating around.
This document will remain public to promote awareness of these images.
The author would like to thank the following individuals for their contributions:
mister_fumo, for initiating the search and archiving Pick-a-Photo 01, 02, and 04
Arplane, for creating his showcase videos on bilibili and archiving Pick-a-Photo 05
KOTOSTRIEB, for providing the images of Pick-a-Photo 03
noriro (nrr08), for identifying some of the images on his blog
ohgosho, for further identifying the images on their blog
chiangidj, for uploading some of the rarest images in history
Everyone else who has contributed in some way to this hunt, including the THBWiki community and all curious individuals
This document serves as a repository for various links that can lead to the eventual safe archival and mirroring of the first five entries of the now-discontinued Pick-A-Photo stock photo software provided by Ulead Systems in the early 2000's.
These photos were mostly known amongst some netizens as part of the assets of the first few games of the Windows-era Touhou Project games developed by ZUN.
A few individuals have expressed interest in tracking down and obtaining copies of these software. Some have even compiled their own lists, but either have also been unable to find the images or gatekeep them, for understandable reasons.
Despite the ever-growing presence of the online Touhou community, these images are nearly guaranteed to become nothing more than mere trivia and a handful of low-resolution samples worthy of a creepypasta.
The ultimate goal of this document is to spread enough awareness such that there will be a high enough chance for someone to re-upload a compressed archive of these images to a reliable and accessible domain (such as the Internet Archive), such that in case even if an unfortunate event happens, manmade or not, to said domain, there will be enough copies saved by private individuals such that a speedy reupload is mathematically possible.
This document used to be hosted on Google Docs, but has transitioned into static HTML page, hosted on a GitHub and Codeberg repository, licensed such that even if the images themselves cannot be distributed, the knowledge and awareness can spread.
We welcome all suggestions and additions to this document.
Links that directly provide the images, or present the images (but not in full original format) without intentional modifications.
They have independently obtained and archived the software.
Links to mirrors of images that the author has locally saved to his device(s) and archived for safety.
A user named Arplane has archived Ulead Pick-a-Photo 05: Oriental Antiques and Customs.
The existing archive contains the elusive images of the pack; however, they are only available in 1062x754, which is the second-highest resolution size.
The maximum resolution is 3720x2640, which has been archived for all other packs in the series. In a review, mister_fumo has requested that Arplane upload the highest-quality versions of the images.
The author has inquired about this situation, and response from Arplane was:
“because I only asked if this size can be uploaded”
As such, please refrain from bothering Arplane.
These videos showcase and compare the original images to their in-game appearances.
The author has already saved these photos and uploaded them to the Internet Archive. The link below should only be used as a reference.
If intending to download from here, download the XL size. It will be the highest original resolution. “Super” option doesn't do anything but artifically increase the file size and resolution. Rescaling down the “Super” options will result in a larger file size, and a different checksum.
An inactive netizen that possibly has every picture, but such images would be swamped in thousands of other images. In addition, the 100 page limit, bad AI tags, and paywalls present on Depositphotos only serve to increase friction.
There's also simply the fact that they probably did not upload some of the pictures that were used by ZUN.
Note: Strikethrough means the author has already personally downloaded a copy of the photo or has found the collection which the picture belongs to.
Use these if in danger of legal action.
Included in this section in case all searches lead to a true dead end, or the world is about to end soon. Better than nothing.
These have existed for many years. Have identified the sources of the images and use within ZUN's works, but don't provide the full resolution images.
Related links, that do not necessarily add to the search, but demonstrate awareness and nonzero acknowledgement of the photos' existence.