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I went to the Meadowlark Prairie Overlook and made this image of the moonrise last night. Considering I was working with the last drops of juice in my camera battery, I'm pleased with the result.
The question I have is this: I have a Facebook friend who is broadly similar to me in many ways, in terms of how we use that site. We're both older and moderately active on FB. We have friend lists in the same approximate ballpark, in the low hundreds, mostly based on people we actually knew from elsewhere, in particular a forum both of us have belonged to for decades. In fact, there's a lot of overlap in our friend lists.
So: My friend posted a crappy phone pic of the full moon, and within minutes he got like 18 reactions. Meanwhile, I drove to the shooting site, set up my camera, tripod, and zoom lens, took several exposures so I could have some definition in the landscape and photoshop in a less exposed image of the moon itself. The finished image clearly shows the lights of houses in the background and the forested hill beyond. You can see the lunar seas and a few craters. All that, and in the same length of time I got two likes. Just two. Now, after most of a day, I have six. We both posted to our friend lists.
Don't misunderstand me. I'm not beating myself up or losing sleep about this, but when I put effort into a photo I do want it to be seen, and hopefully garner reactions and comments from people. And if there's something I'm not doing right, I'd like to know what it is.
At times, it has almost seemed to be true that the more effort you put into something, the less people will respond to it. Is that a thing on FB? Has anyone else noticed that, particularly with regard to photography?
Last edited by Those Who Squirm; 07-03-2023 at 09:07 PM..
You can't judge the quality of a photo on the number of likes on FB or for that matter on any side. Most sides are subject to the poster not the quality of the photo. I like your moon photo but also remember that modern phones use AI for moon shots.
Don't misunderstand me. I'm not beating myself up or losing sleep about this, but when I put effort into a photo I do want it to be seen, and hopefully garner reactions and comments from people. And if there's something I'm not doing right, I'd like to know what it is.
Are you expecting people on Facebook to like every photo of a full moon they see posted -- or do you expect them to have some sort of skill to judge the quality of the photo? Given the recent changes and performance of the site, you are lucky if the even see it.
In one of my 2 Camera Clubs this year, in the annual salon, the person who won Best In Show, won with a phone camera. The Best In Show is awarded to the best photo from all of the photos that placed 1st in their respective categories. If I remember correctly, I believe it was a photo of the interior of an old church and it was gorgeous. The man has a regular camera and takes really good photos with that, too. The judges (3) had no idea the photo was taken with a phone. They just judge the end product.
I had 5 photos that placed and two that came in first. Of the 2 first placers, one was a Baltimore Oriole in a tree taken in Delaware and the other was a photo of two bicyclists with a police officer also on a bicycle taken on the beach in Ocean City, Maryland a few years ago in the off season. That one was Black and White. The Oriole won in the Wildlife category and the bicyclists won in an Action/Movement category.
I always enter birds because I like to take photos of them but I am competing with people who, for example, go on African safaris who take elephant, lion and other wild animal (birds, reptiles, insects, etc.) that we don't even see in this country. There are always bear photos, moose, wildcats and exotic birds entered. In the People category it's not uncommon to see photos of fishermen in their boats in Thailand or children in some African village or old men in some Greek eating location along with photos of competitors in the Iditarod and people running in the marathon in my suburban town.
Your moon photo might lose to someone who specializes in astrophotography. That doesn't make your photo bad. My photo of a bird in the Wildlife category might place 2nd, for example, in one club but in the other club which has a Bird category by itself, the same photo might not place at all. And judges can only rate the completed photo not the effort that went in to taking it. The people who view your photos on social media probably don't even know what makes a photo good. They just know what they like. That could be photos of you with a pet or a picture of a ham sandwich.
Post-processing is also important. You can look up the criteria of what makes a good photo but why not join a camera club where judges and peers will give you feedback on your photos?
I'm leaving in about 2 hours to go to a club competition on the subject of backyard birds. The judge will give feedback on every photo.
I saw a Photography video which says photographers and models are losing work due to AI. Pretty soon it will be the camera companies that go unless you use your camera to create stock photos for AI. Some other photography video says you can put Uncle Harry, who has been dead for 20 years, into a family photo with AI. I know I no longer have to buy an expensive camera to get more megapixels and sharpness because of relatively inexpensive AI software. I worry more about fake news documented with AI created photos for "proof" of something that never happened.
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