The dilemma for photographers posting on Steemit - Landscape or Portrait?
I know this is one that's probably kept a lot of us awake all night. I've know I've certainly lost nights of sleep over it. Ok that's not true at all, but it is something I've often wondered. Are posts better received with the first image posted in landscape or portrait?
I'm sure we all know that the thumbnail on the post is a preview of the first image posted, so I've been trying to post landscape orientated images to keep the aspect ratio correct and show the full image in the preview.
Now comes the dilemma, is it a good thing to show all the image at first or is it better to post landscape so the thumbnail is a crop that might make the viewer click in to see more?
I've deliberate posted a portrait image here to illustrate the point. The preview will show part of the image which may be a good thing. I've seen a lot of very successful posts which do this. Even myself, I've often clicked into posts because I seen part of the image in the thumbnail and wanted to see what was going on it the full image.
Then again if I'd posted the below image then it would have shown up in full in the thumbnail.
Maybe the answer is it doesn't matter. I don't really know if there is an answer as everyone will likely have a different take on it.
I definitely believe the content of the post matters more, but I'd be curious to hear other peoples thoughts on it. Does it matter to you if the thumbnail is a cropped image that doesn't show all or do you even prefer it that way?
These shots are of the lovely Jessie Byrne taken a few years back at a fun shoot in an abandoned factory in Arklow, Ireland.
Shes amazing!
Aww thanks Vajola!
She makes me want to go to the gym all day, err day
Funny, I was wondering the same earlier today after posting two portrait oriented photos. Do the badly cropped thumbnails turn people away, or make them want to click through to see the full size image?
Great photos, by the way!
Thanking you kindly. Tough to know what effect the cropped thumbnail will have. It probably varies with each post too.
Yeah, I am pretty sure that a cropped image of a gorgeous model has a much better click through rate than the waterfall and tree shots that I shared today. The thumbnail of your image certainly didn't deter me.
Arghh, this topic makes me mad, I struggle every day with choosing a thumbnail image. Sometimes a vertical image works, but often it cuts out and looks weirs. I’ve ranted about a million times that you should have the option to crop the thumbnail as you like, but I guess it’s just too hard for this blockchain...
Its a pity we don't have the option. Have you ever used the gallery on Fstoppers.com? They have this feature and it works well for selecting your own crop. Could be trickier on here as its less of a dedicated image sharing site. Then again the photography community is pretty strong on here so you never know.
Was wondering this myself, just posted a portrait picture going to see how it compares :)
Good idea for an experiment.
I'm curious about this also!!!!! I first saw this post on my phone and the FULL preview showed up... came inside and got on my pc and the dreaded crop showed up!! This wasn't an issue until the recent site update happened. For me i would rather do a crop of my choosing and post the full image below.... this is just a workaround as i'm not sure if/when there will be a real fix for this!!
Good idea, choosing the thumbnail framing would be amazing alright and get around any weird crop issues.
When I see a cropped image, it usual makes me curious so I'll open the post to see the full image.
I was wondering if it might have that effect alright.
Could some kind of A/B testing be set up for this? Probably not a priority for Steemit Inc yet, but might be something that would be done as the site matures.
True, or even an option to let you chose the crop as @jasonrussel suggested. I know Fstoppers have this on their site as the image gallery typically displays square crops. Its works well too.
Divine creature. Love the photos.
By the way, the cropped thumbnail for this particular photo was absolutely fine by me ;)
Haha that almost looks intentional. I'm not that bad :-p
yeahhhhh I sure take that into consideration too, but if I love the vertical photo enough, I still post it first! :) Also, on the phone vertical comes out complete- so at least there's that
True, I've only recently started using on on my phone and its certainly nice to see the mix of portrait and landscape shots. Makes the feed a bit more varied too.