Long email is long.


While expanding commons is a worthy goal the museum is likely to want pics that make it into Wikipedia articles. The main challenge with photographing vehicles tends to be their size. Getting even lighting over an object that big is tricky (and tanks tend to be large even for vehicles). Studio set-ups use a bunch of big lights. Wikipedians tend to use outdoor shots (the soft light of dawn/ evening or light overcast during the day generally produces he best results).


Indoors lighting tends to be worse with point sources resulting in uneven illumination. The shear size of vehicles means you can't generally light the whole things from an onboard flash. There is a significant falloff at a greater distance. Better results can be obtained with off camera flashes but this requires multiple people and someone experienced with off camera flash. Still it might be worth seeing if a team can be put together. We must have someone who knows their way around flash photography.


In terms of what can usefully be photographed offer the following list. In addition photos of details (suspension, cupolas weapon mounts) as well as interiors are often lacking.


==Need pics==


Mark IX tank

Tetrarch -not easy to get a good pic of since it appears to be surrounded by stuff

Vickers 6-Ton Tank

Excelsior tank

Valentine Archer

T14 Heavy Tank


==Improvable with a tripod==


Little Willie-seriously dark though current image has an exposure of ¼ seconds

Mark II female

TOGII


==Improvable through other methods==


Light tank Mk IIA -Might be better with a slightly greater depth of field

Tortoise heavy assault tank-Some clever HDR or off camera flash use is needed to deal with the rather messy lighting

Black Prince-slightly wider field of view (the area behind the tank is much brighter than the tank itself which may complicate things).

Valiant tank- needs a wider field of view. Area around tank is also pretty dark.

Vickers A1E1 Independent-Some clever HDR or off camera flash use is needed to deal with the rather messy lighting

FV4401 Contentious-Needs a wider field of view although

Covenanter tank-Photo could be taken at a better angle. Some clever HDR or off camera flash use is needed to deal with the rather messy lighting

FV 4005-Photo could be taken at a better angle in better weather

Mark VIII- pic needed that shows the whole tank

Rolls-Royce Armoured Car-Possible some HDR work. The thing has gloss paint that complicates things.

Peerless Armoured Car- Looks like it could use some serious fill flash.

Conqueror tank- slightly wider field of view. Lighting is going to be a pain since there appears to be a window behind it so the thing is strongly backlit. You would almost want a large ring flash (something like the AlienBees ABR800). Tricky

Fiat M13/40- slightly wider crop



On 23 April 2014 19:14, Chris Keating <chriskeatingwiki@gmail.com> wrote:
I just had a flick through some images in that category, and there is quite a lot that I reckon I'd be able to improve on with my D90 and a tripod. If only I had a spare day to go and take photos of tanks :)


On Wed, Apr 23, 2014 at 5:48 PM, geni <geniice@gmail.com> wrote:
Tog 1 they don't. The only Cavalier tank I'm aware of is one in rather poor condition on the isle of weight. They've got a FV4211 turret but not a hull. They have got a Rotatrailer.

We have already got a lot of photos from the museum:

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Tanks_in_the_Bovington_Tank_Museum

So you'd need to be pretty good to improve on what we have. We also have a lot of tanks from the likes of United States Army Ordnance Museum.

Lighting isn't the greatest. If we could get a samyang 10mm f/2.8 and match it with the chapter's 60D we might be able to get some pretty good results.



On 23 April 2014 17:16, Jonathan Cardy <jonathan.cardy@wikimedia.org.uk> wrote:
Thanks Magnus and Richard, I have added your suggestions to the wishlist, if anyone else has further suggestions please post them there. though it might be worth checking if the museum has such a vehicle on display.

Regards

Jonathan Cardy
GLAM (Galleries, Libraries, Archives & Museums) Organiser/Trefnydd GLAM (Galeriau, Llyfrgelloedd, Archifdai a llawer Mwy!)
Wikimedia UK
0207 065 0990

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On 23 April 2014 16:50, Richard Symonds <richard.symonds@wikimedia.org.uk> wrote:
Such as:
  • Tiger 131 (which could be notable by itself)
  • Rotatrailer
  • the Sherman Crab
  • the FV4211 (first vehicle fitted with Chobham armour)
All a bit niche but very interesting to those of us who are interested in such things...

Richard Symonds
Wikimedia UK
0207 065 0992

Wikimedia UK is a Company Limited by Guarantee registered in England and Wales, Registered No. 6741827. Registered Charity No.1144513. Registered Office 4th Floor, Development House, 56-64 Leonard Street, London EC2A 4LT. United Kingdom. Wikimedia UK is the UK chapter of a global Wikimedia movement. The Wikimedia projects are run by the Wikimedia Foundation (who operate Wikipedia, amongst other projects).

Wikimedia UK is an independent non-profit charity with no legal control over Wikipedia nor responsibility for its contents.



On 23 April 2014 16:35, Magnus Manske <magnusmanske@googlemail.com> wrote:
FWIW, the only British tanks on en.wikipedia without an image appear to be:
TOG1
Morris-Martel
Tank, Cruiser, Mk VII Cavalier (A24) ([[Cavalier tank]])

But then, of course, there may be ones that don't have an article yet!

Cheers,
Magnus


On Wed, Apr 23, 2014 at 3:48 PM, Jonathan Cardy <jonathan.cardy@wikimedia.org.uk> wrote:
Dear Wikimedia UK mailing list,

We have been given some free off peak weekday tickets to the tank museum in Dorset.

I have already Emailed those of our Wiki Loves Monuments participants who opted in to further events, so apologies if this is a repeat, but if anyone here fancies taking photographs of tanks, send me your snail mail address and I will send you a ticket

Regards


Jonathan Cardy
GLAM (Galleries, Libraries, Archives & Museums) Organiser/Trefnydd GLAM (Galeriau, Llyfrgelloedd, Archifdai a llawer Mwy!)
Wikimedia UK
0207 065 0990

Wikimedia UK is a Company Limited by Guarantee registered in England and Wales, Registered No. 6741827. Registered Charity No.1144513. Registered Office 4th Floor, Development House, 56-64 Leonard Street, London EC2A 4LT. United Kingdom. Wikimedia UK is the UK chapter of a global Wikimedia movement. The Wikimedia projects are run by the Wikimedia Foundation (who operate Wikipedia, amongst other projects).

Wikimedia UK is an independent non-profit charity with no legal control over Wikipedia nor responsibility for its contents.
 
 
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