Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates/December-2007

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Original
Reason
I think this is just such a superb way to commemorate a sculptor. Plus, the engraving is based on a photo, but has survived far better than the photo has, so we get the best of both worlds.
Proposed caption
Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux was a 19th-century French sculptor and painter who sought to inject movement and spontaneity into his works. This engraving, done to commemorate him after his death, shows his sculpture Flore below him, and others of his works above. In his time, some of his works, particularly La Danse, were criticised as indecent, but today his sculptures are exhibited in major museums of art worldwide.
Articles this image appears in
Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux
Creator
Uncredited, but evidently based partially on this photo, as well as various sculptures.

Promoted Image:Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux.png MER-C 04:24, 3 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Original
Edit 2 Spiderwebs removed
Reason
No other such detailed picture of the flower available on wikipedia.
Proposed caption
Ocimum tenuifolium (known as Holy basil in English, and Tulasi in Sanskrit), is a well known aromatic plant in the family Lamiaceae. Apart from its culinary uses, for which it is known across the world, it is also used as a medicinal plant, and has an important role within many traditions of Hinduism, wherein devotees perform worship involving Tulasi plants or leaves
Articles this image appears in
Ocimum tenuiflorum
Creator
Muhammad Mahdi Karim

Edit 1 uploaded

Oppose both: Edit 1 is very poorly retouched, both are very poorly lit. As ever, fine encyclopedic photographs of above-average quality, just not FP quality due to issues already mentioned above. Have you ever considered using bounce flash? This and other hot tips are always available at WP:PPR.. --mikaultalk 15:29, 27 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Edit 2 uploaded

  • Thank you H92110 for the edit but I dont think all the spiderwebs were removed. I have uploaded edit 2 and replaced edit 1. Muhammad Mahdi Karim (talk) 19:27, 27 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support edit 2 I disagree with Pengo - the lighting doesn't appear to bother me, it helps show the detail. I also disagree with thegreen. The crop is just fine shows the detail. If you need to see the entire plant, look up the entire plant. Good picture. job —Preceding comment was added at 16:38, 28 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support edit 2 per all above.--HereToHelp 20:36, 28 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Oppose bothSorry. While "No other such detailed picture of the flower available on wikipedia" is a reason that this is a valuable contribution to the encyclopedia (it undoubtedly is, I agree), it alone is not reason enough for this picture to be FP. Technically, the biggest problem I have with this picture is that a large portion of the subject is overexposed; the affected flowers contain no detail. Yes, there are good examples of the flower at the top, but the overall quality of the picture is compromised b/c of the blown highlights in the lower half. Moreover, the picture is compositionally weak: too tight in the upper right and bottom left corners, with awkward empty space in the other two corners. Finally, a minor issue, but is the entire stalk considered one flower, or is each small flower on the stalk in the picture considered an individual flower? If the latter is the case, zooming in on one flower, or maybe a macro, would've been the better choice IMO. --Malachirality (talk) 21:49, 28 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]
    • Thank you for your informative comments. It is indeed true that some parts are blown out. However, I disagree with you about the crop. I think the picture gives some kind of a feeling, the way it is with the two corners tight and the other two blank. The entire stalk contains many flowers, inflorescence. Muhammad Mahdi Karim (talk) 18:28, 29 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Oppose per Thegreenj and Malachirality --Wutschwlllm (talk) 11:57, 29 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Oppose Lighting is too harsh. Chris.B | talk 18:39, 30 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support. Composition is interesting and very good (just a slight quibble with the leaves cut at the bottom); the diagonal framing is something different and eyecatching. Good details in the flowers despite the brightness; I'd like to see what you could do with a camera where you had more control of the flash. --jjron 08:16, 2 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Not promoted MER-C 04:20, 3 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Original. Triple H ring entrance sequence at 2s intervals.
Reason
Following the recent (failed) nominations of a couple of wrestling photos I thought a highly active topic on Wikipedia with well over 3,000 articles should have an FP, so picked up a ticket for a rare WWE house show in Melbourne to see what I could get. Well it’s certainly not easy, trying to capture fast action in low light from a considerable distance, through the crowd, and with no option of moving around, getting closer, using a tripod, etc.
I think I did pretty well with these pics. They're something quite unique, and would make a great addition to our sadly lacking sports (and sports entertainment) FPs.
It has high encyclopaedic value as Triple H has been one of the biggest names in wrestling for over a decade (an 11 time World Champion), and is captured here performing his iconic ring entrance pose. Even amongst the hundreds of professional Triple H photos on the official WWE site, IMO there's nothing on his entrance that comes near this.
I’m nominating a multishot sequence taken at 2s intervals which gives a real feel for the darkened arena, strobing coloured lights, and action as my favourite for overall encyclopaedic value. Another option would be to extract just one of these images from the sequence, such as this classic pose, or to go for this closely related image now serving on request in the Triple H infobox.
Personally I think these images have already staked a strong claim for FP status, having elicited compliments, further image requests, and even a barnstar from regular wrestling editors within a couple of days of going into the article – surely this type of reaction is the definition of what an FP should be? And please remember that this is sports action photography, not a portrait.
Proposed caption
Paul Michael Levesque (born July 27 1969) is an American professional wrestler, better known by the ring name Triple H. He currently wrestles for the RAW brand of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE, formerly WWF). Amongst his accomplishments with the WWE, Triple H is an eleven-time World Champion (six-time WWE Champion and a five-time World Heavyweight Champion), five-time WWF Intercontinental Champion, two-time WWF European Champion, and one-time WWF Tag Team Champion. He has also performed in film, television and commercials. He is pictured here at two second intervals performing his iconic ring entrance pose during an international tour in Australia.
Articles this image appears in
Triple H
Professional wrestling
Professional wrestling in Australia
Creator
jjron
File:Triple-H-Spritz-Temp.jpg
Spritz. The part of entrance spraying water referred to by Spedukmak (thanks for clarifying Mshake3) - now that's bad lighting. These are the conditions I'm working with, but I'm sure others would do better. jjron
  • Hold on a minute, I don't think this is his "iconic ring entrance". As far as I know, his iconic ring entrance is he gets up in the middle of the ring apron -- equidistant from two turnbucles and directly facing the main TV camera (for televised shows) -- and does a similar move but with a water bottle in his hand and sprays water in the air. That, I would love to see a photo sequance of. This pose up on the turnbuckle is a bit later and I don't know if he always does this. Am I right about this or is my memory just bad? Spebudmak (talk) 04:32, 28 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Yep, that's correct, although I would say that this part of the entrance is always done as well, so it is part of the "iconic ring entrance." Of course, him standing on the stage with the varying light, such as this, is also part of it. Basically, it's one heck of an entrance. Although I would say this four-image set would work better with the waterbottle part you described above. Mshake3 (talk) 17:12, 28 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Oppose This is not FP material. Bad lighting and small pictures. Clegs (talk) 16:36, 29 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Oppose. As above, poor lighting. Sorry, Malinaccier (talk contribs) 23:47, 29 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support Given the circumstances I doubt you could ever get much better lighting (per H92110); and there are no other major flaws. The reasons given by the nominator are sufficient for me. CillaИ ♦ XC 04:04, 30 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]
    • Sorry, to get to the point, opposes based on poor lighting are just daft. This is the lighting, and for me to bring a spotlight along to change that would be unencyclopaedic, as well as obviously impossible. To complain of varied exposures (just plain wrong, these were full manual with identical exposures), or of the changing lighting, both probably indicate the nom hasn't been read or comprehended. Images meet resolution requirements and the sequence as a whole is miles above; I have higher res, but that's pretty irrelevant. Of course I suppose some people will just automatically oppose anything wrestling related, regardless, which is rather what I expected. --jjron (talk) 11:10, 30 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Oppose I agree that the subject needs an FP, this is not it, (yet.) Focusing on a single picture would probably have better effect. I like the Infobox picture, but the shadow across the chest might exclude it. -- RoninBK T C 03:02, 3 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Not promoted MER-C 04:20, 3 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


A Green Grass-Dart Skipper Butterfly, Ocybadistes walkeri, perched on a succulent
Alternative 1

This image works well on a number of levels IMO, it is of high technical quality and enc value but also has strong aesthetic elements too. The DOF off the leaf edge creates a pleasing effect as it merges into the background as it moves out of focus. That coupled with a nice off centre composition and pleasing colours makes quite a nice photograph IMO

Appears in Skipper

I respect your votes regarding the DOF, but keep in mind the technical limitations of macro photography due to the effects of diffraction. I also think that the relatively limited DOF works well in the first as I mentioned before, but at any rate significantly better DOF is not really possible. --Fir0002 00:29, 27 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Actually no, my image shows how the skippers eyes looked perfectly (based on what I saw with my eyes of the butterfly). I hate to say it but yours are blurry and lack detail. --Fir0002 21:05, 2 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Promoted Image:Green Grass-Dart.jpg MER-C 04:20, 3 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Original
Reason
A fine cartoon by a famous Victorian artist. And it's not from the Entr'acte, so I bypass THAT hassle. By the way, the person on the left is Mr. Punch, the Punch mascot.
Proposed caption
When William Henry Smith, was promoted to First Lord of the Admiralty by Britain's Queen Victoria, there was some surprise: He was the owner of the WH Smith chain of newsagents and booksellers, and had served ten years as a politician. Of naval experience, he had none. Gilbert and Sullivan would satirise him mercilessly in H.M.S. Pinafore, with a character given a lengthy song satirising Smith's life that ended: "Stick close to your desks, and never go to sea / And you all may be rulers of the Queen's Navee!" and which gave him the nickname "Pinafore Smith". However, the satire began before thin: This Punch cartoon dates from soon after his promotion.
Articles this image appears in
H. M. S. Pinafore, William Henry Smith (politician)
Creator
John Tenniel
  • Support as nominator Adam Cuerden talk 12:12, 24 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support per nom.--Mbz1 (talk) 22:03, 25 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Comment. Good scan of a helpful illustration, but it's basically a cartoon. The William Henry Smith also includes a (poorly scanned) etching or photograph which I assume is a more accurate depiction. If the purpose of the illustration is to illustrate, for encyclopedia purposes, what the guy looked like, then is a caricature the best possible representation (especially when we know that better representations of this guy exist? This is more of a policy question than a critique of this specific image. Spikebrennan (talk) 14:16, 26 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]
    • As with the Entr'acte nom currently down the page somewhere, these illustrations are much more enc for the magazine they come from than the characters they represent, IMO. Many of these old caricatures are eerily accurate-looking while the photography of the day was a little staid and posed, but the skill of the artist is what they illustrate best, and there were few publications as good as Punch in it's day. I'd say this was probably mis-nominated, as perhaps was the Entr'acte one.--mikaultalk 14:32, 26 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]
      • However, I think this is a fine example of public perception of Smith at the time, which was distilled into W. S. Gilbert's satire of him in H.M.S. Pinafore. Even if not the most accurate portrayal of Smith, it's certainly useful for H.M.S. Pinafore - it even echoes the line "But when the breezes blow / I generally go below / And seek the seclusion which a cabin grants..." Adam Cuerden talk 15:29, 26 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Oppose It's just an editorial cartoon, and such fails the notability test. Clegs (talk) 16:07, 29 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

No consensus (quorum not reached). MER-C 04:21, 3 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Original
Edit 1: rotated
Reason
Blistering detail of a historical map
Proposed caption
AT&T's lines and metallic circuit connections. March 1, 1891. Note: The map shows the communication lines in orange. On the folded cover is the statement "500 miles and return in 5 minutes. The mail is quick; telegraph is quicker; but Long Distance Telephone is Instantaneous and you don't have to wait for an answer." On the back of the map is a list of public pay stations.
Articles this image appears in
American Telephone & Telegraph
Creator
American Telephone and Telegraph Company
And why shouldn't it be? Shouldn't risk artefacts by compressing the image. --Aqwis (talk) 08:43, 26 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Weak oppose and your compression comment is what make me think about this... I think this information would be better presented on a vector map made from this source. While this map is interesting, I don't think an old map scan is the best way to present this information. gren グレン 09:12, 26 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]
I don't really see the importance of the map--more the information on it... but, maybe I'm wrong... so, I'll just leave mine as a comment, not an oppose. Also, don't lose quality--for that I would oppose. gren グレン 08:01, 27 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Conditional support It needs squaring up, ie a small clockwise rotation and crop. Please don't compress it. If anything, make a downsampled version (2000x1500 or something) to provide a viewable copy for those with slow connections and short tempers and link to it from the image page. Great scan of v interesting historical doc in good condition, which I'll support if it gets the crop. --mikaultalk 13:40, 26 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support if it gets the crop and rotate MlckStephenson suggests. It's an encyclopedic image of a real document that adds to the section of the article its in, plus it's cool! No compression needed, no SVG; promote the pretty picture of the document! Enuja (talk) 00:02, 27 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • D: I can't do it! Someone help this image get promoted! --ffroth 02:06, 27 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • 'Tis done :o) --mikaultalk 11:36, 27 November 2007 (UTC)I've added a link on the image page to a reduced-size version. --mikaultalk 11:55, 27 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Oppose per gren, who should have stuck to her guns. I see little value in having the old map, when it is extremely hard to read, especially in thumbnail. I would much prefer a new svg version for clarity. Mangostar (talk) 18:41, 27 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Oppose. Sure I guess it's kind of interesting enough (as most old maps are), especially if you're into the history of the US telephone services, but there's nothing there that screams FP, i.e., no 'wow'. Colours are drab, quality isn't great, and the info thereon is both limited and rather specialised. --jjron 08:11, 3 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Oppose Good encyclopaedic value, but the the (surpisingly) rough manner in which the orange/red lines were drafted onto the base map kills it for me as an FPC. --Melburnian 03:47, 4 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Not promoted --Chris.B | talk 16:47, 5 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Original
Edit 1 - removed crease from top left
Reason
It couldn't get much more encyclopedic. You have the before and after, and the image is high quality, sharp, and high resolution.
Proposed caption
This reproduction of a 1900 minstrel show poster, originally published by the Strobridge Litho Co., shows the blackface transformation from white to "black".
Articles this image appears in
Blackface, Minstrel show
Creator
Strobridge Litho. Co., c1900.

Promoted Image:Minstrel PosterBillyVanWare edit.jpg --Chris.B | talk 16:48, 5 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Original
Reason
High resolution, eye-catching, very well-made and encyclopaedic.
Proposed caption
Drawing of a massive star collapsing to form a black hole. Energy released as jets along the axis of rotation forms a gamma ray burst. It had be theorised that such an event would disrupt the biosphere on Earth by wiping out half of the ozone layer, creating nitrogen dioxide and potentially cause a mass extinction.
Proposed caption (B)
Drawing of a massive star collapsing to form a black hole. Energy released as jets along the axis of rotation forms a gamma ray burst that lasts from a few milliseconds to minutes. Such an event within several thousand light years of Earth could disrupt the biosphere by wiping out half of the ozone layer, creating nitrogen dioxide and potentially cause a mass extinction.
Articles this image appears in
Gamma ray burst
Creator
Nicolle Rager Fuller/NSF
  • Comment I added the information template to the image description page, but I'm not sure that it is a public domain image. According to the NSF Copyright and Reuse of Graphics and Text policy: With the exception of NSF logos, permission to use NSF graphics is granted on a case by case basis. Some are public domain, some are created by NSF contractors, and some are used by NSF with specific permission granted by the owner. Therefore, with the exception of the NSF logos provided, photos and illustrations found on the NSF web site should not be reused without permission. Cacophony 00:46, 1 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks. MER-C 10:18, 1 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Oppose - Pretty, but.. what is it? I see a sphere with increasing numbers of layers, which are apparently described at the end of the chain; and then it explodes and becomes a black hole. I assume there are gamma rays being expelled in one of the frames here. Based on the image and what I already know about the solar cycle, I'm guessing this is showing the life cycle of a star; however, the image is worthless unless someone knows that. Even with the current description, it doesn't explain the lifecycle of the star before it collapses; that part is unexplained and will likely confuse the average viewer. I know I was confused at first. Also, do black holes usually have bright lines perpendicular to them? This might be featured material with a better description, but as it is, it's just confusing. --Golbez 02:09, 1 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Proposed description, version B': "Drawing of a massive star collapsing to form a black hole. Energy released as jets along the axis of rotation forms a gamma ray burst that lasts from a few milliseconds to minutes. It had be theorised that such an event within several thousand light years of Earch could disrupt the biosphere by wiping out half of the ozone layer, creating nitrogen dioxide and potentially cause a mass extinction." This has been added to the image on commons. - Jehochman Talk 02:19, 1 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
    • B still lacks an explanation that it's showing the entire life cycle; I'm guessing it's showing the stellar life cycle by showing the elements at play, and then it finally hits the iron roadblock and begins its rapid demise? --Golbez 19:54, 3 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Those perpendicular lines would be polar jets or relativistic jets, depending on how massive the hole is. And yes, we do need a better caption for those not familiar with the subject (a mention of Stellar evolution#Maturity would be good). MER-C 10:18, 1 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
What's wrong with looking like sci-fi? And what would be a dynamic, appropriate background for this picture? AFAIK starry nights are very flat by itself, so you want to put it on a background of something dynamic like mating insects flying in mid air? Please DO be more constructive with your criticisms. --antilivedT | C | G 03:26, 2 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Lord, some people. The problem with the colors is that they are grating and far too neon. I'm all for cool and bright coloring, but these pop but in all the wrong ways and end up being irritating. The background is not only undynamic it is unappealing. And for the record I think mating flies in the background would make this picture much more interesting. Here are non-flat starry nights [2][3][4][5][6]D-rew 04:16, 2 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
You do know that those pictures are taken with extremely high magnifications don't you? And would youput a SEM image as a background to say an ant? Having backgrounds like that is hugely inappropriate as it is simply not something you would see at this scale. This is an encyclopaedia, not a sci-fi book (which is ironic as you complained about the sci-fi aspect of this image). --antilivedT | C | G 05:19, 2 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
I am not one for too much bickering on these boards since it won't really add anything, so I won't respond again unless semi-necessary. Anyways, not that it matters but after searching for almost an hour I can find no astronomy picture (that is not a computer diagram) that has a background as boring as this one. Almost all give a sense of depth and richness to the stars that this one is missing. Upon looking at so many pictures I realized that the reason that the background looks so bad is that it is missing the little things. Its the dynamism of the dim stars vs. the bright stars that sells a starfield like the one this background to be. For that reason I'd prefer it to be black over this (obviously I would prefer a real-looking starfield most).D-rew 06:03, 2 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Yes that's something I agree on, that the stars are unrealistic and could be better with a plain black background or something. You see, that is a much, much, much more helpful criticism than what you've said in your first comment, and even though I'm not the creator of this picture and thus I cannot fix anything more than trivial, constructive criticism is nonetheless helpful in these situations to point out where the actual shortcoming is, instead of vague statements "poor xxx, undynamic background". --antilivedT | C | G 07:47, 2 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
This isn't a board and whoever had the flash of insight to call forums of internet interaction "e- bulletin boards" was a blithering idiot. --ffroth 01:39, 4 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Oppose. Insane hippie colors.. you do realize that this is in false color and that it can be colored any way right? And that the entire content of this image is 6 copies of the same circle, with different coloring, and an unshown mysterous trasformation to a tiny black dot? And then whimsical, totally photoshop-drawn spirals of LSD-inspired colors? Come on, this picture is a joke- the starfield background made me guffaw out loud irl because it's so preposterous to try to place the happenings of this diagram in real space- as if 9 stars in various advanced stages of collapse would be right next to each other in a nice aesthetic arc. And the cutaway effect on the first 6 stars looks like some giant sheet of glass is in the middle of cutting the stars in half, not providing a friendly window into their inner workings, especially since the other face seems willing to ignore the laws of gravitation and stay behind its arbitrary little boundary. My final beef is the two-motion-blurred-overexposures-superimposed-in-photoshop look of the final stage, and the cel-shaded tongues of plasmatic flamage licking out from the top in bottom, with their outragous sharp outline against the stars behind. --ffroth 01:51, 4 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Not promoted --Chris.B | talk 15:37, 6 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Original
Edit 1 English labels, new pointer lines
Reason
An beautiful image that is eye catching, pleasing to the eye, and encyclopedic. Although not quite a 1,000px I feel that this image has outstanding wow power, and have decided to place it here to see about making it featured. This image originates from the Commons, and is already featured there.
Proposed caption
A cut away fo a 16in gun turret, Identifying the important machinary parts within the turret.
Articles this image appears in
Gun Turret, Armament of the Iowa class battleship, USS Iowa turret explosion, 16"/50 caliber Mark 7 gun
Creator
Commons User:Voytek S

Promoted Image:Iowa 16 inch Gun-EN.svg --Chris.B | talk 15:37, 6 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Original
Reason
It's good for Wikipedia+he deserves it...
Proposed caption
The symbol of all good looking boys.
Articles this image appears in
user:Fir0002
Creator
User:Fir0002
  • Oh dear god, why did I have to check this page before breakfast?! Apart from this nomination being the least bit funny, the quality of the image is actually quite good. Nonetheless of course this gets a You-gotta-be-freaking-kidding-me-oppose. P.S. no comment from the subject yet. Are you still clinging on to the fantasy of being featured? ;-) --Dschwen 16:50, 6 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Comment I feel like I'm on the outside of a very exclusive inside joke. But seriously, how has this nom survived for so long? And where did all these supports--and, coincidentally, new voters--come from? ...sockpuppets? maybe? --Malachirality (talk) 18:26, 6 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Not promoted --KFP (talk | contribs) 18:46, 6 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Original
Reason
Very high resolution, illustrative, well composed and very encyclopedic, what more do you want off a featured picture?
Proposed caption
Not sure what it could be but something from the article along the lines of
"The British currency was decimalised on February 15, 1971. The basic unit of currency – the pound (or pound sterling) – was unaffected. Before decimalisation there were 240 (old) pence in a pound, now there are 100 (new) pence. The new coins were marked with the wording NEW PENNY (singular) or NEW PENCE (plural) to distinguish them from the old. The word "new" was dropped effective with the 1982 coinage. The symbol p was also adopted to distinguish the new pennies from the old, which used the symbol d, which came from the Latin denarius, a coin used in the Roman Empire."
Articles this image appears in
links to the articles that use this image
Creator
Coins of the pound sterling

"[W]hat more do you want off (sic) a featured picture?" Umm, a free license? Being in Category:All non-free media would tell you that this image is ineligible. MER-C 02:24, 8 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Original
Reason
The greens in the foreground contrasting with the blues in the back make for a very beautiful composition of colour. The image is also very well balanced with the trees nearest in the left, but the mountains highest at the right. A beautiful photograph.
Proposed caption
Clouds breaking up after a rainy morning in the Blue Ridge Mountains. This photograph was taken from Deep Gap overlook in western North Carolina, one of the many scenic lookouts along the Blue Ridge Parkway. The road's construction began in 1935, with some of the work being carried out by New Deal public work agencies after the project's authorisation by congress the following year. Not completed until 52 years later in 1987, the 755 kilometer-long protected landscape runs from the Shenandoah National Park in northwest Virginia to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in southwestern North Carolina.
Articles this image appears in
Blue Ridge Mountains, Blue Ridge Parkway
Creator
Ken Thomas
No, I did crop it and scale it down a bit with The GIMP, but that's not what's responsible for the 'artifacts'. The camera I use is kind of notorious for high noise levels to begin with, and this shot was taken on a dark and overcast day so I had to crank the ISO up a few notches, which only made the noise worse. As much as I'm fond of the image, and as much as I appreciate Djlayton's nomination of it, this is not one I would normally support for Featured picture designation simply because of the lack of quality - especially when viewed at full resolution. 'Card 23:11, 2 December 2007 (UTC) (BTW, I'm the guy who took the image and uploaded it to Commons - I just got stuck with a different username on Commons than I have on Wikipedia.)[reply]
But you should never (ok, rarely) have to up the ISO in the middle of the day, even if it is overcast. Far better to hold the camera extra still than to take the 'lazy' option and up the ISO, inevitably lowering the image quality unnecessarily (particularly with a camera like this, DSLRs are more forgiving). Diliff | (Talk) (Contribs) 07:10, 3 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Not promoted MER-C 04:11, 8 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Horehound bug, Agonoscelis rutila, on a horehound bush
Edit 1 Removed the nasty glare spot
Alternative 1

Taken on a horehound bush, this image has high enc value as it not only illustrates the insect well it also provides a natural setting for the bug. High technical quality compliments this making it a worthy FPC IMO

  • Support original, neutral edit 1 - Beautiful picture, I love the composition with the background colours. But it is too easy to tell that edit 1 is photoshopped. I might support the edit if someone can do it slightly better. TheOtherSiguy (talk) 00:53, 8 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Promoted Image:Horehound Bug apr07 edit.jpg MER-C 04:10, 8 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Reason
good image, illustrates anti-Semitism and the event itself. I like it, but perhaps if somebody could edit out the text
Proposed caption
The International Holocaust Cartoon Competition was a cartoon contest sponsored by the Iranian newspaper Hamshahri, to denounce what it called 'Western hypocrisy on freedom of speech'.

An Israeli group announced an anti-semitic cartoon contest open to Jews only. One of the two founders of this group was quoted as saying "We’ll show the world we can do the best, sharpest, most offensive Jew hating cartoons ever published! No Iranian will beat us on our home turf!".

Articles this image appears in
International Holocaust Cartoon Competition
Creator
Gerash77
  • Support as nominator Hadseys (talkcontribs) 22:10, 1 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • This image has no source info with which we can verify the license (what we'd like is a URL to a page where you'd find the image). MER-C 02:18, 2 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Comment What is this supposed to be? This image lacks encyclopedic context, without which this appears to be some kind of inflammatory attack. Simply saying that it illustrates a cartoon competition is not good enough; why would that be notable or encyclopedic? Even with proper source information, it would be totally unsuitable for the main page because the main page (in contrast to the rest of the encyclopedia) is not the place for offensive things. Jeff Dahl (Talkcontribs) 02:59, 2 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Could not disagree more with the assesment that front page 'isn't for offensive things'. Wikipedia is not censored!!!D-rew 04:28, 2 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • The cartoon competition created a great deal of controversy worldwide and is therefore noteable and encyclopedic, just because it illustrates an unpleasant concept does not make it unsuitable for the main page --Hadseys (talkcontribs) 15:00, 2 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Comment The cartoon may well be encyclopedic, but the image caption needs to demonstrate why. The proposed caption does not even use the word "controversy" let alone explain why the cartoon is representative of wikipedia's best work! The image and caption should not leave the reader wondering "what is this?" Jeff Dahl (Talkcontribs) 17:09, 2 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Oppose. No reason has been given why this exemplifies Wikipedia's best work. The fact that an image illustrates a notable event has never been sufficient grounds in itself for featured status. Chick Bowen 18:14, 2 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Image is now on WP:PUI due to inadequate licensing info. MER-C 05:10, 3 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Oppose. Just in case that appropriate licensing info does appear, I think this is a very poor shot at what it's trying to illustrate. It's like someone pasted a bunch of cartoons at various magnifications randomly into an image, and then put a tiny caption somewhere near the top (not readable unless viewed full size) saying who it's from. That caption should not be in the image in the first place. It should be in the image description in the Image namespace, and selectively in the below-image caption in various articles. And it doesn't meet the size requirements. Samsara (talk  contribs) 13:29, 3 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Oppose and move to speedy close due to licensing issues (although there are plenty of other reasons to oppose per the comments above. Spikebrennan 17:53, 3 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Oppose, need more proof that this artist was a very important part of that competition.... this is the first time I've seen these cartoon and I have read about and seen others from the competition... also let's clean up licensing issues... gren グレン 10:55, 4 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Not promoted MER-C 04:10, 8 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Original
Reason
It show the majestic pose usually recognized by small münsterländer, it gives question: What is he looking on? What is he waiting for? etc...
Proposed caption
The Small Munsterlander (SM) is a hunting-pointing-retrieving dog breed that reached its current form in the area around Münster, Germany. Small Munsterlanders are very intelligent, trainable, and attentive but require gentle and patient training, which provides excellent results.
Articles this image appears in
Small Münsterländer
Creator
commons:Caronna

Not promoted MER-C 04:10, 8 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Original
Edit 1, colour and contrast tweaks
Stitching Error
No stitching error
Reason
Great picture of the Cathedral. It is in my opinion the best picture we got of Notre Dame .
Proposed caption
Notre Dame de Paris, known simply as Notre Dame in English, is a Gothic cathedral on the eastern half of the Île de la Cité in Paris, France, with its main entrance to the west. It is still used as a Roman Catholic cathedral and is the seat of the Archbishop of Paris. Notre Dame de Paris is widely considered one of the finest examples of French Gothic architecture. It was restored and saved from destruction by Viollet-le-Duc, one of France's most famous architects. Notre Dame translates as "Our Lady" from French.
Articles this image appears in
Notre Dame de Paris
Creator
User:Sanchezn
A strange "aura"?
  • Weak oppose. Could do with a bit of colour correction I think. I know its a very sodium-light-tinted scene, but its a still a bit warm. The areas of shadow seem a bit peculiar and posterised. Also, its significantly tilted, particularly at the top where the perspective is exaggerated. Could relatively easily be corrected, so I can't see why not. Would support it with the correction of the tilt at the least. The other issues are more minor and optional. Diliff | (Talk) (Contribs) 18:27, 25 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]
The building is not 100% straight, so it should not be straightened in the image for maxiumum encylopaedic value. Please read the successful nomination on Commons, where many issues were brought up. [7] --Aqwis (talk) 19:01, 25 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support any Very beautiful image indeed!--Mbz1 (talk) 21:57, 25 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Oppose until the horizontals line up. This is especially noticeable at the top where the right tower is shorter than the left by 28 pixels, and is nearly 2 degrees off horizontal. I really doubt it's engineering fault since this is quite a large discrepancy, and that it gets worse as you go up, which correlates well with perspective errors. --antilivedT | C | G 09:08, 26 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • We were very carefull to check that this picture doesn't have perspective problem. The rightmost tower is actually much lower than the left one, and does show this leaning to the right. Please have a look a discussion on this picture's commons' nomination on this issue. -- Blieusong (talk) 12:00, 26 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Conditonal support edit 1 It really is a very good photograph, the sort of detail you'd see on an old plate negative of the place. Unfortunately, the colour balance looks Victorian too. Most tellingly, there are no blacks where there should be: silhouetted foreground figures should be black, not red-brown. The same applies to detail in the hedgerows and buildings to the sides, I'd rather see no detail at all than colour-aliased "false" detail. HDR mapping problem is my guess, so it may be fixable. I'll try to upload a corrected version myself if I get time later on. FWIW I've heard of the leaning towers of Notre Dam before, so no objections there. <edit> Edit 1 now uploaded --mikaultalk 14:05, 26 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Oppose When looked at with full resolution the detail is impressive, but overall the image is flat and uninteresting with an unattractive Brown Windsor soup background. The blurred people are also unappealing, even on the thumbnail. SilkTork *SilkyTalk 21:43, 26 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Weak oppose - colors not appealing (why is the sky brown?). Heavy jpeg artifacts at full resolution. Would look better without the ghosts. Kaldari (talk) 22:00, 26 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support edit 1 pending photographer's agreement that the colors still look realistic after the edit. The only jpeg artifact I see is around the antenna at the top of the tower; where are the artifacts you are talking about, Kaldari? Enuja (talk) 00:07, 27 November 2007 (UTC) Changed vote to Neutral because of lack of agreement about color balance. Enuja (talk) 04:47, 29 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Weak support edit 1 I'd still like to see the ghosts removed.--HereToHelp 00:40, 27 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support edit 1 though I too would like the ghosts to fly away. H92110 (talk) 11:07, 27 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support Original and Oppose Edit 1. I find the Original very good, and I don't believe the Edit's colours are true to what we saw (I was there with author when he took the picture). Some fine details of the edit look weird on my monitor as well (like blueish edges or something) and this is noticeable on the lower part of the façade. Also, should we take into account negatives votes whom reason is the leaning of the right tower when we have (kind of) proven it is how the building actually does look like ? Blieusong (talk) 12:32, 27 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support. Good pics, but get rid of the ghosts if at all possible. Malinaccier (talk contribs) 23:46, 29 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Oppose Stitching error (as per crop). Seems like it's a product of the shadow from the neighbouring tower. I dislike the strong sharpening - it should be toned down a bit as it's giving everything a halo hence despite the nice scene weak support. Do you think you could upload a less sharpened version? Looking at the original it's pretty clear that I'm not just imagining that pretty heavey sharpening has been applied. --Fir0002 05:35, 3 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Could someone please remove the ghosts before I promote this? Thanks. MER-C 04:21, 3 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

What ghosts? ;o) Apart from the extreme lhs, it's not a simple clone job. The bottom of one of the doors is totally obscured and, like much of the detail behind many of the FG figures, is basically irretrievable, at least without alternative frames to clone from. For me, this is a minor issue anyway, compared to the awful tone and colour balance, especially in the shadows. I hear the comments of the nominator and accept that the general shift in colour balance I uploaded isn't based on anything objective, but neutral, dense blacks is something any subject in this lighting should definitely have. I still have the PSD file of the edit & could clone out the figure on the left, retaining much of the original's colour balance but beefing up the shadows, if that's likely to help things along. --mikaultalk 12:18, 4 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Promoted Image:NotreDameDeParis.jpg MER-C 04:09, 8 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Original
Reason
enc.
Proposed caption
China>>History>>Dynastic Rule

China was under dynastic rule from the Xia Dynasty (2070 - 1600 BCE) until the collapse the Qing Dynasty and the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1912.

Articles this image appears in
China
Creator
Ian Kiu
  • Support as nominator Malachirality (talk) 07:37, 8 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Oppose First of all, PRC was established 1949, not 1912... Also, too much info appearing at once in the animation. --Janke | Talk 08:23, 8 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Oppose Need actual Chinese labels along with English labels, remove the banding gradident/shadow in the sea to save quite a few kb and the topography overlay is not consistent: some have topography while others don't. --antilivedT | C | G 09:27, 8 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Comment My suggestions for the animation would be to label the regions directly, instead of using a legend; the animation moves too quickly to decode the image. The animation could pause longer on the more complicated maps, for example, and the image description page might list individual frames so readers can study each more closely, instead of having to wait for the next cycle. Then, you might choose a more informative/less confusing color scheme. Make sure colors aren't re-used in a conflicting way and try to keep them consistent (eg in 350 BC Qin is green but in 210 BC it is pink, and later the Shu dynasty re-uses the green color). Direct labels rather than colors should be used to distinguish areas (for the colorblind), but you can still use color in a meaningful, sophisticated way. Careful thought should go into the color scheme to make it coherent, rather than a bunch of randomly chosen colors. I don't think the Chinese labels are really necessary, but the gradient areas and topo problems should be fixed. The animation could also be smoother. Jeff Dahl (Talkcontribs) 20:29, 8 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Oppose: Nothing to be featured - quality not very high. —αἰτίας discussion 21:45, 8 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Original
Edit 1 by Fir0002 - sharpened
Reason
Fairly high res picture of a spectacularly colored caterpillar with confirmed taxonomy.
Proposed caption
Caterpillar of the Spurge Hawk-moth (Hyles euphorbiae) on its primary food source the Spurge Cypress (Euphorbia cyparissias), seen in Kriegtal near Binn, Valais, Switzerland at approx. 2000m altitude.
Articles this image appears in
Caterpillar, Hyles euphorbiae
Creator
User:Dschwen

Promoted Image:CH_Caterpillar.jpg MER-C 04:26, 10 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Original
Edit1: Sharpened.
Reason
Good clear shot of the flower panicle, individual flowers, and sample leaves for added encyclopaedic value. Nice colours, and sharpness and DOF seem right.
Proposed caption
A common lilac bush (Syringa vulgaris) showing a panicle with multiple flowers in bloom, and typical leaf structure.
Articles this image appears in
Syringa vulgaris
Panicle
Creator
jjron
  • Support as nominator jjron 08:27, 3 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support either Nice picture! Almost feels as I could smell it.--Mbz1 19:04, 3 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support I guess I could quibble about a slight lack of sharpness here, but that's picking a very small nit. Nice shot. Matt Deres 01:37, 4 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support. Samsara (talk  contribs) 09:28, 4 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Neutral A good clear capture with nice lighting,. Odd-looking bokeh and dull composition kill my outright support, unfortunately. --mikaultalk 11:14, 4 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
    • Can I ask what you mean by "Odd-looking bokeh"? I actually thought it was nice myself; it's a result of the dappled sunlight through the leaves on the far side of the plant, but (IMO) cleverly avoiding the overexposure that often results from those sort of conditions. But if you think that's all dull, you're welcome to your opinion. --jjron (talk) 12:40, 5 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
      • "Nice" bokeh is generally taken to mean smooth, uniform gradations of tone in OOF areas; this has odd, hard-edged areas in the background, thanks to the lens design, rather than anything you did yourself. I'm not sure I referred to it as "dull" though. --mikaultalk 14:53, 5 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
        • Fair enough, but how the bokeh looks will also depend on what is actually in the background and how far it is from the object in focus; given the background here is relatively close and made of the hard edges of leaves and twigs against the bright light, that will be a significant factor. This lens does produce the bokeh you describe in other situations. --jjron (talk) 23:58, 5 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
          • It probably does, at other focal lengths, just not at this one. It's a function of lens design rather than distance, and ultimately choosing the most appropriate lens/focal length for the situation. --mikaultalk 00:51, 6 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
            • Shrug. Maybe you're right. I took a number of basically identical shots a couple of months ago of this other image with this lens at 210mm, partly to experiment with the bokeh using a simple subject and fairly consistent background. I just varied the aperture from f/5.6 through to f/32 (and altered shutter speed to match). The bokeh altered significantly, starting supersmooth at f/5.6, so to me there's more to it than just the lens/focal length. In this nominated image for example I could have reduced the DOF to get a smoother bokeh, but then there's consistent complaints at FPC about DOF being too shallow in these type of photos (I actually intentionally increased the DOF in this shot for that reason). Oh well, it's hard to please everybody. --jjron (talk) 07:30, 7 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Oppose, DOF, sharpness, composition. --Aqwis (talkcontributions) 23:50, 4 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Oppose Lacks the WOW factor necessary for a FP of such a mundane subject. --Janke | Talk 10:16, 5 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Edit1 uploaded. An enhanced sharpness version for those who like extra sharpness (if I remember correctly I didn't sharpen the original at all before uploading). --jjron (talk) 12:40, 5 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

  • Determining how sharp (detailed) a picture needs to be to be sharp enough can be very difficult - I feel a subject with a lack of "wow", such as this one, needs to be almost perfect technically to achieve FP status. However, we all have different requirements for featured pictures, and I am aware that my personal technical quality/sharpness requirements may appear somewhat extreme. --Aqwis (talkcontributions) 23:18, 5 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Promoted Image:Lilac Flower&Leaves, SC, Vic, 13.10.2007.jpg MER-C 04:26, 10 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Reason
The image speaks for itself. I did replace the original washed out sky with a blue gradient. I'm not sure if this is too much editing or not.
Proposed caption
Belfast Castle provides great views of the city of Belfast . A castle has existed on the site since the 12th Century. The current castle was built in 1870 by the 3rd Marquess of Donegall. His son, the 9th Earl of Shaftesbury, who presented it to the City of Belfast in 1934, and it is now open to the public.
Articles this image appears in
Belfast, Belfast Castle
Creator
Photo by Sparkypics @ Flickr - digital editing by Sagredo
  • Support as nominator SagredoDiscussione? 22:12, 8 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Oppose photographs should be in JPEG format. The quality of a PNG can't do the subject justice. Cacophony (talk) 23:13, 8 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
    • A 24-bit PNG is higher-quality than a maximum-quality JPEG, as it's a lossless format. (Perhaps you're thinking of GIFs, which are limited to 256 colours so intrinsically bad at displaying photos?) However, a photo-quality PNG will have a much larger file size than a JPEG of similar quality. TSP (talk) 00:12, 9 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Comment I'm just not convinced by that sky - particularly for Belfast (for Tahiti, maybe). It's a shame the original is so blown; this is quite a nice shot otherwise (though perhaps a little lacking in 'Wow' factor). Perhaps you could try pulling in the sky from another photo (preferably a Belfast sky) rather than just doing a blue gradient? People might still have concerns about encyclopedicity, but at least it would look more convincing. TSP (talk) 00:12, 9 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Posted all images on PUI. I guess this nom is closed. MER-C 08:46, 9 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Not promoted --Dusty777 17:26, 9 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]


Original. Current FP up for delist based on photographer's comments
Edit1. This is actually the one the photographer said he thought was most accurate, and should be the version up for nomination here
Reason
While we are delisting the first edit and having a lengthy discussion, let's renominate the edit the photographer recommended.
Proposed caption
A terrestrial subadult Eastern newt or red eft, Notophthalmus viridescens. Salamanders of the family Salamandridae with aquatic adult stages are called newts. Some newts, including the Eastern newt, have a juvenile terrestrial stage called the eft. The red eft has aposematic coloring to warn predators of its highly toxic skin.
Articles this image appears in
Eastern Newt, Salamandridae
Creator
Cotinis
Oops. I thought I had put on the mikaul edit, but I guess I should have payed more attention. --Cynops3 (talk) 19:31, 8 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Comment There's some sort of strange "scan line" effect going on in the new version. It's most apparent on the newt's neck and foreleg. CillaИ ♦ XC 03:12, 9 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support Original The original is lacking contrast but I like the shot. The edit gives it the extra contrast but the whole image ends up looking like it was run through an orange filter which makes it look strange and unreal. Cat-five - talk 05:57, 9 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support original per Cat-five. Separa (talk) 07:02, 9 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Comment for above voters. Please take a look here and familiarize yourselves with the history of this nom. Technically, you cannot support the original b/c it is not a real candidate (it is already featured). More importantly, you shouldn't support the original b/c it is inaccurate (not enough red) and therefore not enc (which is why it is being nominated for delisting). Admittedly, the edit looks a bit too warm, but is more or less accurate according to the photographer, who was there and says that the leaves and such were in fact a reddish orange color. Therefore whether or not the edit looks strange (and it doesn't seem totally implausible to me), it is, in fact, the more true and enc of the two. --Malachirality (talk) 07:34, 9 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Speedy close This is a complete mess. Can we please close this early, delist the original first, as I suggested, and renominate based on the photographer's viewpoint? The whole point of this review was to get back on a more objective basis, not highlight the errors of original nomination. --mikaultalk 11:39, 10 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • I think you should renominate and very clearly state from the outset what you're trying to achieve, and why. Samsara (talk  contribs) 12:15, 10 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Better still, create a new replacement nom and I'll close this and the suspended one as moot. MER-C 12:25, 10 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
'tis done, do yer stuff :o) --mikaultalk 15:50, 10 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Not promoted --mikaultalk 21:41, 10 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Original
Original 2
Edit1 of Original 2 by jjron
Original 3
Reason
Educational and interesting image
Proposed caption
Monarch butterflies cluster in Santa Cruz, California. Monarch butterflies migrate to Santa Cruz to spend the northern winter. During migration Monarch butterflies travel up to three thousand miles. No other butterflies migrate like the Monarchs of North America. Even more amazingly, the butterflies that make the journey are the great-great-grandchildren of the butterflies that left the migration place the previous spring, yet somehow they find their way to the same roosting spots, sometimes even the same trees.
Articles this image appears in
Monarch butterflies;Insect migration
Creator
Mbz1
  • Support as nominator Mbz1 17:28, 4 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Oppose. Interesting phenomenon but both images are just too soft and blurred. What happened? Looks like it didn't lock the focus properly or something. The first one also looks slightly motion blurred in addition to being out of focus.. Diliff | (Talk) (Contribs) 19:08, 4 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Oppose, unfortunately, they are both far too unsharp. --Aqwis (talkcontributions) 23:37, 4 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Comment Thank you for your votes and comments,Diliff and Aqwis.
    I know some of you believe that 3 original images in a nomination are two too many. I would have deleted the first two, but they have been voted against and commented already and I do not think I could remove them now. May I still ask you to take a look at the third image? Maybe it is still not FP image, but do you find it any better? This subject was kind of difficult. The lighting was not very good (lots of shadows), the butterflies were very high up at the trees (just overhead) and in constant move. Thank you.--Mbz1 (talk) 05:16, 5 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Oppose. Even on the third image, I'm straining to discover any part of the image that is in focus. I'm puzzled because it seems there was enough light to pick a short shutter speed (eliminating motion blur) and get reasonable depth of field. Could be the film speed? Samsara (talk  contribs) 05:29, 5 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • I kind of believed that, if one could count the lines and spots at the butterflies wings, that means that they (butterflies) are in focus. I guess I was wrong. I'll try to take a better image, if I go to the place again. Thank you for your vote and commnt,Samsara.--Mbz1 (talk) 05:52, 5 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support Edit1. OK, I'll go against the grain here. Edit1 has been slightly downsized and sharpened. I like the interest of the topic and encyclopaedic value, and the colouring etc in Original 2 is the best for mine. I don't find the pics, especially number 2, as soft/blurred/unsharp/unfocused/whatever as others are saying. There is variation on different butterflies, but I believe that's more an issue to do with the fairly large DOF being dealt with, with some butterflies in good focus. I also take a step back whenever I see eucalyptus trees (unless I'm very much mistaken) in a setting like this. Do you know Mbz1 whether it is common for these butterflies to roost in eucalypts, because going on the article it doesn't sound like they feed on them, and I wouldn't really expect them to given eucalypts are only relatively recently introduced to California? --jjron (talk) 12:55, 5 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Question. What aperture did you use on these shots? After having another look, it seems like you've used an extremely narrow aperture (circa f/22, see the FPC talk page for the debate over this), considering there is blur on the butterfly wings and it was shot in daylight on a sunny day (although the dark sky suggests a polarizer may have been used?). Diliff | (Talk) (Contribs) 14:06, 5 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
    • The exif data for the one I edited says f/5.6. As Mila says, they were in constant motion, and that may account for some blur on the wings of various individuals. --jjron (talk) 14:51, 5 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Thank you, Jjron and Diliff. Jiron, you are absolutely right and the trees you see at the image are eucalypts. Ever sinse I first discovered those butterflies for myself (like 10 years ago) they always were roosting at the very same trees. It is a very interesting question what they eat during winter months. I just found here that they gain some fat and weight before migration and during their long flights to California to survive winter months and to be able to fly back. It is also interesting to know that they not just roost there, they are flying around too, which means that they could find some flowering plants to get nectar. There are always something blooming in California.
    Thank you very much for the working on the image, Jiron. I really like the result you've got.
    Thank you,Diliff, for taking your time to improve my photography skills. I've used different settings for all shots. I have not used any filter at all. It could look as a polarizer was used because in some shots I did use an extremely narrow aperture. The blur in the wings is partly due to the butterflies motion, to the wind and most of all to mine own inability to take really sharp images. I have not used a tripod. I know that a better image could have been taking. I'm not sure I'm able to take it. I tried really, really hard with those butterflies and you still do not like the result I've got. I've nominated the image because I believed that it is interesting to show so many butterflies together.--Mbz1 (talk) 16:03, 5 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Thanks for the update. I do find it hard to believe, though, that at f/5.6, on a bright sunny day, you could have that much motion blur. What was the ISO and shutter speed then? According to Sunny 16, f/5.6 should correspond to around 1/1000th sec at ISO 100. ISO 400 would make it 1/4000th sec. Even at 1/1000th, I would expect it to stop the movement of butterfly wings. I mean, I recently visited the Shell Wildlife Photography of the Year 2007 exhibition at the National History Museum in London (you should all be jealous - some amazing photography there! ;-) ), and there was a photo that this shot reminded me of (although lets be honest, it isn't in the same league). It was taken with a shutter speed of 1/45. Obviously more blurred, but that was the intention. Anyway, just some food for thought. Without knowing the shutter speed, I can't really comment further, but given the sunlight, it does seem there was evidently plenty of scope for increasing the shutter speed. Diliff | (Talk) (Contribs) 17:22, 5 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Thank you, Diliff. Your link did not work for me and I really wish I could see the image you're talking about. I've used ISO 400 only for the Original 1 because these butterflies were in a shadow. For other 2 images I've used ISO 100 because I was afraid that the images would be noisy. I believe that in some shots the shutter speed was 1/1000 or maybe even higher. Maybe I should have used a tripod. Would it help, if I say that I blured the wings in purpose too :) --Mbz1 (talk) 18:19, 5 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Sorry, I should have double checked the link. Try this. Thanks for the info on the shot. Maybe a tripod would have helped but you don't normally walk around during the day with one, expecting to need it. Nevermind. I do like the photo, but as with many photos submitted to FPC, I just don't think it belongs as a FP, but it is certainly useful for articles. Oh and while we're looking at that site, I remember seeing this photo and being convinced it was also on Wikipedia. Well it turns out it wasn't the exact same image, but it was taken by the same author, presumbly at the same time. Still, one of our own made it to the Shell Wildlife Photographer Of The Year gallery. Not sure anyone else can lay claim to that. Diliff | (Talk) (Contribs) 20:20, 5 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Thank you very much, Diliff. Your comments are much appreciated. I also like to thank you for all the links you've provided. I liked the butterflies image. It is really artistic. I've seen the monkey image you're talking about at Wikipedia too and it is a great image!--Mbz1 (talk) 21:59, 5 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Not promoted MER-C 05:02, 11 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Original
Reason
Perfect capture of an Argentine tango moment.
Proposed caption
A couple of Argentine tango dancers in close embrace. In Argentine tango, the dancers' chests are closer to each other than are their hips, and leader and follower may be dancing cheek to cheek or chin to forehead, depending on their heights. This very intimate embrace distinguishes Argentine tango from ballroom tango, where dancers arch their upper bodies away from each other.
Articles this image appears in
Argentine tango
Creator
Christian Aastrup
  • Support as nominator Samsara (talk  contribs) 10:53, 4 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Oppose - does not clearly illustrate subject - half of the proposed caption is irrelevant because the photo does not show anything lower than the shoulders. There's also blown highlights on the man's shirt and the woman's hair, the entire image is slightly out of focus and motion blurred, as well as colour fringing on some edges (e.g. the lady's brooch). E5T4A7Vanderdeckenξφ 14:38, 4 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Oppose. The image doesn't really add encyclopedic value to the subject of either article. — BRIAN0918 • 2007-12-04 14:56Z

Oppose Per above and the cropping is way too tight. Somewhat ironic considering your comments just below on the condor candidate... --Fir0002 00:56, 5 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

    • I think you should restrict your comments to those that concern the current nomination. This is not the place to discuss the condor. Thanks. Samsara (talk  contribs) 04:55, 5 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
      • "Comment on content, not on the contributor." There's no need to make it personal. (Also, that nom is independent from this one. Samsara can with no problem believe that a tight crop benefits one situation and not the other. Free opinion at work.). On the actual pic, I Oppose on the grounds of lack of encyclopedic content. --Mad Tinman T C 16:06, 5 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
        • I think that you're making a little too much out of that comment - I was just point out what in my mind was the fairly obvious irony of Samsara opposing an image below for a tight crop restricting enc value and directly after nominating a tightly croppped image. Surely you can see the irony there? --Fir0002 22:07, 5 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
          • I actually don't see any significant amount of irony, all I see is that Samsara thinks that the tight crop benefits this shot whereas it does not the other. Indeed, maybe I did make too much out of it - should just have pointed out I didn't see the irony. Cheers. --Mad Tinman T C 22:18, 5 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Oppose. I actually like this image a lot, it feels emotional and intimate. However, per many above, a picture demonstration must actually be demonstrating something. This picture is in no way encyclopedic.D-rew (talk) 16:20, 5 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Comment. Let me just interject there and check that people understand the significance of the picture. What is being shown here is the close embrace. It is a particular, well-recognisable embrace, and the dancers will be dancing like this essentially the entire time. That's to say, her nose may not leave his cheek for the entire dance. Just thought I'd clarify that. Samsara (talk  contribs) 16:48, 5 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Oppose due to lack of enc. value. Cacophony (talk) 06:41, 6 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Not promoted MER-C 05:02, 11 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Original
Edit 1 by User:Fir0002
Reason
Nice picture illustrating a featured article
Proposed caption
The California Condor, Gymnogyps californianus, is a species of North American bird in the New World vulture family Cathartidae. It is a large, black vulture with patches of white on the underside of the wings and a largely bald head with skin color ranging from yellowish to a bright red, depending on the bird’s mood. It has the largest wingspan of any bird found in North America and is one of the heaviest. The condor is a scavenger and eats large amounts of carrion. It is one of the world’s longest-living birds, with a lifespan of up to 50 years.
Articles this image appears in
California Condor
Creator
Cszmurlo

Promoted Image:California-Condor3-Szmurlo edit.jpg MER-C 05:02, 11 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Original
With improvements suggested by some reviewers.
Reason
This map is not only beautiful, it provides an thorough overview of the geography of the Olmec heartland, the locations and relative size of the major Olmec sites, and the locations of other important Olmec finds. I wish all my maps did such a fine job of combining elegance and utility.
Proposed caption
Map of the Olmec heartland showing the major cities and towns (in yellow), and archaeological finds unassociated with settlements (in red).
Articles this image appears in
Olmec heartland, Olmec, Olmec influences on Mesoamerican cultures, El Manatí, La Venta, Mesoamerican chronology, San Andrés (Mesoamerican site), and Las Limas Monument 1.
Creator
User:Madman2001
Good catch. I have now added references to the map page. Thanks for bringing this to my attention. Madman 14:17, 4 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks :) I'll keep an eye on these to see if anyone gives me good ideas on how to judge a map before I comment. gren グレン 20:37, 5 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Comment Nice map, just not sure it's exceptionally nice. I'm struggling to see anything really outstanding beyond the clearly competent design. I'm finding that large white title box a little garish, although I realise it's part of a series. Wouldn't a key be better use of that space? --mikaultalk 10:37, 4 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Another editor also mentioned the box-y title, so I have removed it. Hope you like it. Madman 14:17, 4 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
The label for the mountains is in the sea so as not to overlay/overwrite the detail of the mountains themselves, particularly the twin peaks and the lake (Lake Catemaco) in between. Since the mountains border the featureless Gulf, I thought people would still understand what the "Tuxtla Mountains" label referred (which you did, Peta). The Tuxtla Mountains were important for the Olmecs and I didn't want to obscure that if I could help it. Hope this helps, Madman (talk) 00:44, 5 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Comment. I must say I find this map rather interesting and quite like it. However there is an error in the scale, and it's confusing. The 'k' on km should be lowercase, not uppercase in the abbreviated form - see SI prefix. When I say it's also confusing, I mean that the 25 at the end obviously relates to miles, but far less obviously to the km. I think I get that it's meant to indicate where the line at bottom comes out part way along means 25km, but it's far from clear. Unless I'm mistaken, scales using two measures would usually indicate the distance for each at the end of the scale or progressively along it (say 25 for the miles at the top, and 40 or whatever it is for the km at the bottom). The 'miles' and 'km' labels could then also be directly under each other. --jjron (talk) 08:53, 7 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
I see that the scale was understandable, but not intuitive. I have changed the formatting of the scale to that used by Google maps. Madman (talk) 14:47, 7 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
    • Another query. One river appears to be labelled (though not called a river, I assume it's what the Olmecs called it?), but no other bodies of water are. How come? Also if you're using the exact Olmec term for that river, and everywhere else, should you also do so for the Gulf of Mexico (i.e., why is this one place labelled with modern parlance, but nowhere else is)? Should you perhaps have this labelled as such on the larger scale map in the box below, perhaps along with modern countries, and then the main map would be just in Olmec terms? --jjron (talk) 09:00, 7 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
I originally only labeled one river because that was the only river named in the Olmec article and the map was designed to help the reader identify placenames. However, now that you mention it, it does look a bit off-kilter, so I labeled the two other rivers. In keeping with the style used by my source maps, I didn't add "river" or "rio" to the label. This convention was likely developed to reduce the map-space needed to write the name.
To respond to your other concern, all the names are modern names – we don't know the language that the Olmec spoke.
Hope you like it, Madman (talk) 14:47, 7 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Ah, OK, I'm not very familiar with this area of the world; I guess what threw me is that all the names are Spanish, except for the Gulf (perhaps it could be labeled Bahia de Campeche, or at least subcaptioned with that, and maybe you should also use Sierra de los Tuxtlas rather than Tuxtla Mountains?). Unfortunately I can't find another map to verify all the names, but given there's been no complaints about accuracy after all this time I'll assume it's correct. I'm not sure about including the 'rios' (I'd be inclined to), and also wouldn't mind names on the lakes, and I think I actually preferred the title in the original. But for overall value, because I like it and find the Olmecs pretty fascinating, and compared to other featured maps, I'm giving it a... --jjron (talk) 16:17, 8 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Since the question was raised by gren, I jotted down some criteria that could be used to judge a map:

  1. Is the map successful at providing information on the subject?? Does it contain the right amount of information? If the map contains large amounts of data, the data should be hierarchically arranged (e.g. by color or by size)†
  2. Is the information presented in a clear and intutive way??
  3. Is it factually correct?? Is it complete?
  4. Is it useful in the context of an encyclopedia??
  5. Is it attractive? Does it entice the user to examine the map further? Does it add an extra zing to the article?? It should be neither garish nor somber.
  6. Does it make good use of the space? Or is the subject matter squeezed off to one side?
  7. Is the map free of chartjunk??
  8. Does the map contain a scale? Are references posted on the map page? If north is not straight up, a simple directional arrow should be present.

In terms of Featured-ness, I would ask: Is it in the top 1% of all maps in Wikipedia? Does it compare favorably with other Featured Maps??

Hope this helps, Madman (talk) 04:13, 6 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Please note that there are different types of maps. Some maps are designed independently of the article and would find themselves right at home in a geographic atlas. These maps generally need to be opened in a separate window to read. Sting's topographic maps are a great example of this type.

Other maps are designed to work within a specific article, that is to identify places, movements, changes etc. mentioned in the article. This is the more traditional encyclopedia map. The components of this map should be large enough to be read without opening a separate window. This was the goal of my map above - something that the reader could refer to while trying to understand the Olmec milieu.

Promoted Image:Olmec Heartland Overview 4.svg MER-C 05:03, 11 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Original
Edit 1 - cropped out blown parts; slight sharpen
Reason
The Puget Sound article is well complimented by this panorama.
Proposed caption
A Panoramic Picture of Puget Sound taken from the Seattle Space Needle with the Olympic Mountains visible in the distance. A sound is a large sea or ocean inlet larger than a bay, deeper than a bight, wider than a fjord, or it may identify a narrow sea or ocean channel between two bodies of land. Puget Sound is an arm of the Pacific Ocean, connected to the rest of the Pacific by the Strait of Juan de Fuca, in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. The surrounding land partially overlaps the Seattle metropolitan area, home to about 4 million people.
Articles this image appears in
Puget Sound - Sound (geography) - Seattle
Creator
buphoff
  • Support as nominator Buphoff 01:10, 4 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Oppose The stitching and resuolution are fine, but I don't really find the composition compelling. The blown sunlight on the left bugs me a bit too. SingCal 01:50, 4 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Oppose, poor lighting, composition. --Aqwis (talkcontributions) 09:05, 4 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Oppose per Aqwis. Samsara (talk  contribs) 09:22, 4 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Comment I'm not sure this is a stitched pano so much as two shots combined... which makes me wonder if a better crop might be possible. A multi-part stitch often seriously reduces usable foreground & this might not have that restriction. More land/sea and less sky would have been a much better composition. If it is only a two-parter, it might explain the low definition, which we're unfortunately stuck with.--mikaultalk 10:50, 4 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
    • Comment This is a stitching of 6 photos. I have only cropped out the black space. I have down sampled this image slightly to reduce noise. At 6300 x 1400 it is still rather large.Buphoff (talk) 08:02, 5 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
      • Comment perhaps you could cut out the blown out parts... H92110 (talk) 16:29, 5 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
      • Heh, just shows how wrong you can be :) I missed that in the metadata. I'll have another (more informed) guess and say you're not shooting raw, which is probably why the definition isn't quite what it should be. It goes to show that even the "fine" jpeg setting uses enough compression to mess with fine detail; even in a downsampled six-part stitch. The crop from the left is a real improvement overall, but despite the lovely lighting and cloud formation, I still feel the foreground looks like it's "missing" & is a further dent in its FP potential. --mikaultalk 00:00, 6 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
        • Could well be the stitching software that is messing with the detail - some of them do that in order to mask the blending. Do you mind if I ask which one you used (Photoshop CS Photomerge?)? I think the detail in the bottom right part of the city is pretty good, but it seems to become hazy over the sea and on the more distant land pretty quickly - I'm not sure if it is actual haze or something more like Mick is suggesting. I like it, and as Teque says below, pixel-wise res is fine, so overall I'm probably neutral. --jjron (talk) 08:44, 6 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support I think you guys are being too picky. Wikipedia has very few images of this type and its definitly hi-res enough. btw: the original is better than that edit. Teque5 (talk) 03:44, 6 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support for edit one. A good work. —αἰτίας discussion 13:41, 9 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Not promoted MER-C 05:03, 11 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Original
Reason
Historic origin of a modern cultural icon
Proposed caption
One of the earliest depictions of the modern Santa Claus by Thomas Nast, which appeared on the cover of the January 3 1863 issue of Harper's Weekly. At this time, the image of Santa Claus had not yet merged with that of Father Christmas. This version was likely based on the Belsnickel ("Furry Nicholas"), a mythical being who visited naughty children in their sleep. The name originated from the fact that the person appeared to be a huge beast since he was covered from head to toe in fur. This image appeared as a small part of a larger illustration titled "A Christmas Furlough" in which Nast set aside his regular news and political coverage to do a Santa Claus drawing. This Santa was a man dressed up handing out gifts to Union Army soldiers.
Articles this image appears in
Santa Claus, Santa Claus in Northern American culture, Thomas Nast
Creator
Thomas Nast for Harper's Weekly
  • The Harper's masthead contributes a significant portion of the encyclopedicity of this image. Why would you want it taken out? It's part of the image, and also part of the significance of the image. --Malachirality (talk) 20:11, 8 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Well, I believe that anything it does contribute to the drawing could be described (e.g. "This appeared on the front page of Harper's Weekly"), and it takes up space that could be better used by the drawing itself. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Oscar O Oscar (talkcontribs) 15:08, 9 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

(reset indent) Oh well. I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree (I see the banner as an essential, uncroppable element of the image, akin to the "Time" title on a Time Man of the Year picture or the newspaper title on famous front pages). This might all be a moot point anyway, as no one else seems willing to vote on this nom. --Malachirality (talk) 19:55, 10 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Support, even without the crop. This is certainly encyclopedic and famous. A great example of 19th century drawing. Oscar (talk) 19:58, 10 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Promoted Image:Santa Claus 1863 Harpers.png MER-C 05:05, 11 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


"Exploration is the sport of the scientist." (Auguste Piccard) May 27, 1931
Image courtesy of: Collection Musée du Léman, Nyon - Suisse
  • Support- this historic photo is smaller than recommended but it is the largest size available with a creative commons lisence. I find this image fun and fascinating. It drew me in to learn more about Dr. Piccard. The caption should read as it does on the Auguste Piccard page: ""Exploration is the sport of the scientist." (Auguste Piccard) May 27, 1931. Image courtesy of: Collection Musée du Léman, Nyon - Suisse. This quote was credited to Auguste Piccard on the website of Auguste's grandson, Bertrand Piccard. [10] Electricmic (talk) 01:32, 11 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Speedy close. Was not expecting 150x250px when I read "is smaller than recommended". --Malachirality (talk) 02:22, 11 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
There is a copy of an email granting permission in the page history, which should be forwarded to OTRS. I told the uploader that he should do this. MER-C 04:59, 11 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
But do we know that they actually own the image? Google "Auguste Piccard" and you can find several other uses of it. We need to know that they really own the copyright. --B (talk) 05:12, 11 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
OTRS can work it out. The museum should have some idea who owns the copyright. MER-C 05:25, 11 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Original
Reason
Nice encyclopedic picture
Proposed caption
The housefly, Musca domestica, is the most common fly occurring in homes, the most familiar of all flies and indeed one of the most widely distributed animals; it is a pest that can carry and transmit serious diseases.
Articles this image appears in
Housefly
Creator
Al2

"I always try to complement with other information such as glossaries and studies." --Al2 16:16, 5 December 2007

Muhammad Mahdi Karim (talk) 04:52, 6 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
If that is the only problem then why not just change the caption? Cacophony (talk) 07:28, 8 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Not promoted --Chris.Btalk 16:38, 12 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Original
Reason
High quality photograph of Melanerpes erythrocephalus (Red-headed Woodpecker).
Proposed caption
Adults have a black back and tail with a red head and neck. Their underparts are mainly white. The wings are black with white secondaries. Non-birders often mistakenly identify the Red-bellied Woodpecker as this species. Their breeding habitat is open country across southern Canada and the eastern-central United States. They nest in a cavity in a dead tree or a dead part of a tree. Northern birds migrate to the southern parts of the range; southern birds are often permanent residents. These birds fly to catch insects in the air or on the ground, forage on trees or gather and store nuts. They are omnivorous, eating insects, seeds, fruits, berries and nuts. And this photograph has enough quality which deserves FP as archetype of the species.
Articles this image appears in
Red-headed Woodpecker, bird feeder
Creator
Mdf
Question: is that a real background? I guess it has to be. How does one obtain that effect?? I love it. Oscar (talk) 19:49, 10 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Promoted Image:Melanerpes-erythrocephalus-003.jpg --Chris.Btalk 16:38, 12 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Original
Reason
High quality encyclopaedic and attractive image, showing fine detail of the facial features of the Jaguar.
Proposed caption
The jaguar (Panthera onca), shown here at Edinburgh Zoo is a New World mammal of the Felidae family and one of four "big cats" in the Panthera genus, along with the tiger, lion, and leopard of the Old World. The jaguar is the third-largest feline after the tiger and the lion, and on average the largest and most powerful feline in the Western Hemisphere. The jaguar's present range extends from Mexico (with occasional sightings in the southwestern United States) across much of Central America and south to Paraguay and northern Argentina.
Articles this image appears in
Jaguar, Edinburgh Zoo
Creator
Pascal Blachier
IPs don't have suffrage. Please log in. MER-C 06:26, 6 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Where can I find that policy? (Note: I'm not this anonymous IP, just intrigued to see such a curt shut-down of any good faith editor, anonymous or otherwise). --Midnightdreary (talk) 01:47, 8 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
If you read the top of this page: "Note however that anonymous votes are generally disregarded, as are opinions of sockpuppets." --jjron (talk) 15:18, 8 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • I respect that you personally would prefer full-body shots, but I venture that this is definitely not a consensus opinion of FPC. Please take a look at the partial-body shots of otters, seals, tigers, giraffes, monkeys, and cows that are not in articles about their facial features. As the head is often (if not always) the most interesting part of the animal, I think most voters would agree that the head alone is perfectly encyclopedic and good enough to promote. IMPO, the difference b/t this nom and your example is that the crop in the latter weakened the original enc. claim, whereas the whole head is visible in this nom and the crop doesn't hurt the enc. value which, incidentally, the picture has, regardless of whether or not the caption says so --Malachirality (talk) 06:40, 7 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Actually, the example I cited is an FP. However, it was made an FP for inclusion in vibrissae, where it is illustrative of the subject. There is nothing wrong with having a close-up shot as supplementary material in an article; however, they are unsuitable as an FP. This has been repeatedly stated by others on FPCs for various birds and reptiles; we seem to have a bias when it comes to mammals - hardly a healthy situation! Samsara (talk  contribs) 07:23, 7 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • While I respect your opinion, and in fact often agree with this stance, I'm not sure it's so much a mammalian bias as a matter of practicality. A bird 10 or 20cm long can be adequately captured in good detail in a full body shot, but a full body photo of say a 5m tall giraffe will obviously have far less detail of the whole animal. Thus a head shot of these larger animals are informative in a way that they are far less likely to be with small animals, because they provide detail you can't get in the full body shots. For example I'd be somewhat dubious about a head shot of a gecko, but perfectly happy with one of a crocodile - it's nothing to do with whether it's a mammal, it's how much detail you can capture in a single photo. --jjron (talk) 07:52, 7 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • At present, there are only two things which define an image's suitability for FP: Featured Picture Criteria and individual opinion. Of these, only FP criteria definitively state what is and isn't "preferred", and there currently is no criterion relating to the enc value of head shots. I'm very tempted to agree with you on the whole head shot issue, within certain parameters, but I'd much rather any firm guidelines evolved from discussion on the FPC talk page than disruption of the FPC process by WP:POINT making. Sorry to be so blunt.. really, my only problem with this is that newcomers might be led to believe that you're referring to consensus-based criteria, when this isn't the case at all. --mikaultalk 17:58, 11 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
add: It's blurred and the focus is not accurate; the focus is to much at the background. —αἰτίας discussion 13:19, 9 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Promoted Image:Jaguar at Edinburgh Zoo.jpg --Chris.Btalk 16:38, 12 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


A Chipping Sparrow at the feeders, behind the visitor centre, Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada.
Edit 1 by Fir0002 - removed noise

Simply superb image in many ways - particularly the breathtaking sharpness. Taken by Mdf

Appears in Chipping Sparrow

Blurred? You can see the individual hairs (or whatever they're called) on the feathers! --antilivedT | C | G 05:57, 11 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Promoted Image:Spizella-passerina-015 edit.jpg --Chris.Btalk 16:38, 12 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Original
Reason
Attractive and encyclopedic image. The people in the foreground help give a sense of a scale of the statue
Proposed caption
A colossal statue in Bangalore depicting Shiva (Hindi, शिव Shiv, Bengali শিব, Shib, Telugu: శివుడు), one of the principal deities of Hinduism. Shiva is depicted in a meditating posture.
Articles this image appears in
Lots, including Shiva, Meditation, Yoga, Hindu devotional movements, Bhakti yoga, Religion in India, and others.
Creator
User:Deepak

Not promoted --jjron (talk) 10:32, 26 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Black Vulture -- Farallon, Panama -- 2005 December
Alternate which bears striking resemblance to the ancient Egyptian vulture hieroglyph:
G1

A highly detailed head shot (again with stunning technical quality) nice use of negative space and great bokeh. Taken by Mdf

Appears in American Black Vulture, Bluebird Gap Farm, New World vulture

  • Nominate and Support --Fir0002 02:11, 6 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support original per nom. Love the composition. Neutral alternate. Lacks the beautiful background of the original, and the composition is a bit too tight around the head. -- Coneslayer (talk) 02:48, 6 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support--Mbz1 (talk) 02:55, 6 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support Great, Quality picture. The color of the backround is perfect. I support. -raj1020 (talk) —Preceding comment was added at 06:17, 6 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Conditional Support per raj. I would like to see a caption. Muhammad Mahdi Karim (talk) 13:30, 6 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support original, weak support alt Nice composition and colors. And, as I'm sure Fir0002 will readily tell you, the caption is not an integral part of the nom and is more up to howcheng when he puts up the main page/POTD. IMPO, it's not a big enough problem to justify withholding support from the picture, as it doesn't actually have anything to do with the picture. --Malachirality (talk) 18:14, 6 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • weak support - lacks full body view, but makes up for it partially with detail.de Bivort 18:54, 6 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Oppose (original) Sorry, but the composition is fine for art, but not for information. Without reading the title, I wouldn't be able to even guess what kind of bird this is. Jeff Dahl (Talkcontribs) 06:06, 7 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
    • Why not? If you spotted me that it's a North American bird (because I don't know the birds of the rest of the world), I'd say it's a slam dunk. The bare head is diagnostic of vultures. That the head is black instead of red nails it as Black Vulture instead of Turkey Vulture or California Condor. The photo gives you the best possible field mark for this bird, IMHO. -- Coneslayer (talk) 12:45, 7 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
      • I would support the alternate; here we get the full bird with fairly good detail on the head. Not as much detail as the first and not quite as artistic, but with the full body shot we can see what this bird actually looks like. I don't care what its nose hairs look like if I can't see what its body looks like. Jeff Dahl (Talkcontribs) 02:16, 8 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Oppose. Sorry, I gotta oppose this one. The extremely bright (I suspect blown) areas on the head, and most particularly the beak, do it in for me. The tip section of the beak, being the central part of this shot and so important with vultures, should be a feature of the photo, not a flawed distraction. I may overlook this in a full body shot, but not when it's just the head. --jjron (talk) 08:38, 7 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Oppose. I may just be able to overlook the bright areas on the head, but... Partial shot. Need whole bird. Samsara (talk  contribs) 11:25, 7 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
    • I would like to better understand this position that only full-body shots are encyclopedic. There are currently 5 images in the American Black Vulture article. Is it really your position that 5 full-body shots would be more encyclopedic than one or two full-body shots and a couple more showing details? For human subjects, would you insist on the full body, instead of a portrait? Would you say that a "detail" of architecture, like a close up of a Notre Dame gargoyle is necessarily unencyclopedic? For the two vultures in the USA (Turkey Vulture and American Black Vulture) a comparison of the heads is very instructive. Many field guides include head illustrations where relevant. I just don't understand this outright rejection of headshots. -- Coneslayer (talk) 12:13, 7 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
      • User:Samsara/Full body shots please, work in progress. Samsara (talk  contribs) 13:29, 7 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
        • Thanks. I would say this, in regards to birds: As a general rule, the head is an important part of the bird to examine for identification. In the field, you never know how much time you have to ID a bird, so it's good to work methodically and quickly. I would generally start with the overall size and shape of the bird, with the hope of determining its type (sparrow, warbler, raptor, etc.). My next stop—the first part of the bird I would look at—would be the head. It very often has important field marks like eye stripes, eye color, beak color, and other diagnostic markings. I guess my point, then, is that in my opinion, good photographs of birds' heads quite frequently do provide useful information, in the context of bird identification. In this specific case, I would say that the bare head is a notable feature of vultures in general, because it helps keep them clean as they feed on carcasses. The black coloration of the vulture's head is diagnostic of the species, at least in North America. -- Coneslayer (talk) 13:39, 7 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
          • If that is your rationale, it should be reflected in the caption, and the articles that the photograph is included in. That's to say, if you believe it should be an FP because it is illustrative of the bald head of vultures, or more specifically of this family or genus of vultures, then you should include the image in vulture or the appropriate more specific article. You should then link to that article in the caption (which automatically forces the caption to be written in such a way as to emphasise the feature, to wit, (bald) head). Samsara (talk  contribs) 13:54, 7 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support alternative — why wasn't that nominated in the first place?--Svetovid (talk) 12:11, 8 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Strong suppose support: For both. Just excellent. —αἰτίας discussion 21:58, 8 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Support either with a slight preference to the alternate (whole body) shot. I would not oppose both pictures being passed. While the body shot obviously shows more of the bird and is more encyclopedic in that sense, I think the level of detail and composition in the head shot is significantly better. Very nice work. Matt Deres (talk) 15:24, 9 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support alternate (still oppose original). BTW, is a wider crop possible for the alternate? Samsara (talk  contribs) 12:31, 10 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support original, neutral on alternate I love the composition of the head-shot, and the blurred red background really makes it pop. I do think its encyclopedic to have an image of a vulture's head in addition to having images of the whole bird. While the whole bird image is technically good and encyclopedic, the background and composition and simply personally uninspiring to me. It's not bad, so I'm not opposing, but I'm staying neutral on that one. Enuja (talk) 00:35, 11 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support original, weak support alternative I was actually planning on nomiating the original myself, but it looks like someone beat me to it:) The orginal shows almost insane details in the vulture's head and I really like the background in the image. It also seems to "pop" out of the picture, a quality which the alternative, though great for an encyclopedia article, is lacking. Rufous-crowned Sparrow (talk) 05:36, 11 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Promoted Image:Coragyps-atratus-001.jpg MER-C 02:19, 13 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Original 1
Original 2
Original 3
Reason
I'm doing this as a group because commons:Category:Entr'acte - which I uploaded in a day - has many images of this quality, and it seemed better to do it in small, themed groups than to nominate 20-something images individually. These are lovely drawings, but very rare nowadays as the magazine they're from was pretty much just for London theatricals and those with a strong interest in them. I'm batch-nominating for convenience - I think the quality is similar, so...
Proposed caption
Gilbert and Sullivan created fourteen comic operas, including H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance, and The Mikado, many of which are still frequently performed today. However, events around their 1889 collaboration, The Gondoliers, led to an argument and a law suit dividing the two.

With the exception of their first opera, Richard D'Oyly Carte produced every Gilbert and Sullivan opera, and had even built the Savoy Theatre, just for productions of their shows. However, in 1890, W. S. Gilbert discovered that maintenance expenses for the the theatre, including a new £500 carpet for the front lobby of the theatre, were being charged to the partnership instead of borne by Carte. Gilbert had trained and briefly practised as a lawyer, and, knowing this was not appropriate, stormed into D'Oyly Carte's office to put this right.

The confrontation did not go well. Gilbert was furious, and, as reported in a letter from Helen D'Oyly Carte (Richard's wife and business partner), addressed Richard "in a way that I should not have thought you would have used to an offending menial." Things soon degraded, a legal hearing was held, and Arthur Sullivan supported Carte in the hearing, testifying that: there were outstanding legal expenses from a battle Gilbert had with Lillian Russell; and while there were some outstanding expenses, they were small. Gilbert, however, thought Sullivan had been manipulated and asked him to say he was mistaken. Sullivan refused, and, despite both desiring to reconcile, Gilbert felt it was a moral issue, and could not look past it.

Sullivan felt Gilbert was questioning his good faith, and in any event, Sullivan had other reasons to stay in Carte's good graces. Carte had put into motion plans to build a new opera house, Carte's Royal English Opera House to produce Sullivan's Ivanhoe. This was Sullivan's only grand opera, and it had a consecutive run of 155 performances - unheard of for a grand opera - but did not recoup the production expenses, and Carte had no opera ready to replace it. The opera house closed until André Messager's La Basoche was eventually prepared, and this alternated with Ivanhoe, but two operas were not enough to make the company viable: it failed in early 1892.

While Sullivan was busy with grand opera, the Savoy Theatre put on a show by Edward Solomon called The Nautch Girl, which proved reasonably successful. However, in 1891, Jessie Bond and Rutland Barrington, two of the starts of the Savoy and creators of many roles for Gilbert and Sullivan, took a leave of absence from the show, and went on a tour of the provinces, presenting a series of sketches by Barrington which Solomon set to music. Both returned for the end of Nautch Girl's run, but left the company thereafter, and only Barrington would return for the final two Gilbert and Sullivan operas.

Gilbert and Sullivan were finally reunited through the efforts of Tom Chappell, who published the sheet music to their operas. In 1893, they produced their penultimate collaboration, Utopia, Limited. Its large cast and multiple costume changes prevented it from being as successful as their previous operas, but it had a reasonable run, and the public were very glad to finally have Gilbert and Sullivan back together, as Alfred Bryan's cartoon for the Entr'acte expressed. However, after Utopia, it would be some time before they collaborated again, on The Grand Duke, and when that show proved a failure, the two would never collaborate again.

(By the way, the main source I checked with for this is Jane Stedman's W. S. Gilbert: A Classic Victorian and his Theatre, roughly pages 270-280. A few things came from elsewhere, but all those are dealt with in detail in the various articles already on Wikipedia. I don't think we cover the Carpet Quarrel in as much detail as we might, though, so there's probably some new information here.)

Articles this image appears in
Glad to See You Together: Gilbert and Sullivan, Utopia, Limited; Gilbert and Ivanhoe: Ivanhoe (opera), Bond and Barrington On the Road in 1891: Jessie Bond, Rutland Barrington.
Creator
Alfred Bryan

Weak Oppose Hate to say it but personally I don't see anything really special in these. I mean the technical quality is good but since there are 20 or so images which are very similar there is nothing in these examples which shine out to make them worthy of being FP. Sorry! --Fir0002 11:39, 17 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

  • Comment. As it seems likely this will be promoted even though it hasn't attracted a lot of votes, can I suggest that per the comments of a number of those that have supported that this is in someway promoted as a set. I don't object to one being promoted (or 'the set' promoted as one), in fact I'd probably support if I thought we had 'the best' one, but I can see little point in whacking twenty of these through FPC. (Also that caption is way too long!) --jjron (talk) 10:17, 18 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Witholding support for now. (see below) I've been holding off until I made my mind up about the "featured set" idea, and I do now think it has to be a set. I was keen on a gallery-based article to house them all and elect one image to represent them on WP:FP. However, it may be difficult to avoid an AfD in this format, as gallery pages are discouraged per WP:NOT. An alternative is to use a list format like this, which I quite like. It completely avoids the gallery page stigma and allows a short caption for each image.
    Something like The Entr'acte (illustrations) would do as a page title. I did, having said that, set up Alfred Bryan (Illustrator) for this purpose, but it may be that the single source of the images warrants something more specific.
    Furthermore, it could be that these Featured sets need a new category of FP, or at least the representative thumb on the FP page should just say something like "part of a featured set" and link to the gallery/list page.
    Maybe this needs discussing elsewhere first, and it's possible that a re-nomination might be required once it was all set up. Either way, it all seems a bit premature to promote this and then scurry off and find a home for them. Note that there's an upcoming FPC which could probably do with its own volcanic eruptions page, so this isn't quite the ad hoc proposal it might seem. --mikaultalk 10:12, 19 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]
    • I don't know: grouping them all as a set in that way seems to ignore that they have vastly different content - One's cricket, one's a political cartoon, others are on G&S, etc. in favour of lumping by artist. Is the artist really the most notable thing about these? I mean, if this was a complete set of the drawings from the Entr'acte annuals for years 18XX-18YY, sure, but this is, in fact, a selection. Vanished user talk 15:28, 19 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]
      • The Entr'acte is the most notable connection between them. AFAIK there's little more than a stub's worth of info available on it, but we know enough about the context of each image to fill in the details. Why is "a selection" a bad thing, especially if it's a "best of"?--mikaultalk 18:47, 19 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]
        • Nothing wrong with a selection, but my entry criteria were very subjective: If I particularly liked it, or if I knew incidents or people were important to Victorian theatre, I chose it. Since this was one day's rifling through of the limited number of volumes available, it's quite possible that I missed things that should've been included due simply to lack of knowledge.
        • In other words, I'm a little uncomfortable being considered the arbiter of the best of the Entr'acte. Vanished user talk 22:20, 19 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]
          • I wouldn't worry too much about that. NASA is regularly farmed for what are – in someones opinion – FP candidate images. Oddly enough I was just wondering about compiling a list, like the Oz books one, of Hubble images, the page being amended (entries promoted/delisted) as & when via the FPC page. Maybe I'm missing something; it might prove a little more complicated than people are prepared to tolerate, for example. In any event there's nothing wrong with being selective! FWIW you seem to me to have pretty good taste :) --mikaultalk 23:00, 19 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Umm, what should I promote here? All three images? Or just one, in which case please specify the image to be promoted. MER-C 12:20, 20 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Well, that depends.. can you think of a way of promoting a featured set? It seems a popular enough idea but I don't believe there's a precedent for it. Then there's those upcoming volcano images.. Personally, I favour the featured set idea but suggest we select a 'key' image to represent all howevermany others on some yet-to-be-created page. If you promote all three, there are a dozen more of similar quality which deserve the same recognition, is all. --mikaultalk 14:02, 20 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]
I don't think all three can be promoted separately (honestly, for a nom that's received the bare minimum of support to be promoted, could that possibly be justified?). In my opinion one gets promoted as representative of the set as Mick suggests; the caption on the image page can be changed to link to the others and point out it was promoted as representative of the featured set or something like that (perhaps Adam could do that as he probably knows most about it). Which one? I'd say Original 3 which shows Gilbert and Sullivan and looks to be the most interesting. --jjron (talk) 15:01, 20 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]
If I might suggest: Why don't we put these on hold for now, go through the other Entr'acte pictures, then when we're done, we can discuss what to do. Vanished user talk 11:39, 24 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Keep on hold, or (better) withdraw and renominate once there's a proper home for them. As I said earlier, a list-formatted Entr'acte article would do, either for a featured set or to promote one or two of the very best examples from, or else they belong in disparate parts of the encyclopedia and the "set" idea is harder to gel. In any event, if a set is favoured, we'd better decide what a featured set is before that volcano nom comes along. --mikaultalk 15:09, 26 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]
You know, this is turning out to be such a headache, and all because I wanted to share some neat stuff I found. Tell you what. Settle what to do among yourselves, then let me know. Vanished user talk 15:42, 26 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • I'm willing to vote oppose if it will help move this along pending a renomination once all the issues are sorted out. It should really have been sorted before the nomination. I hate these things that sit unresolved at the bottom of the page for weeks and months getting nowhere. --jjron 08:39, 3 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
    I thought they had been. Then people started making new suggestions for how to divide them up, and, frankly, turned this into such a headache that I find it impossible to know how to move on. So, unless someone makes a specific proposal for what to do with them, there's not a chance I'm going through this pointlessness again with a renom. But I would still be rather annoyed to have my research work rejected because noone could be bothered to decide how to deal with it. Vanished user talk 07:33, 7 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • I like it. Support -- Anonymous DissidentTalk 06:35, 7 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Oppose -- I haven't seen any argument that these are of Featured Picture quality. Sure they're rare, and they are an interesting glimpse into a bygone era, but compared with other contemporaneous drawings, they are not top-drawer. Oscar (talk) 18:27, 8 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Comment. I guess I'm butting in here, as I didn't participate in the original discussion, but could we close this nom with no consensus and renominate on an individual basis, clearly detailing the enc. relevance? For example, there is one that I believe, although a caricature, applies excellently to G. and S. reconciliating. Several others could apply to different actors (caricatures, after all, have their enc. and importance too) and maybe certain plays (or is it operas?). I never warmed to the idea of a featured set, esp. one of 20 images, as it implies a certain specialness that I'm not sure is there. From the looks of it, it doesn't really seem feasible either (at least not in this case). And as it turns out, this inert languishing here on FPC is more hassle than necessary IMO.--Malachirality (talk) 05:55, 11 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support Original 3 I guess the best way out of this is to forget featured sets for now. As Adam pointed out, the only thing they have in common – the Entr'acte – is too obscure to base even a stub on, so they (technically) have no enc value as a set. They do have individual enc value and the third one here is a really good, slick illustration depicting a unique event (noticeably better than the first one, I think) and is representative of the quality of the others. Assuming earlier supporters agree (and waverers like me finally make their minds up ;o)) I think there may be consensus enough to promote this one. --mikaultalk 09:14, 11 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Promoted Image:Glad to See You Together.png MER-C 02:19, 13 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Original
Edit 2 resized, sp fixed, text converted to paths
Reason
Moved from picture peer review. Nice detailed map showing important locations; pretty much a perfect vector map. Edits to the original moved labels from the legend to the map and removed the boxy frame, and added the Ibrahim al-Ibrahim Mosque.
Proposed caption
Gibraltar is a British overseas territory located near the southernmost tip of the Iberian Peninsula overlooking the Strait of Gibraltar. The territory shares a border with Spain to the north. Gibraltar has historically been an important base for the British Armed Forces and is the site of a Royal Navy base.
Articles this image appears in
Gibraltar
Creator
Eric Gaba (Sting) with edits by the nominator
  • Comment Display problems here too (Mac/Firefox) which make it impossible to view, let alone evaluate. Why does it have to be so big?

--mikaultalk 12:14, 10 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I've fixed the spelling on both versions. The edit has been resized, and the text has been converted to paths. This conversion should help rendering but at the expense of file size. Jeff Dahl (Talkcontribs) 17:14, 10 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
It seems to render a lot better but is still quite unwieldy, ie very slow to scroll and pan, which I can only put down to file size. I see it's quite a bit smaller, but (unless I'm mistaken) with this scalable vector stuff there's no reason to have a default viewing width of more than (say) 800px, which might work better. It'll all be immaterial anyway once we get FFox3.0 but for now it's not quite happening. --mikaultalk 18:07, 10 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • I'm not quite sure what your question is, but I'll try to explain. SVG files are really nothing more than text that uses a special markup (XML). The text is basically a list of coordinates, colors, and other attributes. Each browser has to "render" the file for itself, meaning it has to draw the picture based on the information in the (text) file. Some browsers are more reliable than others at rendering the file correctly, and especially older versions of most browsers have problems handling SVGs. The operating system is only important insofar as it determines which version of what browser you run. Some features that are allowed in the SVG format, such as certain blur filters and animation are not supported very well, if at all, in many browsers (yet!). Another option for folks whose browsers can't render vector images well is opening the file in a vector image editor, such as the free program Inkscape. Jeff Dahl (Talkcontribs) 23:45, 12 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Promoted Image:Gibraltar map-en-edit2.svg MER-C 07:38, 14 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Original
Edit 1:
1. Corrected stitching problems
2. Enhanced contrast of the whole image, and of the bridge in particular
3. Sharpened the whole image, and the bridge in particular
4. Resampled image to lower size to hide noise from sharpening and contrast enhancement, still big.
Edit 2:
1. Fixed clouds/sky.
2. Changed perspective and skewed to fix verticals.
Edit 3: by jjron (not for voting). Cropped distorted buildings and excess sky, slightly straightened verticals, minor adjustments for blown sky
Reason
It gives a very descriptive impression of one of the city's most famous landmarks and the prevailing architecture.
Caption
Ponte Vecchio and the surrounding buildings on Arno river, Florence, Italy.
Articles this image appears in
Florence
Creator
NikoSilver

Not promoted Withdrawn by nominator. Julia\talk


Pterois volitans, also known as red or common lionfish. Picture taken at Tasik Ria, Manado, Indonesia.

A really nice shot of a lionfish - the technical quality is quite impressive (considering it was taken underwater - an environment which I believe is quite challenging for sharpness, colour and lighting). It's actually one of only a half dozen images which I've taken from wiki to serve as a desktop :)

Taken by commons:User:Jnpet

Appears in Lionfish and Fish

Edited
It's hard to straighten. The fish isn't perfectly symmetrical - bigger fins on the left. SagredoDiscussione? 04:09, 9 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Promoted Image:Pterois volitans Manado-e edit.jpg MER-C 07:38, 14 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Original
Reason
I think its an encyclopedic image and I do not see anything wrong with it.
Proposed caption
Annona squamosa is a semi-evergreen shrub or small tree reaching 6-8 m tall. The fruit is usually round or oval, slightly pine cone-like, 6-10 cm diameter and weighing 100-230 g, with a scaly or lumpy skin. The fruit flesh is edible and white to light yellow. The seeds are scattered through the fruit flesh; they are blackish-brown, 12-18 mm long, and hard and shiny.
Articles this image appears in
Sugar-apple
Creator
Muhammad Mahdi Karim
  • Looks like MER-C already pointed this out above, but you really should provide reasons. FPC is not a blind up-or-down vote; oppositions especially should mention specific concerns that can be either addressed or evaluated for validity. And I just wanted to take this opportunity to point out that "No, definitely not. Bad quality" is pretty harsh, bordering on offensive, and not constructive criticism. FPC is a place to identify wikipedia's best pictures, but in many ways it is also a forum for peer review and discussion. --Malachirality (talk) 02:48, 9 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Weak Oppose Mainly because the solid black background looks unreal but also because of the limb behind it distracting from the main focus and being in the way, in terms of the main subject itself it's a good shot though. Cat-five - talk 06:00, 9 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Opppose Focus and exposure are just fine but lighting is awful, background provides no context and the specimen appears to be damaged. --mikaultalk 11:44, 10 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Oppose. As Cat-five points out, the composition could be better, but what really bothers me is that the absence of daylight makes the colours rather non-vivid. Is there a good reason this was shot in low lighting? Samsara (talk  contribs) 12:18, 10 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Not promoted MER-C 04:41, 15 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Detail of the head and jaws of a Bullant, Myrmecia sp
Alternative 1

A highly detailed shot of the vicious jaws of an Australian Bullant - let me tell you getting close enough to photograph this took some guts! ;-)

Appears Ant, Jaw, Myrmecia, Mandible (arthropod) and Insect mouthparts

Stand back everyone... --jjron (talk) 17:14, 8 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
or put on asbestos suits and watch the spectacle... --Dschwen 18:51, 8 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
...enjoy --Fir0002 01:32, 9 December 2007 (UTC) [reply]
The caption of Alternative 1 is the same as that of the original image. If you are referring to the "need" of an article rehash (aka the "proposed caption") refer to this page: FPC captions --Fir0002 01:32, 9 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Comment Don't you see a live millipede in the backgroung of alternative 1? --Cynops3 (talk) 15:46, 8 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • support for both. Just how pictures must be. —αἰτίας discussion 21:42, 8 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support Very nice shot, must get Fir to give him one of those ant Transmogrification potions so he can get shots like this. Cat-five - talk 06:17, 9 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Oppose original: Antennae out of focus (again). Weak oppose alternative for obscuring foreground object. Samsara (talk  contribs) 15:48, 9 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
    • That is simply not fair - you've got to understand the limitations of extreme macro photography. The only way (and no even shooting at f/22 wouldn't have got the antennae in focus) would be to use a focus stack which would be impossible on a live ant without killing it first. And killing it is likely to leave it in a crumpled heap which can't be photographed! --Fir0002 21:37, 9 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
      • I'm not sure what the problem is - you managed it perfectly well in the second shot, which I would support if it weren't for the foreground object. It's clearly not a technical limitation. Furthermore, if you feel you absolutely need to immobilise the ant, there are ethically sound ways of doing that, which also don't affect the appearance of the ant. Samsara (talk  contribs) 12:27, 10 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
        • You don't understand. The first image is taken from a more or less to down perspective - the second from the side. As you can see from the second, the ant holds his antennae quite high and they extend a fair way away from his jaws. The technical limitations of macro photography limited how "deep" the focus is - there in lies the problem. And so in the first image the antennae fall outside the depth of the focus. In the second image - taken from a more side on perspective the antennae lies in the same focal plane as the jaws as it is roughly perpendicular to them. Could you suggest a ethically sound way? Putting ants in the freezer doesn't work - trust me I've tried (they crumple up) --Fir0002 21:32, 10 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Not terribly relevant to this nomination, but have you tried putting ants (not this group, I'm sure!) in the refrigerator? Enuja (talk) 00:30, 11 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Yeah I have - that's what I was referring to when I said I'd tried using a freezer, I didn't mean I'd killed it in the freezer (I'm not hugely fussed by I don't like the idea of killing insects just for photos - I prefer a catch and release :)) I meant I slowed it down. The fridge isn't cold enough (4 degrees?) to slow insects down quickly - you'd need to leave them in there for a few hours. So when I shoot in the studio (ie a white piece of photo paper on the kitchen table ;)) I usually give insects 15mins in the freezer before shooting. The problem with ants is that they curl up when they're cold and you can't get them in a semi-natural pose until they start becoming active again (at which point you can't do focus brackets etc). --Fir0002 03:04, 11 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
There are many ways of doing it. One is to glue them to the substrate by the thorax. Depending on how you do this, it may slow the ant down rather than stop it. Make sure it's the thorax (chest) otherwise it can't breathe. You can also put CO2 in a container with the ant, which will slowly put it to sleep. They're hardy critters, but make sure you remove it when you're done; the ant should recover. (Point to note: CO2 is heavier than the mixture that is air, so you can pour it into a container and then put a lid on. The CO2 will only slowly diffuse when you open the container, and the ant will slowly wake up.) Alcohol vapour will do a similar job, but may be less easy to use. Alcohol does kill insects if they catch too high a dose (as does CO2 if you leave them for too long). My personal preference would be glue, but you'll need pincers to hold the ant, and small scissors or a scalpel to remove the glue and set the ant free. Depending on how the legs are attached, using permanent glue may impair the ant's ability to walk from that point on. For maximum ethics you'd use a water-soluble glue so you can just wash it off later, but these are generally slow to dry, so won't stick in a hurry. HTH.
As for the focal plane, I still don't find the argument compelling as the antennae seem to be as far off to the side as upwards. Part of the problem may stem from the fact that you refer to it as "head detail". It's a good enough depiction of the jaws, but for the head, it's incomplete. In fact, in one article, its caption reads "head and mandibles". If we can focus on the fact that it's a depiction of the jaws, I might be convinced (the image namespace caption also unfortunately has it as "head detail"). Samsara (talk  contribs) 21:38, 11 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
I'm not sure how your glue method works - what is the substrate? Putting them to sleep using CO2 will have the same result as the freezer - they'd simply curl up into an unphotographical ball. Ditto the alcohol treatment.
No, the antennae are roughly perpendicular to the head, and hence the fall within the same vertical plane as the head. But the antennae are just another part of the ant - like the jaws - so the head is the eyes and skull etc and the antennae are as seperate as the legs or thorax IMO. --Fir0002 06:05, 13 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Oppose - Where's the caption? What article does this appear in? --Sean 01:37, 10 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
    • The caption is there, and perfectly sufficient in detail. Refer to this page: FPC captions to find out more. Opposing on the fact I didn't include the article it appears in is equally invalid - you can see that on the image's description page. I've added them for your reference anyway. FPC shouldn't be the place for bureaucratic nitpicking --Fir0002 05:02, 10 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support original Great detail shot; clear depictation of the head and jaws which would complement a full-body shot perfectly. Highlights are a bit harsh (need to practice with that new flash a bit more ;o)) but not distractingly so. I don't have any problem with the antennae and the caption is just fine. Nor, I have to say, do I see the point of the alt – the jaw is partially obscured and I'm left looking for the rest of the body. Just weakens your nomination, IMO. --mikaultalk 11:57, 10 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support. Great shot, perfect focus (how DID you do it?) and a pretty good angle. And Mick, I don't think he had his fancy flash when this one was taken. Could be wrong though. Diliff | (Talk) (Contribs) 19:54, 10 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support You've recently added quite a few nice shots of this ant or its compatriots. While I like the full ant shot better for impact, it doesn't have the depth of field to make it here, and it is nice to have a featured image of scary insect threatening the camera, so I support the original image, despite the blown highlight on one tooth-thing. Enuja (talk) 00:30, 11 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support Original Looks good to me. --Sharkface217 05:19, 13 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support It's a wonderful photo, encyclopedic, exceptionally clear, gives excellent visual information about the size and structure of a living ant in its natural habitat. I think what some opposing people desire is a Platonic Ideal when all we have to work with is Material Reality. Also, freezers and glue? Taxidermy is like the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle of nature photography! Saudade7 11:22, 13 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Promoted Image:Bullant head detail.jpg MER-C 04:41, 15 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Budding and opened flowers of the Hairy Toad Lily (Tricyrtis hirta)
Alternative 1

This photo has great colours and sharpness - composition is also very good as it includes both the opened flower and a bud at the point of opening. Taken by Aka

Appears in Tricyrtis

  • Incorrect - the focus is near perfect. The blurring of the image is simply because you can't have everything in focus - and this is exacerbated in macro, and again exacerbated in DSLR cameras with their larger sensors. The blurring of the background is a natural and unavoidable result of focusing on the flower. --Fir0002 22:39, 9 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
The background, is quite good. —αἰτίας discussion 21:14, 10 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
The background is not only unavoidable, but desirable. See bokeh. --Dante Alighieri | Talk 19:35, 14 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Promoted Image:Tricyrtis hirta - blossom top (aka).jpg MER-C 04:41, 15 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Original
Reason
beautiful hard to catch bird. The image adds value to the article.
Caption
A male Anna's Hummingbird,Calypte anna (4 inches in length) at a flower. Anna's Hummingbirds feed about 5-10 times per hour for 30-60 seconds each time. When Anna's Hummingbirds hover over flowers, their wings can beat from 22 to 72 times per second.
Articles this image appears in
hummingbirds
Creator
mbz1


Original
Reason
Clear, sharp, highly encyclopedic image.
Note: this is a revised version of a recently delisted Featured Picture. During the course of the original candidacy, this edit was uploaded to address colour balance concerns and was subsequently promoted. Shortly aftewards, the photographer raised some issues with the colour balance of the promoted edit, leading to a lengthy discussion on the FPC talk page, which in turn resulted in the FP being delisted. Please note that the "original" image has since been overwritten by the photographer with this larger, colour-corrected version.
Proposed caption
A terrestrial subadult Eastern newt or red eft, Notophthalmus viridescens. Salamanders of the family Salamandridae with aquatic adult stages are called newts. Some newts, including the Eastern newt, have a juvenile terrestrial stage called the eft. The red eft has bright aposematic coloration to warn predators of its highly toxic skin.
Articles this image appears in
Eastern Newt, Salamandridae, Newt
Creator
User:Cotinis

Replaced as requested. MER-C 02:51, 17 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Promoted File:Notophthalmus viridescensPCCA20040816-3983A.jpg --Dusty777 17:41, 9 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]


Original
Reason
This photograph has good quality as sample of Japanese toy paper (Origami) and also has a sort of Japanese Wabi-sabi feeling.
Articles this image appears in
Origami, Washi
Creator
Laitche
  • I used frosted (semitransparent ) acrylic plate (3mm plate). And I put the mirror finished white paper under the acrylic plate then some lights were spreading and reflected. Actually this picture was taken by sunlight but I wanted a kind of moonlight feeling. --Laitche (talk) 19:38, 18 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Not promoted --Chris.B (talk) 21:59, 18 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Original
Reason
Nicely composed, sharp and good lighting IMO.
Caption
Lord Nelson atop Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square, London, England. Built between 1840 and 1843 to commemorate Admiral Horatio Nelson's death at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, the 5.5 m (18 ft) statue of Nelson stands on top of a 46 m (151 ft) granite column.
Articles this image appears in
Nelson's Column, Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson
Creator
Chris.B (talk)
Amputated in 1797 after he was injured in combat. This was after he had been blinded in one eye in combat in 1794. Spikebrennan (talk) 20:07, 13 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Not promoted MER-C 02:56, 19 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Original
Reason
sharp, clear, illustrative, and high resolution
Caption
The Greater German Reich (German: Großdeutsches Reich), colloquially known as Nazi Germany refers to Germany during the period from 1933 to 1945, when it was governed by the Nazi Party.

The government of the Third Reich pursued apolicies based on the concept of expanding german Lebensraum(living space), which eventually resulted in the outbreak of World War II. Racial policy was also a key part of Nazi policy, the party was therefore virulently anti-Semitic, which resulted in the deaths of approximately 11 million people during the Holocaust.

Articles this image appears in
Nazi Germany
Creator
User:RsVe

Not promoted MER-C 02:56, 19 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Small TextSmall Text

Original
Reason
stunning, hi res, and enc.
Proposed caption
This grand mosaic consists of 126 images acquired in a tile-like fashion, covering Saturn's rings from one end of to the other and the entire planet in between. The images were taken over the course of two hours on Oct. 6, 2004, while Cassini was approximately 6.3 million kilometers (3.9 million miles) from Saturn. Since the view seen by Cassini during this time changed very little, no re-projection or alteration of any of the images was necessary. For more on the creation of the image, see Nasa's summary.
Articles this image appears in
Saturn
Creator
NASA
  • This may be the source of the aberration:
"Three images (red, green and blue) were taken of each of 42 locations, or "footprints," across the planet. The full color footprints were put together to produce a mosaic [...]" --Malachirality (talk) 04:30, 13 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Just like the old Technicolor movies - which sometimes do show color fringing, too... --Janke | Talk 09:14, 13 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Promoted Image:Saturn from Cassini Orbiter (2004-10-06).jpg MER-C 02:56, 19 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Original
Reason
Striking animation, once you catch on to what you're looking at. There are longer sets of images at Transit of Deimos from Mars (involving transits by Mars's smaller moon), but it doesn't look like anyone has composed an animation of them yet.
Proposed caption
This sequence of four images shows the Martian moon Phobos transiting the disc of the sun, as seen from the surface of Mars by the Opportunity rover in March of 2004. Because Phobos's apparent size is smaller than that of the solar disc, such events are called transits rather than eclipses. A transit of Phobos from Mars is observable from at least some point on Mars on most days of the Martian year-- the events usually last only 30 seconds or so due to Phobos's rapid orbital period of about 7.6 hours.
Articles this image appears in
Eclipse, Phobos (moon), Transit of Phobos from Mars, Astronomy on Mars, Solar eclipses on Mars.
Creator
NASA opportunity rover
  • CommentThe thing that makes this image is the inclusion of movement. It shows the "transit" of one object across another. If you take a single photo it will just look like a blurry image of a funky cresent moon or Cookie Monster's eyeball. I Support this image *if* this is the most in-focus sequence possible for these objects. Saudade7 12:09, 13 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Each frame has been upsampled by ~550% from original dimensions of 63x63. This is the maximum possible for shots of this type at the moment. The raw product IDs are (I think) 1P132176282ESF05A6P2670R8M1, 1P132176272ESF05A6P2670R8M1, 1P132176262ESF05A6P2670R8M1, 1P132176252ESF05A6P2670R8M1 and 1P132176242ESF05A6P2670R8M1 which you can obtain from here or here (PDS IMG file type warning). MER-C 11:06, 13 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
4STRENGTH4STAMLEATHERBELT? --ffroth 07:32, 14 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Oppose per Clegs. Also oppose Froth's belt, those stats are waaaaay too low xD. --Mad Tinman T C 19:36, 14 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Level 18 :/ --ffroth 21:46, 14 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
:o you need more levels, seriously XD --Mad Tinman T C 12:05, 16 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Not promoted MER-C 02:56, 19 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Original
Edit 1 - crop, downsample
Reason
Striking hi-res satellite image.
Proposed caption
A true-color image of Ireland, captured on January 4, 2003 by a NASA satellite. The image uses Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) technology
Articles this image appears in
Ireland, Hibernia, Geography of Ireland
Creator
Image courtesy Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC
Someone else has already done a downsample and crop here, but I think this one is too small and too downsampled. Spikebrennan (talk) 14:36, 13 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Promoted Image:Ireland from space edit.jpg MER-C 02:56, 19 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Original
Reason
I went looking for a picture of this control tower after seeing a program on the National Geographic Channel about the rebuild of the tower specifically and the track generally. I did not find much about the rebuild, but I did find this picture of the control tower, and figured it was unique enough to warrent a shot at FP status.
Caption
The Pagoda Control Tower at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The tower's current look came as the result of an extensive overhaul at the speedway, which included a rebuilding of the control tower and the addition of a Grand Prix track used by Formula One.
Articles this image appears in
Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Creator
Rdsmith4

Not promoted MER-C 04:36, 21 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Original
Reason
The DSM article does not have any FPs. This image, is of the few good images available of Tanzania and the only panorama. The image shows one of Dar es Salaams most expensive residential apartments, Elia Complex and the Muslim graveyard.
Caption
Dar es Salaam is the largest city in Tanzania. With a population estimated around 2,500,000, it is also the country's richest city and a regionally important economic centre. It has undergone much recent development with demolition of two storey buildings and replacement of taller ones. Much of the greenery, is however preserved.
Articles this image appears in
Dar es Salaam
Creator
Muhammad Mahdi Karim

Not promoted MER-C 04:36, 21 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Original
Reason
Clear, colorful, and nicely illustrates a supramolecular complex of cucurbituril macrocycles in three dimensions, which is crucial to understand their chemical properties. It was generated from the actual X-ray crystal structure data and is used to illustrate the difficulty faced in isolating the pure form of cucurbit[10]uril. The complex particularly interesting since it resembles a gyroscope, but is only about 2 nanometers wide. To my knowledge it would be the first featured picture of real molecules.
Caption
Molecular inclusion complex composed of two different sizes of cucurbiturils and a chloride ion that mimic a gyroscope.
Articles this image appears in
cucurbituril and supramolecular chemistry
Creator
M_stone
I was only planning to nominate this image. I thought it might be interesting since I had not seen featured pictures like this before. M stone (talk) 18:00, 15 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
And if that's the reason for opposing, it's invalid. You can't oppose an image just because the nominator may be going to nominate other pictures in the future. --jjron (talk) 07:13, 16 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
My reason for opposing was that there is nothing about this picture that makes it better, more interesting or more informative than the rest of the molecule illustrations on Wikipedia. If this picture is FP'ed, the rest should be too! --Aqwis (talkcontributions) 10:20, 16 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
OK. This image went up on PPR here, where the author tried to explain that he thought this was the best of them. --jjron (talk) 15:37, 16 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Not promoted MER-C 04:36, 21 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Original
Reason
I was initially shooting this spider simply as an illustration of a fishing spider - the example of autotomy coming as a unexpected bonus. I wasn't sure if this was an example of autotomy or of a less voluntary "ripping off" amputation, but I had this confirmed by Martyn Robinson a naturalist at the Australian Museum. The picture is of high technically quality (sharp, nice lighting, nice composition showing the spider's ability to walk on water) and is of an interesting subject.
Caption
A fishing spider in the family Pisauridae and genus Dolomedes which has jettisoned two of its legs - most likely as a response to being attacked by a predator
Articles this image appears in
Autotomy
Creator
Fir0002
Actually, perhaps you should disregard this. I'm not sure what's going on with this article, but you can see that it says (C)1926 even though the publishing date is 2005. In web of science this article is cited to 1926. The author published most of her other work in the 20s and 30s and according to the site of some B&B in her old house, she is now (predictably) dead. Other recent articles say this is in fact a real phenomenon, e.g. Brueseke MA, Rypstra AL, Walker SE, et al. Leg autotomy in the wolf spider Pardosa milvina: A common phenomenon with few apparent costs . AMERICAN MIDLAND NATURALIST 146 (1): 153-160 JUL 2001; Guffey C. Costs associated with leg autotomy in the harvestmen Leiobunum nigripes and Leiobunum vittatum (Arachnida : Opiliones), CANADIAN JOURNAL OF ZOOLOGY-REVUE CANADIENNE DE ZOOLOGIE 77 (5): 824-830 MAY 1999; Guffey C. Leg autotomy and its potential fitness costs for two species of harvestmen (Arachnida, Opiliones) . JOURNAL OF ARACHNOLOGY 26 (3): 296-302 1998. Mangostar (talk) 15:44, 16 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Huh? Rt. 15:55, 16 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Long story short: it looked like there was a 2005 article saying this phenomenon didn't occur in spiders. But somehow that article is actually from 1926, not 2005, and autotomy has been documented in at least several other species of spiders in recent journal articles. Mangostar (talk) 17:32, 16 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Promoted Image:Fishing spider autotomy.jpg MER-C 08:40, 22 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Original
Reason
Obvious historical value and nice size/quality. Incredibly whimsical, but also demonstrates the ability and determination of aviators in the early 20th century, a time when the industry was just getting off the ground.
Caption
Capt. Lowell H. Smith and Lt. John P. Richter performing the first aerial refueling on 27 June 1923. The DH-4B biplane remained aloft over the skies of Rockwell Field in San Diego, California, for 37 hours.
Articles this image appears in
Aerial refueling
Creator
Unknown photographer, US Military

Promoted Image:Refueling, 1923.jpg MER-C 08:41, 22 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Original
SVG
Reason
High quality, public domain illustration. Contributes a lot to the article content.
Caption
In a typical jet engine, air is drawn in and compressed, which feeds the combustion chambers. As fuel is burned in the compressed air, the heated gas expands and is expelled out throught the exhaust, which drives the turbines. The turbines are responsible for driving the vanes in the compressor section.
Articles this image appears in
Jet engine
Creator
User:Dhaluza raster by FAA, vector by Jeff Dahl

Promoted Image:Jet engine.svg MER-C 08:40, 22 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Original
Reason
Star formation in the Orion constellation. This high quality image has scientific value and esthetic merit.
Caption
This image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows infant stars "hatching" in the head of the hunter constellation, Orion. Astronomers suspect that shockwaves from a supernova explosion in Orion's head, nearly three million years ago, may have initiated this newfound birth.
The region featured in this Spitzer image is called Barnard 30. It is located approximately 1,300 light-years away and sits on the right side of Orion's head, just north of the massive star Lambda Orionis.
Wisps of red in the cloud are organic molecules called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). PAHs are formed anytime carbon-based materials are burned incompletely. On Earth, they can be found in the sooty exhaust from automobile and airplane engines. They also coat the grills where charcoal-broiled meats are cooked.
This image shows infrared light captured by Spitzer's infrared array camera. Light with wavelengths of 8 and 5.8 microns (red and orange) comes mainly from dust that has been heated by starlight. Light of 4.5 microns (green) shows hot gas and dust; and light of 3.6 microns (blue) is from starlight.
Articles this image appears in
Orion (constellation)
Creator
NASA Spitzer Space Telescope

Not promoted MER-C 08:40, 22 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Original
Reason
When I first saw this image it was very disturbed by it, and it moved my very much. If it can move me then I am sure it will move others to, so that why it is here. I will state right of the bat that this image falls short of the required size standards, but I will ask that in this case some historical consideration be given to the vote — oops, I mean the the "consensus" :)
Caption
This terrified baby was almost the only human being left alive in Shanghai's South Station after brutal Japanese bombing.
Articles this image appears in
Shanghai, Second Sino-Japanese War, Battle of Shanghai
Creator
Unknown (listed as PD-USgov)

Not promoted MER-C 08:40, 22 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Original - Northern Mockingbird, Mimus polyglottos, Humber Bay Park (West), Toronto, Canada
Reason
As usual from Mdf, this is an excellent bird shot - great sharpness, composition and light
Articles this image appears in
Northern Mockingbird
Creator
Mdf

Promoted Image:Mimus-polyglottos-002 edit.jpg --Chris.B (talk) 13:45, 23 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Original
Reason
Excellent image - sensational. Sharp, good exposure, encyclopedical relevant, everything fine.
Articles this image appears in
Parthenon
Creator
Thermos

regards, —αἰτίας discussion 17:41, 18 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


  • All the criteria must be met for an image to be promoted. It also fails WP:WIAFP 1c - good composition - as this is a seemingly random corner of the much larger building which is the subject of the article. de Bivort 20:26, 18 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Not promoted MER-C 02:26, 24 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Original - A capybara at the Hattiesburg Zoo in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.
Reason
Excellent high-resolution image that does a great job of illustrating an aspect of its article subject.
Articles this image appears in
Capybara
Creator
User:VigilancePrime
  • Support as nominator Videmus Omnia Talk 01:25, 18 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Oppose The reflection from what I assume is glass between the capybara and the photographer and the unfocused rear of the capybara in the water together damage the overall quality too much. -Enuja (talk) 02:25, 18 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Oppose - Glass effects mentioned, and poor DOF. --Sean 02:47, 18 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • (Today's lesson in photography...) The "reflection" is around Capy, similar to "framing" a subject. There is/was no glass. The depth-of-field is intentionally narrow to draw your focus to the Capy's face; the rear is just outside the focus field on purpose and the face/head extremely crisp. That's how real cameras work, rather than the "everything in the frame is in focus" of a disposable camera. (Not sure how much of this was known or would be known to future readers/voters; please do not take offense to this as I'm not intending to talk down to someone who does know while at the same time inform someone who may not.) Personally, I have my own nitpicks that have nothing to do with the focus (which is excellent!). Anyway, all in good fun; I didn't expect one of my photos would end up here ever anyway! :-) VigilancePrime (talk) 02:50, 18 December 2007 (UTC) :-)[reply]
  • Oppose Blown-out highlights in fur, too shallow DOF. --Janke | Talk 06:57, 18 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Oppose per Janke. —αἰτίας discussion 17:47, 18 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Not promoted MER-C 02:26, 24 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you for looking; Thank you VO for the nomination. I agree with the decision (though for different reasons). I'm flattered that one was deemed good enough to be looked at at least! Thanks to all who contributed thoughts! VigilancePrime (talk) 06:27, 24 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Original - Iguaçu Falls
Reason
I think its a great picture. There might be a little contrast problem, but if I could get some support to fix it, or anyone be interested in seeing other photos I have of Iguazu Falls and choose the best one, I will put them up
Articles this image appears in
Iguazu Falls
Creator
myself
  • LOL: He is just saying his opinion straightly. Its just my humble opinion, that an image must be more than just nice to be a FP. It has to meet some criterias which lift it up. This image doesn't fit in such criterias - It's an averagely image: That's not enough for a FP. Sorry. —αἰτίας discussion 22:05, 19 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Ok, and don't you think one opinion is enough? Why are you spamming this page now? All I need is one vote/opinion from one person, now you're just trying to make everyone agree with you and pushing your opinion. --Mitchipr (talk) 05:02, 20 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Would "spamming the page" include commenting on every single opposition vote? Please don't take it personally when someone is critical of your image, nominating an image for FP is an invitation for criticism. No need to reply to every single comment. Cacophony (talk) 02:34, 21 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Well, it is my picture and I do want people to know how I feel about it. If they reply positive, I thank them, if nagative, I thank them but yes, you are right, I kind of took Aitias personal. But I still think its nice to comment on every comment. For now, I'll put it on picture peer review. Note that I did not take your comment personal, and replied generally, --Mitchipr (talk) 01:30, 24 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Not promoted MER-C 02:25, 24 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Original - Champ de Mars from the Eiffel Tower. In the distance is Tour Montparnasse and the dome on the left is Les Invalides.
Edit 1, by Fir0002
Edit 2, by AzaToth
No fog, by AzaToth
Reason
Spectacular view and very well taken. The gradation between top down perspective and side on perspective is a bit odd, but IMO doesn't detract from this fine image
Articles this image appears in
Eiffel Tower and Champ de Mars
Creator
Diliff

Promoted Image:Champ de Mars from the Eiffel Tower - July 2006 edit.jpg MER-C 02:25, 24 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Original - A Red-capped plover chick, Charadrius ruficapillus, adopting a camouflaged pose that helps it avoid detection by predators such as gulls and crows.
Reason
Good quality, enc value.
Articles this image appears in
Red-capped Plover
Creator
Benjamint

Support Works for me - good feather detail --Fir0002 05:20, 19 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Are you looking at the out of focus sand ? Just looks like appropriate DOF to me - Peripitus (Talk) 03:42, 21 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Promoted Image:Red-capped plover chick444.jpg MER-C 02:25, 24 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Original - The picturesque canal Alter Strom, located in the sea resort of Warnemünde
Reason
A beautiful scene taken in near perfect lighting.
Articles this image appears in
Canal and Warnemünde
Creator
Alabama

Promoted Image:Alter Strom.jpg MER-C 03:04, 26 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Original
Reason
Excellent image: Sharp, very well exposure, high encyclopedic value. Also featured on commons.
Articles this image appears in
Economy of Germany, Metropolis, Skyline, Frankfurt Rhein-Main Region, List of tallest buildings in Germany
Creator
Nicolas17

regards, —αἰτίας discussion 22:34, 19 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Promoted Image:Skyline Frankfurt am Main.jpg MER-C 03:04, 26 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Original
Edit 1 by Fir0002
Edit 2. Perhaps this sky has more 'wow'?
Reason
Excellent image - well done. Sharp, good exposure, encyclopedical relevant.
Articles this image appears in
Creator

regards, —αἰτίας discussion 22:24, 19 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Yeah it looks brilliant now! :-) --Fir0002 05:12, 21 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Not promoted MER-C 03:04, 26 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Original
Reason
Excellent image: A very well done Motion blur: as it must be. Encyclopedical relevant, too. Brilliant.
Articles this image appears in
Creator
Rdikeman

regards, —αἰτίας discussion 21:40, 19 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Not promoted MER-C 03:04, 26 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Original - During World War II, and especially in 1943, Hamburg, Germany was severely damaged by aerial bombardment, with some 55,000 people killed. Clip from the Motion Picture Division of the U.S. National Archives.
Reason
Another wartime propaganda film, with combat footage and some scans of the damaged city and damaged aircraft.
Articles this image appears in
Bombing of Hamburg in World War II
Creator
Motion Picture Division of the U.S. National Archives.

Weak Support Per above --Fir0002 23:19, 24 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Promoted Image:Bombing of Hamburg.ogv MER-C 03:04, 26 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Original - Muslim pilgrims at the Plains of Arafat, wearing the ihram clothing and supplicating as part of the Hajj on the Day of Arafat
Reason
Good, encyclopedic image. No other image of this kind on wiki.
Articles this image appears in
Mount Arafat, Hajj, Ihram clothing
Creator
Self made

Not promoted MER-C 03:04, 26 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Original - An Aston Martin DBR9 qualifying at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The DBR9 is the race-ready version of the road going Aston Martin DB9. First built in 2005, the DBR9 name is derived from the original 24 Hours of Le Mans-winning DBR1 car, named for then-owner David Brown.
Reason
Not too much background or frontal clutter, the shot shows a nearly full side with some front sheetmetal and grille area, and shows the DBR9 in it's "natural" element, which is in a professional racing format like the Le Mans.
Articles this image appears in
Aston Martin DBR9
Creator
Thurfin

Not promoted MER-C 03:04, 26 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Original - A scenic view in Yosemite Park with characteristic granite cliffs and woodlands. Taken in September 2007
Edit 1 by Fir0002
Reason
A well composed view of one of the most iconic National Parks in the world. The original doesn't have great technical quality and is only provided here so that people can have the opportunity's to make their own edits as they see fit - but these concerns are addressed (IMO) in the edit.
Articles this image appears in
National park, Yosemite National Park
Creator
AngMoKio

Not promoted MER-C 03:04, 26 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Original - Pronounced sun dogs on both sides of a setting sun in New Ulm, Minnesota. Note the halo arcs passing through each sun dog.
Reason
An amazing photo of this peculiar phenomenon. Quality may not be perfect, but given the conditions, etc, it's reasonably good, and to me any minor issues are far outweighed by the other virtues of the image and encyclopaedic value.
Articles this image appears in
Sun dog
Wars of the Roses
Creator
Axda0002

Promoted Image:Sundogs - New Ulm-Edit1.JPG MER-C 03:04, 26 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Original - A Mercedes SLR C199, the only Supercar Mercedes produces, in motion. Photographed at the 2007 Stars and Cars event
Edit 1 by Fir0002
Edit 2 by Dschwen
Reason
The well controlled slow shutter speed gives this image the kind of motion blur essential in photographing a supercar in an interesting way. Good enc and technical quality.
Articles this image appears in
Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren
Creator
AngMoKio

Not promoted MER-C 03:04, 26 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Original - An Adult Dunlin, Erolia alpina, in its natural marsh habitat
Reason
Another excellent image from the master of birds, Mdf
Articles this image appears in
Dunlin
Creator
Mdf

Promoted Image:Calidris-alpina-001 edit.jpg --Chris.B (talk) 09:42, 27 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Original - Fénis Castle is an Italian fortress that dates back to as early as the 1242 AD. It was constructed under the direction of Prince Challant who ruled over the region of Val d'Aosta at the time. The purpose for the construction of this castle was to control the area's iron trade.
Reason
A view looking up at a famous and beautiful castle in the Val d'Aosta region.
Articles this image appears in
Fénis Castle
Creator
Redmarkviolinist (talk) 05:35, 20 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Is there any way to expand? (Or can the size be excused?) Redmarkviolinist (talk) 06:13, 20 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
I'm afraid that is unlikely. Size issues are generally only excused if the photo is impossible or very difficult to reproduce, and as the castle is still standing this doesn't apply here. We can't simply expand the image you have uploaded. The only way for us to get a larger version is for you to provide one. Debivort's reply on your talk page sums it up pretty well. Raven4x4x (talk) 07:46, 20 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Well, this means it only fails one section. Does this mean it is totally out of the running, or is there any chance it can get approved. I think it could be a featured picture (considering you don't judge against the size). Any advice or response would be greatly appreciated. Redmarkviolinist Drop me a line 02:20, 21 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Featured pictures must meet all criteria unless there are special circumstances (historic photos), and 1000 px on one side is more or less a bare minimum. Bigger pictures present a greater degree of detail, and so are more encyclopedic. At least IMO. --Malachirality (talk) 03:10, 21 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Even at this tiny size the picture is also low quality - JPG artifacts along almost every edge. That's a second criterion that it fails. The composition isn't that brilliant either. Like Malachirality says, the size is the first criterion which any prospective FP must pass before it gets judged on other aspects, and this one fails at the first hurdle. If you have a bigger version, or a different angle, upload it. The camera it was taken with (Canon PowerShot A70) isn't particularly good (released in 2003, 3.2MP) so the image might not be sufficient quality even at full res, depending on what settings you had on the camera. —Vanderdeckenξφ 11:07, 21 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Not promoted --Chris.B (talk) 09:42, 27 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Original - The façade, gardens and fountains of the Queluz National Palace, Portugal.
Reason
This picture might have what it takes. Sky's clear, no visitors wandering around, great sight of this beautiful palace.
Articles this image appears in
Queluz National Palace
Creator
User:Husond

Not promoted --jjron (talk) 12:53, 27 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Original - The Flatirons, as seen on a winter morning, are rock formations located near Boulder, Colorado. The most iconic of the formations are the five numbered Flatirons, located along the east slope of Green Mountain (numerous smaller named Flatirons can be found on the southern slopes of the mountain and among the surrounding foothills).
Edit 1 by Schcambo.
Edit 2 by AzaToth
Edit 3 by Schcambo.
Reason
Absolutely stunning picture of a very iconic mountain; I'm including the original version here just for reference, I've edited it to tone down the blue colors, apart from that I think it's technically very good.
Articles this image appears in
Flatirons; Boulder, Colorado; Colorado Chautauqua.
Creator
Jesse Varner (User:Molas).
Looking at the Flatirons page, the other pictures show that the rock is naturally yellow in tone; certainly the blue is not normal, even in morning sunlight. Schcambo (talk) 16:32, 24 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Promoted Image:Flatirons Winter Sunrise edit 2.jpg MER-C 02:37, 28 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Original - Painting Thangka in Lhasa, Tibet. In Tibetan the word 'than' means flat and the suffix 'ka' stands for painting
Edit 1 by Fir0002 - noise reduction and recovered some of the original Adobe RGB colours which get lost in the original (left out red areas as they seemed over saturated)
Reason
We don't get many people shots on FPC, and I think this one is really quite nice - as it is not only shows a painter, but a (relatively) unusual style of painting.
Articles this image appears in
Data storage device, Tibet, and Thangka
Creator
Lucag

Not promoted MER-C 02:37, 28 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Original - Northern elephant seal colony (Mirounga angustirostris) on a beach near San Simeon, California, USA.
Edit 1 - sharpen, downsample
Reason
Nice encyclopedic picture.
Articles this image appears in
Northern Elephant Seal, Elephant seal
Creator
Helen Filatova
In what way? MER-C 01:45, 21 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Promoted Image:Elephant seal colony edit.jpg MER-C 02:37, 28 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Original - A steam turbine produced by Siemens AG Germany used in power plants to extract mechanical work from pressurised steam. Steam turbines benefit from their high efficiency and high power-to-weight ratio compared to other technologies, leading to its widespread deployment from electricity generation to marine propulsion.
Reason
A breathtaking photograph of something that's rarely seen. Provides a sense of scale and impressiveness of the machine.
Articles this image appears in
Steam turbine, Power station, Fossil fuel power plant, Thermal power station, Polar moment of inertia
Creator
Christian Kuhna, Siemens AG Germany
Do you know the scale of these things? They are taller than a person and longer than a bus, inside a cramped area. Please enlighten me on your method of capturing the whole turbine with one shot while still being able to discern the blades on the turbine itself. --antilivedT | C | G 02:38, 23 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Changed. Best regards, —αἰτίας discussion (Happy new year!) 03:58, 27 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Longer than a bus? Thinking not. --ffroth 07:17, 27 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Depends on the definition of bus and they, some multi-staged ones are really huge. --antilivedT | C | G 05:04, 28 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support Superlative industrial photograph. Note that even if it were not cropped, it would be impossible to see the far side that's hidden by the shaft. But it's not important. The far side looks like the near side and the blades are identical all around. Symmetric objects don't have to be photographed in full to be encyclopedic. In my opinion, this is quite appropriate for an encyclopedia. Fg2 (talk) 04:30, 23 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support. Excellent shot. Neutralitytalk 19:33, 24 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support the thing is too big to not be cropped and get a useful photograph of. The lighting is fantastic in my opinion Furmanj (talk) 15:00, 23 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Promoted Image:Dampfturbine Laeufer01.jpg MER-C 02:25, 29 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Original - Spectacular sandstone formations in Upper Antelope Canyon, Page, Arizona.
Reason
True we already have an FP of Lower Antelope Canyon, but this one is of higher res, has a person for scale and IMO depicts a more interesting scene. Technical quality is also very good in terms of sharpness and handling of the challenging lighting involved.
Articles this image appears in
Antelope Canyon
Creator
Lucag

Promoted Image:USA 10096-7-8 HDR Antelope Canyon Luca Galuzzi 2007.jpg MER-C 02:26, 29 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Original - A view looking East from Lembert Dome, Yosemite National Park, California, USA. The road in the image is Tioga Pass Road. In the background can be seen Mount Dana and Mount Gibbs.
Reason
A nice image that demonstrates several landmarks in Yosemite.
Articles this image appears in
Tuolumne Meadows
Creator
User:inklein

Not promoted MER-C 02:26, 29 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Original - Panoramic view of ships in the harbor of Valdez, Alaska.
Reason
Fantastic high resolution image of a notable city; great contrast between natural backdrop (perpetual sunset and mountain range) and the human activity (ships and major petroleum loading station).
Articles this image appears in
Valdez, Alaska
Creator
User:Srvora


Not promoted MER-C 02:26, 29 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Alternative 1 - Fruit of the Chinese lantern, or Physalis alkekengi, as it begins to decay in December. Image taken at the Cambridge Botanical Gardens
Reason
Interest and eyecatching color
Articles this image appears in
Physalis alkekengi
Creator
Furmanj
  • comment maybe the alternative shot from the same set? It shows the inside of the fruit as the outside begins to disappear. Furmanj (talk) 18:45, 23 December 2007 (UTC) (NB: Original pulled... I didn't see the focus issue)[reply]

Not promoted MER-C 02:17, 30 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Original - A womens eight person shell at the Head of the Charles Regatta.
Alternative 1 -I prefer this one unless the Original manages to update the full res (see nominating reasons)
Reason
Ahh, I just reprocessed the "Original" in RAW to get better colors and sharpness but the full size hasn't updated. The image page represents the composition. I would have put the alternative as the original but it isn't in any articles. So... unless the original updates I prefer the alternative. Why nominate, they are well taken dynamic sports pictures of what is really not the easiest sport to photograph (especially from shore).
Articles this image appears in
Head of the Charles Regatta
Creator
User:Fcb981
  • You may prefer the alternative in which there is very little overlap between the boats. Naturally, I had pictures with only one boat, but I thought that the dynamic nature of having the two boat racing would be better. -Fcb981(talk:contribs) 16:47, 23 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Not promoted MER-C 02:17, 30 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Original - A house made in the Saltbox style, outside of Concord, MA.
Edit 1 Complete desaturation of the white snow (the shadows obviously are still blue as they should be).
Reason
I think the picture is not only technically good, but also encyclopedic and artistic to a high degree. The highlights are hovering on the edge of pure white but this in itself is a feat. The scene had just about 6 effective stops of dynamic range and I actually tried a tone mapping sequence but there was little gain. Sunlight reflected off snow is pure white. That is, our eyes see it as pure white. It is somewhere around LV 17 (very bright). Anyway, it is a perfect Saltbox so I think very encyclopedic. I also think it is a very pretty scene with the fresh snow and the picturesque setting. Decide for yourselves.
Articles this image appears in
Saltbox, American colonial architecture, Clapboard
Creator
User:Fcb981
Support edit 1, encyclopaedic and good composition. I can still see some noise but most of it is gone. --Aqwis (talkcontributions) 11:45, 26 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Weak Support edit 1 The colour on the edit is superior, so I am leaning toward that image, but there is way too much dead space in this shot to get my full support. A shot of the same image size that focused solely on the house itself would be a better shot IMO. Considering the lack of focus in the surrounding area (particularly the gate), I think you'd be as well off just cropping. I understand you were probably on the edge of private / restricted property and might not have been able to get closer. Matt Deres (talk) 04:52, 26 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Reluctant oppose. It's a nice picture, it really is -- good composition and color, and it is a perfect saltbox. But this photo doesn't show the asymmetry very well because the side wall is so deep in shadow. --Dhartung | Talk 08:56, 27 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
I added it to clapboard, though. --Dhartung | Talk 09:05, 27 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Promoted Image:Saltbox Concord 2.jpg MER-C 02:10, 30 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Original - A 2.04 m statue of Augustus Caesar, found in 1863 and on display today at the Vatican Museums. Cupid, son of Venus, rides on a dolphin at his feet, a reference to the claim that the Julian Family was descended from Venus.
Reason
Good size and technical quality, enc. for the man himself (facial features are accurate) as well as for the sculpture styles of the culture (Greek/Hellenistic inspirations and styles)
Articles this image appears in
Augustus, Augustus of Prima Porta, Roman Empire, Military, Vatican Museums
Creator

Not promoted MER-C 02:10, 30 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Original - A Tau Emerald, Hemicordulia tau, in flight over a creek
Edit 1 by Fir0002 - removed minor noise/artefacting
Alternative 1
Reason
This spectacular shot has excellent enc and technical quality. In order to get this shot I had to use my 70-200 with it's rapid autofocus, and the flash was used to freeze the rapidly moving wings. The last image for a while, but certainly not the least. Merry Christmas to everyone on FPC!!
Articles this image appears in
Insect flight, Dragonfly and Flight
Creator
Fir0002
  • Support as nominator Fir0002 01:16, 23 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • oppose original shows extensive JPEG artifacts along the wings and the tail, the alternative is somewhat blurry. AzaToth 01:38, 23 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Oppose per AzaToth. —αἰτίας discussion 02:06, 23 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Oppose Looks like you needed to crop alot so we are seeing some degraded quality, it could just be artifacts from the (slow synced?) flash but the quality's a little sketchy. Do you have any others?? Merry Christmas to you too fir; everyone: happy holidays! -Fcb981(talk:contribs) 03:04, 23 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Weak support original I know the standard is pretty high for insect pictures nowadays, but still...the dragonfly in the image is actually in flight. It has to take some crazy skill to get a sharp, detailed image of such a fast-moving subject. I'm willing to overlook the minor artifacting. CillaИ ♦ XC 03:20, 23 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Oppose Very cool that you caught a dragonfly in flight. But what's it showing that you wouldn't see 10 times better if it were perched? —Pengo 05:06, 23 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
    • Well primarily it wouldn't fit into the Insect flight article, but the enc value for a dragonfly article is tremendous as it shows you something you can't see with your eyes - how it uses it's wings for flight. You don't get that from a static perched shot --Fir0002 05:29, 23 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
      • You don't really get it from a static flying shot either. You'd need a sequence of shots, or an animation to show it. —Pengo 07:06, 23 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
        • Come on, that's asking a bit much isn't it? This is pretty damn good and as good as you're ever going to get. I'm just still in shock with the reception of this photo, once upon a time such photos were acknowledged for what they are worth. Now I dunno... people just seem to be making up excuses to oppose. --Fir0002 23:21, 24 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
          • You're missing the point. You seem to think it should be featured just because it's technically a difficult shot of an encyclopedic support. And yes, technically, it's a good shot. Bravo. Congratulations for catching a dragonfly in mid flight. Now we can have a photo on insect flight. Great. But if you think it's actually illustrating anything more encyclopedic than a resting dragonfly, then you're sadly mistaken. If I wanted to know about how a dragonfly flies then a single frame of flight isn't really telling me much. The hoverflies tells a story by itself that you couldn't catch on the ground, so the unanimous support isn't so surprising, and I would probably support that one myself. When you've nominated as many pictures as you have I'm surprised how personally you take it. I'm not telling you to go out and make a movie of a dragonfly flying, but I am saying that's what you'd need to illustrate its flight. Either that or use a cloud of neutrally buoyant helium-filled soap bubbles and record the airflows in the wake of a dragonfly with stereo photography. That would be truly encyclopedic. :) But seriously. If you really think this is "as good as you're ever going to get" then please just get over yourself. —Pengo 04:18, 25 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
            • I do not see how you can claim that this isn't an encyclopeadic image when clearly it makes a fine illustration for insect flight and indeed dragonflies. What you are saying is that somehow this image is less encyclopeadic than a shot of it stationary on a branch. How can this be? How can a shot showing interesting and rarely photographed behaviour be less useful to Wikipedia (less encycolpeadic) than an addition to the large gallery of perched shots available in the dragonfly article? You couldn't ask for a more encyclopeadic photo. Beyond the fact that it illustrates insect flight very well, it makes for an excellent illustration of the Tau Emerald, and indeed of a dragonfly (so much so that I've added it to the dragonfly article). Because the remarkable thing about this image is that it has all the features and detail available in a stationary shot, but it also combines this with a rare and specatular view of it in flight - giving it a massive wow factor. Hoverflies mate sitting down on a leaf or perched on a branch, but getting a shot of them doing so in flight is spectacular - the same rationale applies here.
            • I could only understand your demands for an animation if you'd made the same demands elsewhere. For example here - sure it shows a part of a fuel dump (same as my photo shows a part of a dragonfly's flight) but it doesn't show how long this dump goes for, how the flames are moving etc which you could get from the kind of slow motion movie you want for the dragonfly flight. Same deal for this image, - how long does that cloud stay there for? How does it dissipate? How large does it expand? I'd need a movie. And this, how fast is he moving? How high did he go? What happened next? Even this could be a whole lot more enc if you could somehow slow it down and see how the individual sparks of lighting spread and pulse. What I'm saying is you have to be content with what is possible, not some fantasy.
            • It is because of my experience on FPC, not despite it, that I'm so aggravated by the response. After three years of nominating, commenting on other images and finding out how other people in the community view other images IMO I have a pretty good understanding of what an FP is. Some of the images I nominate here I'm not so sure about, but some I am. And when I took these dragonfly shots I got a little tingle, because I knew I'd just taken a FP. This image is exactly what an FP should be IMO - and I would defend it whole heartedly whether it was mine or someone elses. When someone looks at say the seal nomination below, they're harldy going to be dazzled by it and go wow I bet that's an FP. But for 99% of the population as soon as they see this shot they'll think wow, that's pretty cool, that looks like an FP. At least that is what I strongly feel --Fir0002 08:57, 25 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
              • I think you'll find I opposed that fuel dump picture, and for a similar reason: despite it being spectacular, it doesn't have a lot of information content. All your image shows is that a dragonfly has its front wings down while the back ones are up. I'm not saying it's unencyclopedic, just that it's not a lot of extra information content, especially considering the quality is not as high as a still (perched) image could be. What other actual information does it actually add to insect flight? It's information content, not spectacle, that I look for in a FP. Others might give greater weight to spectacular images, but I don't consider it to be of prime importance. I mentioned an animation (or photo showing vorticies) as an example of something that would give real information content to the insect flight article. It was not as a personal request for you to go out and do it. I don't really care if you consider it "possible" with your own equipment. While this photo is a welcome image to insect flight (and whatever other articles it is in) I don't see it giving people any great insight into the subject. —Pengo 12:50, 25 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support original/Edit 1 Per CillianXC. The quality is sharp, the fact that it's in-flight make that all the more commendable.-DMCer (talk) 12:26, 24 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support edit 1, high encylopaedic value and "good enough" technical quality. --Aqwis (talkcontributions) 14:00, 24 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Strong Support Edit 1 and strongly urge others to do so as well. With all due respect Pengo, I'm not sure how you can claim that the shot is of only equal or lesser ev than a stationary shot; here, the wings--in flight--are distinctly arranged, with the front and back pairs moving in opposition to each other. Wouldn't the complete motion of flight just be an intuitively obvious interpolation from this still? However, it is the first step--understanding that the four wings on a dragonfly are not all synced together--that is not necessarily obvious; b/c Fir0002's picture shows this, it is perfectly, and highly, encyclopedic. With the initial quality concerns addressed, Fir0002 packs more information into this picture than a still would provide, with minimal to no loss of quality IMO. --Malachirality (talk) 04:33, 26 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support either I really like the dragonfly captured in flight. --Mbz1 (talk) 05:44, 27 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support either I think the enc value and the difficulty involved in taking a shot like this more than mitigates the minor technical problems Benjamint 12:11, 28 December 2007 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Benjamint444 (talkcontribs) [reply]
  • Support all Good composition, very encyclopedic. --Sharkface217 23:42, 28 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Promoted Image:Tau Emerald inflight edit.jpg MER-C 02:14, 30 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Original - An Australian Painted Lady, Vanessa kershawi, feeding from a flowering shrub
Reason
A highly enc shot of this beautiful butterfly, showing not only it's colouration but also has the bonus of showing it's proboscis whilst feeding. High technical quality compliments this perfectly IMO
Articles this image appears in
Australian painted lady and Butterfly
Creator
Fir0002

Promoted Image:Australian painted lady feeding.jpg MER-C 02:12, 30 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Original - A Common Brown Robberfly, Zosteria sp, feeding on a hoverfly. It is approx 25mm in length, and is sitting on an Apricot tree leaf
Alternative 1
Reason
A very interesting shot of on of the most voracious predators of the insect world, the robberfly, with it's prey. It was quite challenging to get near enough to photography this guy, both due to his desire to eat alone and the windy conditions. It is memorable to me for a variety of reasons, it was taken on one of my first shoots with my macro flash, it was taken the day before my English exam, and last but not least because a bee decided to sting my foot whilst I was taking these shots (ouch!). :)
Articles this image appears in
Asilidae and Insect
Creator
Fir0002
That's my opinion, not a supposed. Thanks. —αἰτίας discussion 21:47, 24 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Promoted Image:Common brown robberfly with prey.jpg MER-C 02:12, 30 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Original - Canon's latest in its prosumer DSLR range, the Canon EOS 40D pictured with a Canon 85mm f/1.8 lens
Alternative 1
Reason
Probably my best studio shot yet (lighting provided by my new MT-24EX), this 3 shot focus bracket has excellent technical quality and enc value as well. Hopefully Canon will fare better than Nikon ;)
Articles this image appears in
Canon EOS 40D, Digital single-lens reflex camera and Photography
Creator
Fir0002
  • Support as nominator Fir0002 01:01, 23 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Oppose original, weak oppose neutral alternate 1 - It is nothing more than a reasonably well taken photograph of an every day object. There is nothing special or eyecatching about it. TheOtherSiguy (talk) 02:09, 23 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
    • As an encyclopaedia, Wikipedia is primarily concerned with informing people. Hence, images such as this, have a valid position as an FP (IMO). Images such as the Antelope Canyon one below are pretty, but they are no more valuable than this (and no harder to take). Studio shots like this, are deceptively difficult to take. Take for example the image on the 40D article my shot replaced: Image:Canon EOS 40D img 1325.jpg - it has white balance issues, poor DOF, and very poor lighting. The value in these shots is similar to the value of FP's of static 24/7 365 days a year buildings like this (and indeed most of Diliff's impressive portfolio) - it has been executed extremely well. --Fir0002 05:01, 23 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Oppose What there's reflected in the lens is very uneloquent. —αἰτίας discussion 02:13, 23 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
    • Can I request Aitias that you become a little less cryptic in your comments. "Ineloquent: Not eloquent, Eloquent: having or exercising the power of fluent, forceful, and appropriate speech: an eloquent orator." - dictionary.com --Fir0002 05:01, 23 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
As Janke wrote below, not everybody is a native English speaker. So it would be very nice, if you were not so arrogant. This dictionary said me that uneloquent is the correct word. If that's false, I'm very sorry. But the point is, that your picture is insufficient for FP. I hope I was able to find the correct word. —αἰτίας discussion 21:56, 24 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
see http://www.kenrockwell.com/canon/30d/images/30d-950.jpg (copyrighted image). Quality issues aside, its a more encyclopedic image, albeit less dramatic
  • Oppose. Indeed, reflections in lens are quite unsightly. (I think that's the gist in Aitias' comment - we aren't all English speakers, you know...) Also, reflection of camera on tabletop is distracting. A FP of a subject like this needs to be perfect. --Janke | Talk 18:37, 23 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
    • Oh really? That's quite interesting because I went to some length to get those reflections (both in the lens and on the white surface)! I thought they were a nice touch --Fir0002 21:40, 23 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, thats what I wanted to say, thanks. —αἰτίας discussion 21:51, 24 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

No consensus MER-C 02:11, 30 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Original - Common earwig, Forficula auricularia on a white background
Reason
High quality image (featuring a width of 2000px!) with excellent enc value
Articles this image appears in
Forficula auricularia and Earwig
Creator
Fir0002

Not promoted MER-C 02:11, 30 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Original
Reason
Perfect image. FP on commons. And: “This image was selected as a picture of the day for December 10, 2007”
Articles this image appears in
WyomingYellowstone National ParkCastle GeyserList of geysers
Creator
Flicka

regards, —αἰτίας discussion 21:57, 25 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Oppose Per issues raised last time - lacks sharpness and detail, particularly around the geyser, in the trees and in the clouds --Fir0002 00:59, 26 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Not promoted MER-C 04:09, 31 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Original
Reason
Good picture. FP on commons.
Articles this image appears in
Lightning
Creator
user:aka

regards, —αἰτίας discussion 21:46, 25 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Not promoted MER-C 04:09, 31 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Original
Reason
Very well done. Enc. relevant. FP on commons. And: “This image was selected as a picture of the day for August 11, 2006.”
Caption
The VR warehouses on fire on May 5th 2006. Helsinki, Finland.
Articles this image appears in
VR warehouses
Creator
Petteri Sulonen

regards, —αἰτίας discussion 21:38, 25 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Promoted Image:Makasiinit_tulessa.jpg MER-C 04:09, 31 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Original
Reason
Very well done night-shot.
Articles this image appears in
Leipzig
Creator
user:aka

regards, —αἰτίας discussion 21:13, 25 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


  • Support reasons see above —αἰτίας discussion 21:13, 25 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Weak Oppose Does not appear in any articles, and as far as I can tell it has gained nothing from being taken at night. Instead it has lost detail in the shadows and gained those horrible blue lights. --Fir0002 01:01, 26 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Oppose The blue light in front of the building is awfully distracting. The first thing I thought of when I looked at it was not the building, but a Star Wars lightsaber. Clegs (talk) 03:54, 26 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Yes, it gained the blue lights. They are actually part of the building design now, and they are not visible by day. They might not appeal to your eclectic taste, but them being visible should not be held against the picture, bout in favour. I'm still going neutral here, it is a HDR shot, but I believe slightly more light with non black shadows and non pitch black sky with visible building contours would have helped the picture. --Dschwen 00:10, 27 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Comment My point is that the blue lights are not part of the building, but a distracting part of the foreground. If you look closely, you'll see that they are on the edge of the sidewalk in the foreground, and have nothing to do with the building. Happy New Year! Clegs (talk) 01:10, 28 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Oppose does not meet criteria #5. Cacophony (talk) 03:03, 27 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks for adding it after the fact. Maybe next time you could do that before you nominate it? After all, it dosen't add value to an article if it does not appear in an article. Cheers, Cacophony (talk) 05:44, 27 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support - (including expansion from my original comments)
  1. Is of a high technical standard.
    Very nicely done. The blue lights accent the image. Night makes it dynamic and interesting. This is the whole point. It has been pointed out that the top of the dome is out of focus. The top of the dome is IN focus; the statue on the top may be on the edge of the focal plane. Unless this were a photo specifically of that point, how can that .5% of the image be killing the entire image? No, the building from left to right, front to back, is clearly in focus and the statue atop the top of the dome is only arguably out-of-focus (or it's the function of resolution and small area of the image).
  2. Is of high resolution.
    3000x1520 I think qualifies. No debate on this point apparently.
  3. Is among Wikipedia's best work.
    Don't see many like this often (this is a really subjective criteria, mind you). Too subjective to really be an argued point. This is a "do we like it" question. We do. The photo is fantastic. There's no such thing as a perfect photo.
  4. Has a free license.
    Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.5 - No debate on this point.
  5. Adds value to an article.
    The article has many photos, but most are blah, daytime, architectural snapshots (nice ones, mind you). This particular one is very nice and the nighttime aspect adds punch and dramatics to the photo and article. Okay, the image was added afterward, but the point is that it is there now and it adds value to the article. All the other images add minimally, but this one adds dynamics. Someone pointed out that the blue lights detract from the building, but as it has been pointed out, the lights are part of the building, which only reinforces the value of the image in depicting the building.
  6. Is accurate.
    Yes. As described above, the lights are a part of the building, not easily seen in daylight. This "criticism" actually lends credence to this as the image is more accurate a representation of the building than a similar image in the daytime.
  7. Has a good caption.
    Yes. "This image shows the Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig, Germany at night." No debate to this point either.
  8. Is neutral.
    Don't see how it could be not neutral in this instance. No debate on this either.
  9. Avoids inappropriate digital manipulation.
    Looks good. It is a composite, but not an altered composite, and there has been no debate on this point.
VigilancePrime (talk) 03:35, 27 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
The only complaints on this image have been the blue lights, the statue atop the dome, and the so-called tilt. The image is exceptionally well-done. The focus issue is marginal at worst (and non-existant at best), the image is not rotated (the appearance referred to is a function of shooting from the side, and the image is very well-oriented), and the blue lights are a large part of what makes this image so great. It appears as though a lot of the issues are "I don't like it" arguments, and that's fine (because I'm including an "I like it" angle), but the actual criteria, objectively stated, are clearly and easily met. This image is (should be) a gimme for featured status. VigilancePrime (talk) 22:29, 30 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Not promoted MER-C 04:09, 31 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Original - Tenzin Gyatso, the fourteenth and current Dalai Lama, is the leader of the exiled Tibetan government in India. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989. Photographed during his visit in Cologno Monzese MI, Italy, on december 8th, 2007 (from image description page).
Reason
sharp, high res, interesting facial expression (clothes are enc. as well I believe)
Articles this image appears in
Tenzin Gyatso
Creator
LucaG

Oppose Sorry but the flash is just too harsh - very strong and obvious shadow behind him. I also dislike his expression and the fact that his cloak is cut off lower RHS --Fir0002 22:28, 24 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Not promoted MER-C 04:08, 31 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Original - The JFK Library in Dorchester, MA. Taken at dusk.
Edit 1 by Fir0002
Edit 2 by mikaultalk
Reason
A really pretty image I think. I was waiting outside for the right light but the interior lights weren't coming on, so I went in to complain and the director was finishing his coffee before turning on the lights inside. I might have also gotten a good one of the interior atrium and if that turns out good I'll upload it. Merry Christmas.
Articles this image appears in
JFK Library, Presidential Library
Creator
User:Fcb981

Oppose Original Pretty colours but the composition isn't particularly good - too much carpark and sky and not enough of the actual library. The crop I posted is better, IMO, but is a bit awkward still; hence weak support edit 1 --Fir0002 23:10, 24 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Support Edit 2, Oppose Edit 1. Fir0002's edit just cuts off too much of the building's architecture to be enc. for me. --Malachirality (talk) 17:15, 28 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

  • Support edit 2 Very nice light & exposure but sky-heavy composition was killing it. The tight crop was nice but for enc value I agree we need to show the whole building. Logical conclusion: crop to a pano format. I've also tweaked the perspective a little to correct some distortion that was taking the main "spire" off vertical. --mikaultalk 18:46, 28 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Promoted Image:JFK library Stitch Crop.jpg MER-C 04:08, 31 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Original - The Prunksaal in Österreichische Nationalbibliothek is divided, after the original list of the books, into a "war" and a "peace" side, which is reflected also in the wall frescoes, from Daniel Gran. Here we see the fresco of war and law.
Reason
Great image it fits all the criteria.
Articles this image appears in
Österreichische Nationalbibliothek
Creator
User:Afernand74'

No consensus MER-C 04:09, 31 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Original - The Prunksaal in Österreichische Nationalbibliothek is divided, after the original list of the books, into a "war" and a "peace" side, which is reflected also in the wall frescoes, from Daniel Gran. Here we see the fresco of peace and heaven.
Reason
Great image it fits all the criteria.
Articles this image appears in
Österreichische Nationalbibliothek
Creator
User:Afernand74'

No consensus MER-C 04:09, 31 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Original - Two Japanese Imperial Marines who committed hari-kari by shooting themselves rather than surrender to a U.S. Marine, Tarawa, Gilbert Islands in the Pacific
Reason
This does an excelent, if somewhat disturbing, job of conveying death by suicide during World War II.
Articles this image appears in
Suicide, Seppuku, Death and culture
Creator
United States Marine Corps

Comment The blurry foreground object in the bottom is distracting-- I think that the photo could be improved by cropping it out. Spikebrennan (talk) 02:56, 24 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Changed to Support because the blurry thing has been removed. --Sharkface217 00:29, 31 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Please crop out the foreground before I close this. Thanks. MER-C 02:16, 30 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Done - I didn't think it was worth making a seperate "edit" so I just overwrite the original --Fir0002 04:10, 30 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks, Fir0002, I appreciate your editting the image. TomStar81 (Talk) 09:47, 30 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Oppose Quality low, and in no way a unique picture. There probably are lots of shots of suicided soldiers. The Burningmonk.jpg on the suicide page is much more iconic. Find a large scan of that, and I'll support it. --Janke | Talk 10:32, 30 December 2007 (UTC) (PS: Sorry for being late here, I somehow missed this candidate earlier - holidays...)[reply]
    It's fair use, so it would be ineligible. MER-C 04:08, 31 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Promoted Image:Japanesesuicide.jpg MER-C 04:08, 31 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Original - An image of the resident of my backyard in Sydney Australia, taken on boxing day 2007 - this Eastern Water Dragon has taken up permanent residence here.
Another backyard resident of mine (lucky me, truly), in a drain pipe: Blue Tongue Lizard
Reason
A few examples of how creatures going back some 20 million years adapt to human environment.
Articles this image appears in
Creator
Esa

Not promoted --jjron (talk) 14:02, 1 January 2008 (UTC) (Note: this nom had been removed from the FPC page by the original nominator without any formal closing, withdrawal, etc (see here) - I found it and have now closed it). [reply]