Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates/File:Eudyptula minor Bruny Island.jpg

Fairy Penguin

Reason: The only decent quality image on wikipedia of a wild fairy penguin. The flash is a requirement since they only return to the nesting sites after dark. A very difficult shot to take. The light levels were far to low for autofocus (4 seconds at ISO 1600) and manual focusing was extremely difficult (I used a narrow aperture to raise my chances). I had to limit myself to a couple of shots as flash photography was not allowed (Though the sign and Tourism Tasmania photographs use flash!). Noodle snacks (talk) 11:05, 21 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Articles this image appears in: Little Penguin
Creator: Noodle snacks

Support as nominator --Noodle snacks (talk) 11:05, 21 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Oppose Overflashed and 0% "wow". Papa Lima Whiskey (talk) 15:42, 21 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Weak Oppose PLW is right about the overflash - the shadow is very distracting. However, I do find the photo interesting enough to be FP if its quality were there. ~ ωαdεstεr16_«talk^stalk» 18:40, 21 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
- You are both completely missing the point I have to say. It is not possible to get a picture of a wild bird during the day (they are in the ocean fishing). You can either have a zoo shot on concrete with tags in the arm or flash. Noodle snacks (talk) 00:03, 22 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
  - Then I'd like to see a similar zoo shot of this species for comparison please, because I can't see what this image conveys that a technically better zoo shot couldn't. Papa Lima Whiskey (talk) 02:15, 22 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
    - You can find plenty of zoo shots in the article. Its all very well to show a shot of one in a zoo with a simulated natural environment, but doing so for this species is misleading; IRL they spend the day at sea and return to the burrows after dark. Many birds spend autumn and winter at sea without returning at all. File:Tawny frogmouth wholebody444.jpg was supported under very similar lighting rather recently (Tawny Frogmouths are most active at night). Noodle snacks (talk) 06:59, 22 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
      - The frogmouth is a higher quality shot. It doesn't have the nasty shadow from flashing, for instance. And let's face it - there is more than one way to flash. It's not like penguins are superfast on land. Papa Lima Whiskey (talk) 00:00, 27 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Weak Support - I apologize. Somehow I missed the line about the birds only returning at night. While I understand PLW's comments just above this, for now, this is the best we have and is still excellent for the situation. Again, I'm sorry for misreading (or unintentionally over-reading) that line. ~ ωαdεstεr16_«talk^stalk» 06:05, 22 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
- I don't agree with your comment, "the best we have". Please take a look at File:Fairy penguin.jpg. And if it's only the "best we have" for a given article, it shouldn't be promoted. It has to be among the best of all of Wikipedia. The criteria set this out quite clearly. Papa Lima Whiskey (talk) 00:00, 27 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Oppose Commendable effort to get the focus so good at night however I don't think the harsh lighting is worth the "in the wild" benefit. With careful composition you can get reasonably good shots at zoos and they typically only have tags on one arm (eg). Also the effect of the shadow would have been reduced a bit if you could have got one a little further from the bank (not sure if this was possible tho) --Fir0002 00:34, 22 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Comment Punctuation geek alert:in the caption it should be its chicks not it's chicks Lemon martini (talk) 12:43, 22 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Oppose per Papa above; rare pic but not FP material, in my humble opinion --Eustress (talk) 00:15, 25 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Not promoted --Noodle snacks (talk) 12:29, 30 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]