Re: The Most Photographed Places on Earth

2011-06-02 Thread John Francis 
On Thu, Jun 02, 2011 at 07:08:02PM +0100, Bob W wrote:
  Daniel J. Matyola
 
  Cornell researchers analyzed 35 million Flickr photos and discovered
  that we all shoot the same places?from the same angles:
  
  Read more: http://www.budgettravel.com/feature/25-most-photographed-
  places-on-earth,7308/?wpisrc=newsletter#ixzz1O89YAKwf
  
  
  http://www.budgettravel.com/feature/25-most-photographed-places-on-
  earth,7308/?wpisrc=newsletter
 
 that's very interesting. I was expecting Paris to be the most photographed 
 city, and I was expecting Big Ben to be the most photographed thing in London.
 

I suspect there's more than a little sampling bias, not least due to 
restricting the sample to people who post their travel shots on flickr.

I mean, Portland, Oregon as the 25th most photographed city?  Really?

 What I try to do when faced with one of the standard postcardy places is to 
 treat it as just something in the background and try to get people doing 
 something interesting as the main point of interest. 
 
 The classic example of this, which I try to emulate, is this shot of the Taj 
 Mahal by Steve McCurry:
 
 http://tinyurl.com/tankmahal
 http://images.nationalgeographic.com/wpf/media-live/photos/000/212/cache/taj-mahal-river-reflection_21246_600x450.jpg

I agree - that's a great shot.

While it exemplifies the primary advice of the article - find a
different viewpoint - I find many of the examples they supply to
be no significant improvement on the cliche postcard shot.
It's hard (in some cases impossible) to see the iconic landmark.
If I go to an exotic locale I want to come back with a photograph
that could only have been taken there, not one that could just as
well been taken within a few miles (or even a few hundred yards)
of my front door.

The most obvious thing I deduce from most of the photographs is that
an in-camera perspective correction filter might be a good idea.


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RE: The Most Photographed Places on Earth

2011-06-02 Thread Bob W 
   Cornell researchers analyzed 35 million Flickr photos and
 discovered
   that we all shoot the same places?from the same angles:
  
   Read more: http://www.budgettravel.com/feature/25-most-
 photographed-
   places-on-earth,7308/?wpisrc=newsletter#ixzz1O89YAKwf
  
 
 I suspect there's more than a little sampling bias, not least due to
 restricting the sample to people who post their travel shots on flickr.
 

Sure, yes, but still: 35 million photos. That's probably fairly
representative of the general population.

 I mean, Portland, Oregon as the 25th most photographed city?  Really?
 

Why not? Somewhere has to be and it's bound to seem a little unlikely
wherever it is. It's not just tourists who take photos of cities - residents
do too.


 While it exemplifies the primary advice of the article - find a
 different viewpoint - I find many of the examples they supply to
 be no significant improvement on the cliche postcard shot.

I agree.

B


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Re: The Most Photographed Places on Earth

2011-06-02 Thread Christine Aguila 



  Cornell researchers analyzed 35 million Flickr photos and
discovered
  that we all shoot the same places?from the same angles:
 
  Read more: http://www.budgettravel.com/feature/25-most-
photographed-
  places-on-earth,7308/?wpisrc=newsletter#ixzz1O89YAKwf



That was pretty cool, Dan.  Thanks for posting.  Cheers, Christine

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