Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates/Leaving the opera

 
Original - Leaving the opera in the year 2000, hand-coloured lithograph by Albert Robida (ca. 1882)
 
For comparison - unrestored version
Reason
As with the other Robida image recently promoted to FP: it's a lovely image. And this one does an even better job of illustrating early science fiction: we're talking 1880s, before zeppelins or other dirigibles, before automobiles, and here's Robida imagining all sorts of airships large and small, with steering wheels, headlights and even horns. There's women driving, there's chauffeurs, there's bus-like airships, and there's helipads: amazing, really.
Dust and scratches, stains and tears removed. Top left corner and part of legend recreated. Colour adjusted.
[Note: LoC lists the date as "1882?", but there's a charming little Eiffel tower in the image, so it may be from the late 1880s.]
Articles this image appears in
Albert Robida, Science fiction (nl), Future, Eiffel Tower in popular culture
Creator
Albert Robida, restored by mvuijlst
  • Support as nominator --Mvuijlst (talk) 03:30, 14 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support, with a few recommendations for further improvement: It'd benefit from about half a degree of clockwise rotation. A little more work on the slight staining down the middle could also pay off, particularly the top half of the image, where it's particularly dark. Finally, the image goes to the edge of the paper, which is a little awkward for you: See if you can rotate it in such a way that you can crop it without losing any details (remember you can fill in any missing slivers with the clone stamp) that'd probably be better than the current situation. Do that last, though, and I'd suggest uploading an alternative where you don't go down that somewhat extreme route. Finally, for archival purposes, it's best to also provide a PNG version. Your restoration is very good - hence why I'm supporting - but I do think just a tiny bit more work could make it incredible. Shoemaker's Holiday (talk) 04:08, 14 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks for the kind words. I was wondering about the rotation: the image as cropped now is was the way it was printed on the page, wonky legend and all, and I'd opted to keep it like that. Version 2 is I've now rotated and cropped it to the drawing content (the top left is not the end of the drawing, there's a pinkish wash covering all of the page except for the Seine), and I had a stab at removing the discoloration in the center. Ah, and there's a PNG version too, which of course won't thumbnail, but oh well. :) -- Mvuijlst (talk) 05:14, 14 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Darn. I meant to upload a 2b version, ended up uploading the new version over the old one. Sorry -- Mvuijlst (talk) 05:24, 14 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]
That looks great, though it does lose a few details on the far right - And yes, I know this crop is particularly difficult. Try a teensy bit more on that side. Otherwise, pretty much spot-on perfect.
If it can't be cropped to the image edges due to them not being even, there's more on the right than the left, so I'd favour it, then create new paper on the left to balance. Alternatively, just upload File:Sortie de l'opéra en l'an 2000-2 uncropped.jpg
Hope I'm not being too difficult! Shoemaker's Holiday (talk) 11:50, 14 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Not a problem. Tried a slightly different rotation/crop: no loss to the right, cloned in a sliver of background along the right hand side at the bottom and on the left edge. -- Mvuijlst (talk) 13:39, 14 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Perfect: Full support, once this is in some articles. Shoemaker's Holiday (talk) 22:03, 14 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]
  • Comment. This needs to demonstrate encyclopedic value on English Wikipedia before it is eligible for featured picture status. It's an interesting image, but it needs to be placed in an article or three.--ragesoss (talk) 20:13, 14 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Done! -- Mvuijlst (talk) 01:05, 15 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Promoted File:Sortie de l'opéra en l'an 2000-2.jpg MER-C 09:17, 24 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]