Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates/United States Capitol, 1846

United States Capitol, 1846

Original - United States Capitol, Washington, D.C., east front elevation, with original Charles Bulfinch dome.

Reason: A rare daguerrotype of an important building as the architect designed it, prior to multiple expansions. Carefully restored from Image:Capitol.jpg with artifacts removed and histogram adjusted.
Articles this image appears in: United States Capitol, United States Capitol dome, Charles Bulfinch
Creator: John Plumbe

Support as nominator Durova^Charge! 02:11, 22 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Support. High resolution, clear encyclopedic value.Λua∫Wi se ^(talk) 14:53, 22 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Comment. It looks to me like the image is very slightly tilted (the right side is a bit too high). Spikebrennan (talk) 15:26, 22 January 2008 (UTC) SupportSpikebrennan (talk) 13:29, 23 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]
- Actually I checked that at high resolution eight times and reloaded the original image, finally adjusting it down to tenths of degrees. The conclusion I reached is that the appearance of tilt is an illusion caused by two asymmetries in the original scene: the trees at right are more mature than the ones at left and the right side dome has an arc of windows, both of which give the right side of the image an appearance of height. According to my software the cornice is dead even horizontal. You're welcome to double check that and fix if my conclusion is mistaken. Durova^Charge! 20:59, 22 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  - It's lens distortion, unless I'm very much mistaken. Lens design didn't begin to get distortion-corrective until the 1860's, when some bright spark (Sutton?) worked out that symmetrical construction all but fixed the problem. This is a great example of barreling: the projection of that cornice is curved, higher in the middle (where it's dead level, I'll grant you :o) and arcing down left and right. Notice the non-vertical sides and soft image corners, all typical of early wide angle optics. It's beautifully set up and perfectly lit, a real masterpiece. --mikaul^talk 23:05, 22 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]
    - Plain old fishbowl effect? Yes, something like that did cross my mind. I'm so used to modern lenses that the idea of wide angle distortion seems very strange for this type of shot. Interesting. Durova^Charge! 00:14, 23 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]
      - FWIW it would be impossible to find a replacement image that didn't have this optical distortion: construction on the new dome for this building began in the 1850s, before camera lens technology could catch up. Durova^Charge! 21:05, 23 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Support Very fine example of early architectural photography, super-encyclopedic, feature worthy and compelling. --mikaul^talk 23:05, 22 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Support - kills two birds with one stone. Good example of lens distortion in early cameras! :-) Carcharoth (talk) 13:04, 23 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Support Encyclopedic, historic, and very cool! Also, a good picture. --Shark face 217 00:14, 24 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Support, very nice. --Golbez (talk) 05:03, 24 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Promoted Image:Capitol1846.jpg MER-C 02:24, 28 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]