Didn’t do much during the holiday, but that’s what holiday is for right? doing nothing and lay in bed, haha~  Well, can’t say I really did nothing at all, I did do something, I did one thing that I haven’t done a lot since I started writing.  Stock photography, it has been a while since I last uploading anything to my stock photography sites.

So these holidays, although I did not do too much thinking on writing, I did spend sometimes in front of the computer processing photos on Lightroom and uploading them to some of my favorite sites.

Although processing photos is not as simple as it seems, it really is not just playing with levels adjusting lighting, contrast, saturation and ext.  Those are the fun part, but the more important part is actually the not so fun part like writing keywords, filling up metadata, and coming up with useful descriptions.

These are the tedious part, and the part that sometimes put me off completely.  But it has to be done or no body is going to discover the photos I spent some good times working on, not to mentioned to have a chance to be purchased.  Hey, that’s what stock photography is all about, having people or businesses purchasing your photos.

Yes, it might be hard to believe, but artist needs to eat too~

Every time after I completed a photo, or a set of photos, I will upload it to 500px first.  If you haven’t heard about 500px, check them out, they have quite a lot of stunning photos on it.  If you are a photographer looking to sell your photos, they offer a pretty decent marketing platform, and the price is amazingly decent compare to other stock photography sites.  Their price is actually more traditional photography selling than stock photography selling.  But of cause, with such price, your photos must be special enough for it to have a chance in the crowded market.

For me, 500px is less of a stock photography site but more of a place to showcase my work, and a place to organize and pick out some of my better work.  Hey, I am a pack rat by nature, so it is very hard for me throw away anything, including all the photos I took.

Check me out on 500px: Lumaca Photo

So 500px is where I upload sets of photo to the public profile, let it sit for a bit, collect some likes and comments, then weed them out accordingly.  This is great because most often, as a photographer, I am blinded by our own taste and fail to see from the eyes of others.  A photo I think is perfect doesn’t mean others will too.  So putting my photos out there, I can see which of my photos are actually better receive by the community.

For example, the above photo, I would never have thought it would one of my highest rated photo in the group, but it is, so it open my eye a bit, and it will stay in the profile page.

And this photo, I was so sure it will be one of the highest rating one, but it is not, I even take this photo to the discussion group and the respond is still very meh.  People simply have not much feeling toward this photo even though it is perhaps my most favorite out of the bunch!!!  Regardless, this one is also staying on the profile page simply because I love it, hehehe~  Hey, it’s my page, I can do whatever I want~

Another good thing about this is, whenever I have a couple similarly composed photos, I simply let the community decides for me.  I always have a hard time doing this, choosing which one to keep is always the hardest thing, near impossible, I could sink into a deep self conflicting stage because of this.  No, I am not kidding.  So now I simply put them on 500px and keep the one with the highest rating.  Easy, simple, done!

And which one am I going to pick of the two photos above? Should I keep the top one or should I keep the bottom one?  This would be the kind of question that will destroy my day before, but not anymore.  So which to choose?  Easy, the top photo has a much higher rating than the bottom one, so it’s the bottom one that I will remove~  No more conflict~

Because of this, my profile page on 500px will go one day looking completely in chaos with all kind of photos, and another day clean, neat and organized, but that’s how I operate~

Recently, I have also started to put photos on Flickr, for a reason that I am a bit shameful to share … The only reason I put photos on Flickr … is to … join those award groups to gather awards and fav on my photo ….

I know I know, a real photographer don’t do that and we not need others to gratification from others to prove our work … but those award groups do improve your exposure and also serve as a very good referral to my blog~  So, don’t judge …

Some of my other photos processed during the break, these are photos taken in Vancouver downtown.

Well, I am now officially back to writing, so back to a routine life, which is good, routine is good way to let the heart stay grounded and don’t think to much~  I count on all  of your continuing support~

~Lumaca~