@causeisaidso
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CauseISaidSo
ParticipantIf your macro is fixed focal length (or you keep it at the same focal length for all 3 shots), I think you’re good to use your macro, Mopsy.
ParticipantOn the subject of OBO’s, would that be occurring during the scraping of the thread, then? So when your script scans the thread and sees OBO/similar wording, it will automagically just re-assign those votes? That would be cool.
That’s it exactly.
For example, during the autumn contest, orionid posted 3 OBO kestrana (e.g., see http://www.fark.com/cgi/comments.pl?IDLink=5782386&IDComment=65074290#c65074290) and since he used the wording “Posted OBO kestrana” my stats scraper automatically assigned it to kestrana.
As long as the posting text follows one of the formats described previously, it’s automatic. The only exception is that the OBO farktographer must be previously known to the system (i.e., if this is the OBO’s first contest, the scraper won’t create a new entrant record for them).
ParticipantThe only thing I can think of would be a way to fix OBO voting yourself.
Already got you covered on that one!
If you follow a somewhat flexible text pattern when posting on behalf of someone else, my stats parser will automatically pick it up and assign it to them. For example, orionid’s posting for you during the autumn contest was automatically assigned to you.
The text pattern to follow looks something like this:
[Posted] (OBO | on behalf of) [farktographer] username
where brackets “[]” denote optional text, parentheses denote sets of choices and the pipe symbol “|” denotes logical or. So, these are all valid designations that will automatically be picked up:
OBO kestrana
Posted OBO kestrana
On behalf of kestrana
Posted on behalf of farktographer kestranaIf any of you read regular expressions (and my sympathies if you do), here’s the regular expression used for matching:
b(((Posteds+)?((OBO(s+of)?)|(ons+behalfs+of)))|(Posteds+for))s+(farktographers+)?(?w+[^fnrtv]*S)Participant**steps up on soapbox and takes a deep breath**
OK, I was saving this speech for the actual launch, but since the topic has come up, let me give it now and I want to be clear about it. The stats site I’m working on is in no way, shape, or form meant to denigrate or take anything away from schnee’s FSM. Neither is it an attempt at online popularity as that’s not my thing either. I’ve got plenty of real-life friends, but none of them are into photography, which is why I enjoy my time here with y’all so much.
This isn’t an “I could do a better job of that” kinda thing, it’s a “wow, that’s really cool, I want to play with it”, “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery” kinda thing. If it weren’t for schnee’s FSM, I probably wouldn’t be participating in Farktography because chasing the stats is part of what makes it fun for me.
I’ll let you in on a little secret – I most likely don’t have the passion for photography that most of you have. I enjoy the heck out of it, I strive to improve myself, and I don’t see myself ever giving it up, but I can’t really say I’m passionate about it. I like it enough to tote a DSLR, tripod and a couple of lenses through Disneyworld, but not enough that I make frequent outings just to photograph things or really have much of a desire to play with antiques or homebrew photography.
If I had to pick something that I’d describe as being a “passion” of mine (aside from family, friends, & faith), it’d probably be finding elegant solutions to software problems. I’ve been in the same software field for 20 years now, so most of the challenge there is just in keeping up with new technology and protocols. I haven’t done much web development or image manipulation, so the new problem domain is what makes it fun for me.
I went public with it early for two reasons: 1) To solicit input from anyone that might want to see something different that I hadn’t thought of; and 2) I sometimes have a problem with following things like this through to completion once I’ve figured out the solution. Once the challenge of figuring out “how” is over, the actual implementation sometimes gets tedious and I abandon it for a new challenge. I didn’t want that to happen here, so I made it public to force myself to finish it.
Having said all of that, if it’s the consensus that I’d be taking away from FSM and no one’s interested in a new stats site, just let me know and I’ll continue my work in private.
ParticipantThanks much, soosh! Again, that really means a lot coming from you.
I was actually concerned that I might catch some flak with that one because the photographic side of it was so simple.
ParticipantWe’ll see what happens when I get to the actual implementation, but my current plan is to make the choice of rank/place algorithm selectable. It’ll get saved per person either in a cookie or with a login.
Obviously, you won’t be able to compare stats directly across algorithms, but I think the comparitive stats within each algorithm should work out the same because it won’t change the order, just the assignment of places.
Now on another topic, I’ve seen two requests for less penalties for missing contests, but does anyone have any ideas on how to address that? There are some stats now where particpiation frequency isn’t a factor (e.g., best average standing and best average votes/entry), but I’m not sure how to factor it out of something like most recent highest vote count.
ParticipantAh, gotcha. Sounds interesting. I’m looking forward to seeing the results.
ParticipantI could learn from you.
Wow, that’s flattering coming from you, but I seriously doubt it. It’s basically the same technique you used for your Kodachrome shot (which came out really well, BTW) and that U-Man used for his psychedelic plastic fork shot back in Forktography.
The only real trick was creating the artwork transparency. I used MS Expression Design, but Illustrator or any other vector graphics app would also work. From there, I laser printed it onto some transparency film I’ve had lying around for 10+ years from when I had to teach a class in a room that still used an overhead projector. I had to run it through twice to get it dark enough and fortunately my old printer had good enough registration that I didn’t get an offset image.
Check out my bees for alternate backgrounds. I almost went with the purple one so I could use the “with a taste of Purple Haze” byline.
Having said all that, if you do have any questions about it, ask away.
My original idea with this one was to have a completely transparent six, shine a light thru it and then reflect it off a couple of mirrors to invert it horizontally and vertically so that it turned into a 9, but I couldn’t get that to come out decently.
ParticipantI am guessing the original shot was done with a large format bellows because there is no place on the street to shoot the album cover shot with anything else.
So are you saying that that’s actually the building used for the original album cover? If so, that makes it even cooler!
ParticipantI think you’ve got it, QueenBee, or at least that’s the way I’m interpreting it – 3 at the same zoom, not necessarily macro, although it may be difficult to repeat the exact same zoom on a P&S if you deviate from the default (or min/max) and turn it on and off for different locations/times.
ParticipantParticipantThanks for the tips!
And yeah, that does seem kinda pricey for 5-10 minutes of smoke. I wonder if dry ice would work?
ParticipantEnnuipoet: Nice job on the Physical Graffiti. Really has the album’s look to it. I guessed it even before scrolling to the text.
Elsinore: I’ve had a couple of ideas lately that would’ve been enhanced by smoke but I wasn’t sure how to go about it. Any pointers you’d like to share on generating and photographing a good smoke wisp?
olavf: Nice beer selection, one of my favs. And forty’s not that bad, really. Now FIFTY, them dude’s is old! 🙂 (which I can only say in jest for a short coupla more years)
Curious: Your RS cover got an actual out-loud chuckle from me.
Participantbest flash animation … you will ever see.
Fixed that for you. 🙂 Seriously, though, thanks for that. I can’t believe I’ve never seen it. That was about the funniest thing I’ve seen in a while. Oh, to have that kinda free time…
ParticipantIs that wall of yours upside-down?
No, it’s just a normal zoomed shot of the side of the house, desaturated and contrast-boosted for effect. But now you’ve got my curiousity up – what made you think it might be upside-down (or what specifically gave you any indication of orientation at all, for that matter)?
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