This really has been the topic of the week. Will Knotts post got myself and Donncha talking in relation to commenting on Photoblogs.
As someone who has photoblogged for 3 years, I am amazed at how few comments a photoblog may receive, yet all the photoblogs I subscribe too seem to have a big subscribership. Why then the lack of comments?
Commenting as Darragh says is the lifeblood of any blog and trust me photoblogs are no different, but is it hard for the general public to comment on a photo? This was something I have mentioned on Matt Cooper when I was been interviewed about Flickr, that photoblogs seem to get comments from fellow photobloggers and not the 97% of other bloggers out there.
Other blogs have the advantage of writing something which can entice discussion, pictures can do the same, although on a very different level.
You may feel relaxed looking at an image, you may not like the focus of an image, an image can make you angry, sad, happy and any other emotion you can think of, it can bring back memories and can on some occasions tell a story that can make you feel elated or disgusted. Why not let the photographer know your feelings. We are not professional photographers (yet) and are constantly learning how to take a good picture, and its the comments that can let us know we are doing something right or wrong as the case may be.
As I mentioned photobloggers tend to comment on each others blogs, so a lot of the time they mention something about apertures, photoshop, macro lenses, depth of field etc. Is this the downfall of the commenting saga, are we putting people off? I really hope not, I comment quite a bit on blogs and even comment on blogs I know I am well out of my depth on, but at least the writer knows, he/she has made an impact on someone outside their niche area, how satisfying.
I don’t know if I speak on behalf of all the photobloggers out there, but even a comment like “really nice picture”, “where did you take this” or “I really hate this shot” would all be very very welcome here, as I say what I might think is a nice image may not be up to scratch for someone else, and I need to know this or I would continue down the slippery slope of crapness.
So please let me know what you think us photobloggers can do to make it easier for people to comment.
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Interesting topic, personally I think a lack of comments from the general public on a photo blog must at least partly have something to do with the fact that interpreting an image and how it impacts on us is an art form in itself.
Most of us will not have experience in doing this, at any level, and to begin to do so is extremely time consuming - and it seems rather pointless to continually post ‘great shot’, ‘love it’ or ‘really lovely, well done’.
I think it is a good idea to encourage commenting but given the above, and assuming you are looking for feedback, perhaps you should look at alternatives?
Encouraging visitors to use a ‘rate this photo’ option might give you some immediate feedback… I know there are suitable WordPress plugins out there, there must be options for other blog platforms too - anyone know offhand?
Frankp - yep this was mentioned on Darraghs post and is something I think could be looked at, thanks also for the prompt reply. As I said it is interesting to hear from people outside of photoblogging.
Just talking off the top of my head but I think if a photoblogger’s ever going to get more than just “nice photo” (which is cool to get too by the way!) then we have to give something more than just the image, we have to let people get to know us a little more…give them the personal connection and tell them our stories a bit. Same goes for any blog but speaking particularaly about photoblogs, a lot of us post images because maybe we’re a little more comfortable showing pictures rather than writing.
There are photoblogs out there which very strictly let the images do the talking and I have some favourites which are like that but it takes a truly wonderful photo for me to click away from Google Reader in order to leave a comment. There is no connection there, no feeling that my comment would be read or who it is being made to. However, when I feel like the blogger is telling me more about themselves…they’ve let me in to some degree by telling me their story (or even the story of the photograph)…then I’m far more likely to comment.
Very nicely put Claire, I have always been an advocate of writing a little about the image I put up, maybe not an essay but a bit of a background to the shot etc, I have found this to make no odds to me, but you explain why in your next line I am not a good writer.
I have to say I totally agree that the photoblog with no script at all are a dieing breed thankfully, and would also agree that the photographer should reply to any comments that come in, let the commenter learn about the person rather then the dude holding a camera.
I used to have a “rate this” plugin on my blog and after I installed it I watched with delight as star counts went up and down. Then I realised it was search engines hitting the GET urls. Once I add those urls to my robots.txt I didn’t get any stars.
I was surprised by the response to this donkey photo and I think part of it is because of the silly joke I added to the post. (Some of the Flickr comments were imported twice somehow, must check that)
So, it’s not just the photo, it’s the text too, unless your photo is particularly eye catching or original. It’s hard to post such a photo every day though. Must spend more time on the text!
Check out Chromasia. Amazing photos, and lots of comments on all the photos. He’s one of the few exceptions to the rule.
Another exception. Check out Alkos - he’s a Polish street photographer in Dublin and rarely writes more than the location on each image. I’ve commented several times on his posts. Many of his images are so strong they don’t need any text. Probably my favourite photoblog.
Interesting that Donncha about the stars thing. I reckon we have answered this dilemma, we need to type more but does that take us away from been a photoblog?
Also in relation to Chromasia, David is our photoblogging god, no wonder he has comments coming our his arse from all his worshippers.
Hey Donncha,
I think it depends on how you ’sell’ it to our visitors… long tail google visitors probably won’t engage, but if you are building up subscribers you can potentially begin to bring them along with you, and because rating something takes so little effort, those who begin to feel a connection with your blog in any way are likely to make that click for you. It is somewhat complicated by rss readers of course, but I do think there is an opportunity there nonetheless.
Interesting that the Alkos blog you point to is extremely minimal and focussed - very little distraction: minimal navigation, image, comments. Would be interesting experiment to take an existing photoblog, simplify the design, focus design on encouraging comments, and watch the results.
@McAWilliams - typing more is probably a good idea overall, it will give search engines more to grab onto as well, and should result in increased traffic to blog. The value of the potential resulting increase in comments depends on the rationale for wanting more comments though!
Comments resulting from more text will be in response to the text (and not the image) but it could be very interesting to focus the text on encouraging meaningful responses. For example outlining what it was you were attampting to achieve in the shot, and directly asking visitors if they feel you achieved your goals.
I have to say I love Ryan’s descriptions, and feel more moved to comment there sometimes. The ‘great photo’ issue is a big one for non-photographers, for me anyway. I think a little background eases the way in, somehow.
I’m coming to this from the opposite direction, a text based blogger who has recently started to post photos.
For me, the picture is only part of the story. A picture is worth 1,000 words, so you may have to add a word or two.
Pick any picture, and tell me about it.
Where was it taken,
when (unless you work exclusively in the golden hour).
How did yo take it (yawn warning, this is the technical stuff you warned about)
Why….
And why is to the heart of it. Why did you take the picture, and why did you post it. Is there a story behind it? (actually is there a fiction blog based on picture out there…) and if there is, tell it.
Even gallery’s have note about the pictures. Since you are unlikely to be the subject of a major research grant in the next week; tell the story.
Guys I really appreciate all the feedback thus far, and I hope other photobloggers out there are enjoying this aswell.
I was actually in the middle of writing a post on why I blog before I started this, and one thing that was going to be told was in relation to why I photoblog specifically, its because I am crap at writing if the truth be known, even in school english was not a strong subject for me.
But maybe this is exactly what I needed to hear and maybe I can try to make more of an effort with descriptions etc, still does not answer why Alkos gets the comments with feck all in the way of descriptions, hmm.
I had the same thoughts the other day and only yesterday I made sure to post a thank you on my site for the comments and new visitors (no doubt thanks to last weeks photomeet).
Now I can put my hand up and admit I don’t comment very often, whether it being a photoblog, flickr or pix. Like you mentioned above, I’m also terrible at writing and find it very hard to put accross exactly how I feel about a photo so I usually end up with the usualy quote, lovely picture. This is also part of the reason why I generally don’t put up a more detailed information on my shots.
I really need to start taking notice of other peoples blogroll/links as I have a limited knowledge of whats out there.
I totally agree that a picture needs a few words. Even when I’m reading other photoblogs, I definintely notice that I comment more when the blogger has included a mini story. It’s a nice connection, and it kind of breaks the ice a little - you don’t feel your comment has to be purely about the photo. I think, sometimes, if you just have the pic to comment on, you feel like you should be mentioning some techie points and maybe even a critique. Sometimes I worry that just saying “nice pic” or “wonderful shot” might make the blogger feel like I’m just commenting for the sake of it, and not because I have looked at, thought about and appreciated their picture.
As a fellow photoblogger for the past couple of years who gets infrequent comments I can only assume those who visit my site or read by feed are similar to me… it’s all too easy to just flick past a post and not bother commenting. However, if I’m scrolling through my feeds in my reader and a shot evokes an actual reaction (typically a literal ’shit’, ‘damn’, or ‘fuck’ knee-jerk verbal response) then I’ll go to the trouble of hitting that photoblog and posting that one word comment, or expanding on what it was I liked about the shot. But usually I just scroll on by, even for the sites I religiously follow, the sites whose posts I like and respect.
I suppose if I did more comment-whoring I might get more on my site, but I’m not sold on the recripocal comments that can feel more like a polite return gesture than an actual need to provide some feedback. In which case the comments I make are when a shot *really* connects with me
And lastly, I wonder if some photoblogs -eg the more popular blogs- don’t reach a point of critical mass where enough daily visitors and commenters cause a chain reaction of daily comments? Meaning, some people will be more comfortable commenting amongst a crowd than by their lonesome.
I comment on blogs sometimes - but if you don’t knwo the person you wonder a little if you are intruding
plus while I love photos and love taking them I’m a rank (sometimes very “rank” ) amatuer and looking at the amazing images on this blog and some others, i feel ill equipped to make a comment, it seems cheeky lol
This is a good topic. I thought about it as well. I sometimes have the feeling people take it for granted to look at good pictures, blogs or websites and don’t say a word. I won’t say that I comment on everything but I try to comment on as much as possible. It’s good to know that you say “Nice picture” is enough for you, I sometimes feel like I have to tell more over it. But things like that may people recognise that it isn’t that hard to comment.
Time to take a stab at this…
When I started blogging with http://www.iced-coffee.com I would often comment on blogs, and in turn receive quite a few comments at times. I enjoyed having regular visitors who would let me know what they felt, and I would regularly visit some blogs myself such as the great travisruse.com, dailysnap.com and wvs.topleftpixel.com. Then I began to have less time for update on a daily basis and the blog died…
My first discovery of blogs was through photoblogs, I would rarely read text blogs. Eventually I did. I read many. Then started my own. Found a local community. Engage in conversation and meet people, and so comments come naturally, not like a reciprocal gesture.
Yesterday I brought my photoblog back to life at http://www.iced-coffee.com and feel that I am better equipped, with greater knowledge and skills to post on a daily basis.
I feel that with my words blog I haven’t made the photographs something that I expect people to comment on, but the entry as a whole. The photographs are to me a part of everything I do, and will always be there. I try to write a lot too and make the writing something that people can engage with almost equally.
I don’t give technical specifications as it can be off-putting to those who don’t know, as well as being something I rarely think about myself anyway.
Just talking off the top of my head but I think if a photoblogger’s ever going to get more than just “nice photo” (which is cool to get too by the way!) then we have to give something more than just the image, we have to let people get to know us a little more…give them the personal connection and tell them our stories a bit.
@claire - bang on there, that for me is the key to anything. Any blog, any article, any story and it’s why I wrote my original post in the first place.
as Will said above
Pick any picture, and tell me about it.
Where was it taken,
when (unless you work exclusively in the golden hour).
How did yo take it (yawn warning, this is the technical stuff you warned about)
Why….
And why is to the heart of it. Why did you take the picture, and why did you post it. Is there a story behind it?
Because what I want to know is that you are saying
hey Darragh, you’re reading my blog. Nice one. Here’s an image I took - what do YOU think of it? How does it make YOU feel? Is there something you’d like to share about it?
Here’s how I did it - like it? Here’s how you do one and here’s my recommendations for it.
We really need to invite non-bloggers into the conversation. We need to be able to say ” Hey there, what do you think?? ”
(funny, just had an idea. Interesting).
Well aint it amazing this topic got the most comments ever on the 3 years this site has been up and running, so words work, I do still believe a lot of photoblogs were created because, like me, my writing was not a strong forte, so in many ways the old rule of what a photoblog should be like (Alkos being a prime example) have changed if we want to mix with bloggers from other genres.
I really appreciate all the comments that have come in and I am glad to have been able to post up something that has generated such debate. All points have been taken on board and hopefully I can incorporate them into my photos from here on in.
/me is hit by a barrage of comments for 20 points of damage and flees.