Ron,Ron,Ron's photostream  

So, maybe you were wondering why I chose to call myself Ron,Ron,Ron? No, I"m not in love with my name. Here is the story as told to the first Flickr member to ask. Story is in comments for his picture flickr.com/photos/lloydspencer/1858992499/

New to flickr - Dec 07 - love nature and natural objects, tho not opposed to photoshopping - new to that too - I like antiquing (browsing) - into science & science fiction - also like S King & D Koontz - crazy bout cats - love my wife & kids - specially my wife Pammy - kinda into oriental art - really into eating, specially what I cook.

October 2008
Have realized that I am a Flickrite now. Time to improve on my profile page.

First, a message to contacts that don't go in for prefab comment/award codes.. As of April 12, 2009, when I post images to my photostream, I will allow a week or so to pass before posting them in award/comment groups. This gives an opportunity for meaningful personal commenting to occur first. (revised Nov 30,09 - now I rarely post to such groups - I do still visit and make REAL comments tho)

Saw this below,,, loved it!

There's a little stinker in every crowd.

May 2009 - After months of saving, I finally had enough to purchase my Nikon D90. Now I can get those shots that were denied by my little Kodak EasyShare M853. It served me well and will accompany me still for those more surreptitious moments.

June 30,2009 - the Nikon D90 is working quite well for me. I am getting shots with higher quality and as a result have shamelessly entered an HDR phase. Not every shot seems HDR'able but, darned close. Next on my wish list are lenses. Still need to learn a lot about working with the camera too.

Oct 26,2009 - Got over the HDR addiction. It is now simply a part of my repertoire. Have been working on deliberately producing images with Bokeh. A friend recently loaned me a larger lens that when zoomed in on close subjects, renders "Bokeh dots". Too cool. Still having fun and learning and making new friends. Flickr rocks!










Groups I administer;
















Launched Jan 16th 09







Coming along nicely...

What else?

Well, if you've suffered down this far, might as well keep going. I'm just going to ramble on for a bit.

If I have dropped those little generic "comments with icon" in your photostream without actually giving a personal comment, it's because I just can't keep up with how big this Flickr experience has grown. (Revised -- I no longer drop icon bombs without comments - if I can't comment at first [mood swings?] I wait until I can)

I imagine this is a common malidy for seasoned Flickrites. In too many groups, have too many contacts, and even have groups of my own to monitor. Not to mention still finding time to actually take pictures and post them and tag them and give descriptions, etc.

I still do it all but each has suffered because of the ever growing "not-enough-time-issue". (Revised - I have 5 groups in which I focus my viewing and commenting efforts - none of them are required commenting - the other groups are still listed because, who knows, I might want to add something later)

Not a big fan of the huge, oversized, invite/comment gif's. I understand what a powerful force visual-recognition is with respect to a group icon. And I appreciate those very small awards that groups like to give out for really nice images. I'm talking about the half inch by half inch size icons and gif's. This is all the visual recognition I neet to make the connection:



I saw this in the Flickr Golf Club

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Any bigger and I find it becomes annoying especially from a visual perspective. I really don't like encountering stuff like this:

**Your Photo is Beautiful:**

Tu Foto ha sido invitada al grupo**Your Photo invite is Group** " **Most Beautiful Pictures**
**Most Beautiful Pictures**
1 Post 3 Comment / 1 Foto 3 Comentarios:
GRACIAS POR USAR EL CODIGO DEL GRUPO:
Thank you for the use of the code of the group:


THAT is what I mean by TOOOOO BIGGG.

I frequenty presume to take these giants, remove the excess verbage, and shrink them down to this:


Seen in: Most Beautiful Pictures

Subjective as this may all be,, isn't this just better?

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Thoughts on EXPLORE... and generating VIEW counts.

Everyday, Flickr generates a "ranking" of 500 most interesting pictures on Explore. These images are then meant to represent the broadest spectrum of "what it's all about".

That people are so fervently pursuing the "Explore" stature is really such a fleeting thing. One must understand that the deck has been stacked against them reaching this imaginary plateau.

Here's how it works... Do you want your work to be viewed? Of course you do. Wouldn't you like to know that it is being viewed? Of course you would. What then draws views?

Does having an image in Explore draw in views? Sure, it contributes, but only minimally so. If your image is only on Explore for a day (as is usually the case) you will gleen what you may from this, and then what? After this, your image has to stand on its own merits.

Posting to groups, generates greater exposure. Smaller groups that have a lesser degree of activity, will show your image on their front page for the longest period of time. As the popularity of the group grows, posting rates increase, and your image spends less time up front.

Posting in larger, more popular groups, insures your image will fall from view more quickly. However, if such a group has developed a reputation for quality images, a search in that group could bring up your image based on your tags.

Posting in groups that "require" that comment/award codes be used helps to ensure that views will be generated, along with comments. Joining a "post 1, comment 5" group increases exposure potential but, images in these groups are automatically disqualified from being selected for Explore! (remember what I said about the deck being stacked against you?) Consequently, an incredible volume of truely interesting images will NEVER be seen on Explore!

It wasn't always this way tho. This is a more or less recent developement. The Explore algorithm has gone through various permutations and at some point in the past this distinction seems not to have been drawn as one can find older photos that made explore AFTER having been added to such groups.

Thus using those group memberships to draw views now excludes you from the Explore pool! Joining "other" types of groups also diminishes your chances of being picked up on Explore. Generally speaking, the fewer groups you belong to the greater your chances are.

Ultimately, the exposure you lose in the effort to "Reach?" Explore, is never compensated for by having "Reached?" Explore. So, perhaps "reaching?" Explore is a bit more like "falling" from the wider view.

And, yes, I did have at least one photo to make Explore and I was completely unaware of it until months later and to be honest, it definately is NOT high in my personal list of "most interesting".

An image that is well taken, well executed, carefully post-processed and then viewed, commented on, and enjoyed by many, has more value to me than an image that had a brief instant of fleeting fame and then has fallen into obscurity.

How else may we generate views? Tags! I have an image that is ok, not really very special, that has good tags and draws views based on "searches". It is viewed continually and consistantly and so over time is not falling into obscurity.

It has been my most viewed pic for a good while now. I recently "forced" an image to climb ahead of it by placing it in several "post 1/ comment 5" groups. The views tripled over night and the comments went through the roof (relatively speaking), and it picked up several faves along the way. I rather like this image and that it is so well received pleases me. (posting in these groups does increase exposure and the likelihood of drawing views and comments/awards -- but is no gaurantee) People must still like the image to want to pick it for commenting etc.

How else may we generate views? Contacts... As people add you as a contact, your most recent work will automatically be featured in the "contacts" section of their home page. You might not be exactly on their first page as many people have hundreds and even thousands of contacts but, it does increase the Exposure factor a bit.

So, to increase viewership, you must increase exposure! Pursuing Explore requires you to reduce exposure!

If you still believe that Explore has some real intrinsic value, take the time to actually look at many, many Explored images. Honestly, just how many of these actually ARE interesting?

You will notice that I have not stressed "quality" here. That is because the Explore algorithm, being just a computer program afterall, has no way to determine anything as subjective as quality. Quality can't really be determined until you have "clicked" on the image and seen it in medium size. When we first see images in groups, or from the "contacts" section of our homepage, all we see are thumbnails. That thumbnail, is your first best chance to catch someone's attention. You have to make them want to "click" on that tiny diminutive image to see what's going on. So, how does your thumbnail sized image look? If you find it uninteresting, well,, there you go.

It is worth it to discuss contacts as well. If you spend time viewing your contact's photos and giving personal comments, you increase the potential for reciprocation. If you have hundreds of contacts, just where does any particular contact fit in? If you keep your contact list down to a managable level, you will find it easier to remember to visit their photostreams. In a list of hundreds, a single contact can easily be lost in the same obscurity that swallows up most images on Flickr.

So, to increase viewership, engage in activities that maximixe both long term exposure and the reciprocal tendancies of human nature.

DO:
1. Use the tagging feature.
2. Develope a meaningful contact base.
3. Join and post in groups that promote exposure.
4. Strive towards a higher degree of photographic quality.
5. Comment on as many member's images as time permits.

DON'T:
1. Worry about Explore

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