Just one quick question

should these be considered as solo or duo? (the second one is tagged as solo right now):
post #2874 post #519876 post #465740

and should this be considered solo or group (is tagged solo right now)
post #460923

I used butterflies but my main question is when to consider a living animal as not being a character.

What about macros?

And this one, duo or trio?

post #356992

the small worm talks...

"solo_focus" is the tag you are looking for.

To be used when their is more than one character but clearly, the artist wants attention on the main character. Unfortunately, the tag doesn't get much use, maybe you can change that. :)

Well, um... I just reckoned that some random-ass butterfly wasn't really going to count as a character, that's why I tagged solo instead of solo_focus or duo.

Random insects shouldn't count as a character in pictures.

I'd say the same, though I feel less strongly about it, for other kinds of unnamed random small animal.

I think the idea of a 'character' depends if any emphasis is drawn upon them. A butterfly in the scenery? Not a character. A large crowd in the background? Also not characters. A mouse that's looking at something important? That's a character.

elad said:
I think the idea of a 'character' depends if any emphasis is drawn upon them. A butterfly in the scenery? Not a character. A large crowd in the background? Also not characters. A mouse that's looking at something important? That's a character.

This seems like a good way to judge it.

It also means that characters standing in a crowded public area might start getting tagged solo when there's only one emphasized individual. That would be a change from how things are currently done.

Thanks for clarifying. And btw, what about a character with a big shadow of another one? Cant find an example now. But imagine a creature in the corner with a shadow of a monster trying to catch him.

Solo, duo or solo_focus?

Well, I figure that a picture with two major characters alone in it has a different feel and appeal than a picture with two major characters that also has a minor character watching/in the background/etc. So I tag those with both the total # of characters and then the correct solo_focus or duo_focus tag. Especially when a character is interacting with the major characters in some way.

So the ones with the butterflies I'd tag as duo + solo_focus. That way people who want a main solo feel and don't mind if there's a minor downplayed other character in the picture can find it. But you can still separate them out easily if you truly want a picture where someone is actually alone which would be just plain solo. (which was actually aliased from the former tag of alone, interestingly enough)

If there's two people at a train station and a nameless crowd behind them, then I'd tag it group + duo_focus because the focus is on the two and the rest are background. But it's still not the same as when it's really just two people alone and sharing a conversation just the two of them which would be just plain duo.

It's especially helpful when there's two people having sex but a third person watching (a mouse, a friend walking in on them, a peeping tom, a voyeur, etc). Then it's not exactly a threesome because only two people are in on the action. The third person may not even be that easy to spot the first time you look. But some people find it creepy that it's not a completely private moment. So tagging it as group+duo_focus allows people who want the extra audience but duo focus to find it, and those who find that creepy to avoid it. Just tagging it duo makes it impossible to separate those out from pictures where it really is only two people being alone together.

This system is also helpful when there's disembodied hands or penises in the picture. Because you know that they're not alone, and if tagged solo, it often gets removed people disagree whether the disembodied parts count as a non-person or not. Because mainly all you see is one person and then a random body part of someone else. So tagging it duo+solo_focus handles the disembodied penis + 1 person situation in a peaceable manner. Similar is when there's a group_sex situation where you see one person in the middle and then a bunch of legs surrounding them. Sometimes they're even just silhouettes. So it's both group and "not really" group. So I tag those as group+solo_focus (or duo_focus if it's two people having sex surrounded by a bunch of faceless half-bodies). And that way it makes it a little easier to find the difference between:

post #522647 = just solo post #520684 = duo + solo_focus post #517884 = group + solo_focus
post #522572 = just duo post #518083 = group + duo_focus
post #520719 = just group

However, as far as I know, there may not be any official ruling on it. I just go with this because it makes it all searchable for a very wide range of picture situations. It's the best wide-working solution I've seen for it, so that's what I use. Now if only tentacles were as easy...

You're not hurting anything by tagging those first few as solo, but yes, solo_focus is technically correct, though few people know about it.