September 10 & 11!
This Diary will be updated with new information as it becomes available
By setting a date that is still several weeks away, we have time to sort through what we’ve got and convert paper photographs to digital. If anyone doesn’t know how to do that, we can share tips here. I think you can have photos scanned at most places that develop film. Or you might have a friend with a scanner.
I’m thinking that we would have a main diary that holds links to the Display Diaries. That main diary would be the one we would want recommended.
And each of the display diaries would have maybe 20 photographs (with a bar linking that page to all the other pages). The photos should be at the main comment level. But comments could be made under each one.
After we reach the max size for a page would we want a poll to vote on the favorite photo for that page? Would we want a best of show? Best of various categories? Would it make sense to have pages focusing on categories of photographs — if so, what categories
Would we want to allow for slightly larger photographs just for the fair? Do we want to define any other standards for the display of the photographs?
Let’s talk about:
- Do we want categories?
(So far — Yes)
- What categories?
- How to we make the fair fun for low-bandwidth frogs?
(limit page size)
- Do we set formal guidelines for photo dimensions?
(So far — Yes, but how do we decide?)
- Is it possible to judge food entries fairly at a virtual fair?
(So far — Probably not)
- Do we want to judge entries (we do have the ability to RATE built into the system)
(So far — No, and I agree)
- Any other topics that I haven’t thought of in my confused state
Take a moment to let us know how interested you are!
There’s been some discussion of categories, but nothing has been decided. Should I put up a poll after we get some suggestions here?
Good morning, Kb, and a lovely cool rainy one it is in our neck of the woods.
I’m going to put up the Thursday cafe a little later than usual today in the hope that people will come here, instead.
While you were on vacation there was a lot of discussion and enthusiasm for the fair.
yep — lot’s of thunder out there, I like it
Please don’t wait too long for the Cafe — your Thursdays are the best! (and you could direct people here)
A Bit off Topic but close:
I put one of my photos up at Cafe Press last night, I’m going to order it today as a large poster (If I get the nerve) — it’ll be an experiment to check the quality. I’ve been wanting a big print of this thing, but don’t want to spend a fortune.
— I’ve got to start getting ready for work!! —
Dang — forgot to switch AutoFormat back on after posting the diary. I’m sorry, that comment sounds especially crazy without formatting!
Thanks for the kind words about my Thursdays. I’m going to be a disappointment today, though, because my brain is still too drained to think beyond, “Hi. Welcome. Coffee good. Bush bad.”
There was a photography contest at our county fair this past weekend. There had the following categories for their photos (they had broken it out between color and B&W, but we probably don’t need to do that here)
I think having categories is important. Some people excel at one type vs another type of photography.
Here are my suggestions:
Entrants could choose the category they think the photo would fit in, subject to final approval by the contest administrator (that would be you, KB dear).
.
MBABANE, Swaziland August 23, 2005 — Thousands of Swazi girls Tuesday celebrated the end of a ban on sexual activity that had been imposed as a way to combat AIDS in one of the countries hit hardest by the epidemic.
Experts said the ritual did little to slow AIDS in Swaziland, where 42.6 percent of pregnant women and up to 40 percent of adults are infected with the virus, the highest rate in the world.
Two of Swazi King Mswati III wives, Nkhosikati make la Ngangaza, left, and Nkhosikati make la Masango, right, take part in celebrations in Lubamba, Swaziland to mark the end of the 'umchwasho' rite banning sex for girls younger than 18. The ancient rite was imposed in 2001. (AP Photo/Siphiwe Sibeko)During the ban, Swazi girls were instructed to wear the scarves as a sign of their chastity. If an umchwasho girl was approached for sex by a man, she was expected to throw her tassels at his homestead, obliging his family to forfeit a cow.
Swazi King Mswati III didn’t set much of an example when he impregnated his ninth wife in 2001 when she was 17, two months after announcing the ban. It is said, Mswati III compensated his sin by donating a quality milk cow.
African fine
~~~
This is such a great idea! I really like those “a day in the life” things where everyone just takes photos of what is happening around them on that one (or two) specific day. It’s so cool to see where everyone lives and what they fill their days with.
O I do too.
Maybe we could figure out a way for people with multiple photos to have their own (linked) booths/diaries. That way a photo series could be displayed.
Isn’t there some way we can put up slideshows or something for each category? I know I can do it on my mac.com homepage, and I think it might be possible on photobucket.
I don’t know if that would help the slow bandwith problem or not, but I thought I’d mention it.
This is an interesting idea. I’ll try to experiment with it tonight (unless someone else has time to work on it today)
I am bogged down with work this week; I might be able to play with it over the weekend. We’ll need a slow-connection tester though.
but I’m very impatient and am very bad about staying on pages that take forever to load. However, recognizing my debt to the greater good of the community, I will volunteer.
You’re hired!
I ever got a job.
You were the best candidate we interviewed…
Ahhh, 2 volunteers for the Fair Committee? hmmm?
since I seem to be in volunteering mood — sure I’ll sign on.
I don’t think it will cause any problems but I am going to be out of town and disconnected from the internet 9/2 through 9/5.
This sounds great! I do have a question though, is there
a policy on photo shop tweaking? Or a category for that or a resounding “no” to messing about with the picture submitted? Sorry if this is a silly question.
to some basic photo editing — levels, contrast, brightness, that sort of thing. But nothing too blatant, IMHO.
Semi-random thoughts:
Keep categories simple, IE:
People
Places
Things
The content will be obvious, and in my world Pets are people;{) If this becomes an annual, or even semi/quarterly event, further refinement of the categories can be done based on the submittals shown here;
Multiple diaries liked to a single source Master Diary is a great strategy to control load times for dial-up folks;
Also, images should probably be limited in size…max width could go up to 600px +-, or whatever normal width of the normal Diary center column is…700px?
Images should also be limited to 250k each, which is doable thru photobucket and automatic w/ Tinypic; otherwise Dial-uppers will get buried in massive file loads.
IMO, any photo-shopping beyond simple image adjustments should not be included, as I suspect most people interested in participating are amateurs w/ limited, if any photo-shopping skills, myself included;
Thanks for getting this rolling, Great Idea!
Peace
I think limiting the # of photos is required. A very successful strategy that I’ve been involved w/ has been called 8 X 10…max of
8 images, 8 x 10 max size…wide open categorically.
BTW, BroFel makes some very good points below.
Peace
My unsolicited opinions, after thinking about this for a bit:
I hope I don’t come across as some party-pooping fuddy-duddy with my concerns. I’ll definitely have a diary of my own up, with pics I took on my Holland trip last year and that have earned me a lot of compliments. For the record I don’t think we BooTribbers would be so unprincipled as my concerns above may indicate. But I for one would rather keep the focus on it’s just for fun.
I love your prize category ideas! I’d be happy to award the Ks. Prize for Best Blue Dot. (See explanation, if needed, in today’s cafe.)
And btw, you will NEVER qualify for the fuddy-duddy prize, Brof.
That’s really really close to sounding like a James Bond villian 🙂
You must be thinking of:
There is a certain resemblance, sure.
Ernst Stravro Blofeld we know him all too well here at Casa Azul. Long story short: My son is THE ULTIMATE 007 fan. 🙂
Well, the little broken-image box is a little embarassing for someone who’s been known to pontificate on the propriety of posting direct links to images. But I’m glad you got the allusion.
Hey DJ, Second Nature & olivia have given me an idea. Why don’t you & me & CabinGirl & supersoling & the rest of the DC marchers do a “Day in the Life of a Protest March” sort of thing in late September? It’d be too late for k-bird’s fair, of course, but it’d be a cool way to document the event for the rest of the Tribbers. It may also mean we can’t march together, if one of us is with CodePink, another with the giant-puppet-head people, and so on. But hey, that’s why we’re planning a happy hour. We don’t need to be photojournalists — we’re not making a coffee-table book here — and we could dump all the pics to my comp before the weekend is done. Whaddya think?
I like that idea…
That’s a marvellous idea BrotherF. Do it guys… We’d all love to see what you saw and have your comments interspersed throughout!
You’re no party-pooping fuddy-duddy! I like your suggetions BrotherF. Very reasonable.
The whole idea of making it a contest, well, I just like the idea of people posting their photos. Second Nature wrote above that they like the idea of people putting up pics that show a small slice of their life at the moment – a day in the life. That’s how I feel. It’s another aspect to getting to know fellow BTers … additional to the written word, that is.
I agree with all of them, especially the idea of keeping the size somewhat smaller as it will make things load faster for those of — sniff — who still can’t get broadband.
I’ve posted a lot of pix so I don’t want to seem disengaged by not offering suggestions. But I really don’t have any at this point. I was very competitive in my youth in arts and sports, and I’m happily, calmly past that now.
I do like the idea of a fair instead of a contest, I think that’s a very amphibian way to go.
Also, my dialup has been cancelled now that I’m on DSL so I can no longer be a low speed tester.
As to how interested, I’d definitely do 5-10 depending on how the pond sloshes that point.
I think that’s a very amphibian way to go.
lol! Our new standard of judgment. WWFD? And instead of a fish on our bumpers we could have frogs.
Would panorama shots be allowed? I like to take panoramas — which do require stitching together so it’s a given that they have been manipulated. The other problem with them is that they need to be a decent size to be viewed. Based on my experimentation, I think a width of 600 would be good, 500 is okay.
Can we do proxy entries — for example, could I do a display diary for my husband.
Should we have on Olivia-only flower category and a Gooserock-only fog category?
Andi – how easy is the stitching process? That’s the one feature I haven’t touched yet. It looks like fun though – I’ve seen some before and after photos on flickr. I’d love to see some of your stitched photos.
And I agree that we’d need to make the sizes a bit bigger in order to get a better view. Actually, I think I’d like to make all the pics a little bit bigger – like 500 pix – in order to show all the detail. I think it could work (i.e., not stretch the frames) if each photo was in a topmost comment hierarchy.
If we had categories, would we have enough submissions to populate each category?
The stitching software I use (Canon’s PhotoStitch) is really easy to use. What’s tricky is shooting the panoramas. On my camera, there is a panorama setting which does several things:
But it’s up to you to keep the camera at the same angle and level for all the shots and to get the overlap right. I’d say I’m successful about half the time.
I’ll post one of my panoramas below scaled down from a width of 3600 dpi to 500 dpi.
I’m going to have to try this out… Just need to find some landscape scenery which is the biggest challenge I think… besides keeping the right angle ;^)
Healy Meadow and the Monarch Ramparts, Banff
I see what you mean by needing a larger size for a panorama. Even 500 pixels isn’t quite enough. Well, we’ll probably still have to come up with some way to keep filesizes manageable for the lower-bandwidth folks. /scratches head
Gorgeous pic, btw! I hope that posting it here & now won’t stop you from posting it again for the Fair.
The problem I hit with having to scale them down so much is that a lot of the detail gets scaled down into invisibility.
And thanks for the compliment 🙂
That’s really something. Oh we have to have this as a category for sure!
What about using hotlinked thumbnails for larger format shots, like panoramas?
Even at 800 pixels for the linked images, it hardly does justice to them. I can’t see posting them any smaller
That’s really the determining factor in loading speed.
In Photoshop you can save images to a “quality level” which determines how many bytes of data a picture of any given size will have.
I have suggested 250k up thread, Once you post to the host site, ie: photobucket, etc I think you can adjust it, Ill have to check tho. For most all the photos I post I use Tinypic.com, which automatically max’s the file size @ 250k, and I haven’t noticed an appreciable drop off in quality… which is really more dependent on the quality of the original input.
I agree that max size should be larger than 400px. Maybe 600px?
Tech ? @ width of typical Diary column…what is it? How can pics be large enough to hold detail w/out blowing margins and forcing horizontal scrolling on people…not a good idea when viewing pics. Also, I suspect a fair # of people here are like me and use lap tops w/ smaller screens…12 – 14″…so not a lot of realestate screen wise.
I’m no techie, but I know there’s some out there…Helloooo…IT?
Peace
250kb for each photo with 10 photos per diary will be unbearable on a dial-up connection. And I don’t think it is necessary to go that big — if I scale an image to 600 x 400 and save it as jpeg with good quality and lower compression, the image size is still only 80-90kb.
Filesize is going to be dependent on both the dimensions of the image and the quality of the image, so it’ll be hard to nail down any solid guidelines. AndiF’s panorama above is 500px wide, but the file itself is only 24K (!) because she increased the amount of compression in the .jpg file, which in turn decreased the amount of detail, increased dithering in the gradients, etc. But subjectively speaking, I’d say it’s still a great-looking photo, and an excellent choice of compromises. And compromises are what people are going to have to make when they prepare their images for posting. If you post an image that’s too large, people will have to scroll their windows to see the whole thing. If you keep the “quality” high and the file compression low, the filesize will balloon and the dial-up folks will probably give up on viewing your images.
But in answer to your more direct question: my reading of the source code indicates that the left-hand column is 200px, and the right-hand column 160px. (I could be totally off in parsing the HTML & CSS, but that sounds about right.) There’s a little bit of padding on the page too, so let’s say approx. 370px are needed for the sidebars. The middle column, where the comments are, basically will fill the rest of the window, so if you make your window wider, the middle column will get wider too. If you post a pic that’s 700px, someone with a screen that measures 1024x768px will need to scroll horizontally to see your entire pic, moreso if they don’t even have the browser window filling their screen.
The best compromise for folks who want others to see their pictures, but also preserve image quality, would be to post smaller versions of the images in their diary, then have those link to larger versions of the small images elsewhere. Post thumbnails, essentially, that measure a couple or a few hundred pixels, and have the humongous full-quality pics available elsewhere for those who want a better look. I dunno if the HTML code that we’re allowed in the comments can accomplish that; I’ll experiment.
I agree with the remark that 250k will be impractically large for dialup.
Did the same this AM and agree. I don’t have photoshop and use iPhoto to set max h and w…haven’t a clue what that means in bytes, but am assuming that if I set a max w of 400, or whatever, that it reduces the size of the file. Thanks for the feedback, I’m learning a lot here.
I’m going to have access to a film scanner next week…any helpful hints would be appreciated.
You use iPhoto? Why didn’t you say so before? 🙂 Alas, iPhoto doesn’t let you set the compression level for your jpg exports (e.g. high quality vs low quality), so you’ll have to rely solely on setting the picture dimensions. Oddly enough, if you open up the exported jpg in Preview, and do a Save As…, it’ll let you set the compression level. Some wizard may have come up with an AppleScript or Automator action to do that two-step. FWIW, you’ll see the most savings in terms of filesize by decreasing the dimensions of the picture first.
Example: I have a pic as a jpg in iPhoto. Its original size as taken by my camera is 2240×1488 pixels. Exporting it at that size, it weighs in at 1.4MB. When I export it with a width of 400px (which then constrains its height to 266px) the resulting filesize is 72KB. Now if I wanted to slim it down more, I could open it again in Preview and Save As… again, dragging the little slider down for more compression. By moving that slider to halfway between “Least” and “Best,” I was able to slim it down more to just 20KB. Now just how much the image quality will suffer the more you compress the image, is kinda subjective. You will start to notice the picture getting worse as you really compress it down.
For scanning, the common wisdom in digital photography is to get as much data, as much picture information, as you can at the outset. Take as large a photo as you can readily fit on your memory card, and scan printed photos at as high resolution as your scanner & computer will handle. Once you’ve got that big chunk of data, you can whittle it down for export according to your own choices. There’s a saying in woodworking, “Better to cut long than to cut short.” Same principle.
Barkeep? Pour me a stiff one, and I don’t even drink!
Maybe a sugar free hazelnut iced latte’.
My eyes are KILLING me after wading thru the quicksand of a diary now up to 389 comments at a site familiar to most of us.
This after my head hurting from the heavy duty diaries around these parts on such minor discussions as, oh I dunno … say abortion? Why not throw in a little “neurophilosophy”, a term I hadn’t even heard of prior to this week?
Must.watch.Raiders.football or something … when does basketball season start?
Hopefully you’re talking college ball (go Blue Devils– please don’t flame me)… College Ball starts mid-november…
Although if your basketball starved Oct 10th NBA preseason starts (hopefully taylor coppenrath is a celtic or some shit by then)… Nov 1st is the open of the regular season
Well, my beloved Sacramento Kings start Nov. 2. They have retooled, and managed (while over the cap) to get younger and more athletic. I’m not sure they are up to the Spurs or Heat — but I didn’t see that Duncan or O’neill/Wade were available, either.
I’ll concede to the college basketball fan the passion and competition, admittedly going into an NBA game I know beforehand who will win 80% of the time (a number I pulled out of my ass.) But, I just don’t have it in me to watch much during the regular season, and only partially through a March Madness. Now, if a March Madness pool were to start around the Booo House ~~~~ hmmmm 🙂
My boss played football for the Fighting Illini. Much like living with Al Bundy, I have to hear constantly about the glory days — although he didn’t score four touchdowns like Bundy. But, it keeps me somewhat informed on the college scene, particularly when it comes to the midwest, and particularly when it comes to Illinois. He was thrilled yesterday that Illinois and Missouri have signed a long-term deal on football to have a football opening at the St. Louis dome.
Anyways, sheesh I must have been bad last night … I stumbled into the photography studio with my bar request, instead of the bar with my photography request. Or, something like that! 🙂
Well I’m a mostly off-again knicks fan after the deals that sent spree and ewing away (yeah he was old, but glen rice?! ugh) But I know how you feel when it comes to seeing your team get so close and then just spiral away in a fourth quarter…
College football is definitely cool… My sis was in the ND band, so I got to see how fun real football schools get on saturday… (unfortunately my school team stunk pretty masterfully in D3)
fandom I turn to USC, having grown up in So Cal. After many frustrating years, I am absolutely thrilled with their success over the last few years. I am equally just jumping up and down when I see the excitement and happiness, not only in the kids playing, but in coach Pete Carroll. They all look like they are having the times of their lives, soaking up every living minute of it. Victories make such enjoyment easier, but I’ve seen winning teams still snarling, angry for who knows what at the world. Another example is quarterback Matt Leinart returning for his fifth year senior season, having won the Heisman trophy last year and certain to have been set for life had he entered the NFL draft. Instead, he realized that this was the last time he would ever have this opportunity, and even if injured, that was the right decision for him. I read today that he only had 2 units to go, so what did he take for the fall semester? Ballroom dancing! The guy is just enjoying the Hell out of life, as well he should!
Yea I can respect the guy for returning for his senior season… but even as the relative of one of those crazy irish fans, i can’t say much more than that about USC without expecting some really ill retribution… like a 2 liter bottle of V8 or some pokemon dolls this christmas.
In high school, and even today, I’ve been a pretty big “USC” fan (in the south east that’s the cocks)… That’s the only school i ever knew reffered to as “USC” growing up in the carolinas
Cheers
marks the 76th meeting of my USC vs. Notre Dame, but I can understand family pressure and a right-of-the-Mississippi bias in USC definitions … but if you want to call ’em “cocks”, I’m not gonna stop ya!
🙂
Naturally, you would understand the dislike I hold for such a rival to USC as Notre Dame … but, Mr. Shell — I don’t really care for the Duke Blue Devils either! I like North Carolina!
So, while we may find ourselves on a thread in a common place (and a political one at that), I don’t think our sports teams will see eye-to-eye 🙂 Perhaps, you can give it up for the USC Cheerleaders (of the Trojan variety) … they sure are easy on the eyes 🙂
Haha… See this is why i can’t wear my “cocks” hat up here in the north east…
“USC” in the southeast at least is the University of South Carolina…
I wasn’t calling the trojanss cocks I was reffereing to the USC Gamecocks of Columbia, SC…
I know that east of the Mississippi USC refers to the gamecocks … was just giving you a hard time. And I didn’t even slip in an opportunistic joke about cocks vs. trojans at all … avoided the ribbing groan
gotcha… i was worried you already threw in that cock trojan joke… no wait you just made another…
hey don’t me break out a couple OJ jokes…
=)
That O.J.? Didn’t he play for UCLA?
Oh, not buying it huh … well, uh … hmmmm <kicks dirt> … <looks skyward> … Say, it’s really hot here in Sac-of-Tomatoes (Sacramento) here today — 100 degrees I believe 🙂
For your off-again team, the New York basketball Knickerbockers, enjoy your time with the soon-to-be-bored-and-quit Larry Brown. Damn fine coach, wish I could respect him more. And, good luck with Jerome James, who cashed in on ONE playoff series against the 2004-05 Sacramento Kings into a large (another N.Y. overpriced?) contract. Just when I thought Isiah Thomas was getting out from some of those huge salaries from days gone by.
Good luck to your Duke Blue Devils, who show up in the CBS Sportsline pre-season rankings as #1. Although I hate the team, I do respect Coach K as a man and as a coach.
Hahaha…
It’s tough being a Duke fan… especially today with bandwagoneers… nixon being a duke alum… heck even the refs hate duke.
My dad was going there when I was young so he would always take me to the games in the early to mid eighties.
We lived in Chapel Hill so it was uhm, that much extra tough getting beat up at the bus stop being the only kid going to school with a duke t-shirt on…
and my mom was at UNC… when your mom is a die hard UNC fan and your pop is a die hard duke basketball fan… Let’s just say that march dinners sometimes ended in food thrown.
=)
the knicks suck… I love Isiah… Starbury’s cool… I respect larry brown… But the knicks couldn’t win with ewing and pat riley (oak, mase, starks)… they have no prayer in 06.