[6BQ5]

I see a lot of Flickr accounts that have many tens of thousands of pictures - 10k, 20k, and even 40k in some cases. This number seems unmanageable to me. I have close to 900 and I'm thinking of limiting it to 1000. Over time I want to scale it back. Get rid of some of the fluff. It got me thinking of how professionals prune their collections for exhibitions. It must be hard because they can look at every shot and remember something significant about it.

How do you manage your online galleries?

[LensBeginner]

I don't have one - except for the Flickr one that I've created this month, mainly in order to post something here - but I do have a highly organized catalog on my PC.
After I import a series of pictures, I give 2 stars to the ones I like (let's say the best 20%), then select those I like even better (let's say half of that?) and give them three stars, then pick up the very best 2-3 pictures out of, say, a hundred, and give them four stars.
Thus I have a 3+ and 4+ star slideshow that I can use whenever I want.

Also, sometimes (esp. when I shoot lots of pictures at a single event) I select a subset of that, the most representative shots (not necessarily the best ones) and they go in a separate collection.

If I were to build an online portfolio, so to speak, I would put about 200 pictures in it, maybe a little less.

[flaviopetrone]

Usually, every some months, I browse back my gallery and delete some pictures. I am agree with you 6BQ5, I don't want to finish with all these pictures shared. It is enough to keep some of them.

[Johndav]

I too go back through my collection, and often wonder what I was thinking when I posted the image in the first place. My last pruning session took out two thirds of my images on 500px.

[nomadkng]

I have ~120 photos taken over 9 years on my website. I won't post anything I wouldn't spend $200 on to frame and mount on a wall. That's my criteria.

After 35k images taken, I guess I'm either picky or doing something wrong.... lol

[stevebrot]

My Flickr stream is a journal of sorts. There are a few I might pull, but not many.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/28796087@N02/


Steve

[FantasticMrFox]

I'd still consider myself an advanced novice (if that makes sense), but of the thousands of pictures I've taken, only about 30 have found their way into my 500px account so far, it'll probably be around 50 at the end of the year. I don't think my 500px account (and possibly a future portfolio) would ever feature more than 100 pictures. As I'm getting better I just pull old ones down that not really meet my standards any more and substitute them with better ones. Number stays the same, quality increases.

I often see flickr and 500px accounts that feature some pretty nice images, but they are hard to find in between meaningless shots of cats or otherwise more or less mediocre photography. I really wonder what motivation these people have to drown their photo streams in hundreds, sometimes thousands of pictures.

[flaviopetrone]

Number stays the same, quality increases.

This is exactly my purpose of having a shared gallery.

[Doundounba]

I use my Flickr account as a kind of journal of my journey through photography. That being said, I only upload things that I consider "keepers" (at the time of upload), so after two years, I now have 629 shots there. (I don't understand people who seem to upload every single shot.) I don't often go back to see my oldest photos, and I don't expect many of my contacts do either, but it's fun to go have a look once in a while to see how my eyes see those older shots now. I also try to keep a reasonably current album with a Top 25 Most Interesting to make it easier for people to find the "Good Stuff", as well as other albums like a yearly list of favorite shots of that year. I think if I were to invest the time to upload to other sites (such as 500px), I might only upload there a small subset of my Flickr photos...

[severalsnakes]

Are we coming from a perspective of selling our skills as photographers? Do you folks shoot professionally? Make money off of it? Just curious....

I take lots of shots, delete lots of shots, process a lot of shots, and upload lots of shots. Obviously, I don't want to be viewed as a professional, and I have very minimal experience compared to some. I'm free to upload pictures that aren't technically great, just 'cause it's a picture of my dog that I really like. ;-)

I categorize them into albums on Flickr, and I particularly enjoy going back through the albums lens-by-lens and remembering what I like using that lens for, or what I have never tried with the lens... Then I take it out for another photo adventure. Grow that album a little more... It's harmless, in my opinion.

Sometimes I find a photographer on Flickr that has a few images I really like and I go through their whole photostream. Obviously that'd be a little difficult if they have 10,000 pictures, but then again, it is disappointing if they only have 100 pictures. I like the camaraderie and kind of voyeuristic quality of seeing lots of pictures from an individual, like I'm a part of a part of their life in some way. I want to read your journal, not look at your catalog. ^_^

Just my thoughts...

[stevebrot]

I also try to keep a reasonably current album with a Top 25 Most Interesting...

My 25 most interesting are mostly camera porn...hmmm...

This is not good.

Steve

---------- Post added 11-14-14 at 07:11 PM ----------

Obviously that'd be a little difficult if they have 10,000 pictures

Just put it on slideshow, hop on the stationary bike and enjoy.

I like the camaraderie and kind of voyeuristic quality of seeing lots of pictures from an individual, like I'm a part of a part of their life in some way. I want to read your journal, not look at your catalog.

Wow! You nailed it! That is where having a market-facing Web site comes in. The catalog goes there. Flickr on the other hand is much, much, more personal for the serious photographers I know that post there.


Steve

[6BQ5]

Interesting thoughts! It seems like a majority here keep only the best of their best online but a decently sized minority run their accounts like a photo roll.

I have a print album that I have been creating through Snapfish. With shipping and handling the prints are $0.09 each. I also have some large 8" x 10" prints there too. That album is my photo roll.

[flaviopetrone]

Interesting thoughts! It seems like a majority here keep only the best of their best online but a decently sized minority run their accounts like a photo roll.

I have a print album that I have been creating through Snapfish. With shipping and handling the prints are $0.09 each. I also have some large 8" x 10" prints there too. That album is my photo roll.

I always think to print some pictures but every time I change my mind. I feel like no one of my shots really deserves to be printed.
But it would be nice to touch with my hands the pictures I have taken. I think that I should try.

[Rondec]

I keep my 500px account really exclusive, my Flickr account is more of a grab bag. I hate to delete photos, even if they aren't great, because it takes so long and often there are links here on the forum to those photos that get knocked out if I delete them.

But maybe I should post fewer photos to the forum...

[i_trax]

I have over 22k photos on my Flickr in 206 albums, I am pure amateur/traveler.
I rather enjoy going through them from time to time, the oldest was taken with Kodak DC240 1.3 MP , then Olympus with 2.1 MP , Kyocera with 4MP, Sony 6MP and finally Pentax DSLR,
the first 10MP then 12 then 16 and finely 24/20MP, not mentioning the Q and Q-s1.
It is amazing how technology progress galloped and is still galloping faster and faster through the time/years, it is all very exciting.......
enjoy photographing
kind regards
jack