14 posts tagged “photography”

Check out this link to a Ye Olde Times photo editor. Cool results & fun to boot.

Modern day rednex

Ye olde Rednex

Flight from Pompeii

Back around Christmas we went up to Ballarat for a family gathering. This shot is of one of the marble statues in the Botanical gardens. I used it as a test bed for using the Calculations approach to Black & White conversion and I’m quite pleased with the outcome. I will try this again when I find a suitable photo to process.

Marie Gabrielle II

Received my next rejection notice from JPG Mag. This was the photo, submitted for the Entropy theme. Ego is a bit fragile now. 

Flickrlogo

So my Flickr obsession continues and I am wasting more and more time on this service. I guess I shouldn't call it wasting as it is all part of the overall package that is my photography hobby. I am intrigued by the "Intrestingness" function and have been vainly trying to get a shot into the Top 500 but have only minor success to date. Intrestingness is determined by an algorithm that Flickr holds pretty close to it's chest and it does tend to get the occasional tweak. While the specifics of the algorithm are secret what is clear is it does take into account the number of views, favourites and comments that an individual photo receives. So at the most basic level, more faves = good, more comments = good, more views = good. The quest for more views/comments/faves has lead to the build up of comments groups in Flickr where you add your shot and comment a specified number of others, the goal being that you can expose your photo to a wider audience and receive more comments than you otherwise would have done. That said, recent (last year) changes to the selection algorithm (the Magic Donkey) penalise users for adding their photos to a large number of groups and in some instances it appears that photos in some specific groups are blackballed from 'intrestingness' selection.

This change has inadvertantly polarised the Flickr community, some users chase the Explore/Intrestingness goal (looking for listing in the top 500 or front page) while some just publish their photos to a wide variety of comment groups and build up a huge number of comments from other users. Unfortunately the later approach tends to reduce the intrestingness (according to Flickr) of a photo and can disqualify the shot from the top 500. So that's the question, what do you chase in the Flickr-verse, do you look for the comments and feedback and interaction with others that comes from participating in the group structure. Or do you maintain the Explore/Intrestingness function as the ultimate goal.

I know that many people disdain the beauty contest aspect that Flickr represents and do not actively promote their photos. Likewise many users (myself included) enjoy the social aspect of the site, the ability to make connections and interact with others all over the world, facilitated by the common love of photography. Some look for the exposure and community kudos that the T500 & Explore represents. Where do you fit in the spectrum?

Last week I blogged about the wee bunfight occuring at Flickr with regard to changes proposed to contact and tag limits. It seems that the outcry from the Flickr population has not fallen on deaf ears. Yesterday the Flickr team have posted an ammendment to their new rules.

We've heard your feedback and we've made a wee tweak to the contact limit change:
While you're limited to 3,000 non-reciprocal contacts, we've lifted the limit for reciprocal contacts -- that is, if you and your buddy have each other as contacts, it won't count towards the limit.
Thanks to merkley??? for the idea!

So while this change dosnt address the sore point of cutting older users over to a Yahoo ID is is nice to see that someone is listening in Flickr land.