How Do You Rate Travel Pictures?

Why is there a rating system at all? Is it actually there for people to go check out the highest rated photos and then go read the blog? Just because the photos are good, doesn't mean the blog is going to be interesting or informative. I definitely think to make a good blog it's a nice balance between good photos, good writing, accurate information, and some links. But I have found it fun to just browse the Top Rated photos every once in a while. I definitely like the idea, and was very happy when my Fraser Island Australia photos made it to the Top Rated photos. But I agree with most of you, this is my rating technique too.
Rate it a 5 if you say WOW, looks like a photo in a magazine.
Rate it a 4 if you say, Nice Photo, I wish I took that.
Rate it a 3 if you say, that's pretty cool.
And I agree, 2-1's I don't really rate, probably cause they serve another purpose other then a "nice" photo.

Now if you're going with quality. Not everyone has a nice camera. So the quality is going to be subject to other factors. However even with a little digital or disposable camera, good photos can still have nice composition, lighting, colors, focus, detail, contrast, etc... It's a travelblog site, not Flickr. So I a definitely go easy when it comes to rating. I guess I should also read more blogs though, as lately I feel I only have time to write them.

To finish, maybe Travelblog should put a book together. Lonely Planet does this with a lot of submitted photos. We should pool all our photos together and make a book so people can purchase them and see all the photos from around the world that are funny, interesting, cute, amazing, beautiful, inspiring, and all the other reasons we travel for. Just a thought. Reply to this

Travelblogs are certaintly individual and done for a variety of reasons. However, what drew me to Travelblog over any other travelblog site was the fact that the pictures seemed to dominate the blogs rather than some boring recap of someone handwashing their clothes. Personally I only rate photos that capture the culture of the country, the faces of the people,and surrounding landscapes etc..

To sum it all up, there is a reason why I'm drawn to Cumberland Sausage, TeamTurner and a select others. They are truly sharing their travels through the lens. All deserve the title of "Best Not to be Employed by National Geographic". Reply to this

I agree that a "5" should be a photo that you would frame and out on your wall at home. Or a picture which is inspiring, either because the place captivates you, or the photography itself. I often think that the composition of a photo is what turns "4"s into "5"s - Cumberand Sausage and Mingalaba are superb in that respect.

Pictures of people are taken out of context when they are just in a slideshow to be rated, because there are no stories wrapped around them to explain what was going on. Perhaps with TravelBlog evolving so fast bloggers could nominate their own pictures which they would like to be rated, each creating an album or 'portfolio'?

This may be an un-subtle hint to rate mine, I'm in a country that I suppose people don't think of reading about too often and feeling a bit underappreciated!

J Reply to this

I would like to be able to down-rate some of my own photos. Some of my mediocre shots have been rated as 5's which "pushes" some of the better photos I've taken out of the "Highly rated photos" section. Since there's a limit of 50 photos to the section, a photo that's been rated 5 by one person will have a higher status than a photo that's been rated by 16 different people with a rate of 4,9.
It would thus be nice if one could have a bit more control of ones own highly rated photos.

I also think a really great caption can boast a good "4" into a "5". Reply to this

"Also, would it be possible to introduce a policy so that anyone writing a blog from the salt flats in Bolivia would have to go through a mandatory process of viewing all previous perspective photos from that location so that poses are not repeated?"

That is hilarious Jabe!! Reply to this

Owww! - my comment backfired 😊 I now only see pictures which have more than one rating under "Top Photos" - so quite a few disappeared which were highly rated but only rated by one person. Buhuuuu :'( Reply to this

Best photo on TravelBlog? It wouldn't be fair to have a best photographer, because so many are just amazing and all in different ways, but nominating a few favourite pictures would allow anyone to be appreciated. Perhaps there could be a gallery (or galleries, by continent) for photos rated "5" at least 5 times?

J Reply to this

Luca, Make sure you are logged into your TravelBlog account and remember that you cannot rate your own pictures. Otherwise, there should be a small set of stars to the right of pictures when you click on them. These stars allow you to rate the pictures giving a one through five star rating. Reply to this

Don't you have to have something like 100 photos of your own added before you have the option to rate other people's??? It would explain why only the 'hardcore' travelbloggers rate photos - they are the only ones with enough pictures of their own on the site already. I currently can't rate photos either, so i am assuming it has something to do with the fact I have only added a few pictures so far. Reply to this

Actually Anna it is usually a PC problem. I've been blogging for over two years now and still run into the problem from time to time. I have two PC laptops and a Mac. On the PCs its hit or miss as to whether I can rate or not. On the Mac it always works. Go figure?!? Reply to this