Flickr Users - Post your Explored Photos

Wayne Els said:
My understanding is that Explore is completely random and has nothing to do with the quality of an image. That's not saying your pics are bad or the judge is correct, it's just an observation.
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.... What leads you to think that Explore's choices are "completely random" please, Wayne? I'm interested where your information comes from because although not every image which Explore selects is a very high standard, so many are and just this thread here goes a long way in supporting that.
 
RedRobin said:
.... What leads you to think that Explore's choices are "completely random" please, Wayne? I'm interested where your information comes from because although not every image which Explore selects is a very high standard, so many are and just this thread here goes a long way in supporting that.
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I shouldn't have said completely random. As with any SEO you can improve you chances but selection is not based on technical criteria. Apparently Flickr uses an "Interestingness" algorithm to select 500 pics a day. Ergo it's a machine and not an individual picking them which makes sense when there are thousands of images posted globally every day. There's tips to getting picked online but the algorithm changes from time to time. In general it is you need more information, tags, location, etc. all allegedly help. Also to avoid posting in lots of groups and now to have a pro account.
 
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Wayne Els said:
I shouldn't have said completely random. As with any SEO you can improve you chances but selection is not based on technical criteria. Apparently Flickr uses an "Interestingness" algorithm to select 500 pics a day. Ergo it's a machine and not an individual picking them which makes sense when there are thousands of images posted globally every day. There's tips to getting picked online but the algorithm changes from time to time. In general it is you need more information, tags, location, etc. all allegedly help. Also to avoid posting in lots of groups and now to have a pro account.
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.... Thanks for that information, Wayne.

I have had 26 images selected by Explore starting in March 2016 until 29th November this year but I rarely tag, I never give precise locations and have only just gone 'PRO'. 15 of the 26 have been selected this year 2018. Yes, I find it very encouraging when one of my photos is invited by Explore and also it strokes my ego.

I'll post a few of my Explore-selected favourites here soon but meanwhile :

https://www.flickr.com/photos/114775606@N07/albums/72157686132840835
 
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Wayne Els said:
My understanding is that Explore is completely random and has nothing to do with the quality of an image
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It may be random, but it's still discriminating enough to have ignored any of my rubbish :LOL:

(2756 photos, been a member since 2005 and not a sniff of an explore - I know i'm crap, but surely, even a blind cobbler hits a nail occasionally)
 
I don’t think it’s random but it’s an ai process. I used to ‘play’ the explore game and found that tagging and naming etc photos would result in more explores as would an initial flurry of ‘likes’ so putting in some groups, but not too many, helped.

If you had a high ranking ‘explore’ photo it was also possible to post a second pic and then ‘piggy back’ it as it would generate likes when people looked at your stream and then that second pic would also go into explore. I did this a few times! That was at least 5 years back so it may we’ll have all changed.
 
only got 297 .where do I start :beer:
 
alfbranch said:
Here is mine from yesterday very similiar to one from January but this was the highest I have been and the stats were high and this is now my most viewed shot

Blea tarn sunlit by Alf Branch, on Flickr
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Do you think it is your best shot? Or just some weird flickr thing that made it very popular when better ones have been seen by 1% of the number of people. (I think that of my most viewed shot ever)
 
davholla said:
Do you think it is your best shot? Or just some weird flickr thing that made it very popular when better ones have been seen by 1% of the number of people. (I think that of my most viewed shot ever)
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It is not my best shot IMO. It has had more views in 24 hours than any other photo I have posted due to being high on Explore and it being the kind of shot a lot of people liked.
 
This list of Flickr's Explore FAQ discussions may throw some light on Explore's dark art of selection. Or it may further confuse!

https://www.flickr.com/groups/inexplore/discuss/72157651931730424/

For what it's worth, I enjoy it when Explore invites my images even though I think they miss some of my better ones! I enjoy it mostly because it usually ramps up my number of faves and that encourages me. Also, I enjoy the comments which give praise < More encouragement and when we do the healthy thing of being self-critical in order to improve, then why not enjoy the praise!

This is my latest photo in Explore :

IS IT SAFE TO COME BACK DOWN YET? by Robin Procter, on Flickr

If it's of any interest, I have started a thread for my Bear photos in Finland :

https://www.talkphotography.co.uk/threads/eurasian-brown-bears-in-finland-fourth-shot-added.699573/

I shall be adding photos to this thread.
 
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I've had several Explored images over the years.
I made a mistake by querying why an explored image from years ago was suddenly dropped.
Next thing I noticed was all my explored image had been dropped and I've never had one since :thinking: :thinking:
Certainly there are some spectacular images in explore but there is also some utter garbage amongst them.
 
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