aphanius

April 7, 2006

Congratulations, Brian, new layout in photo.net main page appears

clearer with separate sections and coloured background. Another

great improvement in main page is POW thumb display, larger than

usual, so short-sighted (as me) are lucky today...

March 11, 2006

I still have to scroll, at 1024 x 768 px on a 15'' screen. My suggestion is to place rating box at left frame, below "what others thought". It has no sense to place it over the image, and resize vertical images more than 30% (i.e. to 289 x 391 when original size is 452 x 611). Let's see font code:

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Otherwise, RR has improved on speed, that's true...

March 10, 2006

Brian, it'd be interesting to know what is "autosubmit on/off" useful for... where is it explained?

New RR interface looks odd, only one little ">>" button available, without button title.

Is it for submit rating, for skipping to next image in the queue, or both simultaneus actions with a default value if rating form remains empty when click?

February 25, 2006

Right. This image was submitted yesterday, 24-Feb-06 at 13:53 (PN clock, about 12 hours ago), and no ratings yet:

February 23, 2006

Are they from advertisers in your country? NO

Are they in your language? NO

How relevant to they seem to you? I'm not interested in MIAMI PHOTOS, thanks (lol)

Or do they seem to be just the same ads that are being displayed to U.S.-based visitors, and not very relevant to you? YES

Screen capture attached... (from Spain)

February 22, 2006

David, it's plain HTML, but a true TRP search should be programmed by Brian inside the server because each served page is wholly generated each time you "click" and send TRP form query to the database.

My demo only shows that this possibility exists and it's easy to set up, but (I guess...)PN admin prefer:

1. not overcharging database with more and more queries (by server- resources-saving reasons)

2. going through every single page from the end or from the beginning while surfing TRP (by unknown reasons for me)

February 21, 2006

A year ago I suggested an "skip to" feature in TRP but wasn't taken into consideration by PN admin. Check my demo if you wish (only works once, but you can skip to whichever TRP page you wish):

http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00C3qN

P.S.: I'm sorry, but my demo isn't updated to current TRP category selection (a bit lazy lately, lol) ;)

October 23, 2005

For browsing by your favourite categories try this links:

- <a href=http://www.photo.net/bboard/forum?topic_id=1481&category=Landscape> Lanscape</a>

- <a href=http://www.photo.net/bboard/forum?topic_id=1481&category=Nature>Nature</a>

I haven't found an HTML link for searching TOP photos by categories, but probably exists. Best regards :)

October 5, 2005

Trying again... if bold type keeps on after this message, please some moderator edit my mistake. Thanks :)

October 5, 2005

I'm sorry. I left bold type opened. Just closing it right now...

October 5, 2005

I agree mostly with Steve. The following image could be a perfect target for anti-PS viewers, probably thinking "a fly with such colours doesn't exist.. booooo.. what a cheap trick colouring the eyes.. and a blue BG... boooo... unnatural... ".

However, other viewers would think "a fruit fly from Tephritidae family on putrid grapes, nice and interesting".

So..... who does really know when a shot has been manipulated? Are everybody expert in all types of photographic categories and subjects? I've seen how "nature photography experts" can't distinguish among a wild or a garden plant, so what's the point? Easy tricks? For a good photographer all tricks are easy. Some weeks ago I realized that checking the "manipulated box" doesn't help me and doesn't help viewers, so my default option is always manipulated ;)

October 5, 2005

I leave you here my non-manipulated jumping "whale". After years of research in northern seas and hundreds of hours preparing the equipment, during a huge storm, I found this rare whale in the darkness of the night, never reported before in nature photography circles. Please feel free to copy-paste it in your favourite landscapes ;)

P.S.: I prefer a honest digital artist than a dishonest nature photographer and agree completely with Mike: "I'd argue that nature photography is much less directed toward showing "reality" than it is toward presenting a highly idealized and stylized version of nature"<div></div>

October 4, 2005

Marc, A), B) and C) were plain and sarcastic examples of analogic and digital manipulations in an hypothetical "jumping fish" situation, not a dissertation about how to do it. Obviously, a clumsy photographer won't success on manipulation but an smart one will success on a wall poster or on a documentary film or whichever media format he tried. And YES, some clever photographers also manipulate to achieve "traditional works". For instance, will you distinguish betwenn a dead or alive insect? And how would you know if an insect has been copy-pasted? The answer depends on "how many insects have you seen in your life" and "how many time have you spent looking at them in natural environment". A lot of manipulations are much more subtile than a jumping fish and that's the main rason why creating separated categories for manipulated vs non-manipulated would lead to hundreds of flamed controversies.

October 3, 2005

Ilkka, to shoot a jumping fish you must go to a lake, river or sea, and this definitely doesn't require any skill - maybe a driving license - (regarding with opportunity or serendipity referred by Carl).

A wildlife photographer definition isn't a universal standard, but please consider the one who add to some of your honest proposals (wait underwater, IR triggering) more advantatges. For instance: - feeding the place with fish food in order to attract more fishes, - forcing fishes to jump in the right place with a dry fly fisihing expert, - setting shutter repeater to catch the optimal position in the air for each set of shots, - waiting inside a mimetic hide in silence, - so on.....

BUT some wildlife photographers are people with no time to spend (money money) and need more EFFICIENCY, so they try cheap tricks:

A) hang a fish from a tree by means of a thin nylon wire, creating the sensation that the fish is jumping

B) throwing dead fishes to the lake with the help of one or more collaborators, creating again the "jumping effect"

C) coying and pasting a jumping fish into a landscape layer

So, A) and B) are photographic manipulations and C) is a digital manipulation... Could you distinguish among A), B) and C)? Sure not... END of arguing about digital manipulation in nature photography... P.S.: Some tricks are routinely used by "PEOPLE" in general, so maybe should focus on author's honesty and not in manipulated vs non manipulated controversy. Serendipity is a nice term, but a 7/7 photographer cannot rely on it more than one or twice a year... (outside Photonet, I mean) ;)

October 3, 2005

Manel, bird shooters may also manipulate natural scenaries, basically feeding birds, automating equipment, automating habits, arranging perchs and controlling every single parameter in the shot, often leading to unnatural, overlightened and overfreezed short-distance images.

Thus, I prefer the ATTITUDE of a nature photographer shooting spontaneously a wild non-feeded bird, BUT I won't ask PN managers to create a separate category for partially-wild feeded-bird shooting. Do you know what I mean? Sure... Aside, bird shooters may (must) be respectful with nature, but this is another question.

October 3, 2005

The only type of manipulation that bothers me is menthal manipulation (lol). For instance, the example mentioned above about jumping fish doesn't deserve for me any photographic merit (if really possible to achieve such image without PS manipulation).

Situations where a jumping fish can be shot:

1. A lake where a lot of fishes are jumping. Thus, the chance to shoot one is due to probability. NO PHOTOGRAPHIC SKILL NEEDED

2. An infrarred cell pointing to the lake, where the movement of a jumping fish releases flash and shooter. LESS PHOTOGRAPHIC SKILL NEEDED, MORE ELECTRONIC SKILL VALUABLE

3. A bored man waiting for a fish to jump. NO PHOTOGRAPHIC SKILL NEEDED, GOOD REFLEX AND PATIENCE ESSENTIAL.

What really requires photographic skill is to catch & compose such a beautiful sunset, and to realize that a jumping fish in that situation would appear blurred due to low shutter speed (unless ISO higher than 1600 or flashing while second curtain opens during long exposure).

So, give an expensive camera to an average photographer and he'll turn into a purist proud of his non-manipulated art...

September 30, 2005

You're welcome, Manel! One beer or two or three... (lol)

I guess that PN nature editors think (as you and me) that PS manipulation should be avoidable in nature photography, but manipulation vs original has been dealt for years here in Pnet, and it's similar to argue about nikon vs canon.

The fact that a manipulated shot jump to the top list isn't unusual. By instance, one of my PSed nature shots got pretty good ratings last year, and I explained then how that manipulation could be done easily. Does that shot turn me into a nature photography transgressor?

I regret your folder deletion, and hope that in your other baskets don't exist PS manipulation. Otherwise, I suggest you to manipulate one of your best shots to get another great image and share it ;)

September 30, 2005

Manel, deleting your own photos is a bad choice. You'll have to deal with PS manipulation here in Pnet, but also with PS manipulation, insect manipulation and scenary manipulation in your favourite "nature photography forums". The point is author's honesty and ethics.

Furthermore, a PS manipulated shot may deserve high skill and merit on its original format. Remember that if you put all the eggs in one basket... probably you'll loose them... but, of course.. it's up to you...

By the way, Pnet rating system doesn't work for me, specially top average list, but I can live with it ;)

September 27, 2005

Same "server error" when trying photo-deletion...

September 18, 2005

I've experienced same problem in my recent uploads for critique. Ratings come very slowly, and visits have decreased dramatically compared with just a week ago. Wonder if it's a refreshig feature or a real missfunction.

May 4, 2005

Really smart layout. Clean and fast menu displaying. However, photo.net logo needs anti-aliasing mask... 6/7 (lol) :)

May 3, 2005

Hope this suggestion would be useful for PN developers, by one hand,

and PN users aiming to succeed on more visibility (as me), by the

other hand. This suggested feature consists of adding a new filter

besides Top Photos Period (daily, 3 days, month, year,...) and Top

Photos Rank by (Average, RR Sum, Ratings, Comments,...). This new

filter may be called "Skip to:" and leads users to browse directly

to a selected start page when browsing through filtering menus

(instead of having to browse from the top or from the end).

I've made some plain modifications on HTML code, just to show how

this "Skip to" filter would work. I attach you an external link

where you can check this feature:

<a href=http://usuarios.lycos.es/aphanius/Skip.html

target=_blank>Demo of "Skip to" filtering</a>

Further modifications are needed to addapt Skip filter to PN

environment (max limit by list, structured displaying rows/columns),

but this would be Brian's task if he considered to apply this new

filter.

Just a suggestion :)

April 24, 2005

Bob, error message appears before displaying any uploading window, so no chance to put a caption or select any image for uploading. The bug (if any) is in http://www.photo.net/photodb/photo-add.

April 24, 2005

Not fixed yet. I've just tried uploading right now and this error message appeared:

"Server Error

The requested URL cannot be accessed due to a system error on this server.

AOLserver/4.0 on http://www.photo.net"

April 11, 2005

Hey, Ben, I've found what most of you are asking for, but unfortunately it's on another site:

<a href=http://www.dpchallenge.com/>www.dpchallenge.com</a>

The contests are basically set up into three weekly steps: submitting, voting, showing results. I'm not going to tell you the whole set of rules, it's up to you to read it. Let's see if this would suit your competition purposal, but I doubt this system would work here in PN or even could be programmed. This dpchallenge site gives clear privileges to payment subscribers, but as it has been seen in PN's history, subscribing isn't a guarantee about honest criteria or responsible behaviour.

Best regards from a PN free subscriber bored with mate-rating, mate-commenting, low-balling, cheating, gaming, reveanging, retaliating, faking identities, random-rating, robot-rating and more and more and more...

Waiting for PN improvements :)

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Posts posted by aphanius