The new forum header (the Vildebeest)

[Dave Homewood]

A request was made by Talon to make the header to the forum less conspicuous (so his boss didn't keep seeing it at work, hehe). I have changed the header to a new picture, an digital artwork I put together of a Vildebeest on patrol.

I realise that some of you don't agree for some reason that the Vildes and Vincents are fantastic aircraft, but that's not really the point.

I have had an idea that perhaps the header can change more regularly (recently I have used it to advertise Paul Jackson's excellent DVD, and before that it has been used to promote foum gatherings, but usually it has reverted back to the original header when such periods are over.

But now I reckon we could have a new header every month or so (when it's not being used to promote events) and you can all submit photos or artworks to me so i can make them into future headers. Then we will get a bit of variety.

So if it have a great NZ aviation photo, or a painting you've done, or a sketch, or a digital composite artwork as we have now (which is by the way using a highly altered background overlayed with a colourised 1930's Vilde photo).

What do you all think? What can you offer? We'll try to keep them the same dimension as we have now, which is slimmer than the old headers and should please Talon and others I hope.

And you can vote on the current header in the poll above. That vote is not for the idea of changing header with people's photos or art, just vote as to whether you mind seeing my crappy Vilde picture there.

Cheers
Dave

[flyinkiwi]

I think its a great picture Dave. What more can you tell us about it?

[corsair67]

I hate it! ;D

No, I think it looks great, Dave. Maybe you could change it every now and again with other pictures from historic moments from NZ Aviation history?

I wish I was artistic enough to submit something myself, but I am no artist - unless you are talking about a bs artist. ;D

[Dave Homewood]

Hot much more to tell. I took a prewar photo of a Vincent sitting on the ground, added some colour, made it look like it was flying and added some background. I'd like to think it represents an Auckland (Territorial) Squadron patrol scene in early 1939.

Yes I would like to roate pictures through with significant NZ aircraft or with significant historic scenes (original or recreated). So get submitting photos and art and ideas guys and girls.

[Kereru]

Great idea Dave, well done.

Colin

[nzompilot]

I agree with all stated above - the current pic looks good, and I love the idea of changing it every 6-8 weeks, with different historical NZ pics etc

[b10m]

As a suggestion, why don't we have a competion to see who can provide the most interesting, funny, artistic, all of the above, photo, and the photo gets posted up in a dedicated thread, and are then voted on by the forum members, and the winner is posted up as the header every month or so.

[Dave Homewood]

We could do that I guess, so long as there are enough takers out there. Who's keen?

[alanw]

Dave

I think that is awesome!!! ;D ;D ;D

I wish I were that competent on a computer to do
something like that. Well done!

I also like you SBD-5 photo, that is really cool ;D

[Dave Homewood]

By the way, these banner photos/art can be anything NZ aviation, from modern to old, even parachutes, balloons, gliders, whatever makes a good picture and is relevant. But I'd stare clear of any fantasy stuff like RNZAF F-16's. We don't want to give a false impression.

[Radialicious]

Hairy, I love that up and under shot of the Cat. Great stuff!

[Dave Homewood]

Fantastic shots there Marcus! Every one of them will be used I think.

[Kenny]

Dont have any RNZAF colour schemes to work with so i Thought id try a modern silhouette thing..



God damn, took me 6 goes to resize it for the forum and its still to big

[fletcherfu24]

[Dave Homewood]

It looks great Kenny. Don't worry too much about the size as I'll resize them when they go up as headers, but just try to keep the dimensions in proportion to the one now up there so that it doesn't end up too tall. Your's should be fine Kenny.

[Dave Homewood]

I have added a new temporary banner for this weekend to mark the passing of a very dear friend, former RNZAF Station/Base Wigram, as Sunday the 8th sees the last flying from this famous airfield.

The banner includes four famous types from the station's history in a formation salute, the Harvard that was associated with Wigram for 50 years, the Fairey Gordon which trained hundreds of pilots there in the early war represents all the biplane types that flew there, the Oxford which filled the wartime skies of Wigram too, and the postwar Devon that flew from there for a couple of decades too.

[vgp]

and a Great Temp banner it is Dave - cheers.

[shorty]

I thought I had better voice my concern regarding the banner headings and some of the footnotes being used by different posters.
The coloured versions and photoshopping of images are certainly quite impressive and giving us some great graphics but I am concerned that, at a future time, people may think that these are genuine colour photos. This is starting already with an enquiry on the model thread about SBDs.
While I have no doubt that Dave is researching his colours accurately there is nothing to say that at some stage, with somebody, a black and white photo will be mis-interpreted or someones memory will be at fault and spurious colours will be used.
As example of how this can happen, even to experts is the colour drawing of the P-51 "Millie G" in RAF Flying Review, where it was shown as crimson instead of olive drab, or closer to home, the depiction of the Wairarapa Wildcat with red outlines to the white ID stripes. This error has spread worldwide now with numerous books and decal sheets showing it thus.

One possible thought might be for photos that have been doctored to have a photoshopped watermark or similar applied to them so that future historians are not inadvertantyly led astray and accuracy of information is preserved.

Supposedly a photo does not lie but these days they increasingly do.

The other feature I have noticed is the increased useage of photos as part of the post signature.
These are taking up more page space (and bandwidth) and whereas a subject might normally run to just a couple of pages the same amount of postings might now exceed four pages or so, just because of the same photos being repeatedly used.
One recent post had one line of type and 6 inches (15cm) of photo.This means that a couple of posts like that and three or four replies and the page is full up.

I will be interested to hear other members views on the subject.

[corsair67]

Shorty, I think you do raise some valid points there - and I myself have been wondering if the photos in the signature box has been causing problems for anyone - but as no one had said anything so far, I assumed that it wasn't a problem.

I am quite happy to delete my signature photo at anytime, if it is causing problems for anyone. I personally never notice because I am on a high-speed connection, but as you say, anyone on dial-up would probably be finding the intensive graphics cause untold problems.

As to the possible misrepresentation of colours shown in photoshopped photos, I thought this had always been a problem anyway over the years - even with the original black and white photos? You've just got to look at how many different shades of blue have appeared in various publications, models, drawings or decal sheets featuring the RNZAF Pacific roundel.

As to people possibly mistaking photoshopped photos for original coloured images - that is a big issue in my opinion - especially as more and more people are taking to colourising photos. Although, to be fair I guess this has always been a problem in some ways, as some of the earlier hand tinted images can even cause some confusion - as we all found in one of the photos from Barrie Reid's collection that was posted late last year.

[Dave Homewood]

Thank you Shorty for raising these points, some of them I too have been mullingover.

I had not considered any impact on the colourising of old black and white photos. I think perhaps in some cases this may be true what you're saying. Most of the ones I have done are easily detectable as photoshopped images but a few do pass muster. I will give this some thought and come back on this.

As for the photos appearing in signatures, yes it is an increasing trend for members to post these. There are three issues here which I will adress.

1) This is something that I do not discourage. I think it is fine for people to express a little individuality and share a photo they like which may also define their personal interests too.

2) You suggest they take up page space and will cut down the number of posts per page. This is incorrect. The number of posts that appear on any page is always 15 before it rolle over to the next page. This is a figure that I as administrator can set and it covers the whole forum and every user. Whether there's one or fifty photos in a post dosn't matter at all.

3) The third issue is the size of these photos, they seem to be getting bigger and bigger, and I am a culprit as much as others. Now that the signature banners are catching on and becoming popular I think we need to set a limit.

The actual file size of any phtoo is small and as a slow dial-up user I have no real problem with the photos affecting speed. But I recognise that people in rural areas may well do so. I do however have a problem with the video banners which seem to hold things up while they are loading.

I have appreciated vgp's videos for what they are, but they are slowing down and affecting the use of the forum for those on dial p, and we must remember a lot of NZ does not yet have broadband.

Also the height of the banners is getting so much in some cases that the threads are looking littered. We need to set a limit. The width limit is 800 pixels, any more and it will begin to blow out the side of the forum and the Apple people moan about this.

I think a height limit of no more than 250 pixels is adequate. that's just a little highter than the current header banner on the forum.

Does everyone else agree?