The Lemon Fool

What makes a popular photo?

I often contribute photos from my phone to Google Maps. You can then go back and view your photos sorted by date or by number of views.
It often surprises me which ones have the most views. It's not always the one I thought was more interesting, or the better photograph.

I'll put up some examples. One has over 25,000 views and the other has 840. I won't tell you which is which.

Here's the other one - Alum Bay - IoW

Snorvey wrote:Whilst sitting in the garden yesterday, I heard a faint buzzing noise in the sky. It didn't sound like a light aircraft or a helicopter. Anyway, I pointed the phone at the sky and....

In such circumstances I usually start up the Flightradar 24 app on my phone - and hopefully get a match

Nice pix Gaggsy! Difficult to know the 'popular vs the useful'. The hoists make a great and quirky pic, the cliffs are informative and scene-setting, as well as attractive, perhaps more of a 'Visit X-town' utility.
Just for me I prefer the hoists pic as being the more different+engaging though I suspect on Google/Maps the cliff-scene would be of more utility.

Two great photos Gaggsy. Have you considered cropping the photo of the cherry pickers?*

Julian F. G. W.


*With your permission, I can repost a cropped version of your image. I suspect that different people will have different views as to what looks best.

AleisterCrowley wrote:Looks like it's got canards

You must have been looking for canard to spot them!

DiamondEcho wrote:Nice pix Gaggsy! Difficult to know the 'popular vs the useful'. The hoists make a great and quirky pic, the cliffs are informative and scene-setting, as well as attractive, perhaps more of a 'Visit X-town' utility.
Just for me I prefer the hoists pic as being the more different+engaging though I suspect on Google/Maps the cliff-scene would be of more utility.

Both nice pics, but the contrast is one rather startling and unusual vs an attractive but ten-a-penny landscape photo.

jfgw wrote:Two great photos Gaggsy. Have you considered cropping the photo of the cherry pickers?*

Julian F. G. W.


*With your permission, I can repost a cropped version of your image. I suspect that different people will have different views as to what looks best.

Fire away! I've sent you a pm with a link to the photo on Flickr

Gaggsy wrote:

jfgw wrote:Two great photos Gaggsy. Have you considered cropping the photo of the cherry pickers?*

Julian F. G. W.


*With your permission, I can repost a cropped version of your image. I suspect that different people will have different views as to what looks best.

Fire away! I've sent you a pm with a link to the photo on Flickr

Thank you for the link Gaggsy.

I wondered if a tight crop would work. This fills the frame with more colour and might work well on a tearoom wall,


I think I prefer this though,


They are mostly looking in the same direction in the above two crops. This one looks more like they are holding a meeting,


I think my preference is 3, 2, 1. It would be interesting to know what other people think.


Julian F. G. W.

Nice work Julian, I think I agree with 3,2,1.

I took the picture when I was out for a walk in April. Spring was obviously well underway by then but there was a feeling of growth around me as I walked down the lanes around town. I came out in the industrial area and came across this. It reminded me of spring flowers reaching for the sky.

Gaggsy wrote:Nice work Julian, I think I agree with 3,2,1.

I took the picture when I was out for a walk in April. Spring was obviously well underway by then but there was a feeling of growth around me as I walked down the lanes around town. I came out in the industrial area and came across this. It reminded me of spring flowers reaching for the sky.

I'll agree with 3,2,1
But back to your originals - which of the two photographs had the biggest number of views on Google Maps? The hoists or the bay?
I only up-ticked the hoists - as an attempt to get a vote on TLF - but thanks for both.

scotia wrote:But back to your originals - which of the two photographs had the biggest number of views on Google Maps? The hoists or the bay?

The picture of Alum Bay has the most views. It's my most viewed and currently at 25,697.
Admittedly it's a popular tourist spot but perhaps doesn't have so many photos by other people. I don't know why some get more views than others. It's not just because they are popular locations. My pictures of Sydney Opera House got next to nothing!

A brilliant picture of an "erupting" Stac Pollaidh, one of my favorite hills NW of Ullapool


from https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-57642923

--kiloran

Father and child.
I took this at Kentwell Hall about nine years ago.


Julian F. G. W.

kiloran wrote:A brilliant picture of an "erupting" Stac Pollaidh, one of my favorite hills NW of Ullapool


from https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-57642923

--kiloran

I can positively report that the eruption is recent - it was dormant when I took its photo a week previously

jfgw wrote:Father and child.
I took this at Kentwell Hall about nine years ago.

Julian F. G. W.

Strewth! He's even more orange on top than Trump (not to mention so much better-looking).

UncleEbenezer wrote:

jfgw wrote:Father and child.
I took this at Kentwell Hall about nine years ago.

Julian F. G. W.

Strewth! He's even more orange on top than Trump (not to mention so much better-looking).

...And would make a better president.


Julian F. G. W.

I've posted before about the (at least to me) worrying decline in insect life. But I saw these two enjoying a sip of thistle juice whilst on my evening constitutional earlier ...

CK, great photos. Any idea what they are? I'm clueless about butterfly and moth identification.

sg31 wrote:CK, great photos. Any idea what they are? I'm clueless about butterfly and moth identification.

Thanks. The first one is definitely a Meadow Brown, but I struggled to identify the second one - in fact I couldn’t tell if it was a butterfly or a moth.

Ironically, this helped, as it took me to an article handily entitled “Is it a butterfly or a moth?”

After doing some digging I’m reasonably confident that it is a Small Skipper - https://butterfly-conservation.org/butt ... ll-skipper

This used to be found only in the south of England, but it now seems to be fairly well established in the north as well.