Finding photos - a headache

Finding photos - a headache

Anyone else find that the photo side of things is the biggest headache? I am a photographer as well as a writer and I have lived in my guide city for more than 20 years, and I still don't have all the necessary images to place a picture for each entry for my app-destined guide. There needs to be a picture for each app entry, otherwise an empty holding box appears in the app. I have info on most of the entries without having to revisit each place but I'm finding that revisits are the only way to get the pictures for, say, restaurants and hotels. Very time consuming, and my guide could have been complete some time ago if it wasn't for this. The Gecko advice is to browse Flicker but the material there is often very poor and often inappropriate. I don't think there is a short cut solution this but perhaps the challenge should be made clearer from the outset so that would-be guide writers are aware of the requirement!

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I've found asking photographers nicely if I can use their photos is the best solution. There are lots of photographers out there who want exposure for their work; if you promise to prominently mention their contributions, they'll likely say yes. And, of course, if your app/web pages end up making any money, you should give them a cut.

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Hi,

I have just amended the FAQ with a screenshot to avoid further confusion: http://www.guidegecko.com/help-publish2#include-photos

Hope that helps!

Cheers,
Daniel

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Good. I have photos for most and am still hunting for a few but good to know it is not a must.

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One piece of advice is to see if you can find local photographers whose work you admire and then bookmark their flickr pages. Then rather than randomly searching through "poor and often inappropriate" photos you can first check your bookmarked pages. Might take a little time to find those photographers but once you do it should make life easier.

As you say it is time consuming revisiting places but can also be quite interesting. I found a really cool restaurant area that I didn't even know existed and wouldn't have found if I hadn't been revisiting a market to take photos for the app. :-)

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I am thinking of doing an app for an ebook travel guide but realistically how much work is it to convert it? I haven't sold that many copies of the ebook so am a little wary of investing too much more time in it!

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Thanks Daniel.

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Thanks for the feedback, Tim.

Let me add some more information on this topic: First of all, it is NOT a requirement to have a photo for every entry, BUT the entries in the app will look better with a photo.

If an entry has a photo, we use a small thumbnail in the section overview screens of the app. See the screenshot for "Shows what's near you" on this page as an example: http://www.guidegecko.com/iphone-travel-apps

This screen shows all entries (articles and listings) of the section in a list format. If the entry does not have a photo, we use a placeholder instead. We currently use an unobtrusive, gray, triangle shaped icon as the placeholder, which shall make it look natural and avoid the look and feel of "there is something missing". It works pretty well for this purpose. Of course, if some entries have a photo and others don't, users may still feel that there is something missing for these entries.

In a nutshell: it is better if you have a photo for every entry, but we can publish the app also if you don't.

Hope that helps!

Best,
Daniel

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