The 90 Degree Photo

@TerryPG I can’t wait to see what this does to my views!

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@TerryPG It takes 15 minutes from where I live to cross to Windsor but the covid era makes it difficult to us to do it. Canada requires to prove of the vaccine. Come to Detroit let’s do Photowalk downtown Detroit.

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@Erna_LaBeau I’m down for a Detroit Photo walk… I’ve never been to one! :camera_flash: :cityscape:

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@Erna_LaBeau I would love to, in a heartbeat, I am about 4 hours from Detroit, but there is a little more to it. I was born in England and still have a British Passport, so it makes it a little harder to travel, plus because of Co-vid I haven’t renewed it. I should start working on it.

A little bit of history when my parents immigrated from England in the 1960s where did we move to- Windsor! I have some great memories of Detroit .

The summer experience we loved forward to was taking the ferry to Boblo Island amusement park , I think its abandoned and closed right now.

My dad took me to my first Baseball game at the old Detroit Tiger stadium.

When my parents would drive over the ambassador bridge or take the tunnel ,they would do a large clothes shopping cause it was cheaper in The States and then hide it under the back seat, when we crossed the borders my brother and I had to pretend to be asleep so the border guards wouldn’t check.

So yes Erna I would love to, I guess I should start my paperwork

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@Mikeinthefalls @TerryPG let’s plan to do it I thought it will be fun you both can come across and hopefully sooner (Terry, start processing your passport from now hehehehe, ain’t it right Mike? we are waiting for you Terry!)

Detroit has changed so much lately it’s more alive now Photowalk will be so much fun with more Local Guides!

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday!

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We used to buy Asian fruits there is a road where they sell Asian products or restaurants as soon as we cross the border @TerryPG trust me we tried to cover them too and thank goodness we never had any trouble with the border. It is just sad that they require covid vaccine card to enter Canada :thinking:

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Hi @TerryPG , first of all I want to congratulate you on the excellent result and the average number of views per photo above 70000. And I’m sure this figure continues to grow. I really liked the topic that you brought up, namely how to take a quality photo and how to get a photo to become featured.

Yes, the way you described is very good. And I use it whenever possible. I have two great examples with 317k views and 148k views respectively.

I just want to note that this method is good for spacious cities where the buildings are at a distance from each other. And such a photo is difficult to take in Toronto, since the showcases are a solid wall and the POI has only one end side. Well, I also want to add that when photographing buildings from an angle, in my opinion, it isn’t so important to maintain an angle of 45 degrees (the angle may be different), but to avoid a three-point perspective, but concentrate on a two-point perspective or no perspective at all. These are my principles, I’m not sure if other Local Guides share them.

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I’ll try @TerryPG to reflect on the topics you asked.

*People in photos yes or no - I try to avoid people in photos, but sometimes their presence is simply necessary and unavoidable. Then I try to grab and choose a frame where people would be in motion and it would be as natural as possible. Here are some examples.

*Where’s the best position for a POI signage in a photo - It all depends on each individual case. Of course, with a sign is better than without, and it should be visible in the best possible way.

*Does Google prefer sunny skies - It’s clear that Google prefers sunny skies. But I can sometimes dilute all sunny photos of a point of interest with some hazy one. It makes my photo stand out from everyone else’s, but it’s not guaranteed to success either.

*Do you edit your photos before posting - Yes, I do some editing before uploading. First things first, I align the vertical. When I’m happy with this, I crop the frame, cut off the extra bottom of the asphalt, or just cut everything around the edges to get the frame closer. Well, the final touch - I cover up the faces. I almost never color correct.

*How come Google changed my featured photo - I think it’s because my featured photo is hanging for too long or some other more suitable one has appeared.

*Should I clean up my photos - This is something I never do, except when I have a few good shots that I like equally, but I want to keep only 1-3. And then I give Google the opportunity to make its preference, and what it did not appreciate, I delete.

I hope my answers will be useful and interesting for you.

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Thank you @katydarhel for your insightful and kind post.

I do agree with your point about trying the 90 degree photo on major downtown cities, but his could be said the same for smaller cities, towns and areas. it’s just too tight, But hold on, coming to that.

I agree with your second point , we need do get the POI signage in the proper position, something I’m always working on.

I haven’t been to downtown Toronto in about 4 years (Cov-id took care of that) and I miss it. Haven’t seen a Blue Jays game in so long. Would I love to walk down Yonge street, you betcha.

But I have visited some of Toronto’s famous malls, You will know the names Yorkdale, Fairview, Scarborough, Bayview Village to name a few, saving the rest to walk in Winter time. The photo views I got in so many of these malls are amazing, I have 1 photo has plus 1 million in 4 months.

You also have some great outdoor or box malls, which I prefer (easier to stay away from security guards LOL) Like Shops on Don Mills, and Toronto Outlet malls.

But Katy it may be time to visit the suburbs where you can definitely get some 90 degree photos.

I quickly searched some of my recent 90 degree photos I took in Toronto in the last 4 months and found these;

Search a few of these, click on the photo and you will see the featured photo is mine

Spanner shops at Don Mills

Barbutti Shops at Don mills

Mac Cosmetic Yorkdale Mall

TD Bank Port union rd. Scarborough

Opportunities arise all over

Thanks for your Input Katy,

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Hi @TerryPG

This image reminded me of this post :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

Cheers

Morten

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LOL, thanks @MortenCopenhagen

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@TerryPG Reporting with an update. I have taken and posted 4 of these 90% Degree photos (one is fairly recent).

So far, one (pic below) has gained close to 9000 views in about 2 weeks or so. The others don’t even have 2000. It is also the featured photo. Interestingly, there is no name of the POI in the picture. Am I debunking that sub-theory? :slightly_smiling_face:

Some of the other pictures have made it to featured photo as well, but unfortunately no views to show for it.

Will report again after some time. But I am trying to take more pictures like this.

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Wow @EvaBar that’s so interesting that Google selected it to be the featured photo especially without a POI name or sign. am a little amazed. Congrats on the views and trying this method, Does the store have an outside store name or signage any where? Keep me informed of progress.

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HI @EvaBar you got me thinking again which may be dangerous :grin: , So I went back over the last 3 weeks to check my results, ( cause you got me thinking and I am a bit nerdish) I posted 26 x90 degree photos, of those 16 instantly became the featured photo, that’s a 61.5% rate of becoming a featured photo, ( which I think is good) Not ever photo we take will become a featured photo.

The balance of my photos averaged around 25-30% of the photos becoming a featured photo( still a good result), That’s 2x 1 advantage for a 90 degree photo. I think it’s a huge advantage, but most stores, POIs, don’t have a 2 sided sign, But take advantage of it when you see it.

Here’s a couple of those photos taken recently.

So I guess what I am saying is try it… If a POI or business has a 2 sided sign take both shots the 90 degree and the straight up shot and lets see who wins.

Thanks for getting me thinking Eva :grinning:

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@TerryPG I have been taking 90° photos recently to see if I can put your practice to work for me. I haven’t been able to get one to be Featured recently, as the front and centered photos have continued to “beat them out” and get the spot.

However, this made me research the last 6 months of posts and did come across 3 - 90° POI photos that did become the Featured Photo… And all are doing well, 2 especially well! I know that I posted front and center framed photos to all these POIs and the corner photo was the “winning” selection to be Featured.

90° photo of Red Lobster that was instantly Featured and received 186K views in 2 months (but is no longer Featured)

90° photo of Jack’s Hollywood Diner that was instantly Featured and has received 1.2M views in 6 months.

90° photo of Harry Buffalo E. 4th that was instantly Featured and has received 1.6M views in 4 months.

These three all feature signage on both sides, so that correlates to what you’re suggesting. I’m going to continue to add this angle to the photos I take on a regular basis and monitor the results. Congrats on your continued success with it, you’ve clearly found a niche that’s working for you! :clap:t4:

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Congrats on your 90° Feature Photo as well! @EvaBar

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@Mikeinthefalls congratulations on the amazing views of these photos, great results, but to take advantage of this technique we need to make sure the POI or business has a 2 sided Name. the Diner photo was a good example, but the red lobster(yes perfect angle) but only had one POI name and great results on the Harry Buffalo Pic, but only 0ne POI name.

To make this work you need a POI or Business that has 2 names of the businesses see original pics on this thread.

I know that you will take this challenge on because and I love it ,you are relentless on your pursuit of perfection,

But All please remember its not the 45 or 90 degree angle you take , You can’t do this without the POI or business having a two sided name ( please go back to my original pics to see why.

Encourage all to try this and let me know how it goes.

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I’m sorry @TerryPG that you haven’t been to Toronto for 4 years. I have never watched the Blue Jays game (to be honest, I don’t know the rules of the game, since baseball is not popular in Eastern Europe), but a few days ago I happened to visit the Roges Center and I honestly admit that I am shocked :astonished: by its scale and capacity. Last summer, I watched several times from afar how the roof over the Rogers Arena opens. It would be a great experience for me to watch it from inside there. Yonge-Street is beautiful, I don’t know what it looked like 4 years ago.

I was disappointed to discover that I haven’t been to any of the malls you listed. I still don’t know Toronto very well. One million in 4 months is an amazing result.
I agree with you, TerryPG, that there are enough detached buildings in the suburbs that can be photographed at an angle of 90 degrees.
The photos of the malls you have attached are very good. And it isn’t surprising that they are chosen as the cover.

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@katydarhel Have you not visited the Eaton Centre, it’s downtown and one of Canada’s largest malls and one of the most photographed, You have to visit there.

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Yes, @TerryPG ,I’ve been to the Eaton Center. This is the only mall I have visited.

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