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Some Ramblings on Flickr
Since the beginning of the new year I’ve put more time and emphasis into the social aspects of flickr. I’ve been increasing my interaction with other photographers on the platform, liking and commenting on other people's photos as well as starting my own photography group. In increasing my activity on the site, I’ve had massively increased activity on my own posts, including getting several photos “explored” (an algorithm-based daily selection of “top” images that flickr showcases). In this article I wanted to cover my top 10 most faved photos, the lenses and equipment used, photography style and which ones were and weren’t explored.
#1 - Locks of Love
Gear:
- Fujifilm X-T1
- Industar 61LD 58mm f/2.8
This photo was snapped on a winter night walk around Austin, TX. The title and presentation insinuate that it's a love lock, but I believe that it was a lock on a municipal junction box on a street pole. The Industar 61 is also one of my least favorite of the quirky Russian lenses, and happens to be the tool used to capture my most popular image on the flickr.
#2 - Trees stretching across the sky
Gear:
- Fujifilm X-S10
- Pixco 0.71x focal reducer
- Tamron Adaptall 2 SP 24-48mm f/3.5
This was within the first 10 shots taken on the day i received my Pixco 0.71x focal reducer in the mail. It was a focal test to check the levels of sharpness across the frame and get used to focusing on the 24-48mm lens at a near full-frame equivalence. This focus and gear test is my most popular “explored” image.
#3 - Bluebonnet
Gear:
- Fujifilm X-S10
- Helios 44m-4 58mm f/2.0
Ah, March of 2021 and spring is in the air. After the historic Texas freeze in February we had a fairly mild and rainy spring. This brings wildflowers, the crown jewel of central Texas being the lovely Blue Bonnet. I snapped this shot in the woods near the city park on a walk after dusting off the trusty old Helios 44m-4 that had been collecting dust since last year. It doesn’t showcase the Helios’s trademark swirly bokeh, but it does demonstrate its good color reproduction and stupidly nice center sharpness.
#4 - Dried rose
Gear:
- Fujifilm X-S10
- Pixco 0.71x focal reducer
- Tamron Adaptall SP 90mm f/2.5
This was another shot I did testing the Pixco focal reducer. This time with the 90mm Tamron macro lens. I also did a focus stack to try to increase across the subject sharpness. The stack worked fairly well at first, but the X-S10 buffer started filling after about 10 frames leaving some blotchy spots in the foreground, sadly. I need to address this and see if a different SD card will help, because right now the continuous shooting is kind of sad on this camera.
#5 - Trio of bluebonnets
Gear:
- Fujifilm X-S10
- Pixco 0.71x focal reducer
- Pentax SMC 50mm f/1.4
The bluebonnets return for my fifth most popular image. This time a trio of them. This frame was snapped with the lovely Pentax SMC 50mm f/1.4 lens on the Pixco focal reducer and the X-S10.
#6 - The evening
Gear:
- Fujifilm X-T1
- Industar 61LD 58mm f/2.8
Image #6 was also snapped with the Industar 61 while I was lurking around pretending to be a street photographer in Austin. This is also my second most popular explored photo currently.
#7 - Flower details
Gear:
- Fujifilm X-S10
- Helios 44m-4 58mm f/2.0
- Macro helicoid adapter
This was a quick shot of an old flower from a bouquet I bought for my girlfriend. The Helios 44m-4 was mounted on probably the coolest adapter I have, and M42 to FX adapter with a built-in focusing heliod, basically an adjustable macro tube. It showcases the Helios’s very decent center sharpness as well as my inability to properly adjust the aperture for macro photography.
#8 - Rose 2
Gear:
- Fujifilm X-S10
- Fujfilm XF 50mm f/2.0
- Macro tubes
This was taken during an afternoon of macro experimentation in my kitchen on a rainy, overcast day. Of my current top 10 most popular flickr photos, this is the only one taken with a first-party Fujifilm lens. The XF 50mm f/2.0 is one of my favorite utilitarian lenses. Very sharp, very compact, and works well on tubes as a macro rig.
#9 - Barn Door
Gear:
- Fujifilm X-S10
- 7Artisans 35mm f/1.2
This was a shot taken at the LBJ historical farm in Johnson City, TX that my lovely girlfriend and I stopped at after we were rejected from the Pedernales Falls state park for not having a reservation. This is one of my favorite lenses, despite its bevy of flaws. For instance, this image shows off the weird decentering/uneven focus of the lens (the right side of the image is soft, even though I’m squared up to the barn). Even with this flaw making it a pretty terrible lens for images like this, it is a phenomenally fun “artistic focus” lens. And the flaws give it some interesting vibe if everything happens to fall in your favor on a given shot.
#10 - Duck maul
Gear:
- Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark III
- Helios 44m-4 58mm f/2.0
This is my third most popular explored photo, and the oldest photo on the list. Take in the summer of 2020 it was from my initial walkaround with the Helios upon receipt. This is also my very first explored image on flickr. Thankfully, this old guy survived the February 2021 Texas freeze and is still waddling around the city park.
What I have learned:
I’ve been on flickr for about a year. I’ve been increasingly active for the past four months or so. Here are some to the things that I’ve learned in that time:
- An image doesn’t have to be technically perfect to be featured on explore or to be a popular photo on flickr
- As with any other social media platform, liking, sharing, commenting and just engaging with other people is helpful both for building community and getting attention on your content
- The best gear isn’t necessary. I shoot on an old X-T1 and a new, entry-level X-S10. I use a lot of legacy film SLR lenses. Of my top 10 images, only one was taken with a first-party Fujifilm lens. The gear you need to capture great images just simply needs to not hold you back, it doesn’t need to be the latest, greatest, most expensive gear on the market. If the camera and lens you’re using facilitates the creation of great images, it is great gear.
Written on Thursday, 8 April 2021, by Aaron Brown. Last edited on
