Commons:Featured picture candidates/File:Mute swans (Cygnus olor) and cygnets.jpg

From Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository
Jump to navigation Jump to search

File:Mute swans (Cygnus olor) and cygnets.jpg, featured[edit]

Voting period is over. Please don't add any new votes.Voting period ends on 24 Mar 2017 at 21:14:30 (UTC)
Visit the nomination page to add or modify image notes.

A pair of mute swans (Cygnus olor22) and six cygnets
Striking support per concerns detailed below. When am I gonna learn to just wait for Colin to vote first? lNeverCry 04:27, 17 March 2017 (UTC)[reply]
after reading Colin's comments, I agree that the greyscale conversion is too far from reality for me as well, so I strike the support. – LucasT 21:10, 16 March 2017 (UTC)[reply]
  • Have added the retouched picture template to the file page. Didn't think it was needed for the editing I'd done. Colin is (understandably) mistaken as to the editing process. The original version I uploaded had brown feathers as a result of poor editing. As everyone knows, adult swans don't have brown feathers. I caused the grey by too aggressive reduction of blown highlights! Charles (talk) 15:04, 16 March 2017 (UTC)[reply]
  • The requirements are that "extensive manipulations" "should be clearly described " using the template parameter. It isn't sufficient just to mark the image as "retouched". How am I "mistaken" when you say you did a "BW conversion of the background". Your explanation of the near global desaturation of the scene (including the birds but excluding the orange) due to "too aggressive reduction of blown highlights" isn't credible, and contradicted by your comment below. There are natural real-world midtone greens and browns that have vanished. The green pond water has miraculously turned into black ink. The cynets have lost their natural colour, and adult swans may be generally white but their head and neck are often dirty coloured (see also this and this). The head and neck of an adult swan is a warm white, whereas these look like they've been washed in Persil. I have never in my life seen greyscale swans. This is not the sort of honest photography we require at FPC. -- Colin (talk) 18:49, 16 March 2017 (UTC)[reply]
  •  Weak oppose It has all the proper elements of a good photo, but yet the wow of it eludes me. There is a lack of spark in the photo and the black water looks more like mottled asphalt than a mysterious tern with white fluffy stuff. Perhaps it is the result of the partial BW conversion. Sorry. --cart-Talk 14:30, 16 March 2017 (UTC)[reply]
  • I left in the mottled water as I felt that was a key part of the picture. It wasn't affected by the BW conversion of the background which purely eliminated the green sheen on the water which I didn't like. It is of course supposed to represent family harmony, so 'spark' isn't likely! Charles (talk)
  • Really? What I did was I took the best of the "shades" from both the BW and the color version (since I didn't have the RAW), converted it (except for the beaks) to B&W. Then, as with all B&W conversions, you need much more "contrast", but not in the conventional sliding the lever thing, rather I upped all the highlights even more and darkened the shadows plus added extra light on some grey areas. Working with it I was thinking that I wanted the photo to look like the swans were floating free in a black starry sky. (Artsy bullshit, I know, but it sort of works.) Ok, I'll upload it over your version (scary!) but you can always revert. --cart-Talk 17:44, 17 March 2017 (UTC)[reply]
  • For sure. Think of it as a public service. 19:22, 18 March 2017 (UTC)
  •  Weak oppose As cart mentioned above, by BW conversion the shiny look of the feathers is gone. In color they look brown, but shimmering, whereas in BW the lack of color creates a dull grey. Maybe is is poosible to augment the brown part of the color spectrum (channel?) in the conversion a bit to preserve the nice shiny look? On the other side I feel some lack of balance, as the vertical center lies not on the 'family' but between the swans and their weaker mirrored pictures. This effect is stronger in the full screen view. --PtrQs (talk) 18:41, 16 March 2017 (UTC)[reply]
Confirmed results:
Result: 10 support, 2 oppose, 0 neutral → featured. /Yann (talk) 09:14, 25 March 2017 (UTC)[reply]
This image will be added to the FP gallery: Animals/Birds
Retrieved from "https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Commons:Featured_picture_candidates/File:Mute_swans_(Cygnus_olor)_and_cygnets.jpg&oldid=238457315"