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Fickle Flickr....

kevinparis

Member
It is part of my morning ritual over coffee to check through all my regular places of interest on the internet.

Part of this of course is checking my Flickr stats... which usually bumble along at between 20-60 views a day depending on whether I have just posted pictures.

Much to my surprise yesterday morning i had had 504 views.. on closer inspection it seems like someone came on and looked at all my photos all 450 of them!

I am flattered that someone took the time to look at all of them... but on the other hand there was not a single comment or favorite made!

All very odd

K
 

TRSmith

Subscriber Member
I'm a bit of a newb at Flickr. I use it to post stuff as a sort of test of how it might look online or stuff that doesn't exactly fit here or other forums. Alas, my hit rate is pathetic. Whenever I do get a view, unless a comment is left by someone I know I have no idea how the viewer arrived there or what their impressions might have been. I notice that some of my contacts get tons of hits and comments regardless of what they post. Tough on the ego!
 

kevinparis

Member
TR

It is an odd environment all round - you are right there do seem to be people who get endless streams of effusive comments - often for very mediocre/uninteresting photos. I have no idea how they reach that critical mass

If you are wishing to drive up traffic through your pages a couple of things seems to help

1) Tag your photos with keywords such as where it was taken, name of lens and anything else you can think of. Adding the tag 'nipple' to one of my pictures helped a lot :)

2) Join groups and post the photos to these groups - again there are groups for almost anything whether it be type of camera, type of lens and every possible category you can think of. As an example i occasional take a picture of a motorbike. I post these to a biker group and almost always get a comment back - maybe its because my photos are slightly quirkier than what they normally get - but the feedback is warm and genuine

3) Lastly there are the scoring and review groups - general idea is you post a picture and comment on the previous 3,5,6 whatever photos giving them a score. Its a good exercise and it does mean you get at least some feedback and a stroked(or bruised) ego

Cheers

K
 

sizifo

New member
I'm also quite new with flickr, and slowly figuring out what's good and what is less good. Second 1) and 2) kevinparis. Am not familiar with 3, but look forward to trying.

Finding good groups is crucial. Moderated groups, or groups with a very select interest are the best ones.

Some of the groups I've found on street photography ("curatimus maximus", "cover street" ) are absolutely phenomenal - I haven't had a single photo accepted :) I do occasionally get accepted in some lesser groups, and this generates genuine interest and contacts. But the crucial thing is to start being a genuine contributor. Most groups are just dumping grounds for photos though, so it takes time to find ones with value.

Posting in "upload one award 5" type groups will bump up the stats, but is generally a useless waste of time. You can also post on twitter, etc, etc, and get loads of hits - many of them will be robots, so I wouldn't spend too much time being jealous about bad photos that get loads of hits :) .

Finally, adding people you don't know as contacts is useful. If you find their photography interesting you get alerted to their new uploads. Sometimes the interest goes both ways.

Flickr can be annoying, but is quite a cool place all in all. And also serves to put your ego in place from time to time - always a good thing - there is some serious talent out there.

BTW - if you have the pro account, you can figure our where the clicks are coming from most of the time, if that's of interest. On the page with the stats, click on the "flickr ... percentage " link, this will tell you where the local flickr clicks came from. You can do similar with individual photos. It can be amusing to find which google searches end up at your photos (which is also where tagging makes a difference).
 

TRSmith

Subscriber Member
Thanks for the info Kevin. I find myself being drawn in a bit more as time goes by. Your suggestions seem like perfect next steps.

And I agree with you Sizifo, there are some amazing photographers out there if you take the time to explore. Like stunning amazing. Good to see for a lot of reasons.

I think I'll take the tortoise approach, slow and steady, all the while keeping my ego detached.

Tim
 

sizifo

New member
Oh, and remember that sex sells :) . The only photo of mine that keeps getting views no matter what, is:

 

TRSmith

Subscriber Member
Ha! That figures. Maybe I'll take a cue from Kevin and title all the photos with a sequential number, i.e., "Nipples-001", "Nipples-002", etc.
 
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Vivek

Guest
Ha! That figures. Maybe I'll take a cue from Kevin and title all the photos with a sequential number, i.e., "Nipples-001", "Nipples-002", etc.
Titles won't do. Tags would help.

Also, add it to as many "pools" and "groups" (mostly mutual appreciation societies).
 

Jorgen Udvang

Subscriber Member
I prefer the more "qualified" comments from the nice, little bunch at this forum to millions of hits on Flickr. It's not the quantity, it's... the other q-word.
 

sizifo

New member
I prefer the more "qualified" comments from the nice, little bunch at this forum to millions of hits on Flickr. It's not the quantity, it's... the other q-word.
I wouldn't be so hasty. There are nice communities based at flickr, and one can certainly find quality photography.
 

TRSmith

Subscriber Member
I hear you Jorgen and Vivek. But like Sizifo it's been a revelation to me to see the sheer volume and the veins of talent that exist on Flikr.

My own somewhat isolated situation makes it difficult to enjoy the benefits derived from showing my work to others and getting feedback I respect. I certainly do enjoy that here, although the feedback tends to be very nice, positive reinforcement. I personally believe that progress requires a bit more in the way of critique. I've experienced more in-depth review a few times at workshops, etc. It's both ghastly and wonderful, often leading to a slight step forward in my work.

Flikr may not be the best place to look for that, but it is a wider exposure to a much larger group. Every little bit helps. Regardless, I always seem to end up back here with this terrific group.
 

Jeremy

New member
I prefer the more "qualified" comments from the nice, little bunch at this forum to millions of hits on Flickr. It's not the quantity, it's... the other q-word.
I don't know, I don't see many of the "qualified" comments here to be any different than those on flickr (nor do I know what "qualifies" the commentators here over those flickr, there are many professional and accomplished photographers on flickr).

The majority of the comments on this forum also consist of communal back-patting, but that's not a bad thing as it lets you know you're moving in a good direction. It's only a bad thing when the photographer in question takes these positive comments to mean they do not need to improve or keep working or they do not move outside of their comfort zone and stick with pictures which they know/think will be appreciated by a certain group.

It's very difficult to be critical of work that is posted as a singular image because the norm response will either be "yes" or "no" and if no most people will just move on until they hit a "yes" image and then they'll post that they like it. If no, can you explain why it is a no without resorting to telling the photog how you would have made the photograph? Critique must take place within the style/voice of the photog making the image and not just what you would have done and you need to be able to say WHY something doesn't work--just telling them it doesn't work for you doesn't help them. Critique is a skill that must be practiced and learned. Technical skill is difficult to critique on the web, too, because of the small file size and the variance in viewing screens*. Additionally, the majority of the photogs here (and many on flickr if you find the right groups--just like finding this forum) are beyond the majority of technical problems visible in a small jpg and would require the viewing of exhibition prints or full-size digital comps (back to viewing device variants). This, imo, takes us to the critiquing of bodies of work, but I have seen very few posted here.


*Yes, my monitor is profiled and many of the photogs here have profiled monitors, but there will still be differences between them.
 
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Vivek

Guest
I hear you Jorgen and Vivek. But like Sizifo it's been a revelation to me to see the sheer volume and the veins of talent that exist on Flikr.
Just to clarify- I did not mean to diss any photogs out there who keep/display their work on Flickr.

There are many talents who do use Flickr.

Just like any web outfit, it is one outfit, that is all.
 
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