Description: A Hungarian coin was carefully put on the surface of the water in a glass and photographed while it floated because of the water's surface tension. The colour is due to the wooden environment.
On the same occasion I made (and later deleted) dozens of pictures from all possible angles. None of them showed the edge of the coin, because it was always hidden behind the curve of the meniscus. The coin does not lie flatly on the water, it dips in, so that the coin's upper side is deeper than the surface of the water outside. Roger McLassus14:47, 28 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Unfortunately I have no larger image. This is the reason why I've hesitated for more than two months before I decided to nominate the picture. Due to my camera's limited depth of focus at macro range I had to take the picture from quite a distance to get everything sharp. After cropping away the superfluous surrounding the remaining picture has now a rather limited resolution. Roger McLassus16:21, 28 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]
It was not easy. I held the coin in a horizontal position between the nails of thumb and forefinger and carefully put in on the surface of the water. I have some training in doing so (having done it occasionally since decades) but nevertheless it took me quite a lot of unseccessful trials before it worked. Roger McLassus16:29, 28 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]
The coin itself is not the subject of the picture, but the effect that surface tension prevents it from sinking. So the coin's details are irrelevant. The glass, however, is important, since it makes clear what is underneath the coin. Furthermore it provides an optical environment that makes the meniscus better visible. Roger McLassus05:46, 29 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]
This is just nitpicking, I agree the details of the coin are not relevant, but the size of the meniscus around it is of the same order of magnitute, and that is just too small. Also The lighting could be way better. The shadows in the glass clutter the image and distract more from the floating coin rather than helping. --Dschwen09:31, 29 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Pictures on commons should be judged independently from any potential articles on their own pohtographic merit. This is not en:FPC. --Dschwen07:05, 29 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Support I think it's a great picture. And it does illustrate the problem of floating currencies in an excellent way;) MartinD11:08, 29 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Blue is not the natural colour of water, which in fact has no colour. Water is only blue if reflecting a blue sky. But there was no blue sky above this glass of water. All its surrounding consisted of light-coloured wood. So there is no reason for any other colour to show up. Roger McLassus18:19, 30 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]
This is not exactly true. Water being colorless is a common misconception which may hold for the tiny amounts we usually handle. A closer look at the absorption spectrum of water shows a comparatively high absorption in the near-infrared to red range, yielding to a faint blue appearance. Well, but in any case this would not matter for the conditions the photo was taken in :-) --Dschwen20:51, 30 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Oppose While I really like the idea and the picture for my taste there are two flaws for a real FP: The background should be in a neutral (white or gray) color and the shout should be more close to the interesting object. So I would love if you would be able to borrow a camara with macro features and put the glass onto a white sheet of paper or something like that. Andreas Tille15:35, 11 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Support by the photographer Roger McLassus 12:07, 28 March 2006 (UTC)
Neutral its a good picture, imho i think a lower angle showing more of the edge of the coin Gnangarra 14:28, 28 March 2006 (UTC)
Oppose the main subject, the coin, is way too small. Most of the picture just shows a glass of water. --Dschwen 21:30, 28 March 2006 (UTC)
