The picture is high-res, and the subject is a very famous person. Wikipedia received a high-res official photo of McCain from his Senate office a long time ago, and the present image has been obtained by cropping the official photo, and changing the background from black to blue. I assume that this is an acceptable type of modification, right? The image of McCain himself has not been touched up or altered in any way.
The original
failed FPC in February. To be honest, I find the new background somewhat distracting, and the cut-out isn't particularly smooth either, so I think this is unlikely to pass FPC.
Thegreenj 22:41, 4 May 2008 (UTC)reply
Thanks for the comment. I'd forgotten that the previous version was put through FPC. Do you think a different color would work better? Are we allowed to change the background color with/without approval from the image donor? Maybe I could ask the Graphics Lab to do a better cut-out.
Ferrylodge (
talk) 00:05, 5 May 2008 (UTC)reply
Hey, you're on Wikipedia! You can do whatever you want with the free pictures you find here. If you're editing a picture that another Wikipedian created, it's nice to drop a note, but by no means required. For the picture itself, I think the original black is fine. It keeps the focus on the face. But if you have any ideas to make it better, the graphics lab is definitely a good place to start.
Thegreenj 00:23, 5 May 2008 (UTC)reply
Hey, I went to the Graphics Lab, and they came up with this. What do you think? I like it much better than the black suit on black background.
Ferrylodge (
talk) 12:39, 10 May 2008 (UTC)reply
If you wanted to get rid of the black background, this does a good job, especially in the thumbnail. At full size it still has some problems—and I know cut-outs, especially black-on-black, are incredibly hard to do—like the uneasy fuzziness of the suit-background transition, which doesn't at all match up with the back of McCain's head, which remains in focus. In the end, I think I might prefer this one for use in the article, but I doubt it would pass FP. In the original nom, the main opposition was that this was not a particularly outstanding portrait, and I think this still holds. It doesn't really capture any character; it's just some guy in a formal portrait. This hasn't really changed, and combined with some minor technical faults in this one, it would struggle at FPC. But definitely a solid, encyclopedic photo.
Thegreenj 01:11, 11 May 2008 (UTC)reply
Thanks again for the comments, Greenj. I think we're on track now to probably use this latest image as the lead encylopedia article photo, with no plans to pursue a featured picture nomination.
Ferrylodge (
talk) 01:18, 11 May 2008 (UTC)reply
The picture is high-res, and the subject is a very famous person. Wikipedia received a high-res official photo of McCain from his Senate office a long time ago, and the present image has been obtained by cropping the official photo, and changing the background from black to blue. I assume that this is an acceptable type of modification, right? The image of McCain himself has not been touched up or altered in any way.
The original
failed FPC in February. To be honest, I find the new background somewhat distracting, and the cut-out isn't particularly smooth either, so I think this is unlikely to pass FPC.
Thegreenj 22:41, 4 May 2008 (UTC)reply
Thanks for the comment. I'd forgotten that the previous version was put through FPC. Do you think a different color would work better? Are we allowed to change the background color with/without approval from the image donor? Maybe I could ask the Graphics Lab to do a better cut-out.
Ferrylodge (
talk) 00:05, 5 May 2008 (UTC)reply
Hey, you're on Wikipedia! You can do whatever you want with the free pictures you find here. If you're editing a picture that another Wikipedian created, it's nice to drop a note, but by no means required. For the picture itself, I think the original black is fine. It keeps the focus on the face. But if you have any ideas to make it better, the graphics lab is definitely a good place to start.
Thegreenj 00:23, 5 May 2008 (UTC)reply
Hey, I went to the Graphics Lab, and they came up with this. What do you think? I like it much better than the black suit on black background.
Ferrylodge (
talk) 12:39, 10 May 2008 (UTC)reply
If you wanted to get rid of the black background, this does a good job, especially in the thumbnail. At full size it still has some problems—and I know cut-outs, especially black-on-black, are incredibly hard to do—like the uneasy fuzziness of the suit-background transition, which doesn't at all match up with the back of McCain's head, which remains in focus. In the end, I think I might prefer this one for use in the article, but I doubt it would pass FP. In the original nom, the main opposition was that this was not a particularly outstanding portrait, and I think this still holds. It doesn't really capture any character; it's just some guy in a formal portrait. This hasn't really changed, and combined with some minor technical faults in this one, it would struggle at FPC. But definitely a solid, encyclopedic photo.
Thegreenj 01:11, 11 May 2008 (UTC)reply
Thanks again for the comments, Greenj. I think we're on track now to probably use this latest image as the lead encylopedia article photo, with no plans to pursue a featured picture nomination.
Ferrylodge (
talk) 01:18, 11 May 2008 (UTC)reply