Pictorial record of how HS2 is affecting a local wood near to Balsall Common
The Instagram algorithm is often blamed for not giving your photographs sufficient exposure. In reality it is how you engage with Instagram that brings success. I find the Flickr algorithm just as fascinating. This year I have had three pictures “In Explore” compared to the same number for all of 2020. All algorithms require you to constantly interact with your social media feeds. Flickr Explore is no different. In Instagram, the algorithm relies on several easily identifiable factors. Searching the web will immediately provide tips on how to improve your Instagram likes. They are not rocket science and are generally in relation to timing of posts and the interest in your photograph. Of course this is social media and the secret is keeping your audience happy with liking and commenting on their pictures as well. That is not a secret I hear you say! The Flickr Algorithm is just the same and it is about interacting with the people who are posting the photographs. They term the algorithm interestingness and on many occasions it is not necessarily a great photograph that gets into explore. However taking good photographs does help to get your photograph noticed in the first place. Amassing a large number of likes is so intoxicating and being on Explore is a popularity contest. I find that with the Flickr app my phone starts flashing first thing in the morning and then continues during the day with all the likes tumbling in. It is not uncommon to receive in excess of 40k likes for a highly placed picture in the Flickr top 500 of the day.
The three photographs featured here received around 4k in likes plus invites into different groups. Someone told me that Flickr is dead in the water. I tend to disagree as when a picture gets into explore it feels like the site is truly alive and kicking. The three pictures featured offer nothing different to my other photographs on my Flickr feed but each has its own story. The first one featured this year is a canal boat in the snow and is a particular favourite of mine. I deliberately took the picture side on and wanted to layer it so that the lower third featured the boat and then the eyes move upwards to see the snow covered trees. It provides that snowed in feeling and it also looks very cold. The question is whether there are people living in the boat and are they feeling the cold as well? There is a sense of isolation. This picture was taken during Lockdown #3 so isolation is very much on the viewer’s mind.
The second picture was in Knowle park. The back story was that there have been many dull days during this third lockdown and on this particular evening I was desperate to get a great sunset. Early in the afternoon, it looked promising when I set out and then when I reached the park the clouds closed over. I was so annoyed and started to make my way back home. Suddenly and to my joy, the clouds parted once again for around a minute. I saw a walker and aimed to catch him in the image but by the time I had lined him up he was far to the right of the picture. When I got home I was still not impressed with the photograph so I went to work with the sliders. I was a bit slap dash in my approach although it did look pleasing to me. The Flickr algorithm picked it up and the likes and comments followed.
Once you have been on Explore you cannot get back on for around 9 days. If you are in favour with the algorithm then after this time you can anticipate when the next selection is about to occur. I had a large spike in likes for one picture but no explore and then two days later this woodland scene went into explore. I took the picture in Clowes Wood near Earlswood reservoir. All the trees in this part of the wood were straight and in the foreground there was this one crooked tree. It had eventually found out how to be straight when placed against its siblings in the background. Again I played around with the photograph in post production and whilst it was misty, the fog was not that evident. I went for a Silver Efex Pro 2 filter and used the Hi Key feature. It looked good so I posted it on Flickr – once again there was a great response to the picture.
I have done a colour version and for this one I used the Skylum AI filters which also gave a nice effect. You can judge for yourself which you feel makes the better picture.
Many people now look down on Flickr and have drifted off to Instagram but the SmugMug team have updated the Flickr algorithm and made it more relevant to present photography users. Therefore I would advise, people to give Flickr another chance.
I will leave a discussion on the Instagram algorithm for another blog as it is slightly different approach but again the key as with Flickr is interacting with your audience.
So you want to know more!
Here are the Flickr Explore links
– Flickr Explore which is the official link for the top 500 photos of the day
– Although I do like the Fluidr display which is retro and cool
– Here are all my pictures that are in Explore
Some previous posts on my activity on Explore
– In Explore from 2019
– “In Explore” from 2017 (I have been blogging for some time!)
Finally if you want to get yourself noticed on Flickr then have a read of this article by Jeff Sullivan
My take on Instagram will feature soon!
Spring is starting to reveal itself and the first snowdrops are through. In the garden we planted a number of them a few years ago and now they are starting to make their presence felt. Walking into the village, there are many crocuses starting to come through. It always looks a struggle for them especially with the recent cold and wet weather that leaves them looking a little bedraggled. Over the next few months there will be more bulbs starting to flower. With a year on since the start of the series of Lockdowns caused by the Pandemic there is something once again to look forward to and pick up the spirits.
PhotoTip
When taking pictures of flowers ensure you get down to their level. I did get very muddy getting this picture with my compact camera. The Snowdrops was taken with a macro lens and the lovely black background was provided by a T-shirt.
Further Updates on Spring
We are waiting for the Bluebells and the Poppies to show themselves in the coming weeks. Spring is an exciting time.
I will be keeping an eye out on BBC Springwatch for regular updates and also getting gardening tips from the RHS so that there are lovely flowers in the garden to photograph.
Being published as an academic was always a high point of my career and the old phrase “publish or perish” is so true. Publishing your work was necessary to advance your career. I had published many papers in the dental world and now I am starting to look for new opportunities in the photographic one. In the last few years, I have had my pictures published in Digital Photographer and Amateur Photographer (AP). It gave me the confidence to realise that my pictures were OK and people were not only interested in them but enjoyed looking at them as well. I therefore chanced my luck and wrote to the Editor of AP to see if the magazine would publish any of my work. I sent a link to this blog. I did not hear anything for a couple of months until one Saturday night, I got an email saying they were interested. The pictures which caught their attention were those of the street art of Birmingham. I was so excited and found they wanted to feature me in the Readers section. I filled in the form that they sent and quietly waited.
On the 13th February, Tammie Naughton from Birmingham who is in her own right an amazing photographer, alerted me on Twitter with a picture of my article. I have taken the liberty of using Tammie’s picture in this blog and have provided a link to her work below. As it happens, I subscribe to AP and was so pleased to read the article there was one small mistake of the pictures, but it would not be noticeable to those who are general readers. I have corrected the Photograph below.
In conclusion, I was so pleased to see the article published but it has now made me think about new articles that could be written on photography. I know it is a crowded popular area although there are always new ways of getting the message across.
Phototip
Try your hand at Blogging as it is gets you started in the craft of writing. Once you have a few blogs ready then start sending your pictures into the editors of photographic magazines. I know that the common answer is no or no reply but occasionally, just occasionally the answer may be yes!
Links
If you enjoyed this article then please visit the Amateur Photographer site to learn more about the magazine
Amateur Photographer Magazine
If you wish to learn more about Tammie Naughton’s photography work then visit her Instagram page to start your journey of her work.
My own links to Birmingham Street Art are well followed and here they are in case you have forgotten them
Birmingham Lockdown #2 – New Street Art in Digbeth
Digbeth Lights
There are places to go that always reveal new view and interesting pictures. I just love walking along the canal from Lapworth near to Packwood House onto Kingswood junction. There has been so much rain that care has to be taken on the towpaths in case you either land in the mud or even fall in the canal. Luck would have it that the sun was out and the sky was blue. The puddles made for great reflections and there were even a few boats passing through the locks. I had my Fujifilm camera with me and once again it provided some good photographic points of views.
Whilst I was on the locks someone stopped me and asked if my camera was a Leica. No I replied just a Fujifilm masquerading as one. However, I felt good after that as my camera was looking cool. A word of caution is that I also need to be careful that no one attempts to steal it from me either, as it looks attractive.
There is a bridge on this stretch of the canal called the “Bird in Hand”, if a canal boat is moored in the right position and the light is just right then there is the chance of reasonable picture. I stood on the locks and took care not to lose my footing. The water was very still and the framing needed to get the semi-circle of the bridge extended into a circle.
The area around the lockmaster’s cottage was difficult to negotiate due to all the rain that had fallen. One of my pictures taken with my iPhone made the BBC Midlands weather bulletin at 7pm as shown in the blog. Another plus for the day.
As I retraced my steps to the car I caught up with a boat going through the locks. It was a working boat with a cargo of wood fuel sacks. So that was my third and final plus to the day!
Phototip
All the pictures were taken with my Fujifilm x100v. The weather bulletin picture was made with my iPhone as I was able to get low into a water puddle on the tow path. A quick edit with Google snapspeed included lowering the highlights and upping the shadows. A bit of saturation and then uploaded to the BBC weather watchers’ site.
Further information
Canal and River Trust – the North Stratford Canal
Kingswood Junction
Previously on my Blog
Days out on the canal
Peaceful pictures
Baddesley Clinton: a visit to the house and gardens in the winter 2021
When the snow first fell the skies were overcast and whilst there was a some beautiful snow scenes, I longed for a blue sky to provide some colour. The next day the sun shone and there were no clouds in the sky. I planned my walk to take me over fields to Widney Road allowing me to approach Brueton park and the nature reserve from the west.
My first stop was Lea Wood nature reserve which I had not visited before on my travels. The wood used to be a tree nursery and the trees now fully grown are aligned in lines. This creates many leading lines along the paths in the wood. There were several walkers in the wood so I was able to compose some eye-catching pictures with leading lines towards the silhouettes of people . The low level of the sun also produced lovely light that I was able to shoot towards the sun with the trees as a backdrop. I hung around for some time fascinated by the trees and the patterns caused by the light.
Finally I moved onto Brueton Park proper. It was very muddy despite the frozen ground. When I got to the river Blythe, I made the decision to go into the old Wood on the west bank to the River Blythe. The place was deserted and following the muddy path, I threaded my way deep into the wood. I arrived at the north end of the water pool which interestingly is unnamed on the map. The sun was shining brightly but the thick canopy of the trees diffused the rays. The path led around to the south side and here I was able to get close to the water’s edge. With the light low, bright and just right a beautiful scene opened up. I was so pleased with the pictures of the water and the framing from the trees. It was a richly rewarding photo walk with many different variations of the snow lying on the ground reflecting the sun. It was a much different day than yesterday and very productive.
Photo tip. Don’t be hasty in taking your pictures and try and slow down. I was very excited at first especially in Lea Wood. Then with time I started to enjoy myself in the woods and came away with many different pictures. I had my iPhone, large Canon camera with lenses plus my Fujifilm x100v. Yes it was a bit over the top in terms of photographic equipment but I was glad that I had all of them with me.
More pictures of local parks can be found on my blog
The photographic delights of Umberslade Park
Coombe Abbey Country Park during the Golden Hour
Watching the sun go down by Bracebridge pool, Sutton Park
More information
Brueton Park and its sister, Malvern is on the Solihull Council Website
Malvern and Brueton Parks
or check out Trip Advisor
It snowed! Furthermore, we had several centimetres of the white stuff. I missed the beautiful sunrise as the weather front came across the region. For a time it looked like the sky was on fire and it only lasted around 10 to 15 minutes. However that was only a prelude to what was to fall from the sky. It snowed most of the morning and the decision was to plan my walk whilst it was snowing. Also getting out earlier meant that I missed the crowds in the park. The village looked beautiful in the snow and one of my favourite places to take pictures is Knowle High Street. The red letter box and the old telephone box are bright red. They make a great contrast with the white snow.
Heading up the street, there was a snowman outside the One-stop convenience shop. The shop assistant had made the snowman just outside the entrance. She was putting on a face mask for the snowman but it could not cover the carrot nose :). Knowle church looked wonderful in the snow and then it was down Kixley Lane to the canal.
The water was frozen and the branches of the trees were white and made for some great photography. I walked up the canal to Knowle locks to take pictures of the area. The boats were covered with snow that had blown onto their sides giving a rippled look to them. The contrast with the trees gave them an ethereal look.
I lingered around the locks for a while and then traced my steps back through the village making my way back home through the park. By now it was 12 o’clock and the place was full of snowmen and people enjoying themselves 🙂
Photographic tip – For snow I put my camera on manual and checked the exposure dial to ensure that the snow did not overwhelm the sensor. I shot the pictures in RAW so that I could play with the sliders in Lightroom and PSP. I was able to reduce the blue colour but made sure it was not to yellow either. My camera was weather proofed so that it braved the snow and water with no ill effects. A very enjoyable walk and the photographic experience of shooting in the snow was enjoyable.
Other snow links
Take a look at my last post on the Snow in Knowle back in 2017
Remember the week of the beast from 2018?
Snow Photography
Here are some tips if you are interested in learning more
Finally you can always come and Visit Knowle to see a beautiful English Village at its best.
Keeping life varied is the key to getting through the Lockdown and night time walks add a difference to the routine. I am fortunate to live in a typical English village with a high street and local shops. During Lockdown the traffic flow has decreased although the cars do travel through at speed.
Many of the village shop lights are on and there are a few people moving around. The busiest places are the chemist, the 24 hour convenience store and Tesco. All the restaurants are offering takeaways. A click and collect meal may make a difference to breaking the monotonous existence of lockdown. However, it is an expensive one, compared to making your own meals at home. A feature of the weather is the amount of rain that we have been having. The rain has been intensive leading to major puddles in the street. My new camera has a tilting screen making it easier to take photographs with when bending down. The iPhone does a great job but with absence of a flip screen you have to get quite low to see the screen. These days I find one of the problems is getting back to a vertical standing position after crouching down.
The shop windows are pretty, and some still have the Christmas decorations in them as people are not inclined to do much during the pandemic. The lights at night are fun to photograph and some of the shop windows like the travel agent remind you of times gone by. I also walk towards the level crossing at Bentley Health and the footbridge is a perfect place to take pictures of the trains going into Birmingham. I tend to go out walking with the dog and he does not always appreciate the waiting around for the trains to go by. The picture I took was of a train into Birmingham. The term “Night Train” came to mind and I saw that Steve Winwood had a song by that name on one of his albums.
There was a picture that I saw on Instagram from one of my contacts taking pictures of petrol stations and wondered why would they being doing that? Here I am taking pictures of the Shell petrol station at night.
I have to say it does have an interesting almost timeless atmosphere about doing such photographs. The bright lights against the black sky give it importance. A staging post of interplanetary travel maybe? I found the change of time for my lockdown photography made the difference. It was a different challenge taking the pictures at night. No light trails in this set of photographs but I will look to do some later in the month.
Photographic tip – There were two or three pleasing photographs. The reflected puddle one was interesting as the woman came out of nowhere and made the story. I am not sure if she did have the takeaway with her. The night train picture was after a lot of hanging around waiting for the trains to appear. The petrol station was an idea that I copied from someone else.
With this Lockdown, I am planning more varied walks. Openmap is a clever tool as you can draw a radius on the map . I am exploring what I can within 5 to 6 miles of where I live. This is a distance that I can manage walking. The weather has been cold and damp for most of the week and I planned an early morning walk into Solihull. Having my camera with me, the aim was to capture the centre of Solihull and then compare this to the previous Lockdowns.
My planned route took me via Widney Manor Rd into the town centre. At the back of Touchwood shopping centre, I took a picture of the derelict building that used to be Rosie’s nightclub. A delivery driver passing by wanted to know why I would be taking a picture of it. Interesting conversation on why I was taking pictures of buildings in Solihull.
I moved through the main shopping streets Into Mell Square. Here I found that there were many people just sitting around. Some were chatting over cups of coffee, whilst others were just sat around starring into space. Surely the present lockdown guidelines are not to linger and to treat the time you leave your house as exercise. The place looked drab and people were listless. The Angel murals lightened my mood although there was no one around to photograph by the mural. I will come back to take one when life is normalised.
I moved into Tudor Grange park where it was much brighter as the sun started to break through the clouds. I took several pictures here including one of the duck pond. The reflections of light made it look very attractive and the picture I took made the Midlands today weather bulletin. The change of mood was palpable and there were more people moving around.
Feeling more cheerful, I made my way back home through the Monkspath housing estate and then onto footpath over the M42. During this lockdown, I am being more adventurous with my walks and seeing more of the countryside. It was an experience seeing the town centre and how people were coping with the lockdown. With my camera, I hoped that I documented a day of Lockdown what I saw in Solihull was not pretty and was depressing. However the parks and the countryside part of the walk cheered me up.
Photographic tip. Documenting the lockdown is not easy. You can get drawn into what is happening around you. I took the pictures carefully and tried to ensure that people were not identifiable. I did also want to convey the difficulties that people find trying to keep to the lockdown.
Sources
OpenMap for drawing radii from your location