Re: RGS 20 Trains event - a few more
| December 04, 2020 02:43PM |
Hi Scott,
The surefire "winners" on RP from a hit-count standpoint are as follows:
- Wrecks. Doesn't matter how well-composed or exposed. If it's wrecked or off the rails, hits will go through the roof.
- Photos containing yards full of stored locomotives (eg. Larry's Truck & Electric....or whatever it is currently called)
- Any image containing an attractive woman.....or what appears to be an attractive woman. The more revealing the clothing, the more hits it gets. People have been known to pose wives, or girlfriends in ordinary diesel-wedge shots, just to kick up the views.
- Images in which the subject is not clearly distinguishable from the thumbnail (also known as a "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot" image)
- Legacy images. Photos shot with film that are more than 30 or so years old are generally pretty popular. The older the better. Legacy steam shots are usually well-received.
- Drone shots of yards. Drone shots in general get a lot of views because they offer a perspective most people are not used to. I have been flying fixed wing aircraft for nearly 40 years, and in my opinion, most people shoot way too high with way too much down-angle. I call it the "Look Mom, I'm flying" genre. I don't own a drone, but if I did, I'd shoot from perhaps 30 ft.....not 300 ft. To me, a drone is a substitute for an overpass or hill that I wish were there.
- Images depicting a GG1 in service. There's a mystique associated with those that not even a Big Boy or Rotary Plow can match.
On the other side of the coin, there are the "losers." These are shots that are guaranteed to be dogs.
- Black and White. While a really good, backlit or contrasty black and white can do reasonably well, an image converted to black and white to either conceal the fact that it was cloudy, or to try and "backdate" the image will generally fail miserably. There are exceptions, but my experience is that most RP viewers prefer color.
- Vertical or portrait images. You may have noted that the "Top Shot" and "Photo of the Week" slots on the home page do not correctly handle verticals. But that's not usually a problem because verticals rarely get enough attention to ever merit those slots. I don't know for sure why this is, but I speculate that on some older displays, people may have to scroll to look at them, especially if they are at the maximum pixel height that the site allows.
- Full-frontal images of locomotives, AKA "down-the-throat" shots. People like to see some side detail on locomotives.
- "In your face" photos.....no sense clicking on the thumb if you can already see all the details.
If you really want to taste failure from photographic standpoint, try submitting a black and white vertical of a locomotive, straight-on and in your face.
One other thing. You should also know that numerous RP contributors link their shots to other websites such as Facebook to jack their views and potentially get the Top Shot slots on the home page. We call this "campaigning" or "juicing." While the RP site owners intended those Top Shot slots to be the most popular of the last 24 hours based on site views, the "Juicers" have been known to steal the thunder of photos selected by the site as Screener's Choices. Some did it so much that the site owners actually limited their ability to achieve the Top Shot slots. Anyway, some of us take a dim view of "juicing." The Top Shots should be the most interesting pictures, not the most heavily linked pictures, but that's just my $.02.
/Kevin Madore
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/04/2020 02:49PM by KevinM.
The surefire "winners" on RP from a hit-count standpoint are as follows:
- Wrecks. Doesn't matter how well-composed or exposed. If it's wrecked or off the rails, hits will go through the roof.
- Photos containing yards full of stored locomotives (eg. Larry's Truck & Electric....or whatever it is currently called)
- Any image containing an attractive woman.....or what appears to be an attractive woman. The more revealing the clothing, the more hits it gets. People have been known to pose wives, or girlfriends in ordinary diesel-wedge shots, just to kick up the views.
- Images in which the subject is not clearly distinguishable from the thumbnail (also known as a "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot" image)
- Legacy images. Photos shot with film that are more than 30 or so years old are generally pretty popular. The older the better. Legacy steam shots are usually well-received.
- Drone shots of yards. Drone shots in general get a lot of views because they offer a perspective most people are not used to. I have been flying fixed wing aircraft for nearly 40 years, and in my opinion, most people shoot way too high with way too much down-angle. I call it the "Look Mom, I'm flying" genre. I don't own a drone, but if I did, I'd shoot from perhaps 30 ft.....not 300 ft. To me, a drone is a substitute for an overpass or hill that I wish were there.
- Images depicting a GG1 in service. There's a mystique associated with those that not even a Big Boy or Rotary Plow can match.
On the other side of the coin, there are the "losers." These are shots that are guaranteed to be dogs.
- Black and White. While a really good, backlit or contrasty black and white can do reasonably well, an image converted to black and white to either conceal the fact that it was cloudy, or to try and "backdate" the image will generally fail miserably. There are exceptions, but my experience is that most RP viewers prefer color.
- Vertical or portrait images. You may have noted that the "Top Shot" and "Photo of the Week" slots on the home page do not correctly handle verticals. But that's not usually a problem because verticals rarely get enough attention to ever merit those slots. I don't know for sure why this is, but I speculate that on some older displays, people may have to scroll to look at them, especially if they are at the maximum pixel height that the site allows.
- Full-frontal images of locomotives, AKA "down-the-throat" shots. People like to see some side detail on locomotives.
- "In your face" photos.....no sense clicking on the thumb if you can already see all the details.
If you really want to taste failure from photographic standpoint, try submitting a black and white vertical of a locomotive, straight-on and in your face.
One other thing. You should also know that numerous RP contributors link their shots to other websites such as Facebook to jack their views and potentially get the Top Shot slots on the home page. We call this "campaigning" or "juicing." While the RP site owners intended those Top Shot slots to be the most popular of the last 24 hours based on site views, the "Juicers" have been known to steal the thunder of photos selected by the site as Screener's Choices. Some did it so much that the site owners actually limited their ability to achieve the Top Shot slots. Anyway, some of us take a dim view of "juicing." The Top Shots should be the most interesting pictures, not the most heavily linked pictures, but that's just my $.02.
/Kevin Madore
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/04/2020 02:49PM by KevinM.
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488 stops for water at Los Pinos tank on closing day Oct. 1979. Photo courtesy Don Richter
The NGDF was started by Don Richter and is currently operated in his memory by Nathan Holmes and others. Others who have contributed to the upkeep of this board are (in no particular order): Charles McCandless, Everett Lueck, Ted Wilton, Cole Adams, James Bane, John Moellmer, Jon Bentz, Linn Moedinger, lloyd lehrer, Rod Jensen, John Craft, Steven Forney, Herb Kelsey, Bill Ramaley, Russ Sperry (El Russo Loco), Josh McNeal, John West, Jim Armstrong, Bob Bergstrom, Greg Scholl, Blake Forbes Doug van Veelen and Mark Fuller.