This is a continuation of the IMAGE SEARCH CHALLENGE (http://www.principiadiscordia.com/forum/index.php?topic=31011.0)
The idea is to find the origin of a target image.
We got the last image pretty fast! I asked triple zero for another image to puzzle out, and he supplied this:
(http://img40.imageshack.us/img40/8319/fourmx.jpg)
[image is larger than you see - it has been shrunk down a bit to fit in your window.]
So let's try to puzzle out where in the world these photographs were taken.
That looks like a MiG.
My guess is former USSR somewhere.
haha by the filename "forumx.jpg" we can guess that 000 renamed it before he uploaded it.
The photo had some EXIF data attached to it. This probably isn't useful, but you never know...
Image input equipment manufacturer: Nokia
Image input equipment model: N82
Exposure time: 0.004
F number: 2.8
ISO speed rating: 100
Shutter speed: 7.965
Aperture: 2.97
Light source: 0
Flash: 24
Lens focal length: 5.6
Another picture that 000 took (http://img844.imageshack.us/img844/5551/busstop.jpg) did not contain these data, so we can gather than he's probably not the photographer. :lol:
The Tractor says Fordson (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fordson_tractor) on it, which means it was manufactured between 1917 and 1920. From the frame around it, and the plane, I'm guessing we're looking at a museum of some sort.
The perfectly flat landscape does suggest the Netherlands, and explains why it'd be on trip's hard drive. :P
This one's really hard because it's a composite image. I am pretty sure that's in the UK, working on getting more detail.
That's a Nokia N82 phone. European release (obviously), but an older phone from 2007.
I'm giving up on this one due to needing to get some work done today. :lulz:
Okay... wikipedia entry on the Fordson Tractor
from the discussion tab:
QuoteRight, the Fordson brand can be seen on a lorry at RAF Duxford, the Imperial War Museum of aircraft. They have a 1936 balloon winch mounted on the back of a Fordson WOT lorry. I've also seen a Fordson WOT crash truck for airfields. Binksternet (talk) 14:28, 22 May 2011 (UTC)
Here's the website (http://www.iwm.org.uk/visits/iwm-duxford) for the RAF Duxford, the Imperial War Museum of aircraft
on that site, they have an image of the building during WWII...
(http://media.iwm.org.uk/iwm/mediaLib/7/media-7880/large.jpg)
hmm, building doesn't look quite the same, but it was a long time ago.
Is that correct, trip? Is this the Imperial War Museum of Aircraft?
Quote from: Cramulus on December 15, 2011, 08:09:26 PM
haha by the filename "forumx.jpg" we can guess that 000 renamed it before he uploaded it.
The photo had some EXIF data attached to it. This probably isn't useful, but you never know...
Image input equipment manufacturer: Nokia
Image input equipment model: N82
Exposure time: 0.004
F number: 2.8
ISO speed rating: 100
Shutter speed: 7.965
Aperture: 2.97
Light source: 0
Flash: 24
Lens focal length: 5.6
Another picture that 000 took (http://img844.imageshack.us/img844/5551/busstop.jpg) did not contain these data, so we can gather than he's probably not the photographer. :lol:
The filename was "four.jpg" because it's four images (so no hints in the filename). Imageshack added the X.
The busstop picture, I didn't take, I think I got it off flickr or twitpic some time.
I thought it would wipe the EXIF data after compositing, but apparently not because I resized and pasted the other three in. They're all from the same camera/phone though.
Okay, so now we know that the place is probably within driving distance of Groningen :lulz:
Quote from: Cramulus on December 15, 2011, 08:17:21 PM
Okay... wikipedia entry on the Fordson Tractor
from the discussion tab:
QuoteRight, the Fordson brand can be seen on a lorry at RAF Duxford, the Imperial War Museum of aircraft. They have a 1936 balloon winch mounted on the back of a Fordson WOT lorry. I've also seen a Fordson WOT crash truck for airfields. Binksternet (talk) 14:28, 22 May 2011 (UTC)
Here's the website (http://www.iwm.org.uk/visits/iwm-duxford) for the RAF Duxford, the Imperial War Museum of aircraft
on that site, they have an image of the building during WWII...
http://media.iwm.org.uk/iwm/mediaLib/7/media-7880/large.jpg
hmm, building doesn't look quite the same, but it was a long time ago.
Is that correct, trip? Is this the Imperial War Museum of Aircraft?
nope not it.
Quote from: Cramulus on December 15, 2011, 08:23:51 PM
Okay, so now we know that the place is probably within driving distance of Groningen :lulz:
Why?
because you took the photo?
Then it's probably a Mirage and not a MiG.
here's a blown up version of the plane
(http://i.imgur.com/pRzhD.png)
does that shed any light on it?
Possibly a red herring ... The tractor in the top right looks almost like this one... except the wheels are different, and there's no little roof over the driver's seat.
(http://www.ssbtractor.com/features/Fordson_F.jpg)
Fordson Model F
20 H.P., four cylinder engine
delivered 10 H.P. on the drawbar
3 speed spur gear transmission
Produced from 1917-1928 at Dearborn in America
Produced from 1919-1922 at Cork, Ireland
my thinking is that whatever museum we're looking at, their website probably has an inventory of the things on display there. If we can google the specific tractor + the specific plane, we'll have narrowed it down a whole lot.
hmm, this may not help either... but the string "fordson tractor museum" helped me find this page: http://www.steel-wheels.net/ford.html
It indexes a bunch of pictures of fordson tractors on display in museums. I don't see any of the tractors in our target image. But this is a nice list of farm equipment museums.
Quote from: Cramulus on December 15, 2011, 08:26:33 PM
because you took the photo?
I don't think I did. I used to own a Nokia cameraphone but it didn't take pics at that resolution, I think. Also sometimes I wander further than driving distance from Groningen :)
Since you're blowing up images, here's original resolution of all four:
http://img861.imageshack.us/img861/4595/10032009444.jpg
http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/6540/10032009452.jpg
http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/5550/10032009451.jpg
http://img233.imageshack.us/img233/5885/10032009450.jpg
That plane's Danish.
I win
http://www.airplane-pictures.net/image54530.html
Quote from: Cain on December 15, 2011, 08:51:47 PM
I win
http://www.airplane-pictures.net/image54530.html
awesome! Okay, my guess: you googled A-012 and "danish plane"? that was my next guess, except I didn't get the danish detail.
Good work, man!
ETA: except we still don't know the name of the location
AO12 and Denmark, but yes.
I saw the flag near the back of the plane, and thought "fuck it, there are plane nerds all over the world, and they watch these things obsessively, bet I can find the plane, then work backwards from that to find where it has been."
But the first result was the above link, so, hurrah.
Quote from: Cain on December 15, 2011, 08:51:47 PM
I win
http://www.airplane-pictures.net/image54530.html
:mittens:
Cain wins.
You guys are too good.
It was from my holiday in Denmark, just after my fire, hence I don't quite recall what phone I had with me, but I think one of my friends took it. You can even spot me in one of the pics, pointing at something.
As I said, you guys are too good. So try the busstop one, Cram and I decided it was too impossible. As I said I got the pic of a Twitter or Flickr feed, but I did manually block out the place name which would give everything away:
(http://img844.imageshack.us/img844/5551/busstop.jpg)
Unfortunately I just gave Cram the unblocked version of this pic, so unless he hasn't actually looked at it and deletes it RIGHT NOW he can't play :)
Ahah, actually the page you linked to DOES have the info:
QuoteDisplayed at Egeskov Slot (Egeskov Castle) in the southern part of Fyn, this old fighter-bomber sits outside all year round and is marked of this over the years. The red wheel rims denoted that this aircraft has been phased out. A-012 (cn.351012) flew her last sortie on 21. September 1991 after 20 years and nearly 3300 flying hours with the RDanAF.
:mittens:
I was concentrating on the wrong part. I figured that there'd be less noise in a tractor search, because who the fuck cares about tractors. But the number on the plane is a piece of SPECIFIC information, which cuts through a lot of the noise.
Quote from: Triple Zero on December 15, 2011, 08:58:57 PM
You can even spot me in one of the pics, pointing at something.
ahah, that WAS you! I was going to blow it up and squint at it, but figured it wouldn't be useful.
QuoteUnfortunately I just gave Cram the unblocked version of this pic, so unless he hasn't actually looked at it and deletes it RIGHT NOW he can't play :)
hahah well I set it as my desktop, but I haven't minimized anything yet. So I just set the blocked version to my desktop again. :P
British bus service. Will look for more info when not procrastinating.
Quote from: Triple Zero on December 15, 2011, 08:58:57 PM
(http://img844.imageshack.us/img844/5551/busstop.jpg)
reverse image search reveals two links: 1 broken, 1 here: http://blog.naver.com/PostView.nhn?blogId=ss95zzang&logNo=90084932421&viewDate=¤tPage=1&listtype=0
(http://i.imgur.com/wb4gW.png)
:? can't even highlight the text... working on it ...
I'm guessing one of these: Newbiggin, Nth Seaton, Ashington, Pegswood, Morpeth (arriva route 35)
hahahaha if only it hadn't been a thumbnail you'd cracked it, Cram :lol:
(cause seriously I don't think there's much more to find out about the pic than the place name. of course if you do, all the more bonus points to you)
Its on the A192, running south from Northgate hospital to Morpeth.
google translate says the caption reads:
QuoteNedeolraendeuui gukdobyeon bus stop in your journey .... good news ...
heh, not a ton of luck... I'm pretty sure the word 국도변 is the name of the bus stop though.
and the website has one of those blocking things where the actual image is obscured... you only get a 1px wide "space" gif. digging more on that
Quote from: Cain on December 15, 2011, 09:23:36 PM
Its on the A192, running south from Northgate hospital to Morpeth.
BLAST! how'd you crack it?
Googled "Arriva Route 35".
Checked stops.
Checked locations via Google Maps.
Made a lucky guess, based on the fields, that it was in the area directly north of Morpeth.
Except that it's wrong.
Let's just say that the first four characters of Cram's translation seem sort of right. Not for the place name but a more general location.
so its' definitely in the netherlands
god damn it, I searched for "arriva bus stop clouds", and this was the first result:
(http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1239/1181462800_51a5860998.jpg)
you can BARELY see the place name on that sign....
but there's no higher resolution version! :argh!:
Quote from: Cramulus on December 15, 2011, 09:49:44 PM
so its' definitely in the netherlands
god damn it, I searched for "arriva bus stop clouds", and this was the first result:
(http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1239/1181462800_51a5860998.jpg)
you can BARELY see the place name on that sign....
but there's no higher resolution version! :argh!:
In Google's description of that image it lists the photographer as Pieter Musterd.
Google says "Uploaded by: PieterMusterd Tags: nature clouds landscape wolken busstop ..."
So I used the busstop tag to search Pieter's photos on Flickr.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/piet_musterd/1181462800/
"Arriva bus stop on the flat farmland north of Groningen. No boxes to shelter"
This is a fun game. Good idea guys!
Paesior wins! If you view the higher resolution version on Flickr you can read the placename, which will tell you exactly where it is (since it's a tiny village).
Shall I pick another image then, or does someone else want to have a go?
I think it would be cool if the winner from last round picks the new image, but I have no objection to you continuing to pick (though that means you can't play) or having a designated chooser.
Well, I also really enjoyed watching you guys figure out the images :) But as it is, I'm not finding any really suitable images on my harddisk. So yeah, Nigel, Cain or Paesior (whoever's first) post your challenge!
If no one else posts one, I have a good one I think.
Quote from: Secret Agent GARBO on December 20, 2011, 05:06:57 AM
If no one else posts one, I have a good one I think.
Go for it!
I've got nothing.
Lemme dig it up. :) If anyone else gets to it before I come back, post it.
Shoot. The one I wanted to use, *I* can't verify the location of. Imma throw the ball back in the court for the moment. Again, if someone else has one, go for it.
Quote from: Secret Agent GARBO on December 20, 2011, 05:21:56 AM
Lemme dig it up. :) If anyone else gets to it before I come back, post it.
Shoot. The one I wanted to use, *I* can't verify the location of. Imma throw the ball back in the court for the moment. Again, if someone else has one, go for it.
I think you should post it and see if anyone can find the info... then we'll all know!
Did some more research - still no location, but I can tell you winning will require more than finding the photographer's name (because that's the easy part!).
(https://s3.amazonaws.com/data.tumblr.com/tumblr_lvsg3sXBqE1qkvok3o1_1280.png)
Oh, this is lovely! I am tipsy and soon to bed, I will start on it tomorrow if no one has cracked it. What are the exact details you require for a win?
At least two of these three:
-the elephant's name
-the name of the property it was taken on (because you know a house like that has a name)
-the name of either human.
Excellent. GAME, SET, MATCH!
http://www.bruceweber.com/#/photography/lifestyle/1958
That was Google search by image to find a name in one of the places it was featured, then searching for elephants on the photographer's page.
ETA: RELATED. Of the campaign the picture was taken for.
http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising/celebs-people-aspreys-global-push-66074
QuoteNEW YORK High-end designer and marketer Asprey said Tuesday that actress Keira Knightley will star in its autumn/winter 2003 global advertising campaign.
The print campaign, created in-house, art directed by Baron & Baron and photographed by Bruce Weber, will also feature actor Joseph Fiennes and several well-known models and socialites. The work will break in November issues of British and American magazines to coincide with the unveiling of the entire product collection at Asprey stores in London and in New York. Campaign spending was not given.
London-based Asprey, best known for its silver and leather goods, exclusive porcelain, crystal, rare books and equally rare gems, is expanding its inventory to include watches and pens, silk, china and crystal, ready-to-wear, shoes and fashion accessories.
Ok, so we have the name of the place. :) One more detail needed (elephant's name or a human's).
Looking, but I doubt we'll find that with Google.
Elephant name would probably need contact with photographer.
Trying to find names of the people involved in the shoot, but "several well-known socialites" isn't very helpful.
Finding the name of the elephant or house the shoot was at is now an automatic win, because yeah, they're pretty hard.
The property is Old Westbury Gardens (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Westbury_Gardens).
(http://www.intuse.com/history_money_architecture/architecture/old_westbury_gardens/Old-Westbury-Gardens-Front.jpg)
(http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3161/2613800758_1f7792c47b.jpg)
Very nice!
:thanks:
Good image. I STILL WANNA KNOW THAT ELEPHANT'S NAME.
When you find the answer to a puzzle, please share HOW you found it. That's the fun part!
These puzzles originated on searchlores.org. That site is about being a "seeker", somebody who can find any piece of information, no matter how obscure or occult. I really like that motivation - honing our google-fu, teaching each other how to navigate the infojungle, et cetera.
Right, usually everybody would be posting most of their google links, even if they were dead ends.
I''ll keep that in mind when the next round starts. :)
My bad. I have a brief explanation of the first part, but after that there were pages and pages and dead ends that I didn't share.
I found the property by searching for "mansions in Old Westbury" and it's one of the most famous ones, so there were a few pictures at the top of the search to match to the photo.
NEW ROUND
somebody post something damnit!
(http://img69.imageshack.us/img69/1646/renamedforgame.jpg)
This may be a bit tough... I will be very impressed if anyone cracks it, as I did a couple of basic searches knowing where it actually is, and didn't find it. :lol:
It's in Turkey, on the Agean sea. The Balikesir Region....
found that here (http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gmka.org.tr%2Fbolgemiz), by doing a reverse image search
I didn't see it immediately on any of these pages
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Aegean_Sea_port_cities_and_towns_in_Turkey
my GUESS is that it's somewhere in Izmir (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Izmir)
Well, crap! :lulz:
That's right, actually. It is Izmir, at least, if our contacts in Turkey at work can be believed. :p
Okay, lets try this one then.
(http://img249.imageshack.us/img249/8493/forfuni.png)
HOPEFULLY this will be a bit more challenging.
Edit for non-shitty resolution.
ooh, tough one! Not a lot of data to go on...
those little evenly spaced gray pixels .. I feel like that's a clue. Anybody know what that is?
Quote from: Demolition_Squid on December 21, 2011, 03:53:10 PM
Well, crap! :lulz:
That's right, actually. It is Izmir, at least, if our contacts in Turkey at work can be believed. :p
Okay, lets try this one then.
(http://img249.imageshack.us/img249/8493/forfuni.png)
HOPEFULLY this will be a bit more challenging.
Edit for non-shitty resolution.
That's a real pretty picture.
I'm having trouble getting a toehold on this image.
I have a feeling that it's originally posted on a tourism site of some sort, sort of like how DS' last image was posted here (http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gmka.org.tr%2Fbolgemiz).
It's fairly lo-res, so it's probably serving marketing purposes, as opposed to being an artistic shot (which I think would be higher res). But that doesn't quite explain the little gray dots. Could it be a stock photo? Maybe not, those usually have a watermark.
I can't see any other really salient details. Nothing jumps out about the color of the water, the mountains, etc, that would lead us closer to the right search string.
The subject of the photo is the river.
Quote from: Nigel on December 21, 2011, 04:28:39 PM
Quote from: Demolition_Squid on December 21, 2011, 03:53:10 PM
Well, crap! :lulz:
That's right, actually. It is Izmir, at least, if our contacts in Turkey at work can be believed. :p
Okay, lets try this one then.
(http://img249.imageshack.us/img249/8493/forfuni.png)
HOPEFULLY this will be a bit more challenging.
Edit for non-shitty resolution.
That's a real pretty picture.
It is! Looking at pretty pictures of places is basically the best part of my work. :)
... Well, sometimes learning that a couple hundred people read something I wrote is pretty nice, too. But the pretty pictures come up more. Inward investment journalism rarely gains more than about 30 interested parties.
I'm looking at that sandy patch on the grass, and the little blue-gray pond (?) by the edge of the river. Is it possible we're looking at a golf course?
Quote from: Cramulus on December 21, 2011, 04:34:17 PM
I'm looking at that sandy patch on the grass, and the little blue-gray pond (?) by the edge of the river. Is it possible we're looking at a golf course?
I can confirm that it is not a golf course.
Would you like another hint? I don't think that narrowing down the country is going to make it much easier. It is a mean shot. :lol:
I am think New Zealand but I can't pin it down. :?
Quote from: Khara on December 21, 2011, 04:38:27 PM
I am think New Zealand but I can't pin it down. :?
It isn't New Zealand I'm afraid.
Okay guys, I'm afraid I've got to run from work, and then run Killing Heretics for the God Emperor tonight!
I'll check in before I sleep in approx. seven hours.
Happy hunting!
Quote from: Cramulus on December 21, 2011, 04:34:17 PM
I'm looking at that sandy patch on the grass, and the little blue-gray pond (?) by the edge of the river. Is it possible we're looking at a golf course?
I believe it is much much larger than that. Those shrubs down by the river are actually trees.
I'm trying to work out whether the little gray dots are some kind of identifying mark or whether they're something similar to a moiré pattern (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moir%C3%A9_pattern)
I am giving up on this one as much as I would like to know where it is (it's beautiful). I've looked at pictures of rivers all over the world and there are a metric fuckton of rivers that look almost but not quite exactly like this.
After consulting some expert friends, I am told that the gray pixels are indeed a moiré pattern, meaning that the image was converted for printing twice.
Turned into dots twice and the dots are converging to form that pattern. http://www.tentopet.com/Screentones/screentones3.html
I'm curious whether the original image, if this is not that, had those dots as well.
Interesting how much the vegetation depends on the river. The terrain around it looks volcanic.
I'm thinking Icelandic or similar and searching for combinations of "Tourism/Travel", "River" and whichever area I think it might be at the time.
I was thinking volcanic as well, but it has a lot in common with the high-altitude deserts of the Himalayas as well as those of Utah.
Quote from: Beardman Meow on December 22, 2011, 08:53:59 AM
After consulting some expert friends, I am told that the gray pixels are indeed a moiré pattern, meaning that the image was converted for printing twice.
Turned into dots twice and the dots are converging to form that pattern. http://www.tentopet.com/Screentones/screentones3.html
I'm curious whether the original image, if this is not that, had those dots as well.
Yes that was my guess too.
As in, it's probably a scan/photo from a magazine or something (then the CMYK halftones interfere with the scanner pixels to form a moire). Though it could be that it was scanned, printed and scanned again.
Is it in Norway?
Quote from: Triple Zero on December 22, 2011, 10:16:45 PM
Quote from: Beardman Meow on December 22, 2011, 08:53:59 AM
After consulting some expert friends, I am told that the gray pixels are indeed a moiré pattern, meaning that the image was converted for printing twice.
Turned into dots twice and the dots are converging to form that pattern. http://www.tentopet.com/Screentones/screentones3.html
I'm curious whether the original image, if this is not that, had those dots as well.
Yes that was my guess too.
As in, it's probably a scan/photo from a magazine or something (then the CMYK halftones interfere with the scanner pixels to form a moire). Though it could be that it was scanned, printed and scanned again.
Mmm, I wonder if we can use that at all. :lol:
:musak:
When you scan C-M-Y-K
and some pixels turn grey,
that's.... a moiré.
(http://www.musicremedy.com/webfiles/artists/DeanMartin/DeanMartin-01-big.jpg)
It's similar to searching for a picture of a specific sunset, if we can't lock down anything unique about it.
Has the image been cropped out of another or does it exist just like this somewhere on the web?
Quote from: Beardman Meow on December 23, 2011, 12:38:36 AM
It's similar to searching for a picture of a specific sunset, if we can't lock down anything unique about it.
There's LOTS of stuff! Do like this, write down everything you see or think that may be possibly relevant, then just search general information about it. Like you did for moire patterns, and like I'm going to do for "inward investment journalism", then everybody does that and just keeps riffing off everything they bring to the table until we hit our target.
Quote from: Demolition_Squid on December 21, 2011, 04:33:08 PM
Quote from: Nigel on December 21, 2011, 04:28:39 PM
Quote from: Demolition_Squid on December 21, 2011, 03:53:10 PM
(http://img249.imageshack.us/img249/8493/forfuni.png)
HOPEFULLY this will be a bit more challenging.
Edit for non-shitty resolution.
That's a real pretty picture.
It is! Looking at pretty pictures of places is basically the best part of my work. :)
... Well, sometimes learning that a couple hundred people read something I wrote is pretty nice, too. But the pretty pictures come up more. Inward investment journalism rarely gains more than about 30 interested parties.
1. if
that is the non-shitty resolution, it means he was looking at a rather tiny thumbnail at first. so it comes from a photo gallery on a website. possibly private, though.
2. Looking at pretty pictures of places is part of Demolition Squid's work, what
is his work, anyone know?
3. What is "Inward investment journalism" ?
Cram, what you linked to is
not a tourism site at all. It is something about "Social Development Financial Assistance Programs":
http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gmka.org.tr%2Fbolgemiz
4. The moire dots tell us it is a scan from a magazine (your average consumer grade inkjet printer won't give moire like that, nor as vibrant colours). Maybe a prospect folder for potential investors? It doesn't look like a place for people to build holiday homes or stuff, so what are people going to invest in? Either for protecting or destroying the environments. They wouldn't have used such a pretty picture to convince people to invest in fucking it up by building hydro electric dams, so I'm going to go with protecting the environment.
5. Like Cram, I am also intrigued by the tiny pond in the curve of the river. Are there man-made structures there? A small dock or pier or something? Or is it entirely natural? I can't quite make out the details.
6. We need our resident Geology spags in here to determine exactly what kinds of rock/mountains we're looking at. CAINAD and THE OTHER GEOLOGY SPAGS I FORGET WHO get your asses over here!! We should be able to do a lot better than just "it looks volcanic".
7. Can we identify anything about the vegetation? The trees are not pine trees but broadleaf trees, even the dark leafless ones higher up at the side of the mountains. This means it's not a cold climate and probably not at a very high altitude (excepting some weird local climate quirk).
Reminds me a bit of the second photo down here:
http://www.hrphotocontest.com/index.php?menu=5&usrID=5913&sub=blog&bID=1106
(There are some blindingly beautiful shots there, so, sharing.)
Luna, beautiful shots indeed. It is water near a mountain slope, and the slope kind of looks similar, but the climate looks colder and the rock different. I'm still waiting for the geology spags take on this! :)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inward_investment
QuoteInward investment is the injection of money from an external source into a region, in order to purchase capital goods for a branch of a corporation to locate or develop its presence in the region.
Foreign sources, such as transnational corporations or multinational corporations invest money by introducing new industrial sites to an area, in order to produce more of their product, sometimes in response to changes noticed in that area, such as a growing population or enhanced transport network. Inward investment creates jobs in an area and brings wealth into the economy.
Image Searching for "inward investment" plus a keyword or two from "rock", "river", "mountains", "valley" turns up assloads of pictures of landscapes kind of like this one (not the landscape, but the type of picture: pretty, promotional and often shot from above).
So it's not a generic stock photo but a photograph from a specific region, as printed in an informational pamphlet/flyer/booklet for potential investors and related parties.
Though this particular piece of river might not necessarily be the focus of the relevant inward investment project, it could also simply be a pretty piece of scenery in the region, while the investment project deals with other loca things.
I guess it could either be shot specifically for this project, or licensed from a local Board of Tourism or Environmental Preservation Something.
Is that a pond in the bend of the river? Resolution on my phone is the suck, but it feels more like a building, of some sort. The big, black spot on it doesn't look like a rock, too round and totally different from the surrounding stone.
I do not believe those dots are a moire. Moire's are interference patterns that also arise from things like netting, screens or any two mismatched grids, not just from scanned halftones. So you'd expect to see at least one set of the lines involved with that, but there is no visible halftone at all. If you zoom in on those dots, they look too perfectly round, as though it was a layer of dots turned mostly transparent before being overlaid on the photo.
I think the dots are a less obtrusive form of a watermark.
The bare mountains and green lowland look to me like Afghanistan.
For example:
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/74/Stark_contrasts_in_Afghanistan_-_080907-F-0168M-071.jpg/320px-Stark_contrasts_in_Afghanistan_-_080907-F-0168M-071.jpg)
From here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_Afghanistan
It might be the edge of a lake with an island in it, rather than the bend of a river.
Quote from: Net on December 23, 2011, 02:57:16 PM
I do not believe those dots are a moire. Moire's are interference patterns that also arise from things like netting, screens or any two mismatched grids, not just from scanned halftones. So you'd expect to see at least one set of the lines involved with that, but there is no visible halftone at all. If you zoom in on those dots, they look too perfectly round, as though it was a layer of dots turned mostly transparent before being overlaid on the photo.
I think the dots are a less obtrusive form of a watermark.
*zooms in*
Yes, you're absolutely right. the dots are all exactly 2x2 pixels (not round, maybe you were zooming with interpolation?), spaced at exactly the same integer pixel distances. You won't get that with moire, this is digitally added on.
It's a bit subtle for a watermark, don't you think? I mean, a professional designer wouldn't want to use something with these dots, but the type that watermarks are supposed to protect against, ones that would use an image without licensing, might not worry too much about it (plus I'm fairly sure I could shoop this off by duping into a layer layer with a mask of exactly the same dot pattern and tweaking the brightness/contrast until it matches up).
I dunno what it is, though. Probably
some artifact to do with usage in Inwards Investment brochures, but it might as well be a watermark, I don't think it's too important what it exactly is. But good to know it's not a magazine scan.
Here's the zoomed picture for everyone to stare at, I used a blocky pixel zoom on purpose so that no detail got lost in interpolation:
(http://img543.imageshack.us/img543/5614/zoomed.png)
Now I wonder, it could be the pixels, but check those cracks in the rock in the very bottom right of the image. They seem in perfect focus. Is that possible with a photograph? Both the distance features in focus and some unimportant rock barely framed in the foreground? Could this maybe be an illustration instead? (or perhaps a combo, an airbrushed/shooped picture?)
I concur. It seems to be 3 images (water/lush, mountains, fore-ground). I can see very regular lines (brushstrokes with the blur tool?) along the borders (although well played with some of the treetops). Note the different light in each image (especially the water reflection.. direct reflection of the treetops, yes.. but it also bounces secondary light), and the non-overlapping of vegetation between the regions & what the light is doing to the vegetation (or lack thereof) in each image/region.
HA! Look at the "standing pool" of water. It has the reflection of a tree that's not there (anymore).
We think demosquid found this picture while looking at inward investment assets, yes?
This may be helpful -
http://chartsbin.com/view/2222
- it's a map of where inward investments were happening in 2011
While this doesn't tell us where she was looking, it does tell us where she WASN'T looking.
this random stockphoto I found will look familiar to those who've been following this contest
(http://s3-ak.buzzfed.com/static/enhanced/terminal01/2011/3/29/17/enhanced-buzz-14909-1301434489-15.jpg)
:lulz: I kinda love that dude.