Commons:Featured picture candidates/File:American crocodyle la manzanilla 08.jpg

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Voting period is over. Please don't add any new votes.Voting period ends on 15 Jun 2015 at 18:07:56 (UTC)
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SHORT DESCRIPTION
  •  Comment ArionEstar, the scene has naturally a great dynamic range, from specular reflections in the water created by its turbulence because of the quick movements of the crocs, to the shadow areas of the dark skin of the crocs. The specular reflections are imposible to control, for basically the sun is reflecting on the water and there is no way to control them in this type of scene. The dark skin in the shadows creates another problem but it is managed somehow here. In short, lighting conditions are terrible, but the event can be rescued somehow with some drama. There are not many photographs of fighting crocs and this is probably the only one in Commons. A photograph has to be judged not only in terms of obtainable quality pixel, exposure wise, but of the type of event. A picture of church interiors, where everything is still and there is ample time to set up the camera on a tripod demands a much more severly quality criteria than a picture of a rare and fast moving event. Not all pictures can be judged the same. For example, Robert Capa´s photograph of the Spanish Civil War, the moment of death, or his pictures of D Day are technically blurred and with other faults, but the extraordinary moment that they capture erase any technical flaws. Photography is not about pixels, hdr, stitching or post processing only, which seems to be the case here in FPC, but also about eternalizing fleeting moments. --Tomascastelazo (talk) 23:09, 6 June 2015 (UTC)[reply]
  •  Comment I´ve been surfing the net to find fighting crocodile pictures and I find next to nothing. However, here is a video of crocs feeding on gazzelles, which show the quick movements of crocs. .#REDIRECT[[1]]. It is really too bad that lighting was what it was where I was, but it was what it was :( . Still, this is an uncommon photograph. --Tomascastelazo (talk) 01:18, 7 June 2015 (UTC)[reply]
  •  Comment Anybody that knows a little about zone system would know that specular reflections are impossible to control. Basically, a specular reflection is the sun itself reflecting on a shinny surface. To bring that surface into the dynamic range of the image would automatically render everything else totally dark, for the luminosity scale shifts as a unit, and we would have a bad picture of sun reflections on the water and nothing else. This picture captures dark objects in the shadows and renders them within the texture range even on a high contrast, back lit scene. As for the aesthetics, well, how much aesthetics can two fast moving fighting crocodiles offer? This is not meant to be a pretty picture, but a rendition of animal behaviour in the wild. One thing is to photograph old empty churches maintained as tourist attractions where the photographer enjoys the comfort of time, location and stillness and another to photograph the moving world under adverse conditions and come out with little observed behaviour of the animal kingdom. Aside from the "technical" issue of specular reflections, I think that the photograph captures the drama of the event in above average detail. Can anyone find a better picture in the net of fighting crocs? Not that this is the best, but definitely a good one, and definitely illustrative. --Tomascastelazo (talk) 17:22, 8 June 2015 (UTC)[reply]
  • Stop comparing your photos to churches. Everyone knows they're different subjects. Also, you apparently don't understand that churches are not easy to photograph (well) as you imply. They're usually not empty or maintained as tourist attractions, it's only with skill, patience and timing that I can capture them as I do. The same amount of skill, patience and timing required to take a good photograph of wildlife IMO. I also never mentioned specular highlights, so I'm not sure why you've brought that up, although I agree with Alchemist that a polarising filter would have helped. There are so many other ways to photograph fighting crocs in both a more interesting and a more aesthetic manner. It's trivially easy to find a better photo of the subject on the net. Yes, your photo has above average detail, but very little charisma that the images I linked to have - that's the sort of action I'd want to see in a FP of fighting crocodiles. Diliff (talk) 17:41, 8 June 2015 (UTC)[reply]
  • Sure... You really knock me out with those trivially better images of fighting crocs. I do point out however, that what you share as fighting crocs, at least in two images, they are just sunbathing. Crocs sunbathe with their mouthhs open all the time. Commn behavior not to be confused with fighting... ;) --Tomascastelazo (talk) 18:06, 8 June 2015 (UTC)[reply]
  • Dear David, fyi, here are opened mouthed crocs taking a sunbath, a very common behavior with american crocodiles. Also, it may be good for you to distinguish between alligators and crocs... They ain´t the same... #REDIRECT[[2]] --Tomascastelazo (talk) 01:17, 11 June 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Confirmed results:
Result: 3 support, 3 oppose, 1 neutral → not featured. /Laitche (talk) 08:28, 16 June 2015 (UTC)[reply]
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