User talk:Colin/Archive/2019

Happy New 2019

	Happy New 2019
	Pan de jamón and Hallaca are a typical Christmas dish of my country, and I would like to share it with you, wishing you the best year 2019.. I would like to give you this humble recognition. Happy year 2019 dear!!! Photographer 01:44, 3 January 2019 (UTC)

Commons:Featured picture candidates/File:Masih Alinejad.jpg

Hi Colin,

I would like to know your opinion about the picture nominated at Commons:Featured picture candidates/File:Masih Alinejad.jpg. Some users at the Persian Wikipedia suggest that its selection as a featured picture on Commons may be because of socio-political reasons or out of sympathy for the subject of photography. What is your opinion regarding the photograph itself, without reading the biography of the subject of photography?

Thank you and Happy New Year! 4nn1l2 (talk) 14:34, 2 January 2019 (UTC)

4nn1l2 Happy New Year to you too. Ok, I don't know the person and haven't read their bio, though the comments at the FPC state she is notable. Apart from the nominator, the other voters are all regular at FPC so I don't think we had canvassed votes or people voting here who didn't also vote on other nominations. Portraits tend to get a hard time at FPC, with people finding fault in trivial things sometimes, even though there aren't many photographers at FPC who have much experience taking them. El Grapho, who gave the longest support vote rationale, is a regular who I often find myself agreeing with and think has a good eye for what is important. The eyes are in focus, which is essential for a portrait. Her hair makes the image interesting. Looking off to the side is unusual but makes it more of a "captured in thought" than "posing for the camera". The background is well out of focus, which is good. Ideally we wouldn't have the blue blobs which are a little distracting, but it is clear this is taken in a street, so you can't control everything. I think the portrait would have a fair but not certain chance at achieving FP even if the subject were not notable. Being notable adds EV, which is important. -- Colin (talk) 15:53, 3 January 2019 (UTC)

Stitching empty sky

Hi Colin, I’ve often shied away from multi-row panoramas as I would inevitably end up with an unstitchable frame with empty sky. I was wondering how you would handle such a situation, e.g. in File:Josselin Château Evening Light Reflected 2016-08-15 WLM.jpg. Thanks, King of ♥ ♦ ♣ ♠ 05:18, 8 January 2019 (UTC)

King of Hearts it isn't easy. What software do you use for stitching? If you use PtGui then the FAQ has some suggestions. See also this topic. I do try to ensure I include a tiny bit of building in the corner of any sky, for this problem. If you use portrait-oriented frames, then this often allows you to include quite a lot of sky in the top row. Occasionally there is a little gap in the sky that can be filled with the content-aware-fill in Photoshop. If just a frame or two, you can move the frame about in PtGui. If you use a panoramic head with detents that pause the head at e.g. 10° intervals, then you could simply enter the approximate values for pitch and yaw, etc -- but moving it about in the editor is probably easier. I know that some motorised panoramic heads can generate a text file with positions for each frame, which then gets imported to PtGui. That is probably essential if doing some giga-pan with lots of sky frames. It has been a while since I used Hugin. The built-in tool in Lightroom is sometimes enough but fails with complex scenes or with the precision required for buildings. If you don't have PtGui but would like to see what it can do, you could stick your raw frames on dropbox and email me. PtGui is also excellent for generating HDR files, either single-multi-exposure or stitched-multi-exposure. Much better than Lightroom is at that. -- Colin (talk) 10:03, 8 January 2019 (UTC)

My first approach is always Photoshop Photomerge due to ease and speed; after it’s done stitching I inspect the boundaries manually and accept the result (90% of cases) if there are no errors. If Photomerge fails I use Hugin, which takes a long time to crunch the numbers but is more consistently reliable. I do have a Nodal Ninja so I could set a more precise angle of rotation. I’ll take a look at PtGui.

Speaking of HDR (with or without panorama), is PtGui what you’d recommend the most? I know Hugin is capable of it but haven’t tried out the functionality. (HDR is also something I’ve shied away from, as it is incredibly difficult to get realistic results from Photoshop and the newer Sony sensors that Nikon uses have more than enough dynamic range for any landscape I might shoot. However with cityscapes I could benefit from a little extra.) In terms of workflow, do you feed it RAWs or 16-bit TIFFs? —- King of ♥ ♦ ♣ ♠ 13:14, 8 January 2019 (UTC)

King of Hearts I tried years ago to use HDR with Hugin but it kept crashing and I eventually discovered a bug report that hadn't got fixed. I'm out-of-date wrt whether it works now. It works very well with PtGui. In fact I often use it for single image multi-exposure to generate an HDR TIFF. It is a little tricky to setup for that scenario but I've created a template project that I reuse for that. I then import the resulting floating-point HDR TIFF back to Lightroom and the "basic panel" can be used to tonemap this back to an 8-bit JPG. Lightroom's tonemapping on HDR files is very realistic. I don't think the Photoshop stitching or HDR are worth using at all. The Lightroom HDR is ok but not as good as PtGui.

PtGui can make use of your graphics card for processing, so is faster than Hugin. But you need a big disc and fast processor and memory for sure. For stitching, I tend to use SmartBlend rather than PtGui's own blender (you can download and install and set that as an option) as it handles any parallax and other blending issues better.

My workflow is to import the raw to Lightroom. Lens correction applied automatically. Ensure all the frames have the same white balance. Set the sharpening to 0 (i'll sharpen later) which avoids adding noise to sky, etc. Export as 16-bit tiff. I think PtGui can take raw files but Lightroom's raw processor is better. On re-import I do sharpening, with a mask, and may downsize a bit if there's a lot of stretching has gone on. I know Diliff just exported JPGs (at max quality) rather than TIFF, to save disk space and processing time and he also downsized considerably. Another technique is to use multiple frames to reduce noise. Even if you don't need bracketing, creating a small bracket set and merging will reduce the noise quite a lot. But of course there are issues if you have any moving elements in the frame. -- Colin (talk) 13:43, 8 January 2019 (UTC)

Thanks for the tips. When you say "Lightroom's tonemapping on HDR files is very realistic" and then "The Lightroom HDR is ok but not as good as PtGui," what exactly are you referring to? Are you saying that Lightroom is good at flattening a 32-bit image into an 8-bit final output but not so great at generating the 32-bit blended image in the first place? Which of the two steps would you say is more critical for achieving good results? -- King of ♥ ♦ ♣ ♠ 02:30, 9 January 2019 (UTC)

Yes, what you said. It isn't good at creating the HDR but is good at tonemapping it back to 8-bit. Diliff and I experimented a bit with some images and the Lightroom HDR was worse at handling highlights and was just muddier. I should probably experiment again to see if they have improved it at all. In theory the Lightroom HDR should be best of all, since it is working from raw and they are a big corporation with lots of bright developers. In fact I can't see how generating an HDR from several exposures is a complex problem at all (provided one finds a way to ignore blown highlights and crushed blacks in relevant frames), whereas tonemapping is a bit of magic. Years ago Diliff used Photomatix for tonemapping but I persuaded him to try Lightroom instead and the results were much better. PtGui has its own tonemapping controls too, if you select SDR output, though I haven't really tried that much since I'm happy enough with Lightroom's results. I haven't investigated any others. -- Colin (talk) 08:26, 9 January 2019 (UTC)

About backup service

In a talk with User:Nemo bis on freenode (irc), he was recommending this service, I would like to know if your recommendation could be better than this one. Thank you very much in advance. --Photographer 00:40, 16 January 2019 (UTC)

The Photographer, their pricing is similar to what I paid with Crashplan when they still had a consumer version (they now only have small business version and enterprise versions). So Crashplan's price doubled from $5 to $10. I should probably look again at the competition.

• I see Blackblaze still only keeps deleted files for 30 days (and you need to be careful if you are backing up an external drive because if you forget to attach it for 30 days, you may lose all the data -- see their FAQ). So that's a worry for me that by some mistake I will delete a folder of images or important documents, and only discover they are missing many months later. They also only keep older versions of files for 30 days, so if a file is corrupted...
• I can't remember exactly who I compared with when I first investigated backup. It might have been Blackblaze I contacted, and asked about what happens when you move files. As I said, I infrequently move my images from SSD to HD each year, and don't want to spend days/weeks backing up those images for a second time. I think it was Blackblaze who said they'd just upload them all a second time, which was poor. Even renaming a folder might cause that. If you have very high speed internet, this may not be a concern.
• It looks like Blackblaze don't offer an option to backup to a NAS or other computer (or another drive in your computer). Backing up to my NAS was a bit awkward to setup for Crashplan as you need to attach the network drive as a drive letter using a system account rather than user account. But once done, it provides an additional high-speed backup. Obviously that's not essential, just a nice-to-have.
• Although Blackblaze boasts of backing up all your files by default, that's just a default and you will definitely want to configure which files/folders to backup. It is really important not to backup cache folders (from Lightroom, web browser, database, etc) and other temporary files -- most backup programs backup newest files first so they might end up continually backing up your temp files or cache and not getting around to backing up your precious data. Plus of course, that hogs your internet connection backing up unnecessary files. You will know that Lightroom creates a backup of the database each week, so you don't want to backup those backups to the cloud.

Even though I think Blackblaze has some negatives, it is really quite similar to Crashplan, and has a few advantages (native client app, much cheaper). How fast is your upload speed to the internet? I would recommend you pick Blackblaze rather than manually copying files to cloud storage. -- Colin (talk) 08:32, 16 January 2019 (UTC)

Backblaze.. not Blackbaze

@The Photographer: it all depends on your needs, though between Crashplan and Backblaze I think the latter has the upper hand. I've heard of Backblaze before. They're pretty efficient. Their blog is actually worth reading, they also describe the storage pods they made, what hard drives they use, things like that.

Colin, "most backup programs backup newest files first so they might end up continually backing up your temp files or cache and not getting around to backing up your precious data."

Unlikely. Customers wouldn't be happy with that and it would be a constant waste of resources for them. - Alexis Jazz ^{ping plz} 11:18, 16 January 2019 (UTC)

Alexis, you are misquoting me. You missed off the bit about what it is really important to not backup. Both services take a guess at what sort of files/folders should be excluded, but some adjustment will be needed. "CrashPlan assumes that what you're working on now is most important so prioritizes your most recently changed files and backs them up first". All I can find about Backblaze is that it uploads small files before large files, which I suppose makes it look like it has backed up a lot quickly, but doesn't actually prioritize anything. There's a review here. It repeats my concerns about 30 day limit to versions and deleted files. To me, that's not really covering all possibilities for data loss, but it is certainly better than having no backup and no offsite backup. Both companies are well known and there are plenty online reviews. -- Colin (talk) 13:31, 16 January 2019 (UTC)

Multiple reviewers have indicated that Backblaze uploads faster than Crashplan, so that could be an advantage if you have a lot of files. Though when I was looking at various backup services a few years ago, I still decided on CrashPlan because it offered free computer-to-computer backup, allowing me to pay only to backup my main computer to the cloud, and backup my other computers to my main (note that they won't backup your backup to the cloud, but one of the computers was a Linux box I wouldn't care about if a fire took down my apartment, and the other was my parents' computer on the other side of the continent). When CrashPlan Home got discontinued I switched to Google Backup and Sync which came free with my university alumni account. For backup it doesn't work as smoothly as a dedicated backup service, but easy access to files is a huge plus (it was really clunky on CrashPlan and I believe Backblaze is not much better). Actually, the reason I set up continuous backup was that my laptop was stolen on vacation a few years ago — fortunately my photos were on an external drive and I manually backed up my documents folder right before the trip, so I lost almost nothing of importance. But afterwards I decided to not replace my primary laptop and instead went with a powerful desktop + cheap travel laptop combo, so being able to access my photos on a laptop or phone is very useful. -- King of ♥ ♦ ♣ ♠ 02:27, 18 January 2019 (UTC)

I started on Crashplan at the same time as User:Slaunger. He has faster internet, and is synchronous vs asynchronous, so his upload speed was faster. His upload went quicker than mine, so I guess the server speed is only one possible factor. It certainly took a while to upload 1.1TB but afterwards there isn't an issue, and I'd be upset if each year's photos got re-uploaded when I shift them from SSD to HD (which doesn't happen with CrashPlan). I can't recall if Backblaze permits additional local backup, which I use and obviously is superfast but not off-site. The Google Backup and Sync seems to keep deleted files in "Trash" "indefinitely" but only keeps old versions for 30 days. It starts getting expensive if you need a lot of storage, which is when the "unlimited" dedicated services win out. -- Colin (talk) 08:30, 18 January 2019 (UTC)

FYI I am uploading each image that I can using TIFF raw format, however, images tiff > 600Mb has problems to be uploaded on commons, User:Yann is helping me to report it. --Photographer 00:37, 21 January 2019 (UTC)

Respect

Big respect for this, Probably not the result you were maybe hoping for (I myself was 50/50 on it) but closing it as opposed to keeping it open goes a long way in my books, Not at all saying you were hoping for it but the amount of people at EN who drag people to ANI and then despite consensus turning to a no they still keep the thread open so like I said your closure goes a long way in my books so big respect for that,
Thanks, Regards, –Davey2010^Talk 15:50, 29 January 2019 (UTC)

About Samyang

I sent you a e-mail, however, I think that we can continue here and maybe another people could help too. And yes you was right, I can perform a focus using a manual focus lens with the screen on a live view zooming with the camera buttons or with the analog viewfinder and the focus confirmation tool, both methods are excellent and I feel like a stupid because I thought I had learned everything about my camera, however, there are also ways to improve the focus of each lens through specific customizations, however, that is another issue. With regard to the subject of the lenses, there are several options of wide angle, for the moment, the 8mm is seen as a very good option.

Below the list of my favorites:

1. Samyang SY16MAF-N 16mm f/2.0
2. Samyang SYHD8M-N 8mm f/3.5
3. Samyang 10mm F2.8 ED
4. Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8
5. Tamron 10-24mm F/3.5-4.5

Also I found Rokinon 135mm F2.0 ED interesting to buy how seccond lens.

Thanks for your recomendations

--Photographer 02:19, 31 January 2019 (UTC)

The Photographer, see this post about AF confirmation and fine tune. My Samyang lenses have no electronic contacts at all, so the camera does not know the aperture or focal length. Unfortunately this means that my in-body stabilisation is best not used (I think the camera assumes 50mm lens if it isn't told). The newer Sony cameras can be programmed with the menu to say what the focal length of a manual lens is. But the good news is that most (all?) Samyang lenses for Nikon have a chip that communicates some information. I think this is because the Nikon cameras can't expose properly if the lens is stopped down. This might also identify the lens to the camera so that you could adjust the AF fine tune for the lens (for focus confirmation). However, you really won't need to do that for 8 or 10mm lenses.

One thing that is a pain about these manual lenses is they don't stop down the aperture when you take the shot. Even my old film camera could do that. With the 8 or 10mm it isn't really a problem as you can set the aperture to f/8 and distance to 3m and everything is in focus (more or less). But with the 135mm I do have to open it up to f/2, focus, then close back to f/5.6 or whatever. If the camera is mounted high on a tripod then it can be hard to see the aperture numbers (and I need my reading glasses), so I've learned how many clicks to move it.

Btw, I did have to adjust my 8mm when I got it. The infinity point was nowhere near infinity focus. I followed some instructions on the internet to loosen a couple of screws and rotated the focus ring to set it so that infinity-focus was where the infinity mark was. I bought it a long time ago, so perhaps Samyang have improved their quality-control since then.

Are there any shops selling second hand lenses? My second-hand Samyang was "as new" condition and about half price, with a short warranty and returns policy.

I can't really comment on the lenses I don't have. The 16mm doesn't sound attractive to me since my 16-50mm covers that -- it would only be useful if it was exceptionally sharp. I think you are likely to find that the prime lenses are much much better than those ultra wide zooms. Also I find my lenses can be well corrected in Lightroom, if required, whereas I think you will find those zoom lenses have awkward distortions (e.g., moustache shaped rather than barrel) that make them hard to correct. The folk at FP will complain if your lines aren't quite straight! I think also most people who use an ultra-wide zoom, use it at the widest end.

I took File:Mount Stuart House 2018-08-25.jpg using the 135mm lens and the Nodal Ninja head (36 frames in three rows). -- Colin (talk) 08:30, 31 January 2019 (UTC)

If I may: Whether or not the Samyang lenses stop down automatically depends on what mount/system you're using. The Pentax-mount versions for example behave exactly like any other Pentax lens (minus the auto focus). From what I've read, the chipped Nikon-mount versions also have full aperture control (Rokinon = Samyang = Bower = Walimex Pro = …).

It seems like The Photographer is mostly interested in third-party options for wide-angle lenses? There are some very interesting new players on the market that might be worth considering: Venus optics has some very unconventional manual focus options (e.g. a 15mm f/4 macro with shift function, a 12mm f/2.8 that is claimed to have zero distortion), though I'm not sure whether the Nikon versions are chipped. Irix seems to aim more towards the high-end spectrum with full compatibility, offering a 15mm f/2.4 and a 11mm f/4 (both manual focus). --El Grafo (talk) 09:23, 31 January 2019 (UTC)

Thanks Colin and El Grafo for the information, my budget for the moment is 750 cad (Because WLM Canada prize + Crowdfunding), seccond hand lens are a good option, the problem that where I live is a small city and most of the offers are in montreal. Irix and Venus are good options. I am looking for the best wide angle, preferably between 8mm and 14mm, with the least amount of distortion and the best possible sharpness for that price. 8mm maybe is too much wide angle and the mustache distortion problem I dont know how difficult is it to fix and I know that correcting these distortions will end up losing a large part of the image. Manual focus is not a problem to me, actually I love it, however, this is a very cold country most of the year and the less time spent on the street adjusting the focus better. (Colin has explained to me how the focus works to infinity and how that is not a problem with wide angle). One of my great passions is to take Gigantography and put them together, in the short summer it could be an option do something like Colin did. The available options on venus optics and irix are expensives and mainly for full frame, my camera is aps-c, which would make a cut in the image generating a lower angle. Taking pictures should be a fun activity and not spend days fixing distortions looking for perfectionism. My intention is to take pictures indoors in low light and outdoors. Sharpness is more important than the absolute lack of distortion --Photographer 02:55, 1 February 2019 (UTC)

I think actually the 8mm does not suffer from moustache problem and corrects quite nicely in Lightroom, though with a significant crop. However most of my use of it has not been corrected but to just enjoy the view it produces. I find it generates quite a nice projection that in some scenes I think it is similar to what we see when we look around. But it isn't enjoyed by everyone, and best perhaps for unusual architecture photos. Remember Commons:Featured picture candidates/File:The Maughan Library - 2017-09-16-3.jpg. Also if you plan to do a 360° panorama, I believe this 8mm will produce better results than the 10mm rectilinear, since PtGui can handle the fisheye frames and you haven't got the stretch/softening that an ultrawide rectilinear will suffer from.

But if you plan to do really high resolution photos then a longer focal length is needed. Look at User:Colin/London#Royal Albert Hall. The fisheye photo is in some ways the best image. It had the best location too, but as a result it was too crowded for me to hog that spot and do a stitched panorama from there. I had to take it from the side or lower down. The super-high resolution photo (238 MP) was done with a £75 cheap plastic 50mm f/1.8 prime lens. I'd rather have had a manual lens with smooth focus ring than the jumpy loose plastic focus ring on that AF lens, which I have to use sticky tape to keep in position between all the frames. I think the 135mm lens (equivalent to 200mm full frame) is too much telephoto for interior architecture photography. Though with macro extension rings, I got this closeup shot. -- Colin (talk) 09:13, 1 February 2019 (UTC)

I am somewhat confused looking for the best option and price, I would like to know if this or this is the same lens Samyang 8mm f/3.5?. Thanks --Photographer 03:40, 2 February 2019 (UTC)

Here is Orshiro's webpage and Here is Samyang's webpage. The Samyang is sold under several brands. Note that the "Peleng" fisheye is not the same, is a circular fisheye and ancient Soviet design. The Orshiro certainly looks very similar to the Samyang. I have the original version 1 of the Samyang lens which does not have a detachable hood -- if you use it on a full frame camera, you need to remove the hood. Your third link looks to be that old version as it doesn't have "II" after the "CS". The Nikon Samyang has a chip to allow proper exposure. The Oshiro page does not mention the chip for Nikon. There's also an Opteka and Newer which also appears to lack the chip. So that seems to be the main difference: the very cheap ones lack the Nikon chip and won't expose properly/reliably or do auto-exposure. I suspect those brands are selling old stock.

The latest Rokinon here has the Nikon chip and does appear to set the exposure automatically (if you put the aperture ring at f/22) as well as focus confirmation and exposure accuracy. I would go for that one, rather than an unchipped one. The other Orshiro lenses on their website appear to be Chinese Mitakon or ancient lenses, and not the same quality as Samyang/Rokinon. -- Colin (talk) 11:08, 2 February 2019 (UTC)

Shopping list

Here I leave you the predefined list of things to buy, I am open to change any item that is more economical or better quality vs price

Camera Tripod (bit.ly/2RzRPsR)

CDN$ 102

Single Shoulder Sling (bit.ly/2UATd0h)

CDN$ 5.39

Nodal ninja (Free sheeping to canada) (https://shop.nodalninja.com/nn3-mkii-starter-pkg-factory-irregular-f3500x/)

CDN$ 131

Shutter (bit.ly/2S4hsav)

CDN$ 3

Rokinon HD8M-N 8mm f/3.5

CDN$ 308.93

---

Total: CDN$ 550

---

I still have $ 200 left, I think I could collect the remaining money to buy another wide or macro lens in two months, for example:

Rokinon 14mm F2.8

CDN$ 427.48

What do you think Colin and El Grafo --Photographer 17:14, 2 February 2019 (UTC)

Remote

I recommend getting an infra red remote rather than wired one. I have a cheap one I bought from Amazon or ebay. Get something like this. They cost very little, fit into your pocket, and the battery lasts for ever. If you are interested in taking much more distant remote shots or using intervalometer, then something like Neewer NW-870DC2 is worth considering too (I would still get the tiny remote). -- Colin (talk) 18:49, 2 February 2019 (UTC)

Sling

I don't like the design of that sling. First it uses up your tripod socket when your camera has two perfectly good rings on either side. I know it has an additional socket to attach another place, but that will be bulky and looks like cheap plastic. You won't be able to place the camera flat on a table, and I really really do not trust a cheap €3.59 sling to be well enough made. You need to trust this not to break. I can't comment much on the overall design but it looks like you will still need to hold onto the camera to stop it swinging wildly about. I use one of these wrist straps (though I have the older model with plastic adjuster rather than metal). I find it more convenient than a neck strap as you get the security of something attached to you but also you can let it dangle a bit for when you need to use your hand. But Peak Design is an expensive brand. OP/TECH do a cheaper one that is similar. They are easy to remove (with clip, or just take off) when you put the camera on the tripod. If you do want a neck sling then I would encourage you to avoid one that uses the tripod socket and spend more. Remember that with the Nodal Ninja, the camera will be held at 90° on the tripod socket, so that needs to be very firm and reliable and not bulky. -- Colin (talk) 18:49, 2 February 2019 (UTC)

Nodal Ninja

I thought you had this already? The link you gave is for the old NN3 MkII and is "sold out". That's the one I have. The current NN3 MkIII is here. If you are planning to do 360° photos, then the version with nadir adapter is better. The new MkIII has an Arca Swiss compatible plate, which is very handy IMO. For my MkII model, I attached a thin Arca Swiss compatible clamp, which obviously adds a bit of bulk and weight. You'll probably want to buy a plate for the base, to make it quick to mount to your tripod. Arca Swiss plates are quite cheap, but best to get one that has the two little bolts which help prevent the camera sliding out easily. If you can't afford a Nodal Ninja, you could try Sunwayfoto's clone. This is cheaper. Note, I would get the CR-30C model, not the old CR-30 model, as the new one has a clamp and is a little longer. You can see the specs here. As with the NN3, you'll want to buy a cheap plate for the base to help mount to your tripod. Sunwayfoto is considered a good quality brand but obviously the Nodal Ninja is the market leader for a compact pano head. -- Colin (talk) 18:49, 2 February 2019 (UTC)

Tripod

Might be worth spending more on the tripod. I don't really know how good these ultra-cheap Chinese tripods are. The plus side is that they have an Arca Swiss clamp, and all the features you might want. Check how tall this goes -- you are a tall person IIRC. I'll write some more later... got to go get my dinner now.. -- Colin (talk) 18:49, 2 February 2019 (UTC)

14mm lens

Why are you thinking of this? On an APS-C camera it is not very wide angle. I think Diliff has this one that he's used for 360° image, but the equivalent for your D7200 would be the 10mm lens. Can you remind me what lenses you have already (that are good quality, not broken or fungus!). -- Colin (talk) 18:49, 2 February 2019 (UTC)

File:Sony A77 II.jpg

Hello Colin, how did you set up for this shot? I'm really curious. For the background... a green screen? I have never done studio shooting, only shots in-field, so I'm curious. :p ― Gerifalte _Del Sabana 14:29, 5 February 2019 (UTC)

Gerifalte, I'm not sure I can remember everything from over four years ago! The black background isn't that difficult. Any reasonable sized room will go close to black if you light a subject solely by the flash light from the side or above. I probably turned the room lights off when about to take the shot, but it might not make a huge difference. I had the camera on a second tripod, and probably covered the tripod head with some black cloth. I may have hung a black cloth sheet at the rear wall a couple of metres away, but I can't remember for sure. The raw photo might not have been as pure black background as it is now and so needed a little vignette or darkening in some areas to ensure a solid black, but the black isn't just painted on. My Sony HVL-F42AM flash gun was put in a home-made softbox positioned above the subject, relatively close. It is just a large square cardboard box, lined with tin foil, with a couple of sheets of translucent plastic polythene over the front to diffuse the light. I also used a sheet of white foam card on the opposite side to reflect a little light. You can get that from craft shops. The softbox ensures the light source appears large and spreads evenly over the camera, rather than being a point of light with a bright highlight reflection.

There's a similar look at File:Philips Series 7000 shaver head.jpg. The shaver was taped to a tripod in the middle of my kitchen. The lens is looking just at the shaver head so has a narrow view. I'm pretty sure I used a black cloth or black cardboard on the work surface at the other side of my kitchen, to avoid picking up a reflection. I fired the flash up towards the ceiling, using the ceiling to diffuse the light.

The best book on lighting I have read is Light Science & Magic: An Introduction to Photographic Lighting. It isn't cheap and I recommend you get the paperback rather than kindle edition as it could be quite fiddly to read on an electronic screen. This has everything you might ever want to know. It is fun to experiment, and some things turn out much cooler than you thought possible and with far more pop than you see them under normal everyday lighting. -- Colin (talk) 14:55, 5 February 2019 (UTC)

Thanks for the quick response! I also saw the Philips shaver picture while browsing through your photos; it's really a wonder. I'm thinking of getting into such studio photography, however I'm on a really tight budget... Being a beginner, I'm really finding it difficult. By the way, do you work as a professional photographer? Just curious. 😬 ― Gerifalte _Del Sabana 15:03, 5 February 2019 (UTC)

The shaver photos is also focus stacked with Helicon Focus software. I used the 30-day evaluation licence as I was just experimenting. If I want to do more of that, then I may well buy it.. another cost. My File:Electric steam iron.jpg photo was taken many years ago with my beginner DSLR and just a sheet of glass and some white paper. What you do need is a separate flash gun that lets you vary the flash power. These used to be really expensive but the price has come down and Yongnuo make quite a good range. My Sony flash is triggered wirelessly by the camera (it actually uses the built-in flash to fire a tiny light signal) but some work with radio waves. You can also buy remote triggers that fit on your camera. As soon as you've got that, you can put the flash wherever you need it. Then make your own softbox, buy some card for a reflector, a sheet of glass for a cool surface, etc. A reflector like this can be useful too. It also has a diffuser too.

Another user who has taken similar photos is User:Code. Look at his upload list. And, no, photography is just a hobby. If you are looking to take studio photos of people, then Direction & Quality of Light is a good choice. There are also loads of resources online of course. -- Colin (talk) 15:23, 5 February 2019 (UTC)

Please explain your accusation on Commons:Featured picture candidates/File:Ouddorpse-Reddingsbrigade-02-2018.jpg

Hi Colin! I do not know what exactly is your problem with me and my comments. I only realize that you react on every comment of mine in a very harsh way. Your last edit accuses me of "policitcal games". Maybe our main concern is of communicative nature because you are a native English speaker and I am a non-native speaker. I am a long-term COM contributor and I do not understand why you do not accept a deviating opinion. IMHO both of us can take beautiful photos and do have a lot of photographical competence. I am on Commons because I love photos. --Tuxyso (talk) 16:31, 13 February 2019 (UTC)

Hi Tuxyso. I'm sure we agree more than disagree and are both here to take and share great photos and encourage others to do likewise for Commons. To be honest, if I create a panorama greater than 100MP I do sometimes downsize a little (e.g., to 75%). Often the panorama process stretches some frames to correct for vertical perspective distortions. If I put File:Loch Lubnaig from the path to Ben Ledi, Scotland.jpg into IrfanView and downsize to 75% with a little sharpening, I get a much sharper image at 100% view and still 60MP. But other photographers would not downsize such large images at all, and some (e.g., Diliff) would downsize much further (e.g., 50%). I hope we can agree that 50% reduction of Loch Lubnaig looks very sharp and noise-free, and is still 24MP which is a very generous size, useful for lots of purposes. So I think your practice of ensuring your own photos look good at 100% is common, and for very large photos, I would agree with it. But I don't think you should require others to do the same: it is you who needs to accept a deviating opinion on how to prepare photos for upload to Commons. My reason for this is that if people do upload without downsizing, then it is trivially easy to generate any smaller sized image below that. The MediaWiki thumbnailer can resize images (with a little sharpening too) at will (though it rejects if you ask for a very big "thumbnail"). Re-users can also resize with their own image software. So my argument is that the 105MP image nominated at FPC is also a 60MP image nominated at FPC and is also a 24MP image nominated at FPC is also a 6MP image nominated at FPC. You can choose to view and judge it at any of those sizes.

Looking at User:Colin/PixelPeeping we see that a 24MP image has twice the linear resolution than a 6MP image. Suppose I take a photo with a 6MP camera and it looks acceptably sharp. Then I change the camera for 24MP and take the same photo. If I now downsize/sharpen the 24MP photo by 50% back to 6MP then it will look sharper than the other 6MP image. So the 24MP is better. And if I look at both the 6MP and 24MP image at 100% I can see more details in the 24MP image, particularly in the centre where my lens is sharpest. But if I look at the edges of the 24MP image I may see that my lens is not so sharp there and there is a little CA. But I didn't notice that in the 6MP image. That's because with the 24MP image, I'm using a 2x magnifying glass to judge it when looking at 100%. So the higher resolution photo allows us to find more faults but is still a better picture with more details and will create a sharper 6MP image when downsized. Now if I bought a 100MP camera we now have an image four times the linear resolution than the old 6MP image. If I were to view that at 100% I might be sad about the quality of my lens at the edges, though still happy enough at the centre where I see even more detail and can read the number planes on cars in the distance. I am examining the same image with a 4x magnifying glass. If I were to downsize the 100Mp image down to 6MP (like this 6MP Loch Lugnaig) then it becomes extremely sharp all over. With the 100MP image, I have a better image than the 24MP image and a much better image than the 6MP image.

If the purpose of FP is to find the "finest on commons" then we should be judging the image at two levels. We can enjoy the greater detail at 100% from a large image but we should also bear in mind that we are seeing flaws at 2x or 4x the magnification that we do with other images. So if you feel that it is great at 24MP then I see no justification for opposing just because someone uploaded it at 100MP.

Look at it the other way, if I took your 14MP photo and upscaled it to 100MP and examined it at 100% and then complained it was soft and noisy at 100MP, you would complain "But I didn't ask you to judge it for flaws at 100MP". So I am saying that with a 100MP "I didn't ask you to judge it for flaws at 100MP" and but perhaps at 24MP 50% size.

My issue with the "games" is I felt you were claiming that "I have never asked for downscaling" but at the same time stating conditions for your support that would require downsizing of large images. If you insist on the highest quality at "full res" then all you are saying to the nominators is that if you upload at high resolutions then I will punish you and be 2x more fussy and if you upload at super high resolutions then I will be very harsh on you and 4x more fussy. Which is exactly the opposite of what we should be encouraging. -- Colin (talk) 10:00, 14 February 2019 (UTC)

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on that topic. To sum it up: A non-downscaled image contains more information than a downscaled one - that is true and completely correct. When I assess images on FPC I ask myself: Had a better shot been possible giving the same shooting condition. And exactly that were the rationale for my opposing vote (not downscaling but better shooting technique. Especially border unsharpnss can be easily avoided by panoramic technique
In addition to your thoughts I would like to add another idea: For me it is important to keep up artistic freedom to the photographers: If one decides to downscale an image because he like it and finds it pleasant to view beautiful tack-sharp details and 100% especially for panoramas also this view should be accepted from the community. Uploading every panorama in 100% should not be a dogma and everyone who does not stick to it will be stigmatized. We should be proud that a lot of people donate their photos to Commons. BTW: the default setting in a lot of panorama tools is downscaling of about 75%. With regard to downscaling I only see one critical constellation: Downscaling very good images let's say from 36 Mpx to 2 Mpx and nominate them on FPC or QIC. In this case such images are given a higher visibility and the full res photo can be bought for money from the photographer. --Tuxyso (talk) 10:11, 17 February 2019 (UTC)

Tuxyso, while identifying how one could could have done better is useful information to give to help photographers (nominator and reviewers) improve technique and identify appropriate equipment, I'm not sure that in itself is a good reason to oppose. There are often things one could have done better: perhaps the aperture/shutter/iso combination wasn't ideal, perhaps too tight a crop, perhaps a steadier hand, or waiting for different light. The question really is whether if one views the image at a suitable size/distance, it is good enough to be one of the finest on Commons. If the imperfect technique only shows up because the person was generous enough to upload full-size, then I think finding faults is unfair. If that imperfect technique made a 12MP image soft, then we would be more reasonable to be critical. I think that image was good enough at 60MP and had excellent sharpness at 24MP. And it was a lovely scene, which the photographer cannot just repeat. At FP we have the power as reviewers to judge a scene beautiful enough to over look other issues.

Along with technique, another factor is the quality of equipment. Few of us can afford the $$$$ lenses create the best and sharpest images. Our camera sensors have gone from 6 to 12 to 24 to 51MP and each jump highlights more detailed images but also more flaws in equipment and technique. In a given situation, one might have been able to capture a 6MP sharp image hand-held if pixel-peeped, but a 51MP image may require a tripod to achieve pixel-peeping sharpness. I'd rather we rewarded great images at FP than great pixels, and be careful we don't discourage good photographers who aren't retired dentists with huge funds.

Your own File:Ruhrtalbruecke-Sonnenuntergang.jpg photo, which is an exceptional image, is not particularly sharp. I suspect the focus was too close, as the near grass is sharp. The atmospheric conditions also soften with distance (as with the FP nomination we were discussion). And yet your photo page says it comes from 7 frames from a 16MP cameras and yet is only 5.58MP. So I guess it is heavily downsized to hide imperfect technique/conditions. In 2019 we are very reluctant to support any 6MP landscape photo, and certainly not one that could have been much larger. I think that for images that are 24MP or 36MP or greater, I don't care if someone has downsized a big stitch, but nor should I punish anyone who uploads the original 75MP or 100MP.

At User:Colin/PixelPeeping I suggested that some pictures make the viewer want to zoom in and enjoy the detail, where as others we are happy to look at as a whole. Indeed, some images only look good as a whole (e.g. a portrait) and have little value in close-up (e.g. zooming on someone's nose). I think the FP landscape here was pleasant enough to look at as a whole and if printed in across a double-page spread in a photography book, would have been more than detailed enough to render a high quality print. Not every panorama demands close inspection. -- Colin (talk) 14:42, 17 February 2019 (UTC)

Just for the protocol: File:Ruhrtalbruecke-Sonnenuntergang.jpg is NOT a stitched panorama but an HDR consisting of 7 images with different exposure. But you are right it is indeed moderately downscaled (but not intentionally but due to the HDR software I've used in the past). From a pure technical perspective it is not perfect, you are right. --Tuxyso (talk) 17:38, 17 February 2019 (UTC)

Tuxyso, that's probably not the correct template to use. There doesn't seem to be an HDR template, tough there is Category:Created with Photomatix. -- Colin (talk) 18:13, 17 February 2019 (UTC)

My lenses

I will mention the lenses according to my preference and the amount of time I use them.
N	Name	Picture	Description	Thanks to
1	Nikon 50mm 1.8 D		Thanks to a commons user, it work fine and its my preffered lens that I use for everything ever for panoramic pictures using ptgui.	User:Dcoetzee and User:Yann
2	Nikon 35mm 1.8G		very sharp, fast and light lens, very lovely. Work fine on low light situation, this and the other one 50mm are in the same sharp level.	purchased at mercadolibre
3	Sigma DC 18-50mm 2.8		This lens was donated by another user (its actually a Beria lens) with a serious fungus problem, however, I managed to disarm it and clean it thanks to a Youtube video today it is very good (With small striped marks). This lens is incredibly much sharper than before cleaning it, however, it is not as sharp as 50mm and 35mm, I can not get many details, I usually use it always in 18mm.	User:Jastrow
4	Nikon 85mm 1.8 D		I bought it at $cad 300 second hand probably used for many years. This lens is heavy and has a series of aberrations, it needs a lot of light to work well and it is also somewhat slow. the sigma 70-300 is much heavier but it is usually sharper at 85mm. I had thought to use this lens for portraits, however, when I arrived in Quebec and read the law about the photographs I found that it is illegal to make portraits to people without their permission.	bought second hand in kijiji.ca
5	Sigma 70-300mm f/4-5.6 DG Macro Motorized Telephoto Zoom		thanks to a commons user. This lens has a very small fungus inside the lens, I have observed its growth and I believe that it passed away, however, I will try to take a picture later. This is the lens that I use the least because of its size and slowness. This lens has a small flaw of focus too (only on my D7200, it work fine on D300), but I've got very sharp photos in manual mode.	User:Dcoetzee and User:Yann

I have too a Weifeng WF-6662A Tripod with with two screws lost in the panoramic head, I have to adjust some things manually so that it remains immobile, which forces me to carry with me a t8 key that a Brazilian seller gave me in a materials store. This other tripod has a good review on adorama and look like a good option. Btw, I think that I will go for NN forgetting the idea to buy another lens for the moment (I dont know if i need a Arca-Swiss plate for this tripod) --Photographer 01:50, 3 February 2019 (UTC)

Looking at the ball head of your tripod, the quick-release plate looks specific to that manufacturer. The advantage to the Arca Swiss clamp and plate is that it is relatively standard, so you can leave the plate on your camera and it will fit a variety of heads: your tripod directly or the NN3. And if you stick a plate onto the NN3 then it will go onto your ball head, giving you a level base. If you don't do that, you'll be forever transferring the plates over. The Slik tripod you link to doesn't come with a head, which will be another cost. I sounds like your existing tripod is not reliable or convenient. I have a Benro Travel Angel tripod and am impressed with Benro for quality and it folds up compactly so I can strap it to the side of my camera bag. Have a look at something like Benro Tripster 1 Series. It comes with a ball head with Arca Swiss plate and folds up very compact.

If you get a good portable tripod, the NN3 head and use that with the 35 and 50mm lenses, you should be all set to create excellent panoramas in high resolution. Then consider the 8mm fisheye to create 360° views. The IR remote control will be very handy to avoid shake on the tripod. The Benro tripod will come with a plate you can leave on the camera, and the same plate should be compatible with the NN3 clamp. The NN3 does not come with any plate for the base, so you should consider another small Arca Swiss plate for that. A 60mm plate like this should be fine. You can see in the second photo, the little silver bolts at each end. These stop the plate sliding out of the clamp if it ever becomes loose. -- Colin (talk) 18:19, 3 February 2019 (UTC)

Thanks Colin, I had already seen that Benro Travel Angel tripod that you show me, I think it's a good option, the list would be this way. I think it's worth the sacrifice of buying a good tripod that will not give me problems with loose or disrupted screws that generate small movements that make the photos blurred. The list updated is the follow:

Camera Tripod

CDN$ 175

Nodal ninja (Free sheeping to canada)

CDN$ 340.52

Shutter

CDN$ 10

Rokinon HD8M-N 8mm f/3.5

CDN$ 309

Arca-Swiss

CDN$ 12.34

How many "RM CLICK STOPS" I should select when I'm buying the NN?. IMHO more is better if Im using a tele lens, but I dont know the exact number --Photographer 19:28, 3 February 2019 (UTC)

The NN3 comes with a 12° (30 stops) ring which causes the bottom rotator to pause at each point. Remember the camera is held in portrait mode in the NN3, so each horizontal step corresponds to the vertical field of view of your camera, plus an allowance for overlap between frames. If you look at this website you see that a 50mm lens on your DX camera has 12.5° steps for a 30% overlap. So the standard ring will do that. Your 35mm lens would ideally use the 18° ring. If you used the 10° ring and stopped every second stop (20°), that would be about a 20% overlap which is probably fine. At 85mm you'd need a stop every 7° which is beyond what the NN3 comes with. At the bottom of this NN3 page is a table that has figures. The centre of the table has your DX Nikon and you should look at the portrait column. I think that table has figures for about a 22% overlap. So you can see the stops don't help beyond 50mm lens on DX. I've currently got mine set to 15° but often don't bother with the stops and judge the horizontal steps by eye. If I have people moving in the scene then often I include a lot more overlap than the panorama software needs, so that every part of the image has at least two frames to pick from. Then I can erase people if they twin or don't work out. I don't think there is much point buying a ring that is just a multiple of another (e.g. 36° is three stops at 12°). Perhaps get the 10° and that may be useful for the 35mm and 85mm (at 2x and 0.5x steps). It is a little awkward to change the rings, so you don't want to have to keep doing that. That's why the dearer model has a base where you use little plugs to determine how often to click. The dearer one can handle 3.5kg vs 1.5kg on the mini rotator, so it will be more sturdy too. -- Colin (talk) 09:32, 4 February 2019 (UTC)

For the tripod, the one I linked is the Benro Tripster Travel Tripod (specs here) which can handle 8kg. My Benro Travel Angel II Carbon Fibre can handle 14kg so is a fair bit stronger (it is also a less compact when folded and slightly heavier than the Tripster 1 series). But it is also a lot more expensive, and I've heard that Carbon Fibre can be brittle in extreme cold, so perhaps another reason you should stick to aluminium -- the weight saving isn't much. As a budget tripod it will be a little more wobbly than a big one and the ball head may not be as strong. But hopefully it will be light and compact enough you don't mind carrying it. With the NN3 and camera on top, the tripod will be very top-heavy. So watch out for wind or uneven surfaces. Don't extend the centre column much with the NN3, as I think it will then be too wobbly. The centre column may have a hook on the base where you can attach a small bag to help lower the centre of gravity, but don't attach too heavy a bag. All ball heads tend to droop a little when you tighten them. Rotating the ball into the side for portrait orientation puts a lot of strain so that is where you will find out if it is up to the job. If it droops too much, it will be a pain to use and may be worth returning for another model. -- Colin (talk) 09:32, 4 February 2019 (UTC)

Amazon UK have excellent customer service and returns, and I assume your Canadian one is similar. So if you aren't happy with it then it can be returned. Do B&H ship to you? They are another reputable shop. I would be very wary of ordering kit from China via Aliexpress or Ebay (where the trader is in China). You may be hit with customs import charges and it can be difficult to return the goods for repair or warranty. -- Colin (talk) 09:32, 4 February 2019 (UTC)

Dear Colin, sorry for the delay in answer you, but all things arrived at my house (except for the nodal ninja), the purchase service here is very fast. What surprised me most is the usefulness of having a remote control, however, the range is not more than one meter, btw The NN3 I think I'll go with the 10 degrees, so maybe I'll get working it with the 85mm. I think I could also do it manually without those stops. I will be experimenting with this and then I give you a feedback :), the lens work perfectly and fast and I know that I dont need focus confirmation but it work too --Photographer 00:53, 6 February 2019 (UTC)

The Photographer, that's good news. Shame the remote control range isn't far. Have you found where the IR sensor is on the camera? Mine is at the front so if I have the camera on a tripod, and I'm standing behind, I have to reach round the camera to point it at the sensor. But at least you don't get any vibration. With my 500mm lens, you can really see any camera shake when you touch the camera to adjust anything or press buttons. So I notice it is worth waiting a couple of seconds after making any adjustments, to let it settle down, and then press the remote shutter. I have also used the remote for taking a group photo where I'm in the shot. I'm glad the lens is ok. If you find that the infinity mark isn't at infinity focus, let me know and I'll try to find the web page with instructions for adjustment. I agree that for the NN you might find you don't need or want the stops -- you may be able to turn the disc upside down so that there are no detents. -- Colin (talk) 08:23, 6 February 2019 (UTC)

Panoramic head

Dear Colin, I have been looking for stores that can bring me the nodal ninja, verifying the taxes imposed on the price to the NN, the parent company sent by UPS only and finally the free shipping is no longer available, this would add a significant additional value to the original price and rates. freight, the NN3 MK3 + Nadir Adapter w/ Lower Rotator Mini Pkg (F3302) price is 460,8 $ CAD, while the SUNWAYFOTO CR-3015A is 360,29 $ CAD, and 192,27 $ CAD for SunwayFoto CR-30C. I have been reading some reviews where they comment that the SUNWAYFOTO could generate more stitching errors. It is evident that the three models do different things and cover different degrees, however, it is not clear to me which would be better. BTW, taking pictures of this type is what I like the most and NN was always a dream for me, however, I remember some time ago you recommended me to buy the D7200 instead of the D750, which was a wise decision, and in this case I would like to know if the same analogy applies to SUNWAYFOTO and NN. Thanks --Photographer 05:17, 9 February 2019 (UTC)

User:The Photographer, I found the same NN from B&H photo to Canada for about 438CAD, but still, that's a lot of money for something you won't use all the time. A concern I have with the Sunwayfoto CR-30C is that it is 334g which is about half the weight of the NN. Both are about the same size, which is great for an APS-C DSLR or mirrorless. Diliff used the NN3 with his full frame Canon but then upgraded to the larger NN -- I think some of the big Sigma lenses were too large and heavy combined with his big camera. But the larger NN's are really quite big and heavy, which makes transporting them more of a consideration and hassle. So I'm wondering if the Sunwayfoto CR-30C might be a little weak if used a lot.

The other Sunwayfoto head you linked to is larger, heavier and more expensive. It also doesn't come with an Arca-Swiss clamp, so that's a real pain to have screw it onto your camera to use it. You could do what one reviewer did, and what I did with my older NN3 MKII is put a small Arca-Swiss clamp onto the NN plate. But I don't really recommend that as an ideal solution as it makes it heavier and limits the horizontal adjustment you can do.

Another panoramic head I have found is a Chinese model available under several brands but with code PH-720B. For example, Andoer PH-720B at 205CAD from Amazon.ca. It is also available direct from China Mengs PH-720B. However, you'll need to consider the risk and hassle of importing where the possible customs charges could outweigh the saving, and where returning goods is more hassle than with Amazon. I've heard of both Andoer and Mengs -- they sell budget camera accessories on Amazon and the Gumptrade website is owned by Mengs. This panoramic head is about 790g according to Amazon. There is a Youtube unboxing video for it. It is in Russian so I don't understand it, but it looks nice quality and all metal parts.

A larger head than the PH-720B is the PH-720A, such as the Mengs PH-720A. It is larger, heavier and has a feature to rotate the vertical rail to capture the Nadir in a 360° panorama. However, I suspect you can flip the PH-702B vertical rail by 180° too. It is rated for 15kg vs 10kg so is stronger (if you believe the manufacturer). My feeling is that the extra weight and size are too much and not necessary for your camera. You need to remember that the heavier and larger head will make your lightweight travel tripod less stable. I haven't found that PH-702A model available for a good price on Amazon.ca.

So I think you should consider the Andoer PH-720B from Amazon.ca or Mengs PH-720B from China. They are exactly the same head, but you need to decide to choose the safety of Amazon or possible price saving by ordering direct. The head has 3 good reviews on Amazon.co.uk. Another bonus is that the base already has an Arca-Swiss fitting, so will fit onto your ball head directly. And the vertical clamp is Arca-swiss so fits onto your camera with the plate that came with your tripod. -- Colin (talk) 21:45, 9 February 2019 (UTC)

Everything indicates that I will have an additional unused Arca-Swiss, however, the option of the Andoer PH-720B seems to be a robust option but I do not know if it is possible not to use the stops and make stops manually in case of lenses that need less than 15 degrees (like 85mm what could use 11 degrees, for example). With respect to the 360 degree panoramas, it may not be possible with this Andoer PH-720B because it would always be part of the exposed tripod ?. Thanks --Photographer 22:22, 9 February 2019 (UTC)

User:The Photographer, yes if you already bought an arca-swiss plate, it would not be needed for this (only for NN). But Amazon should allow you to return it. A review at the bottom of this page says "it is made with perfection and can do flawless 360 photos that are easy to stich and fix erros at NADIR & ZENITH". Looking at how it is assembled and the way the vertical arm fits into the wedge on the horizontal arm, I am very confident that you just unscrew it and flip it 180° to make a nadir photo with the tripod head and legs now out of the shot (moving the tripod over a little, so the camera is back at the rotation point). Wrt stops, if you want the base to have no stop clicks, just don't screw the little knob in. Even with clicks, you will be able to stop half-way and then tighten at any position you like. -- Colin (talk) 22:35, 9 February 2019 (UTC)

I've been playing for a while with the rokinon taking pictures inside my room, it's a sensational lens, I like how those shapes look with exaggerated perspective and incredible sharpness. Gracias Colin for the explain, I will return the arca-swiss plate to amazon. --Photographer 02:05, 10 February 2019 (UTC)

Good. You now need to find subjects and compositions that work well with it. How is the tripod? Is the ball head a good one? -- Colin (talk) 09:08, 10 February 2019 (UTC)

Btw, earlier you mentioned a Sunwayfoto head might generate more stitching errors. I don't think this is possible with any of these heads if used correctly and the head is big enough for the camera & lens. If you had one of those huge DSLRs with battery packs in the base, then these compact pano heads don't have the horizontal width to get the entrance pupil (aka no parallax point or NPP) over the rotator. And a few lenses have their NPP so far from the camera sensor that the top-most arm isn't long enough to align that point either. If someone used a head that was too small, they wouldn't be able to get the NPP in position. There are lots of guides for finding the NPP (here's one). The horizontal position is simply due to your camera model so once you've set that, you'll never need to change it unless you change your camera or QR plate (a thicker or thinner plate might change it slightly). The other position (depth?) changes from lens to lens. Both Diliff and I have found you don't need to be perfectly accurate with that for many situations. For example, if one lens is at 56mm and another at 61mm then you might get away with either value or a value in between. I have also found that Smartblend is often better than PtGui's own blend tool (though must slower). In addition to possible stitching errors, you will have found you get seams showing up if the frames are different in any way. For example, the light changes between shots, or someone moves, and for distant shots, heat shimmer. Smartblend seems to be extra intelligent at choosing where to put the seams, and to blend them invisibly. -- Colin (talk) 10:35, 10 February 2019 (UTC)

The tripod is quite small that my old tripod, the legs are interchangeable manually, that is, I need to remove the legs used for asphalt manually unscrewing and then place the legs for sandy soils (metal claws). When you open the tripod completely, the last thin section seems very weak, so it probably does not extend too much. The system of undoing to open the legs looks more delicate or weak than the old system used in my old tripod that was basically a prastic click that released the legs. Many pieces of the tripod appear to be plastic and appear to be a complex design made up of many small parts joined together. The upper part of the tripod is much better designed than my old tripod, the threads (rotating knob) to release the movement of the ball are quite accurate, however, everything is made of hard plastic. My old tripod had a more inaccurate ball movement mechanism, however, everything was made of solid iron and the pieces were simpler, which generates in me a concern about the ease of any piece being worn and lost. I feel that this tripod is more sophisticated but not necessarily weaker, maybe time will tell, however, it is considerably smaller which forces me to be more crouched or seated (however, my height is 2 meters, so the problem could be me). The most positive thing that I observe of the new tripod is its weight and its pretty accurate ball head. I just bought the Andoer, amazon says it will arrive in a month, I also returned to Amazon the Arca-Swiss, however, the amazon system tells me that I do not need to send it physically, that is, in theory Amazon is giving it away. Regarding the software of union of photos, by the moment the one that has solved more problems of union for me has been Photoshop, also probe autopano pro obtaining better results than ptgui, nevertheless, the quality of the image thrown by ptgui was always superior , in addition to its speed. I think ptgui uses hugin internally. Regarding your explanations, it is something that seems simple, however in a month I will be able to follow the guidelines (url) that you have sent me. I tried to go out and take some pictures, however, the weather is very cold, it is like feeling a constant pain (-30 C) --Photographer 00:25, 11 February 2019 (UTC)

User:The Photographer, the spare plate may be useful at some other time with another accessory. It is a shame your camera has a fixed rear screen, as I find a tilting screen very handy for use with tripod and this would avoid you bending down so far to see the screen or look through the viewfinder. This assumes, though, the sunlight is not too bright for the screen, and that I wear my reading glasses. If this tripod is too small, and it doesn't look used, then you could still consider returning it and we look for a larger one. I don't think you want to normally be extending the middle column, especially when you add the height of the ball head and panoramic head, it will make it very top heavy and more wobbly or even blow over. My tripod also has different feet that I could use for sand vs hard surface, though I haven't used them. There are lots of tripods to consider, so have a think. We don't want you getting a bad back from stooping! -- Colin (talk) 08:35, 11 February 2019 (UTC)

User:The Photographer if you are able to return your Tripster tripod then have a look at the Benro Adventure 2 Series Aluminum Tripod w/ B2 Ball Head. You can compare the specs: Adventure 2 Series vs Tripster Travel 1 Series. This is dearer at 296CAD rather than 205CAD. It is a little heavier at 1.8kg vs 1.5kg. The max height without using the centre column is 135.4cm vs 116.6 which is an extra 19cm. With the centre column extended, it is 6cm taller. It only has 4 leg sections rather than 5 sections, which makes it stronger, makes the legs thicker, but does not fold down so small -- 52.6cm vs 36.1cm. It has a much stronger ball head -- the B2 head rather than what looks like the B0 head. You can also see that it does not have the two thick neck sections above where the legs meet, making it less top-heavy and much more rigid. It should also mean it is more stable if you do extend the centre column. The legs use the flip locks rather than twist locks. I have used both and think both are ok. If the extra length when folded is not a problem for you, then I would recommend you consider this one. I think it is worth paying a little more for a tripod that is stronger, as it will last better and be more comfortable to use. In my experience, Amazon are excellent for returns, and particularly when you want to swap for something else. -- Colin (talk) 09:52, 11 February 2019 (UTC)

User:The Photographer, the above Benro Adventure tripod doesn't seem in stock on Amazon today, and only sold by 3rd party sellers for a silly price. Perhaps you could work out how much B&H will ship to you. Alternatively, if you want an even taller tripod and don't mind taking a gamble with an unknown brand, K&F concept tripod is 144.5cm without the centre column extended and 169cm when extended. It is even heavier at 1.99kg. The tripod neck is a bit longer than the Benro Adventure because it incorporates a 3D feature where you can put the centre column horizontal, which is useful for some macro work, but will make it slightly less stable than one with a short neck. They also do a Carbon Fibre version that is 142cm tall without the centre column extended. It is lighter at 1.5kg due to the carbon fibre. I know aluminium legs get extremely cold to touch in very cold weather (all these tripods have one leg with foam to hold). Carbon fibre isn't so bad to touch, but I have heard it can get brittle in very cold weather. You might want to read a bit about that if you are considering it. I can't vouch for the quality of those two, thought the Amazon reviews seem positive, it looks well designed, and is nearly as tall as tripods get (some are 150cm). -- Colin (talk) 09:11, 12 February 2019 (UTC)

I see the Benro Adventure is available on ebay with 5 year guarantee (only briefly used). That might be worth considering as likely to be more reliable long-term than unknown brand with unknown warranty. -- Colin (talk) 11:08, 12 February 2019 (UTC)

I am waiting for an offer from the same manufacturer because it is not available directly. I will keep you informed, for the time being, I will return the other tripod and in parallel I will try to repair the old --Photographer 02:48, 13 February 2019 (UTC)

User:The Photographer. Good. I had forgotten how tall you were. I also didn't notice the long neck on that small tripod which, when you add a panoramic head to the ball head, will make it very top-heavy and less stable. So have you contacted Benro directly? I did have a look at tripods from other brands but they were mostly more expensive or had proprietary quick-release clamp/plate which is too much of a hassle.

Have you heard of CamelCamelCamel. They track Amazon prices and you can look at the historical price for e.g. Benro Adventure. You can click options to track Amazon's own price and/or third party sellers. They had a sever crash recently so there is a little gap in their data, but they are working again now. If you create an account with them, you can set up a notification to get an email when the price for a product drops below a certain value. So for example, you could get an email when the price for that tripod falls below 300 CAD, which is should do again when they get stock back. -- Colin (talk) 08:49, 13 February 2019 (UTC)

Nice I never heard about camel page, I will use that to track the tripod (normal price 300$ and right now 450$) amazon price. BTW, I had some doubts about this lens, however, it is incredibly sharp in low light (maybe i used too much ISO) condition WOW!! and I think I'll join the fan club of those generic glasses. --Photographer 02:47, 14 February 2019 (UTC)

User:The Photographer, the EXIF for that photo says f/18. You shouldn't need to go much above f/8. See DoF calculator. It says at f/8 if you focus at 0.5m then everything from 0.22m to infinity is "acceptably" sharp. Of course, for the pixel peepers on Commons, you may want to increase that a little (either f/11 or focus a little further like 1m or 1.5m). At f/5.6 if you focus at 1m then everything from 0.36m to infinity is "acceptably" sharp. You can see from this review that the sharpest apertures are f/5.6 and f/8 (though f/11 is still very good). With such extreme DoF you won't need autofocus! Just make sure your lens is accurately calibrated so 1m, 1.5,, 3m and infinity are all where they should be. Then set the dial to about 2m, say, and forget about it. The only thing you have to watch is the make sure the focus ring hasn't moved when you take the camera out of your bag. -- Colin (talk) 08:00, 14 February 2019 (UTC)

Dear Colin, I found a discount and I bought both the new tripod Benro Adventure 2 and the Andoer PH-720B arrived today and I can tell you that the quality of the new tripod is incredibly superior than the old one amazing!!!, especially the panoramic head and the previous tripod was of such poor quality that it would look like another brand .. The ball is very solid, big and feels stable, however, the tripod is incredibly light . The size is similar to my previous tripod but with a more accurate panoramic head, stable, better material and a large list of etc. I am without money, but very happy with this acquisition. I have removed the panoramic head and I placed the Andorer that has a screw inlet that fits perfectly with the tripod. On the other hand, the Andorer feels solid and indestructible but very precise, I do not know how an original Nodal Ninja would be, however, Andorer gives me a very good impression. While I'm waiting for my user to be renamed, I'll start reading tutorials on how it works. --67.68.177.192 23:48, 20 February 2019 (UTC) this comment was done by User:The Photographer without do login because my user is temporally locked

User:The Photographer I'm very happy with the tripod news. Worth paying more, and I guess the previous one was too little money to expect good quality, but also the previous one was more aimed at travel with small size. You said you removed the panoramic ball head and fitted the Andoer directly to the tripod. You can do that, and it will be fine on a level floor, but if the top of the tripod is not level then the panorama you make will tilt as you rotate the base. It is tedious to adjust the legs to make the top of the tripod level. Much easier to keep the ball head and fit the Andoer on top of it. I think the Andoer base is Arca Swiss so should fit to the clamp of the ball head. Then you can use the ball head to level things. It is possible to buy a levelling base (see this search) which is not so tall as a ball head. But keeping the ball head on gives you all the flexibility when out for a shoot -- you can photograph using the ball head or the Andoer panoramic head without having to get out a screwdriver or Allen key to remove something.

Wrt the Andoer quality, the test will be when you mount your camera and heavy lens to the head and rotate it about. Does it hold it strongly without sagging or leaning over? When you tighten the knobs after rotating, does it hold firm? If so, then I think it will be fine. Have you tried to see if the vertical arm can be turned 180° to take a nadir photo? I think it might be best to remove the camera from the clamp when you do that, or be careful to hold the camera strongly while you do it. -- Colin (talk) 08:53, 21 February 2019 (UTC)

Dear Colin, I have done every tests that you have told me, all have happened normally. The panoramic head seems quite robust maybe too much, I feel the impression that a bulldozer could pass over this and continue the same, btw, the vertical arm (where the camera rests directly) is a little hard, When I try to raise and lower the arm I need to make pressure, makes stops of degrees, I think it could be the only negative point difficulty of desc and asc the arm. I do not even understand what the knob that squeezes the arm is for if it is quite rigid at the stops. On the other hand, I have been doing the exercises to find the nodal point, however, when trying to join the panoramic, I have had difficulties with some unification errors between the images using Autopano Giga. The new tripod and its huge ball, and the remote control have become the new object of my adoration at home. I have taken a private photo of my house that I have sent you by email (it is a private photo and my user of commons is blocked (due to the process of rename user without date of realization) to upload other examples), I would like to hear your criticism, I still can not get out of the house to take pictures due to the harsh winter, the snow mountains of more than 4 meters completely cover the front parts of the houses and white is basically the only color. Thanks --67.68.177.192 22:07, 24 February 2019 (UTC)

User:The Photographer, my NN vertical arm has degree markings but no stops that it clicks on. I just have to loosen the knob and turn. I'm not sure why yours is so stiff -- did you loosen it enough? How is are the stops achieved on that arm? If there is a disc with dents in it every 15° perhaps this disc can be reversed to a blank side so that there are no stops at all? Perhaps you just need to exercise it a bit to relax it? I'll have a look at your photo later. For the 360° photos, User:Diliff andUser:Code have experience of this -- I haven't yet created one. So it might be useful to contact them, they are always willing to offer advice and help. Perhaps your nodal point isn't quite found yet. -- Colin (talk) 08:42, 25 February 2019 (UTC)

Message on behalf of The Photographer

Due to an ongoing rename request The Photographer is currently locked out of their account. The rename request is currently hung up due to the large amount of edits associated with the account (phab ticket). Per their request on IRC they wanted someone to post here to let you know that they are unable to continue whatever conversation they were having with you until the rename is complete. --Majora (talk) 00:20, 19 February 2019 (UTC)

File:Rubha nan Gall lighthouse and MV Clansman ferry P ISLE.jpg

Thanks for your message re the above file. That was my mistake, I forgot to check the categories after upload, so thanks for fixing them. I was making a header banner panorama image for en:Portal:Scottish islands when I saw your original image. It was perfect, both lending itself well to a 7:1 panorama ratio and in subject matter (what's more iconic to island life in the Inner Hebrides than a ferry sailing past your local lighthouse?). --Cactus.man 17:30, 8 April 2019 (UTC)

Did I lift a finger?

Guy, I was aware of Commons:Administrators' noticeboard/User problems/Archive 74 #Colin and watched the development silently. Did “that same admin” blanked postings of yours from Commons_talk pages? Did “that same admin” eventually find an associate eager to block you or intimidate? Were one of such things happened, I unlikely would remain silent. You rant is misleading. I didn’t side with you against Jcb – but it was another situation; nobody of Commons members was threatened then. Incnis Mrsi (talk) 14:12, 7 May 2019 (UTC)

Incnis Mrsi, I'm not really interested in playing a "if you think that's bad, look at this". You are the one who brought up the "nobody helped me with X" topic in your complaint to me, so I'm quite entitled to reply "same back". It turns out the uncivil remark that offended you wasn't "unchecked" but was criticised by Tuválkin. If you want/wanted to go further, it is really up to you to start an AN/U. What isn't acceptable is to, like Slowking4, join any random negative discussion about some incident on Commons and add in your own "yeah Commons sucks" thoughts to the pile. That doesn't contribute to the discussion, isn't relevant to the topic, and will likely lead to you getting blocked too. -- Colin (talk) 14:58, 7 May 2019 (UTC)

COM:AN/U

---

Hello. This message is being sent to inform you that there is currently a discussion at Commons:Administrators' noticeboard/User problems#John Bunyan Museum. You only pinged me, but that's no reason for me not to notify you using the recommended template. And at this point, it's probably appropriate to notify.

- Alexis Jazz ^{ping plz} 14:50, 7 June 2019 (UTC)

Civility

Hello, I wrote User:4nn1l2/Civility and I appreciate your feedback. Thanks in advance. 4nn1l2 (talk) 16:43, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

4nn1l2, since you also posted for feedback at Commons talk:Civility, perhaps that is the best place to discuss. I'll comment there. -- Colin (talk) 20:57, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

Photo walk in Stockholm

It's only a few weeks until Wikimania 2019 in Sweden. I'd like to invite you to the Commons Photographer's photo walk. If you're planning on going to Stockholm in August, please consider joining this event. This is an opportunity to connect with other photographers, have fun together, and explore the beauty of an iconic Scandinavian city… All the best, --Frank Schulenburg (talk) 03:38, 1 July 2019 (UTC)

Frank, thanks for the invite. I'd love to visit Sweden but have other family holiday plans this year at that time. Hope you have a great time. If you are ever in London... -- Colin (talk) 07:27, 2 July 2019 (UTC)

Have fun on your family vacation! Hope we can meet next time I‘m in London… All the best! —Frank Schulenburg (talk) 16:22, 2 July 2019 (UTC)

Panorama merge

Dear Colin, I have been doing several 360 panoramas in the usual way, using the Chinese nodal head that has been excellent so far. I would like to hear your recommendation about what software (or configuration) to do the photography merge. I have tried Hugin and trial versions of Autopano Pro, PTGui and Photoshop, however, the best results I have obtained has been PTgui (surprising for its sharpness, elimination of ghosts, HDR panorama merge from RAW...) but this software is expensive and I really do not know what free alternative or less expensive could exist. Thank you --Wilfredor (talk) 13:41, 28 June 2019 (UTC)

Hi Wilfredor. Glad the equipment is working well. I have not done 360° panoramas (either regular or HDR) yet, and really should give it a go. Best to ask Code or Diliff about that -- you may need to message them directly as neither are very active here these days. I used Hugin in the past but never could get the HDR to work, though perhaps they have fixed that now. I bought PtGui some years ago and was very pleased to get a free upgrade to the latest version which is a total rewrite and much nicer looking. I have not used its built-in raw conversion. See https://www.ptgui.com/support.html#3_7 -- it is based on DCRaw and I think the results will not be as good as Lightroom or Photoshop CameraRaw can produce if you use 16-bit tiff files. I have generally been impressed with using that to generate HDR 32-bit TIFF files and import them to Lightroom to tonemap for JPG. I haven't played much with its built-in HDR tonemapping, but I think Diliff compared and preferred what Lightroom could do. I have used PtGui quite often for HDR photos even when not panoramic. I can set my Sony to exposure bracket with quite a large range and flexibility. For panoramas it is much better than Lightroom or Photoshop, especially when you can set vertical (and sometimes horizontal) control points, and the choice of projections. In that regard, it is quite similar to Hugin. I have used Lightroom's panorama for modest landscape panoramas, but it simply isn't good enough to use for architectural images. If you can get Hugin to stitch HDR then theoretically the results should be very similar to PtGui. Have you managed this, and was it worse?

I remember that Diliff found that generating 360° HDR sometimes produced a visible join at when the left+right edges meet. I think he solved that by producing two panoramas with different centre points, and then merging the result in Photoshop. That's obviously a lot more hassle and disc space.

Does the trial for PtGui product usable images, or are they watermarked? If you want, you could post your raw files online (public or private e.g. Dropbox) and I could generate the output for you. The file sizes might be large though.

-- Colin (talk) 15:11, 29 June 2019 (UTC)

Hi Colin, thanks for your fast answer like ever, i think that its better if you look the problems by yourself. I uploaded the pano picture here, however it has severals verticals problems and quality problems (I also forgot to photograph the floor, so I'll need to redo it with photoshop). The exposure is not bracked and it was done using trial version of ptgui and removing the watermark. I cant find any valid way to send you 88 pictures in RAW (there were too many people and I had to wait for hours and make several pictures of the same shot), I cant uderestand why the view 360 is not working on commons. I would appreciate any evaluation that you could give to correct the merge problems and the defects of the image in itself that you can find. Thank you --Wilfredor (talk) 03:56, 1 July 2019 (UTC)

Wilfredor, when I open it in panoramic viewer it complains it is not a JPG (it is a PNG). Perhaps you could make a JPG version. -- Colin (talk) 06:55, 2 July 2019 (UTC)

Dear Colin, After observing the line of hundreds of people entering the Notre Dame de Montreal, I decided to walk and go to another church less crowded, the Saint Patrick turned out to be a beautiful surprise, Finally i want to tell you that I fixed the problem adding 14 RAWs files and removing anothers 4 raws (this was the result of removing and adding RAW files until hugin managed to accept the images and merge them in the best way). I decided to do the horizontal sweep manually mainly for speed and to create more points of union (I was not sure which separator to use). There were several people constantly in the church, so I had to repeat the shots several times waiting for them to move. BTW, I have been so impressed by the result, especially the good white balance handling that I plan to upload it in the WLM event (In theory it is not exactly the same image as it incorporates other images inside, but I'm not sure if the jury could accept it) Anyway, the picture has a size of around 150 Mb, I'm looking for some way to share it with you maybe with Amazon storage --Wilfredor (talk) 01:34, 3 July 2019 (UTC)

Wilfredor, very glad to hear that you are so happy with your pano that you think it might win a prize. I suppose you could ask the judges if they think that is valid. Better to make them aware and consider it, than to get a prize and for someone to complain. Are you able to take a regular (non 360°) photo? In addition to file backup sites like Google Drive, Dropbox or Amazon, there are also WeTransfer and Hightail and others that offer some space to transfer files. You know my email address. -- ~~— Preceding unsigned comment added by Colin (talk • contribs)

I sent you a link by email with the image, please, let me know if you have the e-mail. With respect to the panoramas no 360, I could not make them using the Andoer PH-720B panoramic head because to raise and lower the vertical arm that creates the rows, the jumps are fixed, that is to say the problem that I had previously commented to you. I do not know with which type of lens these vertical fixed jumps will be compatible, however, it look like i could change the vertical steaps 30 dreegres by default. I will try to disarm the panoramic head to see if I can remove that limitation --Wilfredor (talk) 19:14, 5 July 2019 (UTC)

Wilfredor, I got your mail and have downloaded the file. I've been very busy today. I hope to be able to examine it and give feedback tomorrow. -- Colin (talk) 19:43, 5 July 2019 (UTC)

You do not have to answer quickly, you can delay a week if you want. Take your answers in a relaxed way, this is supposed to be fun and not an obligation --Wilfredor (talk) 19:48, 5 July 2019 (UTC)

September 2019: it's Wiki Loves Monuments time again!

Hi

You're receiving this message because you've previously contributed to the annual Wiki Loves Monuments contest in the UK. We'd be delighted if you would do so again this year and help record our local built environment for future generations.

You can find more details at the Wiki Loves Monuments UK website. Or, if you have images taken in other countries, you can check the international options. This year's contest runs until 30 September 2019.

Many thanks for your help once more! MichaelMaggs (talk) 15:34, 3 September 2019 (UTC)

September 2019: it's Wiki Loves Monuments time again!

Hi

You're receiving this message because you've previously contributed to the annual Wiki Loves Monuments contest in Ireland. We'd be delighted if you would enter again this year, and continue to build on the image archive of Ireland's built heritage.

You can find more details at the Wiki Loves Monuments Ireland website. If you have images taken in other countries, you can check the international options. Once again, this year's contest runs until 30 September 2019.

Thanks again for your help and enthusiasm! Smirkybec (talk) 19:27, 3 September 2019 (UTC)

Nomination at Fp

Thank you for your comments on my settings in "Featured picture candidates". Your criticism of categorizing my pictures is certainly justified. But I can assure you that the mistakes in the categorization were not deliberate, or not intended, but by the in my view insufficient explanations to the nomination of FPS and my non-existent English-knowledge have arisen. I try to reduce the mistakes on my part in the future, or to do it right. One more question about your last post: what do you mean by the term "anchor"

Regards Fischer.H

Fischer.H, an anchor is an HTML link and the bit after the # points to a unique ID on the page. In wikitext, every sub-heading creates an ID of the same name, that you can refer to using the "#subtitle" syntax. It is also possible to create more IDs on a page using the {{Anchor}} template. So to link to this section on my user page is User talk:Colin#Nomination at Fp -- Colin (talk) 16:58, 8 September 2019 (UTC)

Wiki Loves Monuments France 2019

Bonjour,

Le concours Wiki Loves Monuments France est de retour et ouvert jusqu'à 31 septembre ! Déjà 8310 photos ont été importés cette année, vous aussi rejoignez le concours !

Le concours concerne tous les monuments présents dans la base Mérimée (qu'ils soient classés, inscrits ou simplement classés). De l'imposant château aux ruines industrielles, de la chapelle au coin de la rue aux mégalithes en forêt, c'est un impressionnant patrimoine qui attend d'être photographié et documenté. Où que vous soyez il y a des monuments autour de chez vous. Enfin, vous pouvez mettre en ligne autant de photos que vous le souhaitez de ces monuments. Pour information, le règlement est disponible sur le site du concours. Nous attendons vos photos avec impatience !

Les plus belles photos seront sélectionnées par un jury national composé d'amateurs et de professionnels, de contributeurs à Wikimedia Commons et d'acteurs du patrimoine. Un jury international sélectionnera ensuite des meilleures photographies mondiales.

Si vous avez des questions, l'équipe organisatrice se fera un plaisir d'y répondre.

P.S. : vous recevez ce message parce que vous avez participé au concours Wiki Loves Monuments en France les années précédentes. Si vous avez déjà ou si ne pouvez pas participer au concours cette année, faites passer le message autour de vous pour que de nouveaux et nouvelles photographes rejoignent l'aventure !

Bonne journée,

Sarah Krichen WMFr et Nicolas Vigneron, pour l'équipe de Wiki Loves Monuments France, 14:50, 12 September 2019 (UTC)

Quality Image Promotion

Your image has been reviewed and promoted Congratulations! Altar, Church of St Peter and St Paul, East Harling.jpg, which was produced by you, was reviewed and has now been promoted to Quality Image status. If you would like to nominate another image, please do so at Quality images candidates. We also invite you to take part in the categorization of recently promoted quality images. Comments  Support Good quality. --Uoaei1 12:57, 19 September 2019 (UTC)

Your image has been reviewed and promoted Congratulations! Lady Chapel, looking South, Church of St Peter and St Paul, East Harling.jpg, which was produced by you, was reviewed and has now been promoted to Quality Image status. If you would like to nominate another image, please do so at Quality images candidates. We also invite you to take part in the categorization of recently promoted quality images. Comments The photo has lens flares. --Steindy 13:12, 19 September 2019 (UTC). Steindy, I think the small area of flare, round the speaker in front of a window, is tolerable in an 81MP image and very hard to avoid when direct sunlight faces the camera -- Colin 13:43, 19 September 2019 (UTC) No problem, it was written only as an indication of a reparable defect, which is why I did not give a rating. QI for me. --Steindy 14:29, 19 September 2019 (UTC)

Your image has been reviewed and promoted Congratulations! Lady Chapel, looking West, Church of St Peter and St Paul, East Harling 1.jpg, which was produced by you, was reviewed and has now been promoted to Quality Image status. If you would like to nominate another image, please do so at Quality images candidates. We also invite you to take part in the categorization of recently promoted quality images. Comments  Support Good quality. --Steindy 13:21, 19 September 2019 (UTC)

Your image has been reviewed and promoted Congratulations! Lectern, Church of St Peter and St Paul, East Harling.jpg, which was produced by you, was reviewed and has now been promoted to Quality Image status. If you would like to nominate another image, please do so at Quality images candidates. We also invite you to take part in the categorization of recently promoted quality images. Comments  Support Good quality. --MB-one 16:45, 19 September 2019 (UTC)

Your image has been reviewed and promoted Congratulations! Tomb of Sir William Chamberlain and Lady Anne, Easter Sepulchre, Church of St Peter and St Paul, East Harling.jpg, which was produced by you, was reviewed and has now been promoted to Quality Image status. If you would like to nominate another image, please do so at Quality images candidates. We also invite you to take part in the categorization of recently promoted quality images. Comments  Support Good quality. --Uoaei1 12:57, 19 September 2019 (UTC) What are the many white spots on the wall and the books in the background? After these are on different levels, it can only be a problem with the camera. --Steindy 13:01, 19 September 2019 (UTC) Steindy, there is an internal window between this room and the one behind the tomb, which is not completely clean. -- Colin 13:43, 19 September 2019 (UTC) Then it's okay. It should only be a hint. QI! --Steindy 14:29, 19 September 2019 (UTC)

--QICbot (talk) 05:34, 22 September 2019 (UTC)

FP Promotion

★ This image has been promoted to Featured picture! ★ The image File:Lady Chapel, looking East, Church of St Peter and St Paul, East Harling.jpg, that you nominated on Commons:Featured picture candidates/File:Lady Chapel, looking East, Church of St Peter and St Paul, East Harling.jpg has been promoted. Thank you for your contribution. If you would like to nominate another image, please do so.

/FPCBot (talk) 21:02, 22 September 2019 (UTC)

FP Promotion

75px|center|

★ This image has been promoted to Featured picture! ★ The image Commons:Featured picture candidates/Set/Nave, Church of St Peter and St Paul, East Harling, that you nominated on Commons:Featured picture candidates/Commons:Featured picture candidates/Set/Nave, Church of St Peter and St Paul, East Harling has been promoted. Thank you for your contribution. If you would like to nominate another image, please do so.

/FPCBot (talk) 05:01, 23 September 2019 (UTC)

Quality Image Promotion

Your image has been reviewed and promoted Congratulations! East Window, Church of St Peter and St Paul, East Harling.jpg, which was produced by you, was reviewed and has now been promoted to Quality Image status. If you would like to nominate another image, please do so at Quality images candidates. We also invite you to take part in the categorization of recently promoted quality images. Comments Good quality -- Spurzem 12:37, 20 September 2019 (UTC)

Your image has been reviewed and promoted Congratulations! Lady Chapel, looking West, Church of St Peter and St Paul, East Harling 2.jpg, which was produced by you, was reviewed and has now been promoted to Quality Image status. If you would like to nominate another image, please do so at Quality images candidates. We also invite you to take part in the categorization of recently promoted quality images. Comments  Support Good quality, great work! --Steindy 12:52, 20 September 2019 (UTC)

--QICbot (talk) 05:26, 23 September 2019 (UTC)

Quality Image Promotion

Your image has been reviewed and promoted Congratulations! Tomb of Sir Thomas Lovell and Dame Alice, Church of St Peter and St Paul, East Harling 4.jpg, which was produced by you, was reviewed and has now been promoted to Quality Image status. If you would like to nominate another image, please do so at Quality images candidates. We also invite you to take part in the categorization of recently promoted quality images. Comments  Support Good quality. --Steindy 12:52, 20 September 2019 (UTC)

--QICbot (talk) 05:41, 24 September 2019 (UTC)

Charlesjsharp

Hi Colin! It's not about whether the comment is appropriate or not. Rather, it is about the fact that Charles shortly after I showed goodwill, believed that he should continue and have to continue his un-collegiate behavior towards me. You also do not need to advise me to leave his pictures alone, because after his actions I did not rate any pictures of him; I'm not in the nursery school. Basically, as a former semi-professional photographer (45 years old), I am able to evaluate whether or not a photo is good for me or for other users. To the objective photo: there is a huge difference, whether a photo is reproducible or not. I do not have the opportunity to repeat game scenes in a football match, and I did not have the opportunity to set up the players as I wished in this game in the portraits. These are all live photos during the game or during the preparation. It's even the case that they are often chased away from security by these professional teams when they get too close to the "stars". The "multi millionaires" must be well guarded. As a photographer, you must be grateful to be allowed to stand on the sidelines. I do not attach particular importance to QIC and have long avoided the scope of such experiences as with Charles. However, if I am equipped by Wikimedia Austria with this camera and this lens, then I feel obliged to provide a corresponding consideration in the form of good pictures. In addition to the number of affiliations (some up to 30 or 40 times), this includes the candidacy for QIC. Although I wrote that I do not need QIC for personal success, I am tired of accepting my work. Kindly regards --Steindy (talk) 22:20, 24 September 2019 (UTC)

Quality Image Promotion

Your image has been reviewed and promoted Congratulations! Mediaeval Screenwork, North, Church of St Peter and St Paul, East Harling.jpg, which was produced by you, was reviewed and has now been promoted to Quality Image status. If you would like to nominate another image, please do so at Quality images candidates. We also invite you to take part in the categorization of recently promoted quality images. Comments Correction of perspective required (leaning to left). --Steindy 12:53, 20 September 2019 (UTC) Steindy I've reworked this with lens profile correction applied. I've corrected v perspective according to long edges of pillars that have been cropped out, so other edges may not be 100% vertical in this old church. The screen itself is quite wonky. -- Colin 19:52, 21 September 2019 (UTC)  Support Good quality. --Steindy 08:52, 27 September 2019 (UTC)

Your image has been reviewed and promoted Congratulations! Mediaeval Screenwork, South, Church of St Peter and St Paul, East Harling.jpg, which was produced by you, was reviewed and has now been promoted to Quality Image status. If you would like to nominate another image, please do so at Quality images candidates. We also invite you to take part in the categorization of recently promoted quality images. Comments Correction of perspective required (leaning to left). --Steindy 12:53, 20 September 2019 (UTC) Steindy I've reworked this with lens profile correction applied. I've corrected v perspective according to long edges of pillars that have been cropped out, so other edges may not be 100% vertical in this old church. The screen itself is quite wonky. -- Colin 19:52, 21 September 2019 (UTC)  Support Good quality. --Steindy 08:52, 27 September 2019 (UTC)

--QICbot (talk) 05:36, 30 September 2019 (UTC)

Thank you for contributing to Wiki Loves Monuments UK 2019!

Hi

Thank you so much for contributing to the UK section of this year's Wiki Loves Monuments contest, which finished yesterday. We really do appreciate the time and effort you've put in to record the UK's built cultural heritage for future generations.

Your contribution has been been added to our collections here on Wikimedia Commons, and is already available for editors to make use of on Wikipedia and elsewhere. It has also been entered into this year's contest. If you'd like to see your own images, just click on the uploads link at the top right of this page (if you don't see it, click on the Log in option first).

We've received over 10,000 UK entries this year, and it will take a few weeks for our volunteers and professional judges to decide on the final top 10. The winners will be announced by the end of this month, both here on Wikimedia Commons and also on the competition website.

The top 10 UK images will go forward to the international section where they will compete against winners from some 50 other countries. The international winners should be announced here in December.

Don't forget, by the way, that if you're hoping to win a prize in the contest it's essential that you have enabled email in your Wikimedia preferences. If you haven't, you're not eligible to win. If you're unsure, please check here.

Once again, many thanks for your help! MichaelMaggs (talk) 15:58, 2 October 2019 (UTC)

Quality Image Promotion

Your image has been reviewed and promoted Congratulations! Tower Bridge from the Shard London Bridge. Evening 2019-09-22.jpg, which was produced by you, was reviewed and has now been promoted to Quality Image status. If you would like to nominate another image, please do so at Quality images candidates. We also invite you to take part in the categorization of recently promoted quality images. Comments  Support Good quality. --Chenspec 15:13, 1 October 2019 (UTC)

--QICbot (talk) 05:35, 4 October 2019 (UTC)

Quality Image Promotion

Your image has been reviewed and promoted Congratulations! Tomb of Sir Francis Lovell and Dame Ann, Church of St Peter and St Paul, East Harling.jpg, which was produced by you, was reviewed and has now been promoted to Quality Image status. If you would like to nominate another image, please do so at Quality images candidates. We also invite you to take part in the categorization of recently promoted quality images. Comments  Support Good quality. --Steindy 23:46, 2 October 2019 (UTC)

Your image has been reviewed and promoted Congratulations! Tomb of Sir Robert Herling and Lady Joan, Church of St Peter and St Paul, East Harling 1.jpg, which was produced by you, was reviewed and has now been promoted to Quality Image status. If you would like to nominate another image, please do so at Quality images candidates. We also invite you to take part in the categorization of recently promoted quality images. Comments Good quality --Michielverbeek 19:10, 2 October 2019 (UTC)

Your image has been reviewed and promoted Congratulations! Tomb of Sir Thomas Lovell and Dame Alice, Church of St Peter and St Paul, East Harling 1.jpg, which was produced by you, was reviewed and has now been promoted to Quality Image status. If you would like to nominate another image, please do so at Quality images candidates. We also invite you to take part in the categorization of recently promoted quality images. Comments  Support Good quality. --Steindy 23:46, 2 October 2019 (UTC)

Your image has been reviewed and promoted Congratulations! Tomb of Sir Thomas Lovell and Dame Elizabeth, Church of St Peter and St Paul, East Harling.jpg, which was produced by you, was reviewed and has now been promoted to Quality Image status. If you would like to nominate another image, please do so at Quality images candidates. We also invite you to take part in the categorization of recently promoted quality images. Comments  Support Good quality. --Steindy 23:46, 2 October 2019 (UTC)

Your image has been reviewed and promoted Congratulations! Tomb of Sir Thomas Lovell and Dame Alice, Church of St Peter and St Paul, East Harling 3.jpg, which was produced by you, was reviewed and has now been promoted to Quality Image status. If you would like to nominate another image, please do so at Quality images candidates. We also invite you to take part in the categorization of recently promoted quality images. Comments  Support Good quality. --JoachimKohlerBremen 19:53, 2 October 2019 (UTC)

--QICbot (talk) 05:38, 5 October 2019 (UTC)

Quality Image Promotion

Your image has been reviewed and promoted Congratulations! View from south east, Church of St Peter and St Paul, East Harling 1.jpg, which was produced by you, was reviewed and has now been promoted to Quality Image status. If you would like to nominate another image, please do so at Quality images candidates. We also invite you to take part in the categorization of recently promoted quality images. Comments  Support Good quality. --Poco a poco 09:15, 3 October 2019 (UTC)

Your image has been reviewed and promoted Congratulations! South porch, Church of St Peter and St Paul, East Harling.jpg, which was produced by you, was reviewed and has now been promoted to Quality Image status. If you would like to nominate another image, please do so at Quality images candidates. We also invite you to take part in the categorization of recently promoted quality images. Comments  Support Good quality. --Poco a poco 09:15, 3 October 2019 (UTC)

Your image has been reviewed and promoted Congratulations! View from south east, Church of St Peter and St Paul, East Harling 2.jpg, which was produced by you, was reviewed and has now been promoted to Quality Image status. If you would like to nominate another image, please do so at Quality images candidates. We also invite you to take part in the categorization of recently promoted quality images. Comments  Support Good quality. --Poco a poco 09:15, 3 October 2019 (UTC)

Your image has been reviewed and promoted Congratulations! View from the south west, Church of St Peter and St Paul, East Harling.jpg, which was produced by you, was reviewed and has now been promoted to Quality Image status. If you would like to nominate another image, please do so at Quality images candidates. We also invite you to take part in the categorization of recently promoted quality images. Comments  Support Good quality. --Poco a poco 09:15, 3 October 2019 (UTC)

Your image has been reviewed and promoted Congratulations! Clock, Church of St Peter and St Paul, East Harling.jpg, which was produced by you, was reviewed and has now been promoted to Quality Image status. If you would like to nominate another image, please do so at Quality images candidates. We also invite you to take part in the categorization of recently promoted quality images. Comments  Support Good quality. --Poco a poco 09:15, 3 October 2019 (UTC)

Your image has been reviewed and promoted Congratulations! Tower of London from Shard London Bridge. Evening 2019-09-22.jpg, which was produced by you, was reviewed and has now been promoted to Quality Image status. If you would like to nominate another image, please do so at Quality images candidates. We also invite you to take part in the categorization of recently promoted quality images. Comments  Support Good quality. --Streetdeck 09:45, 3 October 2019 (UTC)

--QICbot (talk) 05:42, 6 October 2019 (UTC)

Quality Image Promotion

Your image has been reviewed and promoted Congratulations! Tomb of Sir Thomas Lovell and Dame Alice, Church of St Peter and St Paul, East Harling 2.jpg, which was produced by you, was reviewed and has now been promoted to Quality Image status. If you would like to nominate another image, please do so at Quality images candidates. We also invite you to take part in the categorization of recently promoted quality images. Comments  Support Good quality. --Aristeas 12:22, 8 October 2019 (UTC)

Your image has been reviewed and promoted Congratulations! Tomb of Sir Robert Herling and Lady Joan, Church of St Peter and St Paul, East Harling 2.jpg, which was produced by you, was reviewed and has now been promoted to Quality Image status. If you would like to nominate another image, please do so at Quality images candidates. We also invite you to take part in the categorization of recently promoted quality images. Comments  Support Good quality. --Aristeas 12:22, 8 October 2019 (UTC)

Your image has been reviewed and promoted Congratulations! Misericord Stalls, South, Lowered, Church of St Peter and St Paul, East Harling.jpg, which was produced by you, was reviewed and has now been promoted to Quality Image status. If you would like to nominate another image, please do so at Quality images candidates. We also invite you to take part in the categorization of recently promoted quality images. Comments  Support Good quality. --Steindy 18:56, 8 October 2019 (UTC)

Your image has been reviewed and promoted Congratulations! Misericord Stalls, South, Raised, Church of St Peter and St Paul, East Harling.jpg, which was produced by you, was reviewed and has now been promoted to Quality Image status. If you would like to nominate another image, please do so at Quality images candidates. We also invite you to take part in the categorization of recently promoted quality images. Comments  Support Good quality. --Steindy 18:56, 8 October 2019 (UTC)

--QICbot (talk) 05:32, 11 October 2019 (UTC)

FP Promotion

★ This image has been promoted to Featured picture! ★ The image File:Organ, Church of St Peter and St Paul, East Harling.jpg, that you nominated on Commons:Featured picture candidates/File:Organ, Church of St Peter and St Paul, East Harling.jpg has been promoted. Thank you for your contribution. If you would like to nominate another image, please do so.

/FPCBot (talk) 05:02, 12 October 2019 (UTC)

DSLR's dying

Sorry for not answer your email, but its because gmail is blocked from the place where I usually connect, however, I have been reading in detail the interesting article (a bit long) that you have sent me. Very well explained with a friendly and fresh language, and comes to confirm more or less what I had already perceived.

I have also observed that the article leans positively towards Google pixel, practically ignoring the potentialities of the P30 pro or the mate that just came out, and called the moon photograph of fake, however, "moon Mode operates on the same principle as other master AI modes, in that it recognizes and optimizes details within an image to help individuals take better photos. It does not in any way replace the image – that would require an unrealistic amount of storage space since AI mode recognizes over 1,300 scenarios. Based on machine learning principles, the camera recognizes a scenario and helps to optimize focus and exposure to enhance the details such as shapes, colors, and highlights/lowlights. This feature can be turned on or off easily while taking a photo. While there is a Moon Mode, the shot can still be taken without AI mode because of the periscope lens." I must confess that this phone has taught me to see the photograph in another way.

I am sure that DSLR will disappear, just like the phone, music player, alarm clock, and other devices seem to focus and unify in a smartphone. I am particularly fan of representing reality as reliably as possible, when we begin to add unreal elements such as nonexistent details, non-existent color palette, then we are changing reality for another virtual world. I imagine in the not too near future, humans using lenses to increase their reality, creating from shopping centers that do not exist physically but virtually. People walking through huge spaces physically empty but full of virtual products that are visualizable with augmented reality lenses, however, this is another topic. Wilfredor (talk) 15:12, 18 October 2019 (UTC)

FP Promotion

★ This image has been promoted to Featured picture! ★ The image File:MJK 54041 Barockträdgården (Drottningholm).jpg, that you nominated on Commons:Featured picture candidates/File:MJK 54041 Barockträdgården (Drottningholm).jpg has been promoted. Thank you for your contribution. If you would like to nominate another image, please do so.

/FPCBot (talk) 21:02, 3 November 2019 (UTC)

Important message for file movers

A community discussion has been closed where the consensus was to grant all file movers the suppressredirect user right. This will allow file movers to not leave behind a redirect when moving files and instead automatically have the original file name deleted. Policy never requires you to suppress the redirect, suppression of redirects is entirely optional.

Possible acceptable uses of this ability:

• To move recently uploaded files with an obvious error in the file name where that error would not be a reasonable redirect. For example: moving "Sheep in a tree.jpg" to "Squirrel in a tree.jpg" when the image does in fact depict a squirrel.
• To perform file name swaps.
• When the original file name contains vandalism. (File renaming criterion #5)

Please note, this ability should be used only in certain circumstances and only if you are absolutely sure that it is not going to break the display of the file on any project. Redirects should never be suppressed if the file is in use on any project. When in doubt, leave a redirect. If you forget to suppress the redirect in case of file name vandalism or you are not fully certain if the original file name is actually vandalism, leave a redirect and tag the redirect for speedy deletion per G2.

The malicious or reckless breaking of file links via the suppressredirect user right is considered an abuse of the file mover right and is grounds for immediate revocation of that right. This message serves as both a notice that you have this right and as an official warning. Questions regarding this right should be directed to administrators. --Majora (talk) 21:35, 7 November 2019 (UTC)

Quality Image Promotion

Your image has been reviewed and promoted Congratulations! Ramaria Fungi, Lake Slåensø 2017-08-21.jpg, which was produced by you, was reviewed and has now been promoted to Quality Image status. If you would like to nominate another image, please do so at Quality images candidates. We also invite you to take part in the categorization of recently promoted quality images. Comments  Support Good quality. --Ermell 15:18, 19 November 2019 (UTC)

Your image has been reviewed and promoted Congratulations! Lund Cathedral 2017-08-17 4.jpg, which was produced by you, was reviewed and has now been promoted to Quality Image status. If you would like to nominate another image, please do so at Quality images candidates. We also invite you to take part in the categorization of recently promoted quality images. Comments  Support Good quality. --Aristeas 15:04, 19 November 2019 (UTC)

Your image has been reviewed and promoted Congratulations! Nyhavn Reflections 2017-08-16.jpg, which was produced by you, was reviewed and has now been promoted to Quality Image status. If you would like to nominate another image, please do so at Quality images candidates. We also invite you to take part in the categorization of recently promoted quality images. Comments  Support Good quality. --Carschten 16:33, 19 November 2019 (UTC)

--QICbot (talk) 05:20, 22 November 2019 (UTC)

Photo Challenge

Colin, I will be traveling next 2 weeks with no access to the internet. Any chance you can run the Photo Challenge at this time? --Jarekt (talk) 03:30, 22 November 2019 (UTC)

Jarekt sure. I don't see any plan for December themes. Should we start a talk-page discussion. Have you got any process for picking options to consider? --Colin (talk) 12:32, 22 November 2019 (UTC)

Thanks, I started Commons_talk:Photo_challenge#December_Themes discussion. The process for picking is lately that every month I start the next month theme discussion and list themes with the most votes, lately we had a bit more participation in those discussions, but there are months when hardly anybody participate. In the past, the saying was that person who is willing to create the theme page can make the final call, but I think it was always me last year or two. BTW if you go to Commons:Photo challenge and click on the camera you will end up on Commons:Photo challenge/Maintainers Manual which is my usual place for creating new theme pages. I also added many pencil icons to various sections on that page for easier access to edit subpages. --Jarekt (talk) 14:26, 22 November 2019 (UTC)

Jarekt thanks for creating the Maintainer's Manual. That will help with my rusty old brain cells. -- Colin (talk) 14:56, 22 November 2019 (UTC)

FP Promotion

★ This image has been promoted to Featured picture! ★ The image File:Palau de la Música Catalana-Palace of Catalan Music (Image 2).jpg, that you nominated on Commons:Featured picture candidates/File:Palau de la Música Catalana-Palace of Catalan Music (Image 2).jpg has been promoted. Thank you for your contribution. If you would like to nominate another image, please do so.

/FPCBot (talk) 21:02, 24 November 2019 (UTC)

Photo challenge

Thanks for the speedy turnaround of this month's photo challenge. I appreciate your hard work. Cheers. Magnolia677 (talk) 18:25, 1 December 2019 (UTC)

Thank you for participating in Wiki Loves Monuments 2019! Please help with this survey.

 

Wiki Loves Monuments logo

---

Dear Colin/Archive,

Thank you for contributing to Wiki Loves Monuments 2019, and for sharing your pictures with the whole world! We would like to ask again a few minutes of your time. Thanks to the participation of people like you, the contest gathered more than 210K+ pictures of cultural heritage objects from more than 40 countries around the world.

You can find all your pictures in your upload log, and are of course very welcome to keep uploading images and help develop Wikimedia Commons, even though you will not be able to win more prizes (just yet). If you'd like to start editing relevant Wikipedia articles and share your knowledge with other people, please go to the Wikipedia Welcome page for more information, guidance, and help.

To make future contests even more successful than this year, we would like to invite you to share your experiences with us in a short survey. Please fill in this short survey, and help us learn what you liked and didn't like about Wiki Loves Monuments 2019.

Kind regards,
the Wiki Loves Monuments team MediaWiki message delivery 12:32, 3 December 2019 (UTC)

Happy holidays 2020!

		* Happy Holidays 2020, Colin/Archive! *
		Merry Christmas! Happy New Year! Joyeux Noël! Bonne année! Frohes Weihnachten! Frohes Neues Jahr! Счастливого Рождества! С Новым годом! ¡Feliz Navidad y próspero año nuevo! Щасливого Різдва! З Новим роком!    -- George Chernilevsky talk 14:28, 23 December 2019 (UTC)