Commons:Flopped
This page is an essay; it contains the advice and/or opinions of one or more Commons contributors.It is not a Commons policy or guideline, and editors are not obliged to follow it. Please update the page as needed, or discuss it on the talk page.
Many images present on Wikimedia Commons are flopped, that is, reflected (usually about vertical axis). It may occur either intentionally or accidentally, but for to mathematical reasons this effect can’t happen because of any proper rotation of the camera or resulting images. Some analog media, such as slides or large-format photographic plates, are especially prone to accidental flopping, because a two-dimensional transparent medium can be viewed with either orientation.
A consumer should be warned against accidental use of a flopped media from Commons. Development of solutions is underway.
What is flopped?[edit]
This image shows the Earth’s surface with incorrect orientation. It could have this orientation observed from below. It evidently was produced with flopping a photo, because no optical device can see North America from an angle depicted.
What is not flopped?[edit]
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This image shows an inscription on a transparent door. It’s the inscription which is flopped due to specific camera angle—namely, looking on it through the door—not the photo as a whole. This image should not be included into Flopped images using {{Flopped}}; conversely, it’s flopped image of a reverse view that gives a correctly oriented text.
Related phenomena[edit]
Things which are not flopping also include genuine optical reflections presented on an image, for example, Reflections of inscriptions. These reflections look like Mirror writings but are not classified as mirror writings because these latter are intentionally written with improper orientation. Note that flopped image of a reflection of the inscription shows a “normal” inscription again, and the same for flopped image of a mirror writing.
