I love the idea of people using flickr at a recipe site. This Tuna Noodle Casserole was made by a friend of ours Louise. She is a good cook so I think this is likely a good recipe. The photo makes me think it is a great meal.
I have been looking at flickr stats since it has been added to flickr. I was hoping it would tell me something about my photos that I did not already know. I was hoping I would get a good idea where my views come from. I now have a good idea where my views come from. Below are the numbers as long as Flickr shows them:
Every other site is less that 1%. It would take about 5000 views to get to 1%.
At the time is an image of my stats. You can see that big spike. After looking at those big spikes a few time I came to a realization. Those big spikes do not come from a single photo getting a lot of view. It does not come from a lot of photos getting a higher than average number of views. Those spikes from from many photos getting one extra view that day. That just amazes me.
I have 8,600 hundred photos on flickr. On an average day I get 1700 views over 700 photos. I will get a spike where I get 9000 views over 5000 photos. It is just like lots of photos go an extra view.
I am finding that my photography is defining the long tail.
This is my most viewed photo. I do not think this is my best photo ever. I do not think these women are the most attractive in my photosteam. When I took this photo, it wa just a spontaneous snap shot. I just had a few seconds to take it. They did not take to time to pose most most people in costume take. Maybe that is why it is so well liked.
This is also my most commented photo. But part of that has to do with Supergirl having a belly ring. People wonder how a person with skin the strength of steel gets a belly ring.
For a long time this was my most viewed photo. It is easy to see why this photo was the most viewed photo. This is where my obsession with Metal Slave Bikini Leia. This was the moment I found out that there are so many women who dress like this at comic book conventions. I guess this is where I found out I should try to take more photos of women in costumes.
This photo has been viewed so many times because it was blogged so many times. During comic con it turned up on six different blogs. People loved the idea of a Steampunk Ghostbuster. I have to admit that this is one of my favorite costumes of all time.
I am not sure how blog views are counted. I know that most of my flickr views come from inside of flickr. Site referrals only account for 2% of my views. 2% of 1.2 million is still 24000 views. Maybe a big chunk of that is part of this photo.
Views on Flickr: One Thousand Fourty Eight view photo
I average between 1900 and 1100 views a day. This is the range my views stay between. Some days I see a big bump, but it never falls below 1100 views. Everyday my photostream gets as many views as this photo has totally. That is a strange idea. At the high end of views, photos get 100 to 70 views. On the low end hundreds of photos get 1 to 2 views. I think this is very interesting.
Look at all the elements of this photo. It is easy to see why this photo has so many views. It is a great costume group. I think that is one of the reasons it has so many views.
My nephew noticed that I took lots of photos of signs. Yes it is something I do all the time. Some of my most viewed photos are of signs. If it was not for Comic Con they would dominate the top of my popular lists.
One of my photos is on Youtube. I know this is not that big of a deal. It is just aideo of a whole bunch of tattoo photos. I am happy that someone likes it enough to put it in their video.
I was surprised to find out that Wolverine is one of my biggest search terms for my photosteam. I am not sure why over 5000 people in the past year have searched for Wolverine. I know it is my Comic Con that keeps people coming back.
This is a great photo because it is an in joke. Not everyone knows this is Spider Man. Not everyone knows that this is actually from a comic book. Lots of people think it is combining the Unknown Comic and the Fantastic Four. I am happy this has so many views.
Views on Flickr: Six Hundred Eighty One View Photo
This is my 200 most view photo. Flickr users know the importance of this because 200 is the default last photo when users are looking at their most viewed photo. I hope that someone sees this as interesting. This photo has a lot of elements that make my photos interesting. I think I do a pretty good job with my best photos. I think my 200 best photos are pretty good. That might be because I take so many pictures that I am only getting lucky. I will still take that.
In 2005 at comic con I decided that whenever I saw someone with a comic book themed tattoo I was going to ask them if I could take a picture. I had not noticed that many comic book themed tattoos before. Taking photos of them really made me notice them at comic con. Now whenever I see a tattoo I have not seen before I want to take a picture of it.
Tattoos get a lot of views on Flickr and on my blog. In Sad Salvation's referral log I see lots of images searches for tattoos. I think it is easy to see why this photo would get so many views.
Lets go down the checklist here, Comic con - Check, Woman - Check, Corset - Check, Costume - Check, Goth - Check, Spider web - Check, Mowhawk - Check. I have no question why this photo has over 500 views.
Above 500 views there are very few Comic Con photos. I will keep on going to Comic Con because of this. If I leave the west coast, I will have to go to the New York Comic Con or Dragon Con in Atlanta.
I am not sure what I can say about this photo. It is really not like any the other photos in my collection. It is the typical "Stand here and pose with this person" photo. I love the expression of both Chris and the woman in the grapes.
I wonder what other people think when they see this photo.
Flickr has added a "Share This" Feature. I am testing the like it give me. I wonder how it decides the size for the photo. I wonder if I will start to use this feature. You can also use this feature to E-mail, Link, or Blog the photo.
Tattoos get a lot of views on my photostream. They also get lots of views on my blog. I love taking photos of Tattoos. I do not have any tattoos, but I respect people that do. I think there is a lot of art in tattoos. I also see lots of commitment in tattoos. I love when I see a tattoo that I have never seen before. I love when a tattoo has a good theme. I love when I have the feeling that I have seen something I would not see anywhere else. That is what makes photographing a tattoo special.
I am not sure what makes searching for a tattoo on flickr special.
I once had a conversation with another flickr user about views on flickr. I asked him about how many views his photos average. He said he did not take not of that. He said that he has about hundred contacts and all his photos get about 100 views. This idea blew me away. I knew that this did not happen to me. I know that most of my contacts do not see most of my photos.
When I got to know this flickr user better I found out how this might be true for him and not true for me. He posts about three times a month. He also only posts about two or three photos at a time. I post between 20-30 days a month. I also post between 100 - 300 photos a month. I think it is much harder for all my viewers to view all my photos.
There are other problems. I know that many of my contacts do not long on often. At least 50 of them have not uploaded a new photo in 2008 yet. I know that I am uploading several days worth of photos between when they log on. That gets me less views.
I would love if all my contacts saw all my photos. I know that is not going to happen anytime soon. I know that I am not even going to average that many views. I could reduce my number of contacts to see what happens, in the end I am not sure that would help.
Costume photos are very popular on my photo stream. A large percentage of the photos with more than 200 views are from Comic Book Conventions. Most of these photos are of people in costume. As I get close to the top of my most viewed list, it is almost all people in costume. There will be several more of these photos in this project.
When I look at my biggest search terms, they are all most all comic book terms. I think this really says something about the people who are using flickr. It will also have a lot to do with which of my photos are actually interesting.
One hundred fifteen photo is my average view. That means that average view is 71 views higher then my median view. That means that my photo views are very top heavy. This is not a surprise to me. This photo is ranked 1631 in overall views and my median photo is ranked 4112. That is a pretty big spread.
This photo is a good example of what I get rewarded for. It is something funny that is in everyday life. I have a good eye for these things. I can see what photos might people laugh a little. It is better to be one of a few people that can express something funny than to be one of a huge crowd who is technically good.
I have no idea why this photo of my trash has 100 views. It is not a good photo. it is not an interesting photo. It is a photo of trash. There is something that always happens all the time. I am often asking myself why are people are looking at this photograph. Now there is a stats feature on flickr, but it was not there when they were looking at this photo. I do not know why people looked at this photo. I just know that they did. Hopefully I will be able to figure this out in the future.
This photo starts to show what kind of photos I can take when I take when I do a good job. I think that this is a good portrait. The SB600 flash I use here really does a good job. It really improves what I do with lower light.
This photo is good enough that the subject asked if he could use the picture for his Facebook profile photo. I can see how better photos are getting more views.
At 50 views I start seeimng photos that I think are good. Before this my photos are ordinary at best. I will admit that I think they are a little under rated at 50 views. I think the photo above should have over 100 views. This photo is not special, but I think it is good. Around here I can see photos that I want other people to really see.
You might ask why 44 views. This happens to be the median view of my photostream. I have about 150 photos with 44 views. Over the last two years my median started at 30 view, crawled up to I have lots of photos of people in sitting around coffee shops at meetings. These photos look the same often. I think this is a little better that the average photo like this.
This photo could get more views if I spent time improving the tags and adding it to more groups.
This is what a twenty five view photo looks like. The subject of the photo has a limited appeal. This photo has my sister at the Giants game. The photo is pretty well tagged and it has been added to my standard number of groups. I think this is a pretty good example of a twenty five view photo.
This is what a photo with ten views looks like. It is a good idea, but it is not there. It is a photo that you can find all over the place on flickr. There is nothing special about it.
This is a pretty typical five view photo. I have about 100 photos with 5 views. All of them are poorly tagged. Most of them have poor composition. all of them have been uploaded in 2008. They have been added to few groups.
I cannot say the above photo deserves very many views. I like the idea, but it is not executed well. It is missing that thing that makes it a good photo. That thing is a real idea of that the shot is telling us. Once again, a poor photo does not get rewarded on flickr.
I want to start a new series of blog posts looking at views on flickr. Above is a photo titled 2008 Spring Vacation: The Motel Room. This is a good example of a photo that only has two views. I did not have any photos on flickr that have been posted for more that a month that has only one view. In practical terms, this is on of my worst photos on flickr. I have not be rewarded for posting it on flickr.
One of the things that I notice is that it is poorly tagged and not in many groups. Right after I post this photo I will update the tags and add the photo to more groups. Even as I do that, it will not get this photo that many extra views. There are few good elements in this photo. I expect in a few weeks this photo will top out at about ten views.
I understand the idea that the customer is always right, but I am shocked at how entitled some users are. They feel offended that flickr would stoop so low as to offer video. Of course everyone knows that video is the least common denominator on the internet.
If they do not like a feature, don't use it. I think that Elkit in Wonderland said it very well.
I get that you may have no use for this feature, but I don't get the part where you want to forbid it to everybody just because it's not *your* thing.
I know people have very strong feelings about flickr, but you need to give it a chance to grow. I get it that at this time just about every internet user has a favorite site that has been ruined by change. Everyone has a story of a site that used to be great but changed and never recovered.
My problem is that people have not given video a chance. Instantly they said all the idiots from youtube would flood over here and destroy Flickr. They have not even used the feature. Months ago when I first heard rumors of video I did not like the idea, but I think flickr has done a good job with it. The 90 second limit seems to be a great idea. They are long photos and not short video blogs.
Now lets see if there is any change. I trust the flickr staff not to screw this up. I just wished more users had that kind of faith.
Wonder con is this weekend. It starts on Friday. Of course I will be there. It is not as big of an event as Comic Con. I only go to WonderCon for one day. I think I would get really bored if I went there for all three days. Maybe if I did I would go to more panels.
Above is my most viewed Wonder Con photo. I will be there with camera in hand. I will be trying to get as many photos as possible. Photos of people in costume fuel views on flickr for me. Now that I have flickr stats to look at I will be interested to see what wonder con does to my views. Let me know if you will be there also.
I think it is important to have goals. Without goals it is hard to measure how things are getting done. I am not always the best at
Here are my first batch of goals for 2008
1. For at least 40 weeks this year blog three days a week. 2. Total Flickr photos posted to 10,000 3. Total Flickr views, 2 million 4. Walk a more than 3,650,000 steps 5. *** **** ** ***** ** (This has to do with a secret) 6. Take a photo every day.
Let me know if you think I should have any more goals.
I would like to list this photo under deserves more views. I know the truth is that I should file it under: not as good at it could be.
I am thinking about starting a Photo Blog up. I am not sure if it is worth my time or not. I already have a flickr account. What would it mean to also have a photo blog? I am not sure it would be worth the time.
My Average view per photo on flickr is 110. My median views per photo is 47. This tells me that the photos with the most views have a lot of views. The median photo is number 3677. My average view photo is number 1559. I get have my views from 21% of my posted photos. I wonder how it is for other people. I know I can figure something out something by looking at these photos. I am just not sure what I can learn.
Total Photos Posted by 12/31/07: 7275 Photos Posted in 2007: 3947 Photos from 2007 posted: 2772 Month with the most posts: 686 Month with the most photo: 1005
Views: Photos 806,720 Photostream 190,243 Sets 63,936 Total 1,060,901
Take a photography everyday (Failed) Post at least 200 pre-2005 to Flickr (Failed) 200,000 Views of my flickr Photostream (Failed) Post 2000 photo to flickr (Pass) Spend the night at 12 places outside of San Jose (Pass) Use my text messaging more. (Pass) Use up all 500 of my monthly text messages at least once (Pass) Blog at least 150 photos. (Pass) Be open to the changes that come (Pass) Listen to 120 new albums (Pass)
I got 7 out of 10 passing. I am not sure that is a passing grade because the three hardest are the ones I failed at. I think it is important to keep track of these things.
I see this phone now and I wish I did a better job. I wish this was a better photographic. I wonder what I will find if I look back at the photos from this day. I need to look at more of my old photos in 2008. I need to put time aside to look at what I did before I had Flickr.
I am not going to make a total of 200,000 views this year for my flickr account. I have less than 190,000 views right now. I do not see anyway to get a 10,000 view boost this month. I guess I am going to miss that one.
If you want to look at what I think are good photos you should check out my set, "Should Have 100 Views." This is a group of photos that I think are underrated in my flickr stream. Go look and tell me if you agree.
This photo has over 500 flickr views. I cannot tell you why that is. It should not have over 500 view. I do not think it should even have 50 views. Tell me if you know why so many people have looked at it.
I made a hand full of resolutions in 2007. I have been successful for most of them. One I just finished was blogging 150 photos. I think that blogging photos makes my blog more interesting and it makes me think about photography. Both of those things are good things.
If you want to see all the photos I have blogged this year they are in one place, you can look at my set on Flickr. They are in roughly the order I blogged them. I think it is cool to just look at that set.
Lane Hartwell is pissed off at people stealing her photos, or at least infringing on the copyright. (Yes I am one of those people who think theft and copyright infringement are two different things.) There are items on Scott Beal's Liquid Squid and Like it Matters. I wonder if people like me make it harder on people like her. I know that I am not a great photographer. I am no where near Lane Hartwell in skill or talent. I am the kind of person who does not police his photos. I am the kind of person who does not know if people use my photos. Only once have I ever dinged a website for using a photo of mine without telling me. I had them add my name because I wanted to help the person who was in the photo.
I wonder if the web has made photography less valued. I wonder if so many people are willing to give it away for free, does it make it easier for other people to take? I am wondering if it is something that cannot be avoided because of the way other copyright holders act.
One of my stupid resolutions for this year is I want 200,000 views of my flickr stream. I know it does not mean anything, but it still makes me feel good. I know that Flickr comes up with this number in a way that does not make sense to me. I still want to get 200,000 views before the end of 2007.
Currently I have 181,632 views. That means I need to get another 18,478 people to look at my photos. That said, go over and look at my photos.
I have a set of photos on flickr I think deserve more views. I know that I see views as a way to measure the worth of a photo on flickr. I know not everyone sees it this way. Just humor me and go look at these photos. I think it will really be worth it.
I just make of photo set of my most interesting photos from 2007. To my disappointment every photo is from San Diego Comic Con. I know that Comic Con is the Christmas of my Flickr Year, but this is too much. It might as well be the only thing I take pictures of. I guess this means that If I miss Comic Con next year no one will look at my photostream.
Our eyes play so many tricks on us. Let and be bent and shadows can change what we seen. What we seen depends on our filters. We can never see what is really there, but if we know about our filters, we can try to adjust want we think about ourself. I am just not sure that people can even know all the filters they have.
Someone I meet recently just looked through all of my flickr photos. I always think someone could learn who I am if they looked at my photos. She took me up on this offer. She said that she learned three things about my from looking at my flickr photos.
1) I love people 2) I love color 3) The little things are important to me
I did not expect her to notice these things. They are all true about me and my photography. Even though I told her that she would learn about me from looking at my photos, I was not sure what she would learn. I think my photostream holds truths, but not truths I could figure out. I am just thinking about how I took the photos and want I am going to post.
This is one of my 200 most viewed photos. I have some 6500 photos on flickr. I cannot figure out why so many people have viewed this photo. I guess it is one of the mysteries of the internet.
This is my second 1000 view photo. This was taken at Comic Con 2006. Yes my two most viewed photos are from comic con. Fifteen of my twenty most viewed photos are from comic con 2006 or comic con 2005. I do not think any of the photos from this year will make it that high. I think some of my photos got big blog attention in those years.
It is easy to see why this photo had received so much attention. This photo is also my most favorite'd and most commented upon. Lots of people have a reason to love it. The funny thing is that is not all that good of a photo. I guess there are other things more important than technical proficiency.
It will be a while before I have my next photo reach the ranks of 10,000 views. The next closest photo has around 3000 views. When it comes to getting this many views, I have no idea what I can do to impact it. I have to hope that other people promote it. Maybe I need to make a set of photos that are not women in costumes that I want people to look at.
I know there are panels about costuming at Comic Con. I would like there to be a panel about Photography at Comic Con. I would love to here how other photographers approach Comic Con. I would like to know how they handle the technical challenges. I would like to know how they approach the subject matter. I would like to know what they look for in a photo.
I love taking pictures at Comic Con. It is easy to see on flickr that my photos are not like other people's photos. I think that is cool. I think even if only comic con photographers showed up at this panel, it would still fill up a small room. Now I just need to figure out how I get Comic Con to have a panel like this.
At next year's Comic Con I would love for Flickr to throw a Flickr party. I would love to see some of the Flickr staff go to San Diego during Comic Con and have a meet and greet with Flickr users.
Comic Con is the highlight of my Flickr Year. It gets me more photos, more views, more favorites, and more comments that any other single event of the year. This year I have got lots of positive feedback for my photos. I got feedback from my contacts, people I do not know, and some of the people who are the subjects of the photos.
There are so many people taking digital photos at Comic Con. It would be a great place for Flickr to promote itself. Show the different Comic Con groups. Show people it is a great place to post photos from an event like Comic Con. There are lots of people there to promote your product to. A party might be a great promotion.
I think throwing a party would be a great promotional tool for Flickr. Maybe even do it as an art show. I know that most of us Flickr using Comic Con photo hacks would love to have our photos in a show.
For the last couple of years I have suggested having a gathering of Flickr users at comic con, but no one can ever agree on what to do. Not living down there it is hard to organize. No one wants to take charge because everyone is focused on Comic Con. Having Flickr throw the party might overcome that.
I would love the meet the other flickr Comic Con photographers. I have the feeling that it will not happen unless Flickr throws the party. I need a way to share this idea with Flickr marketing people.
1. Mary Marvel 2. One of the Cast of Heroes 3. a Leia I have not taken a photo of yet 4. a padme I have not taken a photo of yet 5. a Transformer 6. New crossover costume
As I said before, I am obsessed with Flickr. My obsession has dulled a little, but I still visit flickr several times a day. The main expression of my obsession is how many views my photos get. I think this gives me feedback about what people think of my photos. I think I learn a lot about flickr by looking at my views.
In the land of flickr Metal Slave Bikini Leia, is a 10,000 view photo. My guess is that 10,000 view puts it in the top 0.1% of all the photos on flickr. That is not saying too much. I have almost 6000 photos posted and this is my only photo with more than 10,000 views. It we look at the top 1% of my photos, that is about 850 view. My medium photo has 40 views. I understand this adds up to hundreds of thousands for my photos collectively, but it does not feel like much. I wonder what the chances of any Flickr user randomly finding one of my photos.
I just wanted to let you know what a 10,000 view photo on flickr looks like. I know that no one is surprised.
Tuna Noodle Casserole by loumcf
Median
Average
The Godfather of cross over characters
