Acontador From Chile, joined Jul 2005, 1074 posts, RR: 20 Posted (6 months 1 week 2 days 4 hours ago) and read 1291 times:
AIRLINERS.NET CREW PHOTO SCREENER
Hi All,
In order to give you some feedback and to try to avoid future rejections, please have a look at the following problems we very often see during screening in no particular order):
- Use the autofill function!
For some reason some people like to go the tough road and type all info by themselves, but most of the times they don't get it right.
- Check the info provided by the autofill function with the other pics in the DB!
Sometimes, the autofill function does not provide all the info that is already available in the DB, thus double checking with the pics already in should be a must (that's what the link to the pics in the upload page is for).
- If the aircraft has no visible titles, upload as 'Untitled'!
If you know the operator (other than a private person), you may include them in the airline field as 'Untitled (operator)', or even better just leave 'Untitled' in the airline field and include the operator in the remark field.
- If the aircraft wears no visible titles and you don't have any info regarding the operator/owner and it looks like an aircraft that a person might own and operate by himself, select also PRIVATE category!
Typical examples are an untitled Cessna 172 or a homebuilt plane at your local airfield.
- Always (try to) include the registration of the aircraft and the construction number!
If the registration is not visible or unknown, at least include the known part (like an AA aircraft will have a registration N*****). Try to search the web for the construction number if it is not in the DB, and for 'N' registrations you can always find them here: http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/NNum_inquiry.asp
- Don't upload sequential shots showing the same side so that we screeners are supposed to choose one!
You are the photographer and uploader and you have to choose which pictures you want in the DB. If you do this, you risk getting warned or even banned from uploading, as this behaviour only increases the queue and waists screener's time.
- Check the leveling of your pictures by looking at the complete picture, not just details!
Before uploading, just step back and have a look at your complete pìcture and ask yourself if it really looks level.
- Always check the histogram!
This is one of the most powerful tool in digital editing. It will tell you a lot of info regarding your picture, like if it's dark, if there is more contrast needed, colour casts (in RGB mode), etc.
- Use the equalizer function to look for dustspots and remove them!
It is so easy to find the dustspots using the equalizer function in PS, and yet we keep on seeing dirty pictures...
- Don't clone objects out!
Only cloning allowed is to remove dustspots/specs. Any other type of cloning will lead to you getting warned or even banned from uploading.
- Use the Photography Forum and ask our fellow photographers for advice!
There is an incredible wealth of knowledge amongst our fellow photographers/contributors, many of whom have thousands of pictures accepted in the DB, and most are not only willing but also happy to help you in case you have any doubts or questions.
Please feel free to ask any questions regarding the above mentioned points.
I hope this will be helpful to some of you, and hope it will lead to more successful uploads and less rejections - something we ALL want !
Just sit back, relax and have a glass of Merlot...enjoy your life!
NIKV69 From United States, joined Jan 2004, 6908 posts, RR: 37 Reply 1, posted (6 months 1 week 2 days 3 hours ago) and read 1268 times:
Nicely put Andres..
Also, one thing I learned is that to improve you have to invest the TIME. I have seen many photogs that shoot once in a blue, spend 5 mins in photoshop and go ape when their stuff gets rejected here. That just doesn't cut it. I know there are other things in life, family etc but to get results in any endeavor you have to pull it out of the ground. Spend the time in PS, looking at hundreds of pics. Use the workflows, experiment. This is the only way to get the results you want and surprise yourself. Doing a quicko edit in PS and whining about a rejection is not the way. Books too help, I bought a book about CS2 3 years ago I still have right next to me when I edit. I also read it when I am not editing to just learn how the tools work, what they do etc. I get popular photo every month and they always have great lessons on PS. There is a wealth of knowledge out there, but you have to make the sacrfice and take the time to learn it and use it.
Obama could have went to see wounded soldiers, he went to the gym instead. McCain, country first.
Spoogle From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 2, posted (6 months 1 week 2 days ago) and read 1206 times:
Quoting Acontador (Thread starter): - Don't clone objects out!
Only cloning allowed is to remove dustspots/specs. Any other type of cloning will lead to you getting warned or even banned from uploading.
Didnt someone recenty get a rejection for a bird .... im sure they did
I know its happend a few times too !
needs to be screened as such , its usually very obvious if its a bird or dust .
Acontador From Chile, joined Jul 2005, 1074 posts, RR: 20 Reply 4, posted (6 months 1 week 1 day 23 hours ago) and read 1157 times:
AIRLINERS.NET CREW PHOTO SCREENER
Hi Patrick,
Quoting Coninpa (Reply 3): How do you deduct from the histogram if more (or less) contrast is needed?
No silly questions here, only silly answers .
Actually, you cannot read it out directly, but when there are flat lines left/right, that's a good indication that the picture will need more contrast (since this would mean that blacks would look rather dark grey, same goes for whites).
Just sit back, relax and have a glass of Merlot...enjoy your life!
Acontador From Chile, joined Jul 2005, 1074 posts, RR: 20 Reply 6, posted (6 months 1 week 1 day 21 hours ago) and read 1100 times:
AIRLINERS.NET CREW PHOTO SCREENER
Hi Tony,
Quoting SNATH (Reply 5): Quoting Acontador (Thread starter):
Only cloning allowed is to remove dustspots/specs.
Sorry, tha'ts not quite true!
Quoting Spoogle (Reply 2):
Didnt someone recenty get a rejection for a bird .... im sure they did
Indeed. I can't remember who he was, but he was explicitly told by the screeners to remove the bird...
In that case, I suspect bird=spec, as the bird was so small that could also be taken for a spec. Although it's difficult to give a more general rule as it will depend on each picture, normally, if the bird is so big as to clearly identify its form (wings/body), then it should be OK to leave it.
Just sit back, relax and have a glass of Merlot...enjoy your life!
UnattendedBag From United States, joined Oct 2003, 1337 posts, RR: 1 Reply 7, posted (6 months 1 week 1 day 18 hours ago) and read 1059 times:
Quoting Acontador (Thread starter): - If the aircraft has no visible titles, upload as 'Untitled'!
If you know the operator (other than a private person), you may include them in the airline field as 'Untitled (operator)', or even better just leave 'Untitled' in the airline field and include the operator in the remark field.
I have been meaning to ask these questions for a long time now. I see that you are taking the proactive initiative to answer questions regarding these upload problems. Thanks!
I originally uploaded this shot as "Untitled (Dale Earnhardt Incorporated)" as it clearly has titles on the tail. It has been changed to simply "Untitled" since acceptance. Why?
which was owned by Blockbuster Inc. at the time I photographed it. (Blockbuster Inc. logo on the tail)
As you said above, if I need to use "Untitled" for that aircraft and I know who owns the aircraft, can I not add "(Blockbuster Inc.)" to the title? I can understand adding the owner/operator information in the remark field if the aircraft wears nothing but a colorful paint scheme, but if the aircraft wears signs of its owner/operator, why not include that in the title?
Psych From United Kingdom, joined Nov 2004, 2467 posts, RR: 53 Reply 8, posted (6 months 1 week 1 day 11 hours ago) and read 997 times:
Re the cloning issue:
My reading of the point Andres is making is that cloning is acceptable for something that looks like a dust spot/dirt.
I had a photo rejected for dirt here even though I was able to prove on appeal that the 'mark' in question was part of a cloud formation. The problem for me was that it looked to some rather like a smudge on the sensor screen when the image was cropped for the aircraft, thus cropping out the rest of the cloud. As a result of this experience I expanded my understanding of the cloning rule (and I was not dissuaded from doing so by the Head Screeners) to say that if it is sensor dirt or 'looks like dirt' (and for that read small birds also, even aircraft in the far distant sky) then it should be removed.
GPHOTO From United Kingdom, joined Aug 2004, 538 posts, RR: 13 Reply 9, posted (6 months 1 week 1 day 11 hours ago) and read 982 times:
AIRLINERS.NET CREW DATABASE EDITOR
Quoting Psych (Reply 8): My reading of the point Andres is making is that cloning is acceptable for something that looks like a dust spot/dirt.
Flies are good ones too. I sometimes get these when at small airfields/farm strips. If they are going to appear as tiny dirty black spots against the sky in your final image, you should not be afraid to clone them out carefully.
On the other hand, once at Kemble I had a large bee fly past just as I pressed the shutter. The result was a large blurry bee shape (with wings!) against the sky. I would not be able to clone this out because of the large effect it would have on the background - I could, no would, have had an editing/manipulation rejection. The bee was, if I recall correctly, probably about 60-100 pixels wide. The size of the area needing adjustment would have been impossible to touch up without it being noticeable. Fortunately I knew it had happened (heard the thing going by!) and took another shot that was bee-free.
John, originally the idea of this post was to make more general suggestions to avoid unnecessary rejections, and not discuss some particular pictures. Nevertheless, let me try to shed some light into the subject!
The exact definition of 'titles' for A.net will have to wait for a database editor (they are the experts in that field).
For screening purposes, always try to put yourself into our shoes: How do you review the information provided by the uploader and make sure it's complete and correct? If the titles are just a small, unknown and maybe even unrecognizable logo, how do you expect me to guess if the operator is correct?
Personally, if there is somewhere on the aircraft the name of the operator written, I would call that titles, be it written alone or as part of a logo. If the logo doesn't include the name of the operator, then these are no titles, as nobody can expect us to know each and every logo out there.
Quoting UnattendedBag (Reply 7): As you said above, if I need to use "Untitled" for that aircraft and I know who owns the aircraft, can I not add "(Blockbuster Inc.)" to the title?
As I said before, it's a matter of preference:
Quoting Acontador (Thread starter): If you know the operator (other than a private person), you may include them in the airline field as 'Untitled (operator)', or even better just leave 'Untitled' in the airline field and include the operator in the remark field.
And that is explained by the search function in the DB. If you put 'Untitled (Operator)' as the titles, then every search looking for that specific a/c (for example using registration) AND 'Untitled' as Airline will NOT return your a/c, as the titles will be different.
Invader From Netherlands, joined Feb 2000, 296 posts, RR: 8 Reply 14, posted (5 months 4 weeks 21 hours ago) and read 595 times:
AIRLINERS.NET CREW CHIEF DATABASE EDITOR
Thanks Andres, for bringing all this good advice! I will go a bit deeper into some database aspects for a better understanding.
-Autofill
Please always use the autofill. The importance of this is shown by the following example: when you type reg "N190AT" in the autofill, that will give you "Lockheed L-1011-385-1 TriStar 50" as the aircraft type. But when you ignore that and type "Lockheed L-1011 TriStar 50", the next photographer of "N190AT' will be presented with two names to choose from, "Lockheed L-1011-385-1 TriStar 50" and "Lockheed L-1011 TriStar 50" as both these names are now present in the database. You will understand that this destroys the integrity of the database.
A second autofill point: always check on the second upload page the accuracy of what autofill has given you. It can be that the autofill gives you a code (fleetnumber, squadroncode, show code, etc) that the aircraft on your picture is no longer carrying, or the reg of your aircraft has been used more than once on different aircraft and you choose the wrong one. A famous example is LX-DCV:
Left is Boeing 747-228F/SCD cn 20887/245, right is Boeing 747-2R7F/SCD cn 21650/354, both are LX-DCV.
-Titles
Everything about titles is listed at the first upload page in the Help for Airline. See especially para.4, 5 and 12 in this Help item.
Civil aircraft without titles shall always be listed as "Untitled". Only if operated by an airline, the airline name shall be listed too, between brackets. So in general, no corporate, flying club, flying museum, or whatever other operator name shall follow "Untitled", except for a few exceptions decided by the editor team.
The A310 should indeed be listed as "Untitled (Air Plus Comet)" as that is an airline, but the Aztec should be listed as just "Untitled" as its operator, Ingenieur & PlanungsbĂĽro Wiese, isn't an airline.
On the other hand, aircraft with titles shall always have those titles reflected in the airline field, and for all kind of operators. Sometimes titles are very small but they nevertheless count as titles. Also, don't forget to check para.17 in the Help item for those cases where aircraft have different markings left and right.
The Skipper has clearly "Waterford Aero Club" on the fin, while the A310 has very small "operated by MAP" on the forward fuselage. Keep your eyes open and you discover a lot
GPHOTO From United Kingdom, joined Aug 2004, 538 posts, RR: 13 Reply 15, posted (5 months 3 weeks 6 days 12 hours ago) and read 507 times:
AIRLINERS.NET CREW DATABASE EDITOR
One more thing that may help with 'Info' type rejections (and keeps the editors workload down) is to use the Photo Index feature.
This useful and underused part of the site lists every airfield, registration, country etc. in the database. It is particularly useful for checking exactly how something should be uploaded, for example an aircraft type or the correct way to list an airfield. The index does include all the erroneous entries as well, but it most cases it should help you decide which is the correct listing to use when you are not sure.
For example, at the moment I write, there are two London Gatwick entries listed.
London - Gatwick (LGW / EGKK) with 8238 Photos
and
London - Gatwick (EGKK) with just 1 Photo
It should be obvious which version is correct and which one is wrong .
Of course it is not foolproof, as not all entries have been fully checked and standardised, so be careful, but for major airports and major aircraft types, it can be a useful check. You are more likely to be correct using the index than tossing a coin.
So if you are not sure what to use for an entry, at least consider giving the photo index a go. It may help you avoid some info rejections and helps us keep the database as streamlined and correct as possible.
UnattendedBag From United States, joined Oct 2003, 1337 posts, RR: 1 Reply 16, posted (5 months 3 weeks 6 days 1 hour ago) and read 464 times:
Quoting Invader (Reply 14): On the other hand, aircraft with titles shall always have those titles reflected in the airline field, and for all kind of operators. Sometimes titles are very small but they nevertheless count as titles. Also, don't forget to check para.17 in the Help item for those cases where aircraft have different markings left and right.
Thanks Peter. That is exactly what I was looking for.
I have another question for you. I noticed recently that "Star Alliance" titles have taken priority over the actual airline in the 'airline' field. Maybe I missed the explanation in the forum when that was changed, but I would like to point out item number 15 of the airline help page you referenced. It says:
"The database standardization editors can make exceptions to the above standards when a special situation occurs. An example is e.g. some BEX - Business Express aircraft. Although the titles "BEX - Business Express" are bigger than the titles "Delta Connection", and thus the airline should be listed according to point 2 as "BEX - Business Express (Delta Connection)", the names have been reversed here by the editors to "Delta Connection (BEX - Business Express)" to be consistent with all the other Delta Connection titles."
"Star Alliance" is not an airline and even though the titles are larger, shouldn't the actual airline take priority over the association it belongs to?
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