Views on Flickr

No, not some treatise on Flickr but literally some comments on view counts on my photos...

This shot of Vancouver from Stanley Park is my most popular photo, even though taken a long time ago. It has nearly 2,000 views. Most of the traffics is driven by image searches on the word Vancouver. No surprise, eh?


Next up is a photo I titled Long Goodbye leads to the Doorway to Heaven. This photo's popularity is quite surprising to me as I took it using my iPhone, which isn't the best quality camera for sure, and the subject isn't exactly a happy one. Frankly I am not sure why it is so popular and Flickr is unable to really track back visits to its page. This is one of my photos I'm sure is being used without my being notified.


The number three photo is another that has a surprisingly large view count. In this case I know it's due to usage on this web site (scroll down a few times to see it). I took this photo on a whim and just posted it for fun. Never thought it would be seen by so many folks.


Not much to say about number 4. It is a happy image from the holidays. But I did find it is being used on a couple of different web sites (one for cooking and one for BJ Club employees!).


And rounding out the top 5 is a second iPhone photo of a somewhat dramatic sky. Part of its popularity is the fact it has a UFO tag as well as having been featured on Flickr in a iPhone set. But the majority of the traffic can't be tracked so the main driver of views remains a mystery.


Flickr has been an eye opener for me as a photographer. It has been a great way to see how other people see my photographs - and their reactions are often a real surprise.

Kind of a pun, for this blog, but I added Snap Shots

I added a tool on this site called Snap Shots that enhances links with visual previews of the destination site, interactive excerpts of Wikipedia articles, IMDb profiles and Amazon products, display inline videos, RSS, MP3s, photos, stock charts and more. Sometimes Snap Shots bring you the information you need, without your having to leave the site, while other times it lets you "look ahead," before deciding if you want to follow a link or not.

You can disable Snap Shots by just clicking the Options icon in the upper right corner of the Snap Shot and opt-out.

Nikon D90

When I bought my Nikon D40x last year I don't recall receiving many comments or questions. However since buying my Nikon D90 I've been getting quite a few so I thought I'd bore you with my opinions/experience. Email me with any questions, arguments or juicy rumors about your love life.

Unlike lenses, digital camera bodies follow the rapid depreciation curve of other electronics as technology makes rapid progress. If you can wait to upgrade your camera you will surely get a better one in the next generation - quite likely at a lower price. If you're debating better glass vs. a new camera body I'd go with the glass unless your current camera actually prevents you from accomplishing something important.

I have an engineering mind so I do a lot of spec and review comparisons for major purchases. Nikon has a very handy spec comparison for its current models. I used dpreview's evaluation of the Nikon D90 as my primary review. From these I came up with a longish list of advantages in the D90 vs. D40x. Here's my list along with my brief comment based on my usage. The first group, in green, are the ones that have proven of real value in practical shooting.

• Much improved CMOS sensor [shared with D300, great high ISO at this price]
  
• Built in dust removal system [so far no visible dust on real or test images]
  
• Exposure and white balance bracketing
  
• Records HD video with audio [a bit tricky but can produce some cool video]
  
• 12 MP vs 10 MP [more is better...]
  
• 4.5 fps [didn't realize how much faster 4.5fps is compared to 3fps until I tried it...]
  
• Can autofocus lenses lacking built in focus motors [wider choice of used lenses]
  
• 3" high resolution LCD [provides great in camera review]
  
• More buttons and other methods to quickly changes settings [handier than I expected]
• More autofocus points (but still only 11) [don't see much improvement in practice]
  
• High speed flash sync
  
• Wireless commander for flash
  
• Custom Picture Controls (can save and export)
• Live View for composing via LCD
• Depth of Field preview button [haven't had much luck with this one]
  
• Active D-Lighting to help with shadow areas [don't use it]
  

From all this the tipping point in my decision to upgrade so soon was the video capability. It is well known the D90 will not replace a camcorder. Lack of autofocus while shooting is one of several major limitations. However I got tired of juggling cameras at kid events. My main love and vehicle of visual communication is photography. But there are definitely times as a parent I want to capture motion and audio. Last year this meant taking two bulky devices (D40x and camcorder) to concerts etc and trying to juggle between them. Cumbersome, makes you look a bit like an obsessed fool, and in the end results in missed shots/video. With the D90 it is possible to instantly switch between photography and videotaping plus you can take advantage of the variety of lenses available on a DSLR.

As a photographer there are definitely things to love about the D90 (over a D40/40x/60). Near the top of the list is the high ISO performance (i.e. ability to take good looking photos, low in noise, even in darker conditions). I created a set of simple shots over on Flickr to illustrate the camera's capability. The D40x was OK up to 800 and pretty marginal at 1600. The D90 looks very good at 1600 (as long as you're not planning poster prints) and up through 6400 is still definitely usable. This sort of performance really opens up the world of indoor natural light photography. This is a great thing for me as I love using natural light for indoor candids and portraits. When you couple the high ISO performance with a fast prime lens (in my case the 50mm f/1.8D) you have a powerhouse on a budget. I think this is a feature even casual users can take advantage of (though they may not know they want it...).

Hope the above info and insight into my twisted decision process is of help to someone. Now back to having fun!

Flickr and Getty

I'm obviously a Flickr addict and love photography. I'm also a business man and of all the web-based services I use regularly Flickr is the one that has always mystified me. They started with a great idea and then - they did NOTHING. Last year they added video in a completely lame attempt to do what???? compete with YouTube? I think it was a waste of money and hasn't gained traction. All the while the low hanging fruit was left to ripen. Maybe now it is on to the rotting stage.

But Corazon Girl twittered today about possible moves Flickr is making to connect at least certain users with Getty Images. Flickr has attracted a large community of very talented photographers yet provides no marketplace for their work. Worse yet Flickr, in spite of their terms of usage and ability to have user's mark their work as copyright etc., virtually facilitates, via their API, the inappropriate and illegal use of photos. As you know it is hard to do a search for a photo someone may have downloaded and stolen for inappropriate use. Yet nearly anyone who posts much on Flickr encounters it on a regular basis. Obviously it is a rampant problem and has been a great source of tension between serious amateurs and professionals and Flickr.

Although I'd be delighted to be paid for photography it's not a focus for me so this isn't a critical issue at the personal level. But I'd love to see Flickr do something to put some teeth behind Copyright and Creative Commons while at the same time making it easy for people to make legitimate use of the great photos on Flickr.

Maybe now that a business person is taking over Yahoo more attention will be paid to monetizing, in a win-win way, properties like Flickr.

Twitting on Twitter...

... or whatever the verb form is! For my peeps (ha!) I now have a twitter account. twitter.com/road_fun. Giving Twitterific a try as a iPhone client.

First discovery, Twitterific doesn't necessarily update its location info when you ask it to add it to a post.

Anyway, this is at least today's shiny new toy.

The Cockroaches are coming out...

Check out this incredible confession Clusterstock regarding corporate fraud...

I can say from experience the type of thinking that led to this large fraud is, sadly, not uncommon. A great example of how a small sin can lead to enormous consequences.

Photography Guides

I recently upgraded to a Nikon D90. I purchased a guide for my D40x and was pretty content with the job the author did but he hasn't put one out yet for the D90. I couldn't find any credible alternative on Amazon (which is the whole world, right?).

Then one of my Flickr contacts mentioned a new guide just published by a guy named Thom Hogan. I was a bit skeptical at first because most of these guides/sites run by individuals are pretty lame (Ken Rockwell's, for example). But I kept seeing strong reviews and finally decided to blow a few Hamiltons. These DSLRs are complex and powerful and a good guide can save a lot of time in experimentation in order to get your desired results.

My guide arrived and, as advertised, is comprised of a CD with a wealth of information including the D90 specific guide in PDF format along with a printed "pocket" version. I am really impressed with the PDF content (which is all I've had time to read so far - it is a massive 764 pages long) which covers the fundamentals of digital cameras, file formats etc as well as details on the D90. Even in the fundamentals and general sections of the PDF Thom brings the info home to the D90. It isn't just boilerplate repeated from guides for other camera models.

Thom's guides look well worth purchasing for all but pro users. You can obtain them from his website. Note that his site also has a bunch of lens reviews, articles and tips on photography.

MacWorld - Some exciting news on iLife...

When they started talking about iLife '09 I was completely uninterested because I stopped using iPhoto and moved to Aperture a year ago. Even the iMovie features weren't that interesting to me because my needs are pretty simple. Then - wham - they introduced the video image stabilization feature and that is enough to make me pay for the upgrade. No matter how good your camcorder's stabilization is there are times more is needed and it looks like iMovie '09 can deliver. This may also save me from buying another lens for my D90 as I don't have VR on a short lens (and VR is really needed for D90 video).

I already know how to play piano and guitar but am excited about the new GarageBand as it will be great for my kids, and others, as well as most likely generating a whole new revenue stream for Apple and artists (and of course Microslop will announce an imitation soon to be delivered some day in the distant future). Oh yea, the new feature is "Learn to Play" which can teach you to play basic piano and guitar via video lessons and on screen examples. But wait, there is more. It includes lessons from famous musicians on how to play some of their songs. Folks like Sarah McLachlan, Sting, Norah Jones, and One Republic. You can bet this is gonna generate a whole new class of YouTube videos... You know, I bet my wife will even give this feature a try...

Upgrade price of $79 for the whole suite is sweet!