12-22-2017 01:35 AM - edited 04-10-2018 07:41 AM
Hi there, as a Connect Moderator one of the most common things I help people with is that they notice that either
Let me start with what you should do
First up, familiarise yourself with the Maps Community Contributed Content Policy in the Help Centre. Anything that violates this policy will be removed either because someone flagged it or it came through the normal review channels. I won't repeat that material here. The policy changes from time to time so keep it bookmarked for your reference.
It's ok to have some not so great images some of the time, but not all of the time.
Secondly, don't be click happy, in the case of photos and videos, less is always better. An average place (shop, park, business) needs only two or three images to properly convey the feel of the place and to help people find it.
When people ask for general help or ask me directly I usually ask for a link to their Local Guides profile for me to look at their contributions to get a feel for how they're contributing. This helps me to tailor some help directly for them. The kinds of things that I look out for that impact on someones quality or even in time their ability to actually add new material:
I'm not going to include any examples of poor contributions because I don't want to call anyone out. At the very least this sort of contribution doesn't help anyone, at the worst they could lead to restrictions on the ability to contribute new material from that Local Guide.
Always ask yourself, is what I'm about to post actually going to help someone or is just for the points. If it's just for the points, then I'd suggest that you have a think about it. People who rocket up in the points certainly get noticed in a hurry! The whole point of Local Guides from a community perspective is to help each other and make Maps the best product it can be for all of us.
At this point I'll give you some examples of good contributions not because their photographic genius (they're not) but because they're helpful - I'm going to use my own but only because I want to avoid violating anyone's privacy. I'm not an angel and at times I have contributed some images that I probably should have had a second think about so when you wander through my profile I'll bet you find some.... anyway here are a few that I reckon are helpful
One thing I have noticed when looking for images to share is that I've got a bad habit of leaning to the left when shooting indoors. I'll have to pay more attention to that so it doesn't happen anymore.
Regards Paul
12-22-2017 02:38 AM
Excellent, Paul, thanks a lot for sharing your tips!
@PaulPavlinovich wrote:
...
One thing I have noticed when looking for images to share is that I've got a bad habit of leaning to the left when shooting indoors. I'll have to pay more attention to that so it doesn't happen anymore.
I also have this bad habit (although both leaning to the left and right). So I have got used to shooting a bit bigger picture (leaving some space around) and only sharing photos from the desktop later. In Google Photos, I straighten the image, crop if needed, add some filter (usually "automatic" will do) and upload to the maps that way.
12-22-2017 03:06 AM
Awesome Post and very informative...
One thing that might help others to take a better photo or to adjust it for a better presentation is the understanding of the "Rule of thirds".
This does not have to be done at the time of capturing and can be modified later before uploading.
12-22-2017 03:14 AM
Great useful tips @PaulPavlinovich thanks for sharing with us.
12-22-2017 04:06 AM
That works @Csaba 🙂
12-22-2017 04:13 AM
Indeed @RaveWolf knowing rule of thirds (or more importantly when to break it) is one of the cornerstones of good photography. There are so many keys to good photography that I deliberately avoided those items to keep a focus on Maps. There are awesome free photography tutorials that people can undertake such as
Or you can just join a camera club or online community like Photograph Melbourne.
On the lead up to the 2018 "36 Walk" I'll be posting a series of articles for beginners here on Connect.
Regards Paul
12-22-2017 04:24 AM
Great post @PaulPavlinovich! Deserves to be pinned! 🙂
12-22-2017 06:22 AM
Thanks @LucioV
12-23-2017 01:39 AM
+1 on pinning this.
Super informative. and something I have frequently been wondering about, you put words on a lot of things here. thank you.
12-23-2017 03:28 PM
Thanks for great tips.