Wikipedia:Picture peer review/Texas Longhorn entry

Texas Longhorn team entry[edit]

This shot is taken with a 300 meter zoom (lens) from the stands at the opposite end of the stadium. It shows the University of Texas college football team, cheerleaders, mascot, and band. The team is entering the field through an artificial fog. The occasion was opening day of the 2007 season. I think the shot captures the excitement of the pending contest. For fans, this is the end of a long wait for the new season. I believe the image has suitable technical qualities as well and I look forward to feedback.

Nominated by: Johntex\^talk 19:29, 3 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Comments

Please don't take this as a vote against or necessarily a negative comment, but my gut feel is that it's in a bit of a no-man's land. The zoom's too close to get the full scene (e.g., cutoff band members), but given that, perhaps not tight enough to draw the eye smoothly in to the team. I wonder if it wouldn't be worth trying a crop that say places the mascot at the bottom left corner? And I may be blind, but where are the cheerleaders? (Incidentally, speaking of zooms, isn't it done at 140mm rather than 300m?) --jjron (talk) 12:33, 4 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Hello Jjron. Thanks for your comment, I appreciate your feedback.

I understand the conundrum you mention. The full spectacle would have required a much wider shot, and the team would have been much smaller. I personally think the original version is a good compromise. I feel that the strong diagonal line leads the eye to the team. I even like that some band members extend beyond the image because it implies that there is more to the scene. However, I made 2 closer crops of that photo as alternates. What do you think about these?
I also uploaded two additional shots that are earlier in the sequence.
With regards to the zoom, I see that the EXIF data does say 140mm, so my memory must have been playing tricks on me. My recollection was that this was at full zoom, but perhaps it was not.
With regard to the cheerleaders - there was actually only one in the originally shot - a male cheerleader in the bottom left is carrying an "S" flag. He has four other counterparts carrying T, E, X, and A that are already off-screen to the bottom left. (The order of entry being cheerleaders, mascot, team)

Thanks again for your comment and please let me know what you think of the other images. Johntex\^talk 20:33, 4 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Just thought I'd say that if you somehow managed to get field access (unlikely) that shoving a super wide lens in front of the team (so to speak) would provide both the full spectacle and a team that is large in proportion to the picture. -Fcb981(talk:contribs) 06:58, 6 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Good point, Fcb981! That would be a great day for me if I could get such access. Maybe some day I will get that opportunity if the school starts to like the work I can do from the stands. I am the primary author of our article on the 2005 national championship team so maybe that will someday win me a field pass. :-) Johntex\^talk 20:24, 6 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

OK, I agree that the best 'original' is your Alt1, I don't think 4 or 5 are as good. I prefer the crops; they also take out the slightly awkward sunny section at the left. I have also included an Alt6 crop of Alt1 which is more what I was thinking about, similar to Alt2, but somewhere between your Alt2 & 3 (it's only a low res version just to indicate what I was thinking - note I've taken a bit off the top and right as well which I think gives slightly stronger composition). I have to be honest and say I'm not convinced it would be highly successful at FPC, but it's the type of photo I certainly wouldn't advise against nominating; sometimes this type of thing as something 'different' comes good there. Right, anyone else got any input? --jjron (talk) 06:04, 5 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Seconder