The 90 Degree Photo

[TerryPG]

I have had a lot of success with my photos on Google. I have over 8300 photos published and my photos average over 70,000 views per photo, Not the highest here as you can see on @AdamGT leaderboards.

But I thought it might be time to share one of favourite methods that Googles AI seems to like.

I call it the 90 degree photo where if the POI has 2 signs you stand directly at a 45 degree angle from the signage and you get a perfect 90 degree photo featuring both signs. Google loves it and when I’m able to take a photo like this, Google makes it the featured photo over 90% of the time, Obviously increasing my views. I’m sure some of you guides are aware of this little trick, if not try it and let me know your results.

I stumbled on it by accident, The pic above I took almost 2 years ago and has over 3.4million views.

Here’s another I took 9 months ago and has over 3.1 million views and it’s not even a perfect 90 degree photo.

Here’s a few more to give you an idea. They are all featured photo and all have views between 1 million to 3 million views .

I could share dozens more but I hope you get the idea.

Besides sharing this wonderful idea, I also wanted to create some dialogue and hopefully have some discussion on how to help each become better guides and maybe share our tips and tricks, I’ve got some great discussion ideas I would like to get going on discussion and ideas going on, such as:

*People in photos yes or no

*Where’s the best position for a POI signage in a photo

*Does Goggle prefer sunny skies

*Do you edit your photos before posting

*How come Google changed my featured photo

*Should I clean up my photos

I Have more and I’m sure you all do , so I would like to see this an on going experiment.

The first year I started here, I was lucky enough to be part of some great discussions on this board which helped my growth immensely and I would like to invite some of the people who have helped me and some others ( If I missed some sorry)

@MortenCopenhagen @TorM@jayasimha78 @JanVanHaver @Herve_Andrieu @AdrianLunsong

@katydarhel @Mikeinthefalls and here’s your invite @tony_b and of course Adam GT

The discussion is open to everyone, please enjoy

[AdamGT]

Interesting post @TerryPG . From now on I will have to call you Mr 90%

As you will know I have been experimenting and analyzing the success or otherwise of photos for some time. In fact I seem to spend more time analyzing than taking photos these days lol but of course, with the collective benefit of participation on the Top 100 Leaderboards, we do now have a better way of doing this. Have you seen the recent system reference to BIGdata? I know that one @EvaBar has

Now regarding this 45%/45% signage that you refer to, while I’m very pleased to hear that it works for you and while as you can see from the example below, I have also included these types of photos in my trials, to me it’s not so much the double signage but more the angle of the shot that seems to play some importance. In other words, I myself have found that while it’s good to include the signage, it’s not necessary to have this on both sides and I have to add here, that many POIs are single sided places! Having said this, I personally do like the 45% rather than the square on pics (once again see my example below) and have noticed a tendency for these pics to do well when it comes to photo views. In fact, my current star photo is one example of this.

I love discussing this type of topic and appreciate the discussion ideas you have included in your post. They have nothing to do with Local Guide points and are more about the quality of our Local Guide contributions! By the way, I have previously posted about some of your discussion ideas, in fact People in photos very recently

Thanks for the tag Mr 90%

[MortenCopenhagen]

Hi @TerryPG

Thanks for the tag.

You are certainly on to something here. Maybe there is a simple explanation. The AI selecting the cover and featured photos is looking for the name of the business in our shots. And by having the name shown twice you double your chances for getting featured.

I believe the AI do prefer well lit images, but with two walls facing in different directions we have a challenge on our hands when the sun is out. If you want the two sides to be equally lit on a sunny day you need to show up at the exact time. You have a time window of only 15 minutes where the sun is in the optimal position in my experience.

I noticed your sample photos are all from overcast days except the first one. (You could bump up the brightness and contrast a tiny bit before uploading such photos).

Cheers

Morten

[JanVanHaver]

Now that’s quite an interesting observation @TerryPG . Out of sheer curiosity, I obviously went to my pics on Maps and sorted them on number of views (which I don’t often do, as I’m typically spending time on edits and not so much on pics). Guess which type of picture I discovered to be my top viewed one …

[TravellerG]

Hi friend,

70,000 views per photo is a phenomenal figure…

Congratulations, dear @TerryPG

Hello dear @MortenCopenhagen , loved your evaluations - thanks.

I too have a suggestion: switch on HDR also can help even lighting of both the sides… Right?

Regards

[MortenCopenhagen]

Hi @TerryPG

Why do you call it 90 percent. It is not 90 or 45 degrees?

Or am I not getting a joke or something?

Cheers

Morten

@TravellerG I also use HDR in most of my photos.

[TerryPG]

Thanks for the kind words @AdamGT @TravellerG and @JanVanHaver

@MortenCopenhagen No joke, it reminds me of the perfect right angle which is 90%, not a joke , just had to come up with a name, and of course the 2 45% angles = 90 %.

I don’t know if we are tricking Googles AI, or it’s basic there’s two names of the POI , Whatever it is it’s working

[TerryPG]

Out of curiosity I just went back and checked the photos I uploaded last week, I uploaded about 90 photos, 8 of them where what I call (90%) photos , Of those 6 are now the featured photo for the POI’s, These are all established businesses, not brand new. That’s a 75% rate, I think I am on to something here.

[TravellerG]

Hello dear friend, @TerryPG

“… 8 of them where what I call (90%) photos , Of those 6 are now the featured photo for the Poi’s…”

Very interesting fact!

In the next shot session, I too shall try and update…

…

Your questions and my thoughts:

*People in photos yes or no - I usual try to avoid to the best extent possible.

*Where’s the best position for a POI signage in a photo - I try to give importance to the signage.

*Does Goggle prefer sunny skies - bright photos, yes.

*Do you edit your photos before posting - nowadays, very rarely; earlier I used to edit & used to add watermark too.

*How come Google changed my featured photo - I have heard that they keep changing…

However, with the photos of remote & interior places, the photo view drastically drops, especially in India.

Of course, our @AdamGT will have more to say…

[TerryPG]

@TravellerG please do and keep me informed of how it worked for you.

[TravellerG]

Surely, yes, friend @TerryPG ,

I shall update you in a week or two.

Regards with greetings

[TerryPG]

Sounds good @TravellerG

[TravellerG]

Welcome…

Best wishes, @TerryPG

[EvaBar]

@TerryPG You have an interesting idea. I have not thought to look at things that way.

I think this 90 degree way of taking a picture, is aesthetically pleasing to the eye, hence the popularity. If you look at exterior architectural photography images, you’ll see a lot of them take a this approach.

I shall test out this theory though. I took some pictures that way and am exited to see how they do. It is not in the States, or any major country for that matter, so Google is not really used that much. But, I think this is a good way to test the theory

[TerryPG]

Thanks @EvaBar shouldn’t matter what part of the world they are taken in, Please let me know how these photos work for you and if any of them become the featured photo.

[EvaBar]

@TerryPG Will do. I am watching them like a hawk now!

[Mikeinthefalls]

@TerryPG A very insightful post and you’ve clearly found something that is working for you!

I can honestly say that I’ve never focused on “90%” angle when framing my photos, but I am interested to go back and see which of my Featured Photos are and how many they number?

I also noticed that you’re not just centering the signage on both sides, but capturing two sides of detail for the POI - I think that is improving your chances of being featured! Congrats on your success

To chime in on a few of your questions:

*Does Goggle prefer sunny skies?

• I have come to the conclusion that if you take the exact same photo and one day is cloudy, the other sunny - Sunny wins, so long as the sun isn’t shining directly at the POI and “washing it out”. I have posted multiple photos of the same location with different skies and the sunny photo is typically the one chosen.

*Do you edit your photos before posting?

• Minimally as possible. I crop for framing; adjust shadows, contrast and brightness for lighting corrections. Maybe warmth or saturation, occasionally. I’ll blur license plates in the few instances they end up in my photo.

*How come Google changed my featured photo?

• I wish I knew?! I’ve had some photos that have been Featured Photo for well over a year, others some times only last a month, or even a few days. The newly added photo replacing mine makes more sense than shuffling my previous #1 photo to the Abyss and moving a photo that’s 5 years old and contains inaccurate signage or an old storefront - I’m forever baffled by those?

[TerryPG]

Thank you @Mikeinthefalls , I do agree with Google seems to prefer sunny skies to dull ones, but If I’m on a walkabout I can’t change the weather,

I will brighten up the pics a bit upon editing but I also prefer minimal editing. I know Google has a paid service you can subscribe to and it it makes the background Sunny But I just don’t want to pay for it yet,

Yes I try and centre everything especially the signage.

Thanks for the kind words.

[Kwiksatik]

@TerryPG I absolutely love that you have noticed this particular preference of Google! I had not considered this before when taking storefront photos, and I will absolutely be changing how I take photo angles in the future. Thank you so much for sharing your wisdom!

[TerryPG]

Thank you @Kwiksatik this little trick has helped my photo views immensely, please let me know if it works for you and if google makes them the featured photo