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Duplicates or multiples? How many is too many?


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Is there any guidance or advice on when or how multiples of a subject become duplicates and should be removed or not put up at all?

I tend to go through periods where I find myself shooting a lot of a particular subject - it grabs my interest or I am not totally happy with what I have done and am looking for "the shot".  Now obviously I want to grow my port as much as possible but at the same time I want to avoid too much duplication.  With some subjects that is relatively easy - lots of shots looking the sameish.  With others it is not so easy - right now I have fixated on pigeons - the urban pest type.  So I have lots of pictures of different pigeons - who may be generally in similar poses but clearly different birds against different backgrounds etc.  Or similar looking birds in a variety of different poses.   Is it wise to say limit a port to x number of photos of pigeons total or if each image is different are you OK uploading huge numbers of pigeons?  (replace pigeons with whatever is fascinating me at the time lol)

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A few are enough. I have a few pigeons in my port but not one has ever been zoomed. I think I’d focus more on subjects more in demand since pigeons don’t fall in that category.

Try to resist the “fascinating to me but to nobody else” theme. In fact, I love shooting birds of all kinds, they are my love. But I seldom license a bird image. It’s a hard subject to crack. I’ve done better with hummingbirds than any other.

I’m trying to focus in areas that are more saleable, rather than what I love to shoot.

Not to say that when out shooting, if a bird presents itself, I don’t succumb. :D But unless it’s a great shot, better than what I’ve already uploaded,  I don’t upload it.

When one has too many of a subject, Murphy’s Law seems to bring up your worst shot in a search first, while the best ones languish deeper.

Betty

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I keep imagining the damn things on the front of those semi-humorous greetings cards lol.  I won't stop taking them just not upload - I find I get rid of urges faster if I just work through them.  I am also shooting plenty of other stuff but am easily sidetracked.  I find subjects seem to come in bunches - I had a bee thing going over the early summer where everywhere I went (often looking for butterflies damselflies or orchids) I just ran into bees being photogenic.

As far as search results go - weird.  I can have the same search term a couple of weeks apart with different images in each time.  I keep going to make sure I have not forgotten keywords - which I haven't - I wonder if Alamy algorithm includes something like previous purchase or zooms history for a customer.  If they have only ever gone for pictures of red flowers any search they do may prioritise red flowers even if they have not specified.

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I tend to go on obsessive shooting binges as well and have to stop myself at some point, which isn't always easy. It's probably not a good idea to upload too many more pigeon pics by the sounds of it, given the apparent lack of demand. Then again, you might come up with the ultimate pigeon image that no one else has. 

 

BTW, to the pigeons, we are the "pests" (and they definitely have a point).B)

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I seem to got everyone else focused on pigeons lol (and yes they do have point)

 

My question is less about pigeon photos specifically and more about any subject a photographer goes nuts on - is there a separation between multiple different images of the same subject and duplicating?
So (instead of pigeons) a picture of every make and model of car in red would be multiples but all distinct whereas a picture of a particular make and model in red for every year that said make and model came out would be duplicating (unless you are one of the obsessives who gets excited at the trim difference between year 1 and year 2 that nobody else notices - these people do exist)

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17 minutes ago, Starsphinx said:

I seem to got everyone else focused on pigeons lol (and yes they do have point)

 

My question is less about pigeon photos specifically and more about any subject a photographer goes nuts on - is there a separation between multiple different images of the same subject and duplicating?
So (instead of pigeons) a picture of every make and model of car in red would be multiples but all distinct whereas a picture of a particular make and model in red for every year that said make and model came out would be duplicating (unless you are one of the obsessives who gets excited at the trim difference between year 1 and year 2 that nobody else notices - these people do exist)

It's interesting.  I'd argue, for example, that it's valid to submit multiple pics of the same species in each season, different types of habitat, male and female, if dimorphic, close up, small 'in context', horizontal, vertical. However, as Betty says, the pics get well spread out in search, and you have no control over which comes up first, e.g. if the searcher searches only on the name of species.

 

As far as the 'different trim' thing, I've seen vehicle search requests for certain years, so different trims could well be valuable.

 

I haven't cracked the sweet spot in this.

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5 minutes ago, Cryptoprocta said:

It's interesting.  I'd argue, for example, that it's valid to submit multiple pics of the same species in each season, different types of habitat, male and female, if dimorphic, close up, small 'in context', horizontal, vertical. However, as Betty says, the pics get well spread out in search, and you have no control over which comes up first, e.g. if the searcher searches only on the name of species.

 

As far as the 'different trim' thing, I've seen vehicle search requests for certain years, so different trims could well be valuable.

 

I haven't cracked the sweet spot in this.

Well its always good to know when others are also searching for a sweet spot. 

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As far as shooting the same thing...I think it never hurts to revisit a subject over time. Images get old, sink to the back. Searches are made sometimes by date or newly uploaded.  It doesn’t hurt to have a fresh image. As far as that goes, if the new is a lot better, delete the old so it doesn’t come up first.  I’ve had one of my lesser images zoomed but not bought, when I’ve had newer/better obviously not seen.

 

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