Uno, Dos, or Ocho?

Looking at other people's photographs I see something that has always made me wonder...
Why is it that some will show (as an example) 7 or 8 pictures and they are really similar? There's nothing at all wrong with doing that, but when I post any shots it's only one at a time. On my Flickr page I only show 1 shot of a bird, not 7 or 8 of the same specimen, it's just something I have wondered about sometimes, and it's really trivial, just so you know.
The reason I bring it up is, in school I learned that you only get one chance to make a good impression, so for me 1 shot is sufficient, I don't need multiples. I do see that if you have a Coopers Hawk chasing a bird and it needs multiple shots to make a sequence, but other than that I don't understand, I do admit to being pretty slow.
If you do either, why do you, and can you explain, just for the heck of it, there will be no prizes.

Thanks!

Randy

For me, although I do this for myself, I have a lot of people that follow my photography from my earlier days when I spent a lot of time with a famous pair of local eagles. A lot has changed since then but I still share many of my other photographs on my FB page and the ones who aren't able to get out and see what I see really enjoy what I capture and share. To me sometimes it's the same thing different day but to them it's something they rarely get to see or when they do it's from a distance because they don't have a long lens.

Not many people are willing or able to spend the time, energy and money to search for a white bird from the arctic on an open stretch of beach in the middle of winter, or spend countless hours waiting for a Red-tailed Hawk to do something or just sitting in my backyard and enjoying the fruits of my labor after building a habitat for the songbirds that frequent my yard...plus my yard is off limits to people...that's my eden away from the crowds...lol.

I had a newer photographer ask me a long time ago about a comment he heard someone make about how many eagle photographs he shares on FB (the person said he shared too many...60-80 at a time) and he asked me if I felt the same way. My response was "If what you do makes you happy by telling a story with your images and sharing that story with other people who enjoy seeing your images, then by all means continue to do what you do because that person can easily move on by not looking at them if they wanted to...don't get drawn into the drama they're trying to create." These are adults we're speaking of, sometimes I feel like I'm back in high school with how adults talk about each other. One of the main reasons I now try to go to less popular places in my area to avoid the she said, he said gripes people have about each other over photographs of wildlife.

I thinned my website down a few years ago because my Mom went to it and got confused and lost looking at what I had on it...basically too many she said so it went from 3K + to about maybe 200-250 now. I received a lot of complaints from a few people over the change but life goes on.

When a series of photos show a bird from different angles, or with wings variously spread and folded, or exhibiting different behaviors, fine. I'd rather not see eight shots (or even two) of almost identical poses.

I agree, Randy. I'm of the 'less is more' persuasion.

I also agree with Randy, even though he's from Texas......

Duane N wrote in post #18270201
For me, although I do this for myself, I have a lot of people that follow my photography from my earlier days when I spent a lot of time with a famous pair of local eagles. A lot has changed since then but I still share many of my other photographs on my FB page and the ones who aren't able to get out and see what I see really enjoy what I capture and share. To me sometimes it's the same thing different day but to them it's something they rarely get to see or when they do it's from a distance because they don't have a long lens.

Not many people are willing or able to spend the time, energy and money to search for a white bird from the arctic on an open stretch of beach in the middle of winter, or spend countless hours waiting for a Red-tailed Hawk to do something or just sitting in my backyard and enjoying the fruits of my labor after building a habitat for the songbirds that frequent my yard...plus my yard is off limits to people...that's my eden away from the crowds...lol.

I had a newer photographer ask me a long time ago about a comment he heard someone make about how many eagle photographs he shares on FB (the person said he shared too many...60-80 at a time) and he asked me if I felt the same way. My response was "If what you do makes you happy by telling a story with your images and sharing that story with other people who enjoy seeing your images, then by all means continue to do what you do because that person can easily move on by not looking at them if they wanted to...don't get drawn into the drama they're trying to create." These are adults we're speaking of, sometimes I feel like I'm back in high school with how adults talk about each other. One of the main reasons I now try to go to less popular places in my area to avoid the she said, he said gripes people have about each other over photographs of wildlife.

I thinned my website down a few years ago because my Mom went to it and got confused and lost looking at what I had on it...basically too many she said so it went from 3K + to about maybe 200-250 now. I received a lot of complaints from a few people over the change but life goes on.

That's a perfect explanation of why your eagle shots are more than one, that is one example that I did not consider. Thinking that others that follow you aren't 'in the know' and aren't surrounded by wildlife shots like most of us photographers are.
This entire photography thing is to make us happy, so whatever it takes (legally) to do that I am 100% for.

Your mother was another good example, if I showed my mother-in-law my shots more than likely her eyes would start to roll back in her head like my wife's when I show her something. Some people, no matter how good the shot just cannot look at pictures that they did not choose to look at for very long. I have a brother-in-law that is my favorite one, we share some similar interests, but once I had a new high resolution pad that had a lot of my bird shots on it and he went through about 10 before handing it back to me. I thought that was kind of strange but learned that he just isn't that into that kind of thing, I assume, I didn't press it.
Now I just don't show it to anyone not unless they ask, and so far, no takers. heheh I do the Flickr thing, with only one shot each of something, and people I don't even know comment, but I rarely post anything there anymore, or anywhere really.

That's why I asked the question that I did, now I can say I learned something from it too.

Thanks, Duane,

Randy

OhLook wrote in post #18270207
When a series of photos show a bird from different angles, or with wings variously spread and folded, or exhibiting different behaviors, fine. I'd rather not see eight shots (or even two) of almost identical poses.

I'm with you on that, that's pretty much the exact way I feel. There's a time and a place for everything, and although what we're discussing is not world changing events, it can sometimes be the little things in life that we don't understand, at least for me.

Thanks, OhLook!

Randy

CDMOOSE wrote in post #18270383
I agree, Randy. I'm of the 'less is more' persuasion.

Thanks, Al, I already knew you thought that by looking at your pictures.
Less is more, for sure, at least in my way of thinking.

Randy

JimLittle wrote in post #18270446
I also agree with Randy, even though he's from Texas......

I'm trying to think of a really funny comeback on that, but I just can't beat that.
We may not all sound the same, but sometimes we can think alike.
(Yeehaw!)

Thanks, Jim!

Randy

This is kind of off topic, but how many of you look at other people's pictures on your phone? That is a pet peeve of mine, when I, or whoever it is that takes a shot and does some 'stuff' to it and makes it look all pretty only to have someone that only looks at it on their phone.
I remember once while I was out shooting at a public lake and I met an older guy (I'm old too, but he was older) and he showed me his shots that he had taken, all viewed on his i-Phone. I was not used to seeing images on a phone and was WOW'ed by what I saw. From what I saw was a professional photographer.
He gave me his website address and when I went home I looked it up, I was shocked at how, well, 'no so good' it appeared on my monitor. Nothing against that guy but it made me realize that people that look at any of our images on them they do not get the full impact of what I (for one) did all of my 'stuff' to.

Just something I thought about, not just that, but the people that look at all of those images that we all place online are not getting the full benefit either, or, they may be getting a whole 'nother idea as to what it looks like, good or bad. I can't say how many times I have 'enlarged' someone's image to think, "Wow!", and I didn't before I did clicked to enlarge.
In other words, WYSInotWYG...

Randy

recrisp wrote in post #18271430
This is kind of off topic, but how many of you look at other people's pictures on your phone? That is a pet peeve of mine, when I, or whoever it is that takes a shot and does some 'stuff' to it and makes it look all pretty only to have someone that only looks at it on their phone.
I remember once while I was out shooting at a public lake and I met an older guy (I'm old too, but he was older) and he showed me his shots that he had taken, all viewed on his i-Phone. I was not used to seeing images on a phone and was WOW'ed by what I saw. From what I saw was a professional photographer.
He gave me his website address and when I went home I looked it up, I was shocked at how, well, 'no so good' it appeared on my monitor. Nothing against that guy but it made me realize that people that look at any of our images on them they do not get the full impact of what I (for one) did all of my 'stuff' to.

Just something I thought about, not just that, but the people that look at all of those images that we all place online are not getting the full benefit either, or, they may be getting a whole 'nother idea as to what it looks like, good or bad. I can't say how many times I have 'enlarged' someone's image to think, "Wow!", and I didn't before I did clicked to enlarge.
In other words, WYSInotWYG...

Randy

No doubt that's why most of my images look great on the LCD screen on the back of my camera, but not necessarily so on my 25" monitor.

Yeah, I have that same problem!
The first time I looked at my 7D mkII screen (even after I knew it was better than my 1D mkIV) I was like, "I'm a famous french photographer!", (I'm neither French or famous, but I feel the need to say that sometimes) but that is not real-life, that screen. heheh
I know not to believe, but it makes me want to, I'd rather have it that way than not, I guess.

Randy

You think you're slow? When I first starting posting to flickr I did so in order to grab a link to post an image on POTN. I was using it that way for about a year before I learned its social aspect. Ooooh, I can follow and see other photographer's work and they can see mine. Now I get it. Flickr was my first experience with social media.

I only post up one image at a time of a particular scene. I wish I could say that I started doing it that way because that's how I saw the really good photographers doing it, but I think it had more to do with my paranoia that my work would be stolen if put on the net. At first, I resisted posting up what I considered to be my best images, but that didn't last long.

Larry Johnson wrote in post #18272388
I only post up one image at a time of a particular scene. I wish I could say that I started doing it that way because that's how I saw the really good photographers doing it, but I think it had more to do with my paranoia that my work would be stolen if put on the net.

That isn't so paranoid. Work does get stolen. Photobucket used to have a chart that showed what websites my images had appeared on during the week. If they still have the chart, I can't find it now. When I posted an image to a Web forum I participated in, it showed up on the chart, but so did postings to Facebook and other places where I don't go. These were amateur shots with a basic compact camera, such as insect macros, nothing special about them. Ladybugs were especially popular, even if blurred. I suspect that people used them as avatars. No one even had the courtesy to send me a note asking permission.

It was then that I removed all the tags from my Photobucket pictures.

Flickr is the only social media that I actually use, and actually, like.

I just checked out your site, Larry, your Mallards that are mating is a perfect example of why more than one shot is needed. (Duck porno!) Showing just one doesn't cut it, it doesn't tell enough of a story.

As far as your pictures, you will have them stolen, more than likely yours have, hopefully someone liked mine enough to... heheh Really, I drew up a logo for a company I was going to start, of a raven in a circle, with my name on it, I had that stolen by an young Australian guy that I confronted online. He accused ME of stealing his name and using HIS idea! We went 'round and 'round on that, I did manage to get it removed from where he had it online, but he told me that he was going to put it everywhere and have his friends do that to help him also. He was a real whack job, to say that least. He has some stupid web page that he had a name, "Blinding Raven", my website was named, "Blind Raven", and my company was called the same. Anyway, you would think that someone on the other side of the world couldn't cause much trouble, but they can if they want. It still riles me up to this very day. Now I just use a lot smaller version of the logo as a semi-deterrent and something that I ghost back that is hopefully not too 'in your face!'.
So, while I know you know, if you think there is a chance that you might have something stolen, you are completely correct.
I will say that the majority of people out there (possibly including me) that I see that do have a logo or a name on their shots aren't anything that many would steal, but that is just me.

By the way, since I looked at your pictures on Flickr I want to say that I think that I KNOW somebody has to have stolen one of them, they are really good, they need protecting!
Do a search on your name using Google and then look at Google Images, you will (hopefully) see what is out there of yours, or, the ones that people 'LIKE' and they use on their Flickr knock-off sites. It's a weird world out there. (Since you have a rather common name I don't know how good it'll do you to search your name though, but it's worth a try.

Click the link below...
https://www.google.com …SAhUDHGMKHcd7Af​gQ_AUIBigB

Randy