Photography Chat

rfusca

6:00 PM

+13/-6

pulling out in the lead

you weigh in on meta.photo.stackexchange.com/questions/1396/… @cabbey ?

cabbey

@rfusca have now. +14/-6

rfusca

@cabbey cool, thanks

rfusca

6:37 PM

hey @Laura -laura-bo-baura

Sean

6:51 PM

I came across an interesting article that I thought was worth skimming while answering this question: photo.stackexchange.com/questions/15187/…

cs.dartmouth.edu/farid/downloads/publications/diginv11.pdf

Perceptual Discrimination of Computer Generated
and Photographic Faces

Laura Ψ

@rfusca haha hello there!

rfusca

@Sean (which I still think isn't photo related)

@LauraΨ hows it going?

Laura Ψ

good. it's gray and rainy here, which is making me kinda sleepy :)

rfusca

ick

nap time then

its absolutely shocking how different the community 'vibe' is at the different SE sites

Sean

@rfusca Yeah, I tend to agree but I was curious as to the answer. Didn't find anything concrete, so I wouldn't mind seeing it moved to site better suited, if there is one. But I do see the argument that it is photography related, in as much as the internet is just as valid a medium for displaying images as print, and we would accept other 'non-art' photo questions, for example passport photos.

@rfusca I agree!

Laura Ψ

6:58 PM

@rfusca yeah, they each have very different personalities

Sean

@LauraΨ But you like this one is the best, right? :P

rfusca

oh no, she's a turncoat

Laura Ψ, New York, United States

564 1 9

;)

see all those answers ;)

Sean

@rfusca What? Has the cooking site won her heart with tasty food?

rfusca

apparently eating food is better than taking a picture of it

Francesco

hello everybody

Sean

7:01 PM

hi

rfusca

hey

uh huh, a user or two more and we'll break out in a particle physics discussion again

(that or uber nerdy Star Trek lol)

Laura Ψ

@rfusca why can't i love both photography AND cooking?

Francesco

@rfusca don't worry, I am in peace :-)

rfusca

@LauraΨ its forbidden

Laura Ψ

@rfusca then explain THIS!

3

A: Vinegar and battered chicken?

Adding vinegar 'to the chicken' might give it a slight tanginess, but its certainly going to cause issues with the batter adhesion. Sounds like a bad recipe (especially if your batter was just flour and water too!). Every time I've seen vinegar in batter dipped chicken, its because there's als...

Francesco

7:02 PM

@LauraΨ what a combination, I share the same taste :-)

rfusca

oh no!

hangs head in shame

busted

Laura Ψ

@Francesco :)

Francesco

@rfusca it's time for your coming out... I also often meet other photographers on StackOverflow :-) it's a guaranteed upvote from me ;-)

Laura Ψ

@rfusca you should be ashamed of yourself...yelling at me for doing the same thing you do...i wish i had mod powers so i could freeze the room :)

rfusca

@LauraΨ hehe

@Francesco ya, i'm surprised at how often I run into people from this site on the others

like i'm chilling in the cooking chat room the other night and helped @EvanKrall with a pie!

Laura Ψ

7:06 PM

there's a LOT of overlap between the trilogy sites (stack overflow, serverfault, superuser) and all the rest that came after...turns out that programmers have other interests besides programming! who knew? ;)

Sean

@rfusca you are in the cooking chatroom right now. Two-timing on Photographic Memories!

rfusca

raises eyebrow

Sean

I left seconds too late!

rfusca

lol

@LauraΨ ya, its crazy - we're people too!

most of us at least

Francesco

@LauraΨ it would be interesting to see what percentage of users did not start from the trilogy sites. Not to mention the fact that for me SU and SF are still the younger brothers of SO :)

rfusca

7:12 PM

@Francesco indeed

hey @Imre

Laura Ψ

@Francesco yeah, i'm sure those stats are floating around the SE office somewhere...i just don't know who has them. and yeah, a lot of people have SO as their first love ;)

Francesco

hello @Imre

Sean

@Francesco I'd also be interesting in the statistics of which stackexchange sites are most closely linked by user base.

rfusca

well a lot of users (myself included) started with one of the creators blogs

Francesco

@LauraΨ So much so that I understood the word game stack exchange <-> stock exchange only after a lot of time.. stack for me was the local memory which you can overflow ;-)

@rfusca I don't recall if it was Joel's or Jeff's blog....

rfusca

7:16 PM

I read Jeff's blog for years before SO

i actually miss his blog - its so rare that it gets updated

Francesco

@rfusca +1

Laura Ψ

@rfusca he's really active on practically every SE site...he probably writes way more now than he did when he updated his blog frequently, but now it's decentralized

Francesco

@LauraΨ I always see him on the meta....

rfusca

@LauraΨ oh ya, i know that, doesn't mean I don't miss his blog - it was just different :)

Sean

@Francesco I never got that until now!

Francesco

7:23 PM

@Sean it's so obvious that I couldn't believe I had missed it :-)

Laura Ψ

haha yeah...it's even funnier because our office is right around the corner from the stock exchange. our address is technically "one exchange plaza" (but that's not a useful address because ours is the only building on exchange plaza, i think)

rfusca

lol

Francesco

@LauraΨ :-)

rfusca

@Imre if you're taking that particular phrase and deducing context strictly from it - it could apply to video games, cake decorating, drawing...a million things

Imre

7:38 PM

oh hi @rfusca, @Francesco... I just stepped by earlier to check if there had been any discussion regarding the minimum image size question

rfusca

there wasn't really

Imre

um... sorry, what "particular phrase" are you referring to?

rfusca

"@rfusca wouldn't "clearly seeing features of a face" only make sense in context of photography? – Imre"

Francesco

afk

rfusca

hey @Rowland

Rowland Shaw

7:44 PM

evening

Imre

yeah, the phrase, yes, but all the elements in question - static pictures, pixels, AND clearly seeing features of a face - I don't see applying to video games, cake decoration or drawing (which would show artist's interpretation, not facial features)

we seem to accept questions on print sizes, which could also be applied to drawings or Word documents... so why not digital output, which is how far most images make it anyway?

rfusca

@Imre then i'm confused why you made the comment about that phrase...

Imre

@rfusca 'cause that phrase was what was excluding drawings and other images IMHO

... and thus making the question photography-related

rfusca

@Imre but you just said it wasn't that phrase...

"but all the elements in question"

so i'm confused why you're honing in on that phrase

Imre

it wasn't only that phrase, you had already agreed in your earlier comment that the question had to do with images in general (so no video games) and I didn't really think about cakes when writing the comment

rfusca

7:56 PM

well, i still submit that its far more about effective user interface or web design than photography

Sean

@rfusca No more than a passport photo is more about international travel than photography, I think.

rfusca

well what about a passport photo?

Sean

@rfusca Proper cropping, how much space to leave around the face, overall size, amount of editing allowed, lighting needed for good identification, etc.

rfusca

if somebody asked how big the photo could be on a passport - i think that would be fairly equivalent and off topic as well. they're not asking how to crop or space to leave or how to take the photo. its about how to get users to do something

Sean

@rfusca Heh. So you agree with me that it is similar, but think my example is off topic, too? I guess that's a win-lose? ;)

rfusca

8:07 PM

(i'm really trying to avoid extended discussion in comments on that question btw)

@Sean lol

Sean

So your position is that the uses of a photograph after it is taken are off topic, provided the use in question does not relate to the photography industry i.e., a portfolio to show clients, or a print to show or sell?

rfusca

hmm a well stated question, let me consider it

Sean

It would be good to establish a policy on that. I don't have a strong opinion either way, but I think we both approached the question in question from opposite sides.

Imre

Um... So, should we also close those - photo.stackexchange.com/questions/8228/… and photo.stackexchange.com/questions/456/… ? These are also tackling with size issues not unique to photography

Sean

@Imre Ah, but see? I cleverly exempted those with my wording, "does not relate to the photography industry."

Really, I think we just need to draw a line somewhere and exactly where we should do it will take some deliberation, as well as examination of past questions like those.

Francesco

8:16 PM

@Sean To me the question was OT, more suited to graphic design or to user interface

Sean

@rfusca How's the blog coming along, by the way?

rfusca

@Francesco ya, its been flagged to migrate elsewhere

Francesco

When I see some borderline question I try to see if there's a way to "reword it" but in this case it is difficult...

Sean

@Francesco Yes, I agree, another SE site would probably have been more appropriate. But it does raise an interesting question.

rfusca

@Sean well this weekend i'll be getting the freaking long interview with Itai up

Francesco

8:18 PM

because the photographic content is something like "how do you capture the most recognizable features of a face?"

rfusca

other than that, we have a lack of people who will author an article :(

Francesco

which is not a terribly exciting question...

@rfusca I was thinking of something but don't know if it could work

rfusca

mattdm had said he volunteered to do a weeky article, but then when the blog went up, he got busy with work

@Francesco what would you like to do?

Francesco

let me sketch the idea: if you happen to go in an interesting place and bring your camera

Imre

I was tempted to reword it such as "How small can I resize a portrait for the person still be recognizable?" - I'm a bit confused, would that be a photography question?

Francesco

8:21 PM

you tell some hopefully photographic related history of the trip with narrative. IF you try some shot of particular interest...

I don't know if it could work. In my case I could do a tour of Rome but my shots would only be good as an example of what you don't have to do

sorry, of what you must avoid.

I thought about it when you were interviewing Itai who does travel photography

I am sure that one trip with some photos could provide for a nice reading... and it could be a series with different contributors from various part of the world.

rfusca

@Francesco maybe thats not a bad thing - set it up as a photo tour of Rome and as a 'help somebody grow' article...elicit feedback from the community in the comments and then attempt to apply it the next article

i'm sure it would help others as well

Francesco

@rfusca yes in my case that would be the flavour of it

rfusca

i think its a great idea personally

Itai is wicked passionate about travel

Francesco

Look I have already enough photos of the centre of rome that I can do it without even setting up another tour this weekend. Let me think if I can manage to write something with a minimum of interest

@rfusca yes I am sure that he could share some interesting story

rfusca

if you give an email address, I'll send you an account link

Francesco

8:24 PM

but I don't want to over burden him :)

Sean

@Imre An hour ago I would have said yes. Now I think it is open to debate. But in large part I think it is the wording of that question and not so much the subject. It seemed clear from the context that photography was not really the main concern of the asker, and the community here gave less leeway as a result. If you had asked your question instead, I think the feedback would have been much more positive.

Francesco

@rfusca let me think about a story to tell first :)

rfusca

@Sean probably so

Francesco

I would never want to simply put my photos "without a reason for the community to look at them"

rfusca

ultimately its the community that closed the question (and could reopen)

@Francesco sure, as long as we phrase it right, i think the response will be good though

Francesco

8:28 PM

@Imre I was thinking along those lines but didn't find that it was enough photographic related... because you could ask "if I resize this logo, this signature, this symbol.. " or abstractly "what are the features which the human mind perceives as characteristic when analyzing an image and must be preserved at small scale"?

@rfusca look I really want to do it :-) let me think about it, I will tell you tomorrow if I have found a story to tell. I am thinking about something ;-)

rfusca

@Francesco lol np, i wasn't trying to push ya

Sean

@Francesco But faces evoke a unique human response, different from object recognition.

Francesco

@Sean I would say that faces are the favourite subject of the human mind in terms of recognition

Sean

Not that that makes it more 'photography relevant'

Francesco

but then have you read Oliver Sack's classic "the man who mistook his wife for a hat"?

Sean

8:31 PM

@Francesco No, but now I want to

Francesco

@Sean it's more an issue for neurophisiology.stackexchange... :-)

@Sean it is a masterpiece

Sean

@Francesco Let's move it there :D

Francesco

@Sean let's ask @Laura to build the relevant community

Sean

@Francesco That might take some time. Let's hope the question wasn't time sensitive.

Francesco

@Sean :) in any case I really recommend to read that book, I found it thoguth provoking and extremely well written

Sean

8:37 PM

My list of books to read I growing really long. I hope I have free time someday.

Francesco

have to go now, my wife would like to watch a movie and is beginnig to be annoyed by all this photographic stuff :)

rfusca

@Francesco lol

Francesco

@Sean it's a short book, move it up your stack :)

rfusca

ciao

Francesco

ciao, buona notte

Sean

8:38 PM

bye

rfusca

its always crazy- chat will be just rolling along in here and just bam die instantly lol

Laura Ψ

9:10 PM

@Francesco +1 for oliver sacks. however. i expand communities that already have a foundation...so if you propose a neurophysiology SE on area51 and it becomes a successful site, THEN i will build and promote the community ;) (i'd also probably commit to that proposal)

rfusca

you have varied interests

@jrista are we changing the rules for the next PotW to allow standard aspect ratio?

Francesco

10:38 PM

@LauraΨ I am not qualified enough, apart from some knowledge about heavy-ion related diseases. I would not be able to propose such a SE, unfortunately :( But I don't lose hope that someday there will be one :)

rfusca

11:11 PM

@Francesco i can't help but wonder why you have specific neurophysiologic knowledge about heavy-ion diseases

jrista

@rfusca I think we should consult Jin about it in relation to CSS first, but I'm certainly ok with it. I wouldn't really say its my decision, its the communities. ;)

rfusca

@jrista Jin has it fixed, the text will align

jrista

k, I say go with it :)

rfusca

ok

0

Q: Picture of the Week no longer requires a funky aspect ratio

This is really an announcement. Next week's contest will no longer be restricting the picture of the week to an 'odd' aspect ratio. You will be free to use a 'normal' ratio (or if you like the old ratio then that). That said, there will be two simple restrictions: It must still be in landsca...

discussion featured-photo

Francesco

11:58 PM

@rfusca I did my phd thesis in biophysics when I was younger :)

@rfusca great news :) wasn't the suggestion by @vian the starting point of the new release?

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