AnuragBhateja.com Blog

20 Creative Ways To Make Your Photostream Popular

First of all, this article is dedicated to few friends in photography whom I really admire for their work and dedication towards the passion. I am following work of few friends online and offline. While studying their work, I observed some tips and tricks of making the photostream popular both on Flickr and Facebook. Followed some of them, adopted, tweaked and then collected them. Some worked for me and some didn’t. Well when we try someone’s foot steps, this happens. You may succeed or you may fail. Now I can not mention all the names here but will make sure that the credit goes to the particular person

1. This is the very first tip I got when I started using flickr. Always comment (prefer compliment in public) on other’s work. (This tip was give by Capt Suresh Sharma back in 2008. Still works!)
2. Always be humble when someone asks a question on your stream. Never avoid replying to any comment. This will make the visitor regular.
3. Always try to mention location and EXIF details. This will help you in getting feedback from experts in your friend list. You can even ask them to visit your photo and give feedback. Some may don’t but some will do for sure. If they like, they will surely comment and will follow the work.
4. Follow and comment on famous people work (prefer to keep it positive). I know this is nasty but this works!
5. Say thanks to your visitors when you achieve a landmark. Like if your photostream crosses 10,000 visits benchmark, post a flower photograph or something like that to say thanks for the support.
6. Keep track of comments. Those who comment on your stream, prefer to revert back with a comment on their photographs.
7. If you have a friend in photograph, tag him/her. Let him/her see what you have uploaded. You can even allow his/her friends to comment on the photograph (in facebook you have to choose the privacy settings). In Flickr of you tag, anyone can comment (if comments are open).
8. Prefer not to tag people just to show the work. Many people get irritated.
9. Stay in your limits. If someone is crossing the limits in comments, prefer either to delete the comment or to reply in a humble manner. Its always to stay away from problems.
10. Do not try to create controversy with your photographs. it works with blog posts but not with photographs. They may ruin your image. Though this do not apply on nude artists and journalist photographers.
11. Do not show that you have more knowledge than others. There are people who will try to pull you down and will drag you in some stupid conversation in your photo comments. Happened with me and wasted hell lot of time with them. So better stay away and work on some constructive tips.
12. Tag your photographs properly. Say if you have uploaded a photograph of a flower clicked in say fragrance garden sector 36 Chandigarh, then add location, city, name of flower, if you know biological name than that too, your name, your camera name, your camera model, lens used and colors of flower. This will help search engines to track the photograph.
13. Geotag your photograph (option in flickr). This will help you in getting search results when someone search for a particular location say “rose garden Chandigarh”.
14. Do not over process your photograph and try to keep it natural. Color enhancement and a few tweaks are important but do not mess with the photograph much till until you want to present it as photographic art. If you are uploading an art, please mention it. Let people comment accordingly.
15. Make a photography page as artist in facebook. Invite your friends to join it but do not spam them.
16. Update your stream regularly. Add a photograph after small intervals of time say one in every 24 hours or once in two days. This will help you in getting regular visitors as they will visit you to see your work often. Also they will be able to see photographs on their wall (facebook) and photographs from contacts (flickr). (This is very common tip for both photographers and bloggers. We always keep blogs updated so to make sure the subscribers get something regularly )
17. Click something unusual. Something which is not your regular forte. Ask visitors to comment on how it looks and all. How you can improve. Be open to harsh comments.
18. Always give title and description to your photograph. Do not make it too long but write a little bit about the upload. This will help people understand it (especially when it has some art in it). People love to comment when they can see some story in a photograph. If you explain the story yourself, more comments will pour in for sure).
19. Start a photo contest. This can be done on your photography page. You can even give them goodies. Recently a friend, Deepa Netto has some something similar and gave filter kit as a gift. Though it was not a photo contest but was a small comment contest but it was a hit.
20. Dedicate a photograph to someone you admire. Tag him/her let people see what inspired you and whats the outcome This will surely increase comments.

Now these are 20 out of a long list I have studied. Try to follow them and see the difference

Multiple Exposure And Long Exposure

Many of you must be aware of the fact that I am in love with expermental photography and challenging myself for a task in photography is the way of learning for me. I worked a lot on long exposure but when I came to know about multiple exposure, I was stunned to see the amazing results. Being a multimedia graduate, it was not hard to understand the work and plan behind the “scene” but to do is really time consuming and needs skills which some people will never understand as they think, “Its the software which work”! Anyway, I am not in mood to discuss all this. Here I shall explain the difference between two amazing techniques in which one requires software and one do not.

Let us first define them. A long exposure refers to a single, protracted shutter cycle to capture enough low-intensity light, whereas a multiple exposure involves a series of relatively brief shutter cycles; effectively layering a series of photographs in one image.

To be more precise , in long exposure, I will set the shutter speed to higher number i.e. vary from 4 seconds to 15 seconds or to the limit to which I can set it on my camera. This will allow the shutter to remain open for that particular time giving me tremendously good results. You can have a look on my “Ghosty images tutorial” to learn how to make a ghost out of yourself or of your friend/family member.

In multiple exposure, I shall set the camera on a tripod and will ask my subject to be in different position in every shot. I do not require a long exposure or shutter speed (if its night you can go for it ). Now I shall click shots, one after another keeping my subject in different positions according to my wish. After clicking, with the help of image editing software, I will superimpose all the shots in single image. (The tutorial will come after Sunday as I have a huge plan ). Have a look on the images, you will understand what I mean

Macro Photography – Spotting and Shooting Bugs

After practicing macro photography, especially clicking bugs around my place, I came to understand a few things which one can get only with experimenting. I do not know if the tips are going to be good enough to make you a good bug photographer or insect photographer, but they may be helpful in making your bug spotting a bit easy in start. It is not only to spot them but also to identify them. Though for non-Entomology experts like me it is very hard to identify a bug which you have clicked, but if you try a bit you can get the scientific name of the particular insect.

Now lets start with spotting the insect when you are in search. You have to keep in mind that while looking for insects, you should not begin later than early morning say just before the sunrise. Reach the place you want to search for the bugs before sunrise as look for them. By before sunrise, I mean when there is light but Sun is not visible. The best place to look for bugs is gardens and open farms.

Now when you are trying to spot the bugs, look for moving leaves of grass or other small plants. If one particular stem or leaf is moving faster than others, that means there is something which can be good for your frame. Go near it with full attention as there may be some snake also. If you spot the bug (it may be a spider, beetle or even a fly) you need to bend down and get close to it. In starting you may make the bug to fly or run away as you can get too excited to spot it but on later stages you will understand how to control yourself and get closer to them without scaring them.

DSLR cameras need Macro lens but those who are using Point and Shoot cameras as I do, there is an option for super macro which will work for you. If you have a look on the gallery below, you can see the results of Point And Shoot camera, Canon Powershot S5IS which I am using.

What things you should take care of:
1. Wear good quality shoes as you are going to places where snakes may be found.
2. Be equipped with extra cards and batteries.
3. Carry a LED torch which costs hardly 80 INR but is very useful for clicking an insect in low light conditions.
4. Do not bang your head finding bugs if the sun is on top. They usually go in shades where you can not reach especially in hot areas like India. If you are in Jungle, only then you can find them almost everywhere every time.
5. Do not move the leaf or step towards sky as this will give you harsh light in background.
6. You should be very careful while approaching them. It is not that they will bite you (though some can) but you can scare hell out of them. So be humble to them and go near them and please do not scare them as once they fly or run away, you miss a lifetime chance.

Now about identifying them. If you are not a Entomologist, you still have a way to identify the bugs.
1. Ask experts. You can find them on flickr. They are really helpful!
2. Look for special marks on their bodies and search with it. Like if the have black strips and have white body, you can look for “white insect black strips”. Look for images and try to match them with your photograph.

You can have a look on my Flickr Bug Set also.

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