New Category: Lighthouses

[pieter melissen]

A new category has come online: Lighthouses.

Users will now be able to upload new photos for this category as they do for others, with the exception of ship related fields (IMO, ENI, MMSI) that are disabled for the Lighthouse category.
Also the Location selection has been changed to display lighthouses through the map, where a lighthouse can be selected to be linked to the photo.

On the Photo page, for photos of the Lighthouse category that have been linked to a lighthouse, all available Lighthouse data is displayed on a new section "Lighthouse Particulars".

Regarding the search functions, they work the same as for other categories, just select "Lighthouse" from the Category field.

Additionally a new shortcut will be added to the "Photos" menu, to make it easier for users to find photos of Lighthouses.

Enjoy.

[csaba]

This is a great addition. Lighthouses can be beautiful photos.

[pieter melissen]

The new category Lighthouses has already seen quite a number of uploaded photographs, and coming slightly late, we have now developed new site standards for especially for this category.

https://www.shipspotting.com/support/82

These are not carved in concrete and may be subject to minor changes based on future experience.
 
Please read these carefully before posting, especially with regards to the prominence of the lighthouse in the photo that you are about to post.

As the functionality to post was introduced before the standards, we will not delete shots that have already been posted, but perhaps, with the new standards in mind you may consider to delete them or to amend them in such a way they better correspond to the site standard requirements.

Thank you

Pieter Melissen

[csaba]

I like when the lighthouse is in a portrait format. However, the bottom 1/4 or so of the photo is covered by an advertisement which makes it unpleasant to look at, one has to scroll up and down to see the whole photo. Any chance to remove the add or just put the photos in a landscape format when the add obscures it much less?

[Cisco]

There is a comment about a recent lighthouse https://www.shipspotting.com/photos/3604378 saying that 'we would like to have the lighthouse in close up, rather than to show how its fits in the environment.'
I would disagree - a close up is a very clinical thing- a shot showing the surroundings is far nicer.

F'rinstance I think my two shots  -  of Faro Fairway and Faro Delgada - are far better than my shot of Faro Niebla. The latter would have been vastly improved with a bit of the fort somewhere in the frame.

[csaba]

I think a similar issue have been discussed earlier regarding too much environment/surrounding and too little ship.  Comments were along the line that "ship only, edge to edge of a photo and nothing else" is just a mugshot of a ship, not showing it in its natural environment. There were also some stunning photos, but, truth to be told, the ship was too small for a website that is about ships after all.
My thoughts are somewhere in the middle of it. Show the environment, as long as the lighthouse/ship is clearly the main object and is not lost in the background, however beautiful it may be.
Let the discussion continue... 

[pieter melissen]

There is a comment about a recent lighthouse https://www.shipspotting.com/photos/3604378 saying that 'we would like to have the lighthouse in close up, rather than to show how its fits in the environment.'
I would disagree - a close up is a very clinical thing- a shot showing the surroundings is far nicer.

F'rinstance I think my two shots  -  of Faro Fairway and Faro Delgada - are far better than my shot of Faro Niebla. The latter would have been vastly improved with a bit of the fort somewhere in the frame.

Hi Csaba, yes I made that comment, and as I said the emphasis is on "house", what ever that may be. In the case of the photo to which I made a comment all of the tower and the surrounding building could have been in the shot, but too much of the sea or the countryside will go at the expense of the clarity of the subject itself.
Your remark about the Faro Niebla which clearly is part of a larger building is useful, because that shows a way to define the limits of what we want to see. Personally I would say that the fort could be in the shot, perhaps not in its entirety but still parts of it could be useful.

(PS: Have your issues been addressed that you posted earlier about portrait shots?)

[simonwp]

When this category was first opened, I thought "Why.....this is shipping site....photographs get deleted for not having enough ship in them."

However, having looked at some of the photographs that have been posted, I've found them suprisingly interesting.

[csaba]

There is a comment about a recent lighthouse https://www.shipspotting.com/photos/3604378 saying that 'we would like to have the lighthouse in close up, rather than to show how its fits in the environment.'
I would disagree - a close up is a very clinical thing- a shot showing the surroundings is far nicer.

F'rinstance I think my two shots  -  of Faro Fairway and Faro Delgada - are far better than my shot of Faro Niebla. The latter would have been vastly improved with a bit of the fort somewhere in the frame.

Hi Csaba, yes I made that comment, and as I said the emphasis is on "house", what ever that may be. In the case of the photo to which I made a comment all of the tower and the surrounding building could have been in the shot, but too much of the sea or the countryside will go at the expense of the clarity of the subject itself.
Your remark about the Faro Niebla which clearly is part of a larger building is useful, because that shows a way to define the limits of what we want to see. Personally I would say that the fort could be in the shot, perhaps not in its entirety but still parts of it could be useful.

(PS: Have your issues been addressed that you posted earlier about portrait shots?)

Yes, it has been taken care of. Thank you kindly :-)

[Cisco]

Hi Csaba, yes I made that comment, and as I said the emphasis is on "house", what ever that may be. In the case of the photo to which I made a comment all of the tower and the surrounding building could have been in the shot, but too much of the sea or the countryside will go at the expense of the clarity of the subject itself.
Your remark about the Faro Niebla which clearly is part of a larger building is useful, because that shows a way to define the limits of what we want to see. Personally I would say that the fort could be in the shot, perhaps not in its entirety but still parts of it could be useful.

(PS: Have your issues been addressed that you posted earlier about portrait shots?)

Warning!!! Pedantic post follows
The 'house' in lighthouse refers to the house that the light lives in, same as a henhouse is a house where hens live.
About the only lighthouses that have accomodation for lighthouse keepers within the tower or as an integral part of the tower are ones on isolated rocks and similar. Taking the Deal Island light that I posted, while a very isolated light the three keepers lived in cottages out of sight to the right of the tower.
Faro Niebla is a free standing light with no attached buildings, it is however in the grounds of the old fort.

[pieter melissen]

Hi Cisco,

One our most favoured singers (she recently passed away), had as claim to fame that she grew up in the lighthouse of the island Vlieland, where her father took care of the functionality of the house.... (I know N=1, but still, people live(d) there). But may be you are correct as the the Dutch equivalent of Lighthouse is "vuurtoren" (fire tower, so the name dates from the days that there was no electricity and the presence of people to keep the fire going was required). In German the thing is called Leucht Turm (light tower). In French the word is simply Phare, meaning light, as the things on your car. 

Summarizing, this is going to be a flexible category, whereby the moderation will be debatable and as always we are very much open for discussion.

[AndyL]

Is the Lighthouse category limited to lighthouses that are currently in use as active aids to navigation? May photos of lighthouses that have been decommissioned also be uploaded?

[pieter melissen]

Hi Andy

No , you may post any light house, functional or not.