My sample size says: People like photos with people in them.

[CuriousMike]

Last month, I took advantage of a sale at www.smugmug.com and purchased a year of their service. I've never been happy with www.flickr.com or www.500px.com organizational tools, so I bit the bullet.

I haven't done much other than upload photos, separating some by folders/galleries.
I'm using one of their generic templates... looks OK to me.

Smugmug does have a feature I haven't look at too deeply until today, and that revolves around stats on photo views. ( As a side note, in the month that I've started up smugmug, I have a lot of views of photos - and I don't know how those views happen. I haven't given out the link to more than a friend or two. )

Anyhow, many sites gives you stats on photo views - "What's popular."

Smugmug has additional detail insofar as they break down the size the photo was viewed at. They have sizes like Small, Medium, Large, XLarge, 2XL and Original.

What I've discovered is, generally, any photo with a person in it ( even snapshots ) garners many more views.

But, more specifically, photos with a person in it generates WAY more "view original size" requests than any other photo. Like... by a factor of infinite.

All the time I spend crafting my landscape or nightscape photos, and a snapshot of my son on his skateboard generates waay more "original size" downloads.

I could see this making sense if people were somehow related to me and they were more interested in seeing photos of me or my family, but given how I haven't advertised this to family yet - it doesn't add up.

While I have your attention, get me more clicks...
http://coustier.smugmug.com/

 

[EOM]

You're shameless!

I think that's a key element of a lot of urban/street photography is the human element. It gives meaning to a scene somehow. I'm much more likely to click on a picture of a motorcycle with a model standing next to it than not..... for example

Edit on another note how old are some of those pics? The EXIF is intact (THANK YOU SMUGMUG!) and it shows a D7100 with an 18-140mm.... for example.. which isn't currently listed in your sig.

 

[Spoooon]

Owl pic is great!

I myself find people pics more compelling.

My smugmug and a warning: left unchecked, yours will turn into the chaotic mess that mine is.

https://beardedspoooon.smugmug.com/browse

 

[blurredvision]

While I have your attention, get me more clicks...
http://coustier.smugmug.com/

Damn, you have some quality stuff in there.

I have used SmugMug for quite some time and really like it. It loads fast, easy to modify layouts/themes, all around a great site for me.

 

[Syborg1211]

I'm really not sure how Smugmug gets traffic outside of people you link your site to, but I think most people browsing smugmug are looking for portraits. Landscapes will get more traffic on flickr or 500px I'm sure. In general though it is definitely much harder to "make it" in landscape photography versus portraits. I think a lot of people think if they've seen one sunset they've seen them all whereas people are inherently unique.

 

[CuriousMike]

You're shameless!
...on another note how old are some of those pics?

I guess I am shameless...
The oldest photos I posted there are probably no more than 2 years old?
I sold my D5000 for the D7100 early last year (I'm getting my time frames mixed up) then had an opportunity a few months later to sidegrade to the D610 which I did.
The 18-140 stuck around, collecting dust on my daugthers D60 (which is also collecting dust.)

Owl pic is great!
I myself find people pics more compelling.
https://beardedspoooon.smugmug.com/browse

I'm sure I've told the owl story here before. For me, it felt like a once-in-a-lifetime meeting.
You have a lot of great stuff - you have a better eye than most. You also have a really nice variety of images. And I like your layout.

Damn, you have some quality stuff in there.
I have used SmugMug for quite some time and really like it. It loads fast, easy to modify layouts/themes, all around a great site for me.

Thanks for the compliment - I know there are dozens of smugmug competitors, but I really like it. Plus I like their "family built business" story.

 

[radhak]

Mike, your pictures are awesome! They really deserve a good platform like Smugmug. And I like your layout, particularly when a pic opens into a full screen.

I myself had Smugmug for two years, and tried (intermittently) to customize it to my liking, and gave up last month and cancelled my account : as a sorta 'self-punishment/consequence' for not spending time on it. I now think my problem was that I was trying to use the same site as a backup for all my pictures, and also a showcase for a rare good snap. I could go back to it if I can figure out how to manage those two purposes seamlessly.

How does everybody do it - do you backup all your pics to Smugmug? And do you have a separate folder(s) for displaying some of those pics? Or all your pictures worth display?

And your analysis about popularity of pictures is interesting but not surprising. My wife totally ignores pictures without people in it. I believe this calls out the voyeuristic nature in humans, but I get slapped down when I voice that.

And of course, pictures where people can see themselves are really popular - with them! The very boom in recent picture taking is because of selfies. Who cares how good the Taj Mahal looks, if I am not in front of it!

 

[lazybedone]

Wonderful device! Well, people will get interested when they can see themselves on it. I agree on this.

 

[CuriousMike]

How does everybody do it - do you backup all your pics to Smugmug? And do you have a separate folder(s) for displaying some of those pics? Or all your pictures worth display?

I don't use it as backup; I use it to post photos that I like. I've tried to separate them into my "gallery" which I think of as my best stuff I'd want to put first, and then "all the other stuff that I like, but what I think people might not consider great photography."

I think people tend to like what I think is fun, and the stuff I think is more "pro" doesn't really get as much attention.

I need to not worry about looking good and just put up what I like.