Updates And News
Write an article for a website about photography
The technology blogs and news sites have been going made over the new advances in articial intelligence (AI) over the last few weeks - in particular, one developed by OpenAI (ChatGPT).
As a quick test, I took the oppounity to enter the following prompt into it - quite a generic request - "write an article for a website about photography and make it good for seo"
Below is the response (and I quote),
"...Photography is a beautiful and expressive art form that allows us to capture and share special moments and experiences with others. Whether you are a professional photographer or an amateur who enjoys taking photos as a hobby, there are always new techniques and tips to learn and improve your skills. In this article, we will explore some key strategies for taking great photos and optimizing them for search engine optimization (SEO).
One of the most important things to consider when taking photos is lighting. Proper lighting can make a huge difference in the quality and mood of a photograph. Natural light is usually the best option, as it provides a softer and more evenly distributed light. If you are shooting indoors or in low light conditions, try using a flash or other artificial lighting sources to help illuminate your subject.
Composition is another crucial aspect of photography. This refers to the arrangement of elements within the frame of your photograph. There are many different composition techniques that you can use to add interest and depth to your photos, such as the rule of thirds, leading lines, and framing. Experiment with different compositions and see which ones work best for your subject and style.
Another important aspect of photography is color. Color can greatly impact the mood and emotion of a photograph. Pay attention to the colors in your scene and try to use them to your advantage. For example, warmer colors like red, orange, and yellow can create a sense of energy and excitement, while cooler colors like blue and green can create a more calming and serene atmosphere.
When it comes to SEO, there are a few things you can do to optimize your photos for search engines. One of the most important is to use descriptive and relevant file names for your photos. Instead of using generic names like "IMG_1234.jpg," try to include keywords that describe the subject of the photo, such as "sunset-beach-ocean.jpg." This will make it easier for search engines to understand the content of your photo and rank it appropriately.
Another way to optimize your photos for SEO is to use alt text. Alt text is a short description of the content of an image that is displayed in place of the image if it cannot be displayed for some reason. Alt text is also used by search engines to understand the content of an image and determine its relevance to a particular search. Be sure to include relevant keywords in your alt text to help improve the SEO of your photos.
Finally, consider using photo metadata to further optimize your photos for SEO. Metadata is information about a photo that is embedded in the photo file itself. This can include information such as the date the photo was taken, the camera settings used, and the location where the photo was taken. By including this information in your photos, you can give search engines more context about the content of your photos and improve their ranking in search results.
In conclusion, photography is a wonderful art form that allows us to capture and share special moments with others. By following these tips and techniques, you can take better photos and optimize them for SEO to reach a wider audience and share your work with the world..."
Now, there's obviously going to be mistakes and there's the possibility of outdated information in the response, and it's obviously not going to be totally suited to everyone's purposes and needs, but as a starting point I actually don't think it's too bad. I guess it's similar to what used to happen at school - someone does the main work, it gets past around and people change the words. Is it cheating? I guess that depends on which side of the fence you sit. It's certainly an easy way of generating some textual content for a website that search engines would potentially love. Is Google going to penalise websites who use content generated in the manor? That leads us to another question - how are they going to work that out? If you've already got a sizable site, that uses normal language and you suddenly start posing AI generated text that uses more 'flowery' language - that might be a potential giveaway.
Other companies have banned the use of AI responses - in particular, StackOverflow. This is the worlds biggest forum for programmeres and you'll find a lot of people just blindly copy and paste the answers and not fully understand the logic or functions. I can see a few issues coming up here - so you might want to expect a few errors on the web over the forthcoming months and years - yes, AI can indeed generated code - is it 100% fit for purpose? I'd say 'no', but from what I've tested, it's actually not far off, only time will tell I guess. Make up your own mind. It's there - it's for the taking. Certainly worth the time to take a look and work out if it's something you could use or not.
2 Years later
...I'm still alive and I'm glad to say I've come out the other side unscathed. Now we've got Putin thinking he's God and wanting to take over the world, a change of Prime Minister (for better or for worse) and our Queen has passed away. One thing comes along and goes away and another comes along to take it's place. Well...I'm here, I'm still shooting, can't be arsed with keeping my social media up-to-date... Other things have taken over and become more important. This is more of test post for this new version of my site which I've written from the ground up - it just looks pretty much identical to the old version, but works in a totally different way.
I've a plan and ideas - more incremental updates to come - some public facing, others not. Watch this space. Book me. Shoot with me.
COVID-19 Update.
I'm desperate to shoot, but given the current state of things, I'm only taking the occasional booking for individuals or very small groups, pending updates from the government and any shoot conducted will be conducted in accordance with the latest guidelines. I'm concentrating my efforts in other areas and endeavours which I'm not currently disclosing. Stay tuned...Hopefully things will pick up soon.Suspicious Email Reporting Service
100 days since the UK lockdown was implemented and there's many changes and things to worry about - the virus itself, the impact on friends and family, not being able to go out, restrictions on travel, mental health, financial worry and now fraud and criminal activity! Lockdown also seems to be rich pickings for criminal activity!
A report from Action Fraud (https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/alert/over-16-million-lost-to-online-shopping-fraud-during-lockdown-with-people-aged-18-26-most-at-risk) reveals that some 16,000 people have fallen victim to online shopping scams during lockdown, accounting for around £16.6 million in losses. The report details how members of the public purchased mobile phones, vehicles, and electronics from scam websites only for these items to never arrive. It also reveals that nearly a quarter of online fraud victims during lockdown are aged between 18 to 26.
Since launching in April, the Suspicious Email Reporting Service (https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/information/report-suspicious-emails) has received over a million suspect emails. Many of these have been for scam shopping sites.
If you receive a suspicious email that doesn’t look quite right, just forward it to report@phishing.gov.uk and they will investigate and take action where appropriate. There is no harm in forwarding emails which turn out to be legitimate so do not hesitate to forward something to them.
The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has produced guidance on dealing with suspicious emails, phone calls and text messages (https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/guidance/suspicious-email-actions). It offers advice on spotting scam emails and details about what to do if you’ve already responded to a phishing scam. More generally, the Cyber Aware site (https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/cyberaware/home) offers further advice on protecting your accounts and devices.
PurplePort FPI award!
I'm currently sitting here in front of my PC feeling pretty chuffed! 17th September 2019 saw me travelling 110 to Lilleshall Abbey for a Viking themed photoshoot organised by Norse Dragon Armoury.
Between the day-to-day commitments of work and family, there's 1000's of images that I've got, that just get "cherry picked" and shared to various places such as Instagram, one or two members only Facebook groups or more publicly, to PurplePort (https://purpleport.com/). 7th June, I uploaded an image which was received very well, and today, it got awarded a "Front Page Image" - so I must be doing something right - best of all, it's totally safe for work!
If you fancy popping along and seeing for yourself,
please click the following link:
https://purpleport.com/
