What makes a good blip?

Now on Blipfoto for three months and I must say, I am learning quite a lot! So what in particular do I feel I have learned? Well I have had a lot of fun pushing my lenses to their limit and I feel as if I am starting to become friends with them. I have really enjoyed my 50mm lens and am loving what can be achieved in low light conditions with it. It's also great for portraits which is really what I love to do, but importantly, as a prime lens, it has made me work much harder compositionally. I find you really have to be more considered and there is not the ability and therefore the tempataion to just shoot wider and crop in process. This has been probably the single most rewarding aspect of having joined blipfoto.

There is however one aspect that I have found most perplexing and has had a distinct commercial influence upon me. I have found that you cannot afford to be self indulgent. I have scanned the community over the months and have found some blippers to be amazing and inspirational, both photographically and with their thoughts. Others have an amazing following with hundreds and hundreds of subscriptions, and regularly hit high ratings.

I myself have had a few high ratings, but not necessarily with the blips I would have expected....sometimes almost the exact opposite. Shots I had taken to 'fill in' or maybe even a panic blip rather than have a blank day....they got rated! Others, where I felt technically were the best shot I had posted at the time....nothing. Hardly even viewed. No comments at all. Makes me realise that it's not about what I like. Not about what I think. It will be the same commercially. It will be about what the customer wants, what they feel is good. I have had a request to buy a shot this very weekend that was, in my world, technically the worst of a bunch.

One particular photo I have posted here on blipfoto that i consider to be the best shot I have probably ever taken has received the lowest count of views, next to no comments and zero ratings! So what do I know! Seems maybe I know how to be self indulgent!

Thanks by the way go to SeniorMoments for kind comments on yesterdays sunset blip, which BTW is a good case in point. Just out, walking the dog and suddenly the sky went red. Lasted no time at all but long enough for me to step in and shoot hand held as we walked past the pond. No particular care was taken, so the shot owes it rating purely to the sunset itself, not me. A happenstance. I was there, that's it.

Today's was more deliberate. I had blipped a shot of our Camelia blooming last week, so as I was sipping a coffee in the sunshine today, I was struck by the vibrancy of colour now that it is in full bloom, and want to share. This shot pushed the lens as far as I could as close as I could. Really must look at getting one of those 'magnifying' lenses. This was taken with the 18-55 Canon standard issue, which actually shows it's quite a versatile lens!