Waking up the idiots on social media...

Hanley

Hanley

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There's always one way to wake up the 'tin-foil hat, earth is flat, MAGA lovers' on social media, post a picture taken on a very long focal length that pulls distant objects closer.

I took this picture yesterday from the roof of the Anglican Cathedral in Liverpool, I shot it on an OM1 MKII with the 150-400mm lens that has a built-in 1.25 teleconverter.
It was shot at a 35mm equivalent of 1002mm, the subject is Whiston Hospital which is close to where I live, 7.5 miles away and the skyscrapers in the background is Manchester city centre, approximately 31 miles away from where I was shooting from.

I posted it on a local Facebook group, predicting some of the responses, and they didn't let me down :ROFLMAO:
2026-02-28 15.37.27.jpg
 
If I'm correct in assuming you're talking about the image quality, it's a fairly standard long focus image, so far as I can tell.

What with air disturbance, lens aberrations and possible camera movement, it's more or less what I'd expect. For comparison, this is what I got on a warm sunny day using Panasonic's FZ82 "superzoom" camera at maximum zoom. It's also pretty much as I anticipated, from this combination...

Tractor on flood meadow Clyst St Mary FZ82 P1010239.JPG
 
Hanley said:
There's always one way to wake up the 'tin-foil hat, earth is flat, MAGA lovers' on social media, post a picture taken on a very long focal length that pulls distant objects closer.

I took this picture yesterday from the roof of the Anglican Cathedral in Liverpool, I shot it on an OM1 MKII with the 150-400mm lens that has a built-in 1.25 teleconverter.
It was shot at a 35mm equivalent of 1002mm, the subject is Whiston Hospital which is close to where I live, 7.5 miles away and the skyscrapers in the background is Manchester city centre, approximately 31 miles away from where I was shooting from.

I posted it on a local Facebook group, predicting some of the responses, and they didn't let me down :ROFLMAO:
View attachment 475914
Click to expand...
superb compression there,

looks about a mile away!
 
Hanley said:
There's always one way to wake up the 'tin-foil hat, earth is flat, MAGA lovers' on social media, post a picture taken on a very long focal length that pulls distant objects closer.

I took this picture yesterday from the roof of the Anglican Cathedral in Liverpool, I shot it on an OM1 MKII with the 150-400mm lens that has a built-in 1.25 teleconverter.
It was shot at a 35mm equivalent of 1002mm, the subject is Whiston Hospital which is close to where I live, 7.5 miles away and the skyscrapers in the background is Manchester city centre, approximately 31 miles away from where I was shooting from.

I posted it on a local Facebook group, predicting some of the
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Hanley said:
and they didn't let me down :ROFLMAO:
View attachment 475914
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Your explanation or opinion would help otherwise all I see is a long focal length record shot of questionable image quality. Sorry if I'm missing the point or joke.
 
Hanley said:
There's always one way to wake up the 'tin-foil hat, earth is flat, MAGA lovers' on social media, post a picture taken on a very long focal length that pulls distant objects closer.

I took this picture yesterday from the roof of the Anglican Cathedral in Liverpool, I shot it on an OM1 MKII with the 150-400mm lens that has a built-in 1.25 teleconverter.
It was shot at a 35mm equivalent of 1002mm, the subject is Whiston Hospital which is close to where I live, 7.5 miles away and the skyscrapers in the background is Manchester city centre, approximately 31 miles away from where I was shooting from.

I posted it on a local Facebook group, predicting some of the responses, and they didn't let me down :ROFLMAO:
View attachment 475914
Click to expand...

I don't understand the point of your post.
 
Eucris said:
I don't understand the point of your post.
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I thought I was missing something obvious. Now I think "we" might be missing something obvious :D

Sorry to the OP if I am. I probably am.
 
So just to clear up the point of the post...I posted the image on a local Facebook group, and I gave an explanation on the phenomenon of lens compression, using large distances and long focal lengths. Because to locals when you first look at the image it will look strange, the hospital is 7.5 miles away from where I was stood, and the large buildings in the background that look very close to the hospital are actually 30 miles away.

It was met with comments saying the image is fake, it's AI etc. so I even posted data from Google, AI explaining what lens compression / perspective compression is.

And my point was, no matter how much you explain, direct them to explanations / references online they won't accept it's real.

@woof woof on your point on the quality, on the roof of the Anglican cathedral you're not allowed to use a tripod, you also have to shoot through a gap in the ornamental structure, shown on the image below, and those gaps you shoot through are over 7 feet tall so you can't shoot over, only through, so I was hand holding which I'm sure you know, even with IS, at that focal length is difficult :)
2026-02-28 16.16.36.jpg

I should have been a bit clearer but was in a bit of a rush this morning :)
 
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Hanley said:
So just to clear up the point of the post...I posted the image on a local Facebook group, and I gave an explanation on the phenomenon of lens compression, using large distances and long focal lengths. Because to locals when you first look at the image it will look strange, the hospital is 7.5 miles away from where I was stood, and the large buildings in the background that look very close to the hospital are actually 30 miles away.

It was met with comments saying the image is fake, it's AI etc. so I even posted data from Google, AI explaining what lens compression / perspective compression is.

And my point was, no matter how much you explain, direct them to explanations / references online they won't accept it's real.

@woof woof on your point on the quality, on the roof of the Anglican cathedral you're not allowed to use a tripod, you also have to shoot through a gap in the ornamental structure, shown on the image below, and those gaps you shoot through are over 7 feet tall so you can't shoot over, only through, so I was hand holding which I'm sure you know, even with IS, at that focal length is difficult :)
View attachment 475930

I should have been a bit clearer but was in a bit of a rush this morning :)
Click to expand...

As far as I can make out their initial impression is perfectly understandable. All it really tells me is that you are a bit of a clever dick.
 
Hanley said:
The image is sharper than you see here but at that distance you can't escape atmospheric conditions
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Thats is a fantastic image, I find atmospheric conditions over take the lens resolution at anything over a kilometer
 
Lens compression isn't a thing. It's down to camera to subject distance. You don't need a long explanation or AI. Just 5 words.

"It's camera to subject distance." I suppose you can stretch it to six if you say "It is" instead of "it's".

PS.
I wasn't meaning to be insulting about the IQ. I think I might have phrased that a bit clumsily. Sorry. I do have a few pictures like that and I know atmospherics are a factor however here I believe that the kit is also a factor. I do take pictures of that quality and keep them because they capture a memory of the day.
 
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Plain Nev said:
As far as I can make out their initial impression is perfectly understandable. All it really tells me is that you are a bit of a clever dick.
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My point was, even after explaining you get the same response, I'm not really sure there is any need to start throwing personal insults
 
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woof woof said:
Lens compression isn't a thing. It's down to camera to subject distance. You don't need a long explanation or AI. Just 5 words.

"It's camera to subject distance." I suppose you can stretch it to six if you say "It is" instead of "it's".

PS.
I wasn't meaning to be insulting about the IQ. I think I might have phrased that a bit clumsily. Sorry. I do have a few pictures like that and I know atmospherics are a factor however here I believe that the kit is also a factor. I do take pictures of that quality and keep them because they capture a memory of the day.
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Everything I read on it, calls the condition 'Lens Compression', I was just basing my wording on that
www.adorama.com

Lens Compression | What is it and How Does it Affect Your Photography? - Adorama

Lens compression is one of the most powerful tools in photography, but many photographers never truly use it to its full potential.
www.adorama.com www.adorama.com

It was taken on an OM1 MKII and the 150-400mm 4.5 lens using the built in 1.25x teleconverter. Hence the 35mm equivalent focal range of 1002mm.

You wouldn't be able to use a larger Canon, Nikon, Sony prime as the gap isn't big enough, I could just fit the end of this lens through by removing the lens hood :)
 
I've never seen the ice wall that encircles our planet and keeps us from falling off the edge pictured so clearly, I did think it was further North than Manchester though... :ROFLMAO:
 
With respect, it may have helped your original post if you had included or at least paraphrased some of the comments your photo elicited.
 
It's interesting that with easily available camera gear you can see something 30 miles away well enough to recognise it. My TZ80 goes to 620mm and at the long end you can see the effects of haze in distant shots, not tried anything like this far though.
 
Stephen L said:
With respect, it may have helped your original post if you had included or at least paraphrased some of the comments your photo elicited.
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I don't disagree, you're exactly right.

On my Facebook post, I did include a full explanation etc. as to how the image looks like it does.
Anyway live and learn, I just found it a little frustrating that everyone simply calls 'AI' and 'Fake' now. :)
 
Plain Nev said:
As far as I can make out their initial impression is perfectly understandable. All it really tells me is that you are a bit of a clever dick.
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So without getting into an argument, I'm interested which part made you think that?
On my local Facebook post I gave a full explanation on the image, people replied politely asking how it was possible etc. so I posted links showing explanations and examples, my point of this post was my frustration on how people are very quick to say something is fake or AI.

Maybe I just didn't communicate it properly, I am mildly autistic and can struggle to communicate my thoughts at times so it's probably my fault.
 
Rather like how the Blair era introduced us to "spin doctoring", the Trump era has introduced us to "Fake News" and "AI Slop" as excuses for falsifying things. The plebs have latched onto these concepts because they are so widespread in MSM and social media. I think the first reaction of many people to pretty much anything on social media now is going to be to treat it as fake or AI because sadly, on social media, that is very often the case, especially on FB.

Nev has been politely reprimanded for his comment. Probably best not to dwell on it.
 
Hanley said:
I don't disagree, you're exactly right.

On my Facebook post, I did include a full explanation etc. as to how the image looks like it does.
Anyway live and learn, I just found it a little frustrating that everyone simply calls 'AI' and 'Fake' now. :)
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Oh the response you got on FB was that it was fake or Ai due to people not understanding long lens / focal length compression principles.
 
jamesev said:
... due to people not understanding long lens / focal length compression principles.
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As someone who stays away from Facebook and its ilk, I've formed the opinion that such places are for those who wish to demonstrate their ignorance. However, it's possible that I'm quite wrong on that... ;)
 
jamesev said:
Oh the response you got on FB was that it was fake or Ai due to people not understanding long lens / focal length compression principles.
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An example of an interaction, even after the explanation of why the image looks like it does:

"Boll0x, this is definitely fake, AI"
"still don't believe you, AI cr@p"

Anyway, I'm just ignoring these comments now, majority of people enjoy seeing them, accept the explanation etc. so I'll just ignore the trolls :ROFLMAO:
 
AndrewFlannigan said:
As someone who stays away from Facebook and its ilk, I've formed the opinion that such places are for those who wish to demonstrate their ignorance. However, it's possible that I'm quite wrong on that... ;)
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While there are plenty of examples of that, there are also plenty of pages/groups full of knowledgable/ helpful people - you just need to spend a bit of effort to find them.
 
I would get to the point of using the virtual stick to prod these keyboard warriors.. If they only get satisfaction from dismissing other people's work then it's game time!
 
Faldrax said:
... there are also plenty of pages/groups full of knowledgable/ helpful people - you just need to spend a bit of effort to find them.
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This is true.

I find it a better use of my time to find places like here, where the idiot count is very low.
 
I got accused of using AI with this photo, back in 2023:

L3Bvc3QvNmQ4ODc1MGQtYjkxZi00Y2IzLTliYjktYTJiMjk3M2ZmMjA5L3Bob3Rv


It was only a single comment, and when I responded to it (politely), firstly explaining how I'd done it, and secondly, that I liked some of the commenter's pictures, they deleted not only the comment, but their account as well! Or at least blocked me so I couldn't see it :)

You have to just laugh (or at least chuckle) at the s***ty comments; some of those people have clearly got sad empty little lives, and the only engagement or sense of validation they get is from upsetting other people online; or in a lot of cases I think they're not even real - just bots, programmed to churn out negative comments, because they're the ones that drive engagement, and make money for Zuckerberg and his billionaire friends.
 
skullfunkerry said:
... some of those people have clearly got sad empty little lives ...
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I'm afraid that's true of a lot of people - but it's not always their own fault. :(
 
AndrewFlannigan said:
I'm afraid that's true of a lot of people - but it's not always their own fault. :(
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This is very true. I try not to judge people, but some folk make it very hard!

RyanB said:
Don't want to threadjack but what kind of bulb is that? Never seen one like it.
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I've just had a quick look and I can't find it, but it's basically a fake Edison-style bulb: it has a big outer globe, and inside where a real Edison would have a long intricate filament, this has a clear tube with marks which reflect the light coming from the base, to make it look like a filament (where in fact it's LED).
I won't hijack the thread any further, but if you want some more photos of it drop me a PM :)
 
AndrewFlannigan said:
It looks as if it may be a version of this...
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skullfunkerry said:
I've just had a quick look and I can't find it, but it's basically a fake Edison-style bulb: it has a big outer globe, and inside where a real Edison would have a long intricate filament, this has a clear tube with marks which reflect the light coming from the base, to make it look like a filament (where in fact it's LED).
I won't hijack the thread any further, but if you want some more photos of it drop me a PM :)
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Ah, thanks for that. Interesting bulb and a great image.
 
Hanley said:
An example of an interaction, even after the explanation of why the image looks like it does:

"Boll0x, this is definitely fake, AI"
"still don't believe you, AI cr@p"

Anyway, I'm just ignoring these comments now, majority of people enjoy seeing them, accept the explanation etc. so I'll just ignore the trolls :ROFLMAO:
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Sadly this is just the world of the keyboard warriors, they feel far more self-important if they're putting you down and telling the world they have seen through your trickery.

I took a picture of a swan raising his head once, at the time I pressed the shutter a seagull flew overhead and it looked like the swan was looking up and watching it fly over it, it was quite amusing so I posted it and I got the usual comments of how I had used AI to stitch the two birds together in the same place.

You can't avoid it I'm afraid, they would much rather spout off about how clever they are, than actually read what you have put and learn something about photography and what you can achieve.
 
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