Share Your Best Photo of the Day

[Birds are cool]

8 hours ago, Tanager 101 said:

I'd also give it a five. I'd love to see the original photo as it appears it is cropped. Depending on how the original one was framed, A different crop might also produced another 5 star photo. (Not to say this one isn't great, that's not what I mean)

I posted that photo in the feedback on editing attempts. Thanks!

[Birds are cool]

What do you think about this photo? Ratings appreciated!

https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/527338401

[Colton V]

19 hours ago, Colton V said:

lifer Red Phalaropes from yesterday
https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/527192111

https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/527192121

Ok I’m not gonna argue that these photos are perfect but can anyone explain why these are being rated as 4 stars instead of 5?

[Snake Fingers]

2 minutes ago, Colton V said:

Ok I’m not gonna argue that these photos are perfect but can anyone explain why these are being rated as 4 stars instead of 5?

That’s a good point.

Edited January 23 by Snake Fingers

[Quiscalus quiscula]

4 minutes ago, Colton V said:

Ok I’m not gonna argue that these photos are perfect but can anyone explain why these are being rated as 4 stars instead of 5?

No idea, those are amazing! Five from me. Some review bomber must have rated it very low and decreased the overall rating.

[IKLland]

29 minutes ago, Colton V said:

Ok I’m not gonna argue that these photos are perfect but can anyone explain why these are being rated as 4 stars instead of 5?

Both fives from me, I’s say they’re being bombed. Most of the other photos on the homepage were bombed earlier today. 

[Birds are cool]

55 minutes ago, IKLland said:

Both fives from me, I’s say they’re being bombed. Most of the other photos on the homepage were bombed earlier today. 

Does anybody know why? Seems kind of pointless for them to do that.

[Birds are cool]

1 hour ago, Colton V said:

Ok I’m not gonna argue that these photos are perfect but can anyone explain why these are being rated as 4 stars instead of 5?

You could delete them and reupload them to ebird if you care. I would rate them, and I believe a lot of people here would also rate them.

[IKLland]

2 hours ago, Birds are cool said:

Does anybody know why? Seems kind of pointless for them to do that.

We’ve had multiple discussions on the forums here about this topic, but I believe they were all from before you joined. Basically, we think people do it to promote their own photos(if they lower the ratings on other peoples photos, their photos gut pushed toward the top). Some people might be jealous of the good photos, and some might just be plain rude. 

[Colton V]

5 hours ago, IKLland said:

Both fives from me, I’s say they’re being bombed. Most of the other photos on the homepage were bombed earlier today. 

There must be multiple people doing this then right? 

[Aaron]

There’s definitely a conspiracy going on with the ratings. When the top 10 photos used to last on the main page for 24 hours, there was always the same 3-5 people (that I noticed) who would appear on it almost everyday or multiple times a week. Far more than you’d expect the typical person to, even if their photos were exceptional. Even sometimes the photos would be from the same date, but they’d upload them on different days to (I assume) ensure that each photo they uploaded would make it to the top ten to get as many ratings as possible. 

I’m fairly certain they use multiple accounts/bots to boost their own photos. Once I was uploading photos to a checklist and went to make sure they appeared in the recently uploaded section and one of the 3-5 people mentioned above happened to upload pictures at the same time, so they were in between my photos. I clicked on one and it already was at 5 stars with 6 ratings, and this had to be within a minute of it being uploaded. So if people are willing to do that, I’m sure they’re willing to employ them against the ‘competition.’
I don’t really understand what someone gains from it, however. Even if someone does it to make their photo higher, what are they receiving in the end…It will be a top photo for 24hrs/7 days/30 days and then ~maybe~ it will be a top photo for the species page. But then it just sits there doing nothing. There’s no real prize or fame associated with it. 
Don’t get me wrong, it’s definitely fun having your better photos get highly rated, but it’s never that serious to manipulate the rating system and bomb other peoples photos.

I know lots of photographers have big egos, so it might just be people being overly critical/insecure. Definitely weird stuff though… More people need to read the eBird photo rating guidelines 😂

[Connor Cochrane]

2 hours ago, Aaron said:

There’s definitely a conspiracy going on with the ratings. When the top 10 photos used to last on the main page for 24 hours, there was always the same 3-5 people (that I noticed) who would appear on it almost everyday or multiple times a week. Far more than you’d expect the typical person to, even if their photos were exceptional. Even sometimes the photos would be from the same date, but they’d upload them on different days to (I assume) ensure that each photo they uploaded would make it to the top ten to get as many ratings as possible. 

I’m fairly certain they use multiple accounts/bots to boost their own photos. Once I was uploading photos to a checklist and went to make sure they appeared in the recently uploaded section and one of the 3-5 people mentioned above happened to upload pictures at the same time, so they were in between my photos. I clicked on one and it already was at 5 stars with 6 ratings, and this had to be within a minute of it being uploaded. So if people are willing to do that, I’m sure they’re willing to employ them against the ‘competition.’
I don’t really understand what someone gains from it, however. Even if someone does it to make their photo higher, what are they receiving in the end…It will be a top photo for 24hrs/7 days/30 days and then ~maybe~ it will be a top photo for the species page. But then it just sits there doing nothing. There’s no real prize or fame associated with it. 
Don’t get me wrong, it’s definitely fun having your better photos get highly rated, but it’s never that serious to manipulate the rating system and bomb other peoples photos.

I know lots of photographers have big egos, so it might just be people being overly critical/insecure. Definitely weird stuff though… More people need to read the eBird photo rating guidelines 😂

There was someone about a month ago who had 14 ratings or so in the first couple minutes after uploading on 15 photos on their checklists... There are many bird photo sharing sites where I've seen others post photos with Macaulay Library links just like people do here. On a site with more users/traffic photos can get rated faster. The fact that some people seemed to plan out only uploading a photo a day to seemingly keep a streak before the top photos changed was crazy. I'd just forget to upload the pictures if I didn't to it all in one day. 

[blackburnian]

Don’t see these guys as often as I’d like.

https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/527686581

https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/527686621

[MarkG]

 

[IKLland]

11 hours ago, Colton V said:

There must be multiple people doing this then right? 

Absolutely!

[Connor Cochrane]

Russet-winged Schiffornis from Panama. Not the most interesting looking of birds, but a difficult one to see and photograph. 

https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/527732401

[Quiscalus quiscula]

From yesterday. I had to take this through a window leaning over the sink, and it was so hard to get it to focus on the bird. The Lumix FZ-80 just has a soft blur at this distance. Thoughts appreciated. 3?

https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/527762791

Edited January 24 by Quiscalus quiscula

[Birds are cool]

42 minutes ago, Quiscalus quiscula said:

From yesterday. I had to take this through a window leaning over the sink, and it was so hard to get it to focus on the bird. The Lumix FZ-80 just has a soft blur at this distance. Thoughts appreciated. 3?

https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/527762791

Three from me. Background is a little messy, and like you said there is a soft blur, but I really like the framing! Looks cool.

[dragon49]

Not much going on today.  I'll go with his Ring-billed Gull coming in for a landing:

https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/527747631

[Birding Boy]

The best views I've ever gotten of a White-rumped Sandpiper! From last spring, another photo I've dug out of my albums.

ML527938711 White-rumped Sandpiper Macaulay Library

[MarkG]

 

[Birds are cool]

11 hours ago, Birding Boy said:

The best views I've ever gotten of a White-rumped Sandpiper! From last spring, another photo I've dug out of my albums.

ML527938711 White-rumped Sandpiper Macaulay Library

That's a really good photo!

[Connor Cochrane]

Song Sparrow from last weekend

https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/528048441

[Birds are cool]

2 minutes ago, Connor Cochrane said:

Song Sparrow from last weekend

https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/528048441

That's an amazing picture!

[Birds are cool]

My Yellow-rumped Warbler photo and some of my other good photos just got two 1s. This photo was first in Georgia yesterday, and the 1s caused it to get bumped out of the top photos. Really annoys me. Ratings appreciated. This happened to @Colton V's photos earlier this week. Thank you so much.

 https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/528168431