JFK - February 15, 2011 (JetBlue "I Heart Blue York")

Went out to JFK for the day, and got the JetBlue "I Heart Blue York" arriving. A.net rejected my first upload attempt, and has been holding my better shot hostage since last night with no explanation of why it hasn't been processed yet. Meanwhile, they already added a photo of a new Ethiad plane that was taken today, with a huge shadow/highlight halo on it. No offense to that photographer (it's obvious the shooting conditions were less than ideal)...but I just wish A.net would be more consistent in their screening. They normally let stuff slide with priority screening, but are being really nit-picky with my photo for some reason.

Other highlights were the Evergreen 744F in basic Saudi Arabian colors, AA OneWorld 757, JetBlue Real Salt Lake, 100th Airbus, and the "I'm Starting to Despise Blue, A.net" scheme. Here are just a few photos (right-click and "View Image" for full-size):

http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u...04_mg_2239.jpg

http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u...43_mg_2299.jpg

http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u...22_mg_2283.jpg

Nice cary ! That Jetblue is a beauty !

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Originally Posted by Roush6NY

Nice cary ! That Jetblue is a beauty !

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Thanks Kaz!

Maybe my re-upload will get accepted... :biggrin:

http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u...k2179/anet.jpg

Carey,
As usual awesome shot. Thanks for the upload. Heres an example that echoes your woes.....

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...crw_0592lr.jpg

BTW, it had over 1000 hits on the Jet Photos in 1-2 days considering a very old and boring shot.

I usually do only a dozen from each trip. We all get enough rejections in our facets of lives so for 0.0001% imperfection to get rejection... is getting too old for some of us photogs. No wonder why so many photogs does not even bother to upload on A.net.

Raj

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Originally Posted by Cary

Thanks Kaz!

Maybe my re-upload will get accepted... :biggrin:

http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u...k2179/anet.jpg

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Yup.... and IT WILL BE TOD :wink:

Nice shot, Raj! But I would have rejected your shot too...for "Visible horizon with no girls in bikinis". Sorry :biggrin:

Seriously though, I was at over 80% acceptance with my TNCM/TFFJ and other recent shots, and suddenly they crack down on a banner news upload of mine? And now that I've publicly complained about it, it may never see the light of day on A.net :biggrin:

Very nice Cary! I see your photo as the Top photo right now on JP.net! Way to go!

Thanks Steve :)

Cary, well done!! You lucked out with not just the capture but with the light which had been bad from the weekend.

Your edit off Maho beach would be rejected for improper angle and flap setting hahahahaahaha.

BTW, the A.Net inconsistency stems from the many different tastes of the many different screeners. Some are more strict than others. I know for sure some prefer one shot over another. However I have been told by many screeners on A.net that they try really hard not to let personal taste dictate a decision. If the image is technically OK, they should accept whatever content as long as it does not violate motive.. But definitely decisions by one screener are defended by other screeners by policy most of the time. I have seen very poor accepted photos make it from time to time recently. But we just truck along. We all learn to cope with the rejections. :-)

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Originally Posted by gonzalu

Cary, well done!! You lucked out with not just he capture but with the light which had been bad from the weekend.

Your edit off Maho beach would be rejected for improper angle and flap setting hahahahaahaha.

BTW, the A.Net inconsistency stems from the many different tastes of the many different screeners. Some are more strict than others. I know for sure some prefer one shot over another. However I have been told by many screeners on A.net that they try really hard not to let personal taste dictate a decision. If the image is technically OK, they should accept whatever content as long as it does not violate motive.. But definitely decisions by one screener are defended by other screeners by policy most of the time. I have seen very poor accepted photos make it from time to time recently. But we just truck along. We all learn to cope with the rejections. :-)

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Thanks Manny. I don't sweat rejections too much on normal uploads anymore, but the fact that my better shot has just been sitting there and they haven't rejected it, accepted it, or replied back after 16 hours is frustrating. I assumed it was because they didn't get to it yet, but then they accept a new photo that was shot well after I submitted/wrote them... :confused: [alright...rant over]

I would be pi$$sed too.. .especially if it was re: the same subject matter LOL. BTW, what [is] the damn color of that thing? Milk, Cream, White? On your JP.net one, it looks like it has a blue cast... when I balanced it by eyesight on my computer so the sky looked more like I am used to, the plane became more white than not but I am not sure what's right as a color for it. I have not seen it in person yet :-)

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Originally Posted by gonzalu

I would be pi$$sed too.. .especially if it was re: the same subject matter LOL. BTW, what [is] the damn color of that thing? Milk, Cream, White? On your JP.net one, it looks like it has a blue cast... when I balanced it by eyesight on my computer so the sky looked more like I am used to, the plane became more white than not but I am not sure what's right as a color for it. I have not seen it in person yet :-)

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Haha, it's white. Lighting wasn't perfect, since the sun was still high. I'm not seeing too much color cast on the photo, but I might need to recalibrate my monitor. I didn't make any color/contrast/saturation adjustments...having used both systems equally, Canon DSLRs tend to saturate red/green/blues a lot more than Nikon DSLRs (with standard RAW conversion).

Cary, no, not saturation but color balance... let me show you what I see... hopefully it shows in IE/FF/Safari

I superimposed the layers with your original and my perceptual corrections and highlighted the splits... (RIGHT-CLICK | VIEW IMAGE to see at full size)

Diagonally

http://manny.smugmug.com/photos/1189691361_gb9c2-O.jpg

Stripes

http://manny.smugmug.com/photos/1189691366_MB4nj-O.jpg

Awesome catch on Jet Blue. The last few photo's I submitted to Anet got rejected, and it all depends on what screener you get. I've appealed some and I've gotten a totally different reason.........go figure. Now to keep my eye's on the sky for Blues.

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Originally Posted by gonzalu

Cary, no, not saturation but color balance... let me show you what I see... hopefully it shows in IE/FF/Safari

I superimposed the layers with your original and my perceptual corrections and highlighted the splits... (RIGHT-CLICK | VIEW IMAGE to see at full size)

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Oh no, I knew you were talking about color balance...I just talked about saturation because you mentioned "when I balanced it by eyesight on my computer so the sky looked more like I am used to". Every Canon I've owned tends to oversaturate blue skies. IMHO, I think the edits are a little too warm for my tastes. But it may have to deal with my cold demeanor today :tongue: I suppose a temperature halfway in-between might have been best.

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Originally Posted by Zee71

Awesome catch on Jet Blue. The last few photo's I submitted to Anet got rejected, and it all depends on what screener you get. I've appealed some and I've gotten a totally different reason.........go figure. Now to keep my eye's on the sky for Blues.

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Thanks Mark...yeah, I've gotten the whole different reason deal a few times, too. Despite my complaints about A.net, they *have* made me look more critically at my images, and that's a good thing. But this latest deal has ticked me off to the point where I was almost going to tell them to pull all my photos from the site.

I've submitted a ramp shot to Anet of the JetBlue with the new scheme........let's see what happens!

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Originally Posted by Zee71

I've submitted a ramp shot to Anet of the JetBlue with the new scheme........let's see what happens!

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It will probably be accepted right away, while mine still sits 20 hours later. Good luck :)

Is the shot Manny fixed the one that got rejected? Color was way off. Priority is one thing but that wasn't even close. I have had some priority shots with slight faults that would have got rejected otherwise but where still in the ballpark. As for why your second upload is not getting screened. You didn't send them a love email did you? :D. The Ethiad shot should have been accepted. It's an awesome capture in terrible conditions and halos are not enough to reject a new scheme of a airline not many people get to see.

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Originally Posted by NIKV69

Is the shot Manny fixed the one that got rejected? Color was way off. Priority is one thing but that wasn't even close. I have had some priority shots with slight faults that would have got rejected otherwise but where still in the ballpark. As for why your second upload is not getting screened. You didn't send them a love email did you? :D. The Ethiad shot should have been accepted. It's an awesome capture in terrible conditions and halos are not enough to reject a new scheme of a airline not many people get to see.

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Not sure what everyone else is seeing, but I don't see any huge issues with the color balance on the photo, and I'm using a hardware calibrated S-IPS monitor. The only thing A.net wanted me to fix was the sharpness (or lack of it) near the nose of the plane, and I don't disagree that it's soft in the original. I found another shot from the series, and that's what I resubmitted. As for my email to them, this is exactly what I said: "Thanks for the note...I have just uploaded a different shot from the series that has better focus." That wasn't too harsh was it? :biggrin: As for the Ethiad shot, yes, people in the US won't get to see it, but at the same time, people in Europe won't see JetBlue. I prefer this shot of it: http://jetphotos.net/viewphoto.php?id=7047366 - which looks like it was exposed properly to start with, and not salvaged with the shadow/highlight tool. Beautiful scheme though...I don't think anyone can argue that!

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Originally Posted by Cary

Not sure what everyone else is seeing, but I don't see any huge issues with the color balance on the photo, and I'm using a hardware calibrated S-IPS monitor. The only thing A.net wanted me to fix was the sharpness (or lack of it) near the nose of the plane, and I don't disagree that it's soft in the original. I found another shot from the series, and that's what I resubmitted. As for my email to them, this is exactly what I said: "Thanks for the note...I have just uploaded a different shot from the series that has better focus." That wasn't too harsh was it? :biggrin: As for the Ethiad shot, yes, people in the US won't get to see it, but at the same time, people in Europe won't see JetBlue. I prefer this shot of it: http://jetphotos.net/viewphoto.php?id=7047366 - which looks like it was exposed properly to start with, and not salvaged with the shadow/highlight tool. Beautiful scheme though...I don't think anyone can argue that!

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I think Manny's side by side is pretty clear. I see a huge difference in the fuselage. As for the JP Ethiad shot I can't see any detail on it and the glare is annoying. Again anet only took the shot because it's the first shot of a new scheme. Though he did great job saving it in PS.

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Originally Posted by NIKV69

I think Manny's side by side is pretty clear. I see a huge difference in the fuselage. As for the JP Ethiad shot I can't see any detail on it and the glare is annoying. Again anet only took the shot because it's the first shot of a new scheme. Though he did great job saving it in PS.

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Manny's side by side makes it clear if you assume one side is the correct WB. Yes, the original looks cold when you put it next to a warmer color intent, but the adjusted balance looks too warm to me. If you look at the striped version and prefer the original color balance, it makes the adjusted stripes look warm and the sky looks duller. Again, there was never any mention of poor color/color balance/contrast/anything. Just fixing the soft focus near the nose. If A.net had rejected it for having bad color, no problem....I just push the temperature a little higher. But they didn't, so I don't understand why it keeps getting brought up here.

I have no issue that the Ethiad shot got accepted...like I said, they relax their standards first shots for new schemes....but if that gets accepted, I don't see any reason why mine shouldn't be, or should be held up while waiting for a second opinion, or whatever is going on. They said to fix the sharpness near the nose, and I thought I did. Anyway, I just seem to be repeating everything I've already said, so I'm going to take a timeout from this thread before I get more worked up than I already am :smile:

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Originally Posted by Roush6NY

Nice cary ! That Jetblue is a beauty !

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As much as I love the concept, I believe they could have done better with this livery...

In any case, great catch Cary! And that SXM edit made me laugh out loud! Gosh, I miss SXM...

Congrats Carey... ITS TOP OF THE DAY ON JP.

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Originally Posted by gonzalu

BTW, the A.Net inconsistency stems from the many different tastes of the many different screeners. Some are more strict than others. I know for sure some prefer one shot over another. However I have been told by many screeners on A.net that they try really hard not to let personal taste dictate a decision. If the image is technically OK, they should accept whatever content as long as it does not violate motive.. But definitely decisions by one screener are defended by other screeners by policy most of the time. I have seen very poor accepted photos make it from time to time recently. But we just truck along. We all learn to cope with the rejections. :-)

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Manny, you hit the nail... its about the taste & analytic mindset of screeners. Only computers will do it (once given the parameters) same task without any discrepancies. Humans can come close but will never achive 100%. I have been in hobby since 1988 or so, and have known so many photogs that are just out of A.net cause of inconsistency. I cannot even imagine the task @ hand and to do this free... I applaud each and every screeners. However I believe to scrutinize a 0.001% off photo that is "NEWS OF THE DAY" and hold for someone is just what seems to be happening. And its not hard to see why same one to two dozen photogs time and time have the front five pics on A.net.

Pascal Maillot also has about 650 shots and lots of views so that may play a roll in the decision... I think the H/S on that Etihad may be natural... If you equalize it, it is very well distributed and shows little to no banding which is typical of bad H/S ... perhaps more of a crves adjustment with a channel mask which is a lot more tolerable than H/S filter.. I use it from time to time with good results as long as it is not overdone.

Regardless, the fact that there are zero to no entries of the JB should give you a good chance to get accepted regardless. Good luck Cary, hope it makes it in. REPRESENT!! :tongue:

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Originally Posted by gonzalu

Good luck Cary, hope it makes it in. REPRESENT!! :tongue:

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No no, you meant reprAZent :)

All jokes put aside, I have to feel Cary's frustration here.

I am very new to all this, both spotting and photographing, but it comes to a point where you don't even know what's "up to standard" anymore... I've had many pictures rejected this past couple of weeks, and all rejections were fair... I don't think any of these photos qualified to go through... But the rejection reason is always different. As a trial, I submitted a bunch of about 10 pictures, all taken the same way, the same day, and edited the same way... all rejected (which, again, is fine) for different reasons! One time I get dust spots, one time I get file error, one time I get too sharpened when I sharpened another one just as much and which wasn't rejected for sharpening matters.

Look, 8 years ago I got one picture accepted by a.net on my second attempt (my avatar pic). I shot with a stupid Canon Powershot G3 and it was the luckiest shot in the world. It would take that thing about 6 weeks to focus before it actually shot, and I was just lucky to get it in the frame. For some reason, it got accepted...

I totally understand that standards must be high, and I agree with that principle if we want to keep good quality content around. But when I get VERY generous advice from you guys, I hear the very WISE saying "there is no perfect formula". And I SO agree with this... we all have different tastes and it should be this way.

But whether it is JP or a.net, it does really feel like it is up to a given screener at a given moment. Yes, I'm sure they are ethical and are trying to be as fair as they can be... But if it was up to me, although I see differences, I couldn't say for instance "hey Manny, your shot is bad because Mark, Eric, and Moose shot it differently" (sorry Manny I'm not picking on you, just an example!).

Anyway, it is indeed confusing. And Cary SHOULD get his shot accepted... otherwise, there is no point in being a big aviation website. If you're that big, then you MUST present the NEWS to your audience (in this case, a new, creative livery from JetBlue).