Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates/Ernie pyle death

Ernie pyle death[edit]

Reason: Rare and recently discovered image of one of the most notable American World War II front-line correspondents. Photo was taken under fire within a short time of Pyle's death from Japanese gunfire during US Army assault on Ie Shima, near Okinawa, Japan on April 18, 1945. More on the history of the photo is here [1]. No known negatives exist of the photo, so reproduction is from a print.
Articles this image appears in: Ernie Pyle
Creator: Alexander Roberts, US Army

Support as nominator Cla68 (talk) 00:07, 5 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Weak oppose It's disturbing, but that's not an issue here. But it is rather small: Is there any way we could get a higher-resolution scan? Adam Cuerden ^talk 00:12, 5 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Weak oppose At the current size it's too small. Weak Support This size is much better, but it could still be a good bit larger. Anybody got a bigger scan? Clegs (talk) 00:46, 5 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Weak oppose despite my utter loathing of the size guidelines I have to agree that this is too small if only for the fact that it is inherently harder to see more detail at smaller size and it hinders practical usage (for example on the FP templates among other uses), I'd definitely support a bigger scan though. Cat-five - talk 01:00, 5 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Question and comment I read the article three times attempting to determine the status of Alexander Roberts, the man who shot this. Can you confirm that photography was part of his official duties? That would determine whether this is PD-US or copyright-fair use (and ineligible for FP if the latter). Also, would it be possible to obtain a larger image file? A lot of photographs of this type would have been developed as 8"x10" so a full sized scan might exist somewhere if you ask around. A Holocaust museum uploaded a larger version of this image upon request when it was nearly delisted last month. If you get a bigger file, ping me and I'll work on a restoration. Best wishes. Durova^Charge! 02:18, 5 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Reply to everyone. I'll try to find a larger image and renominate it at that time since this one appears to be failing mainly because of image size. The article linked to above makes it clear that Roberts was acting in his official capacity when he shot the photo, "Roberts and two other photographers, including AP's Grant MacDonald, were at a command post 300 yards away when Col. Joseph Coolidge, who had been with Pyle in the jeep, reported what happened. Roberts went to the scene, and despite continuing enemy fire, crept forward — a "laborious, dirt-eating crawl," he later called it — to record the scene with his Speed Graphic camera. His risky act earned Roberts a Bronze Star medal for valor." Cla68 (talk) 02:34, 5 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, you're probably right about the PD-US. Good luck with the request for a larger file version. If that doesn't work out, you might drop it by the workshop I've set up on Commons for restoring encyclopedic images that are important historically but may not qualify for FP. Durova^Charge! 04:35, 5 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Well, I found a larger image (800x631 vs the 539x350 that it was before) and uploaded it, but I don't know if that's as large as the reviewers here would still like to see. Cla68 (talk) 07:44, 5 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]

That's an improvement. I've rotated it, cleaned artifacts, adjusted the levels, and cropped the border. The face hasn't changed: the collar bends upward, his glasses reflect sunlight, and that looks like blood dripping from his mouth (probably the reason they kept this from the widow). Here's the hard part: as important as the subject is, this is also slightly affected by lossy compression and scanner streaks. If you view the original at 300% you'll see the streaks especially in the dark area at upper right. That can be partially corrected during restoration so I've done what I can, considering it's a low resolution scan. Durova^Charge! 09:43, 5 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you. Cla68 (talk) 03:02, 7 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Not promoted MER-C 07:05, 12 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]