Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates/Ballard Locks cleaning

Ballard Locks cleaning

Voting period is over. Please don't add any new votes. Voting period ends on 26 Mar 2012 at 02:59:22 (UTC)

Reason: Dramatic illustration of the scale and dimensions of the small lock at the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks, showing details of maintenance operations. Good color, contrast, resolution, and reflections in water that are both interesting and informative.
Articles in which this image appears: Hiram M. Chittenden Locks
FP category for this image: Engineering and technology
Creator: Dennis Bratland

Support as nominator --Dennis Bratland (talk) 02:59, 17 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Oppose. Because it's not possible to see the top of the lock anywhere in the frame – except in a reflection – or the overall outline of the lock, it's difficult to identify the subject as a lock (as opposed to a generic image of a person power-washing the side of a concrete warehouse). A portrait oriented image with a slightly wider field of view might be more effective; compare, for example, with File:Locks-1.jpg, which shows one of the large locks in the same complex. (Also, this nomination technically shouldn't be considered for another week, as it was only uploaded a few hours ago.) TenOfAllTrades(talk) 03:39, 17 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

The Ballard Locks is a huge complex spread over a wide area, with different parts that perform several different functions. Most of it is underwater most of the time. You can show an aerial view giving the general layout, as the lead image does, but after that, you're limited to a series of closeups showing details of each of the parts, and schematic drawings that untangle the complexity, as in the fish ladder schematic. So the encyclopedic value is only as one of many necessary illustrations for this subject.
The reason File:Locks-1.jpg gives a wider view is that the large lock is larger. The camera is on the west gate, 825 ft from the opposite gate. The small lock is less than 2/10ths as long and 3/8ths as wide. The distance from the vantage point on the small lock's gate to the opposite gate is only 150 ft, yet both locks are about equally deep. With the small lock, you can either look down into the lock and see the floor of the drained lock, or up at the surrounding area, but since you're so close, you can't see it all at once. If File:Ballard Locks cleaning 2012-03-16 06.jpg were panned up high enough to show morre the surface, you'd not see the bottom at all. That's with a 40mm lens. You'd be introducing distortion with a lens wide enough to get it all. It's a good point, but you can't compare photos of the large and small locks that way; they're two different subjects.
If the opportunity arises, I'll take more photos when the drain the large lock, which is normally in November, for comparison. --Dennis Bratland (talk) 19:05, 18 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

OK, I was wrong. I didn't think it would work, but I went back and tried some portrait shots as TenOfAllTrades suggested, and actually you can get some view of the surroundings and the bottom of the small lock. The upstream gate's walkway was open this time, so I was able to shoot from the opposite end and have the Salmon Bay Bridge bascule in the background. Probably something like File:Ballard Locks Cleaning 2012-03-18 03.jpg or File:Ballard Locks Cleaning 2012-03-18 06.jpg. There are more photos of cleaning the small lock in Media related to Cleaning Hiram M. Chittenden Locks at Wikimedia Commons --Dennis Bratland (talk) 23:15, 22 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Oppose per 10ofAllTrades. Clegs (talk) 08:59, 18 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Oppose per above. Crisco 1492 (talk) 12:48, 18 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Support. The image's framing and composition is somewhat cluttered at first but it makes me want to know what he is doing. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Enthdegree (talk • contribs) 22:07, 18 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Comment Please do try to retake this photo in November! See you then! Aaadddaaammm (talk) 18:23, 22 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Not Promoted --Papa Lima Whiskey 2 (talk) 10:37, 26 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]