How to hit the mark when you shadow hunt - A guide

A little while ago I began to support a small community called Shadow Hunters by sending some hive for the weekly shadow contest prize and through upvoting and curating quality posts for @curangel.

Not long afterwards @melinda010100 asked if I would be interested in formalising my involvement as a moderator and curator for the @ocd project; I said yes because I like supporting the community and since then I've looked at the community a couple times a day with the view to selecting some of the more quality posts for curation and the often hefty votes handed out by @ocd and @curangel.

But there's a roadblock and it's that I wish to discuss a little today with the view to removing it, or at least mitigating it's effect, through a few hints to help people get the best from their posts.

Lack of passion, personality and effort

I mentioned to Melinda that I struggled to find enough good quality posts to send to curate and considering my name is attached to what I curate I'm not willing to promote something that doesn't meet a certain criteria. Ergo, a blurred image of tree branch with no supporting text or explanation will get nowhere. The same with an awesome shadow image with nothing in support, no explanation or story.

No, that's not going to work at all...Users need to apply more effort if they want rewards. I've always been a man who has offered reward commensurate to the effort expended and no effort will get exactly what it deserves.

I don't specifically need to see a thousand words, just passion, personality and effort, in-focus and interesting photos and a supporting story, thought or explanation of the images. You can add in the details of the camera of course, but that on it's own isn't enough, not for me, and so people that could be gaining great rewards from curangel, ocd and myself will not do so.

I simply expect people to work a little harder for what they earn; It's not just for monetary reward, but for self-respect and to promote yourself to the community. Trust me, the passion, personality and effort things really works and will attract people to your account.

Here's links to my last four posts in the Shadow Hunters community; Again, I don't suggest you need to write like me or be a super-great photographer, I certainly am not - Just inject some effort, which I think is what I show here: Shadowed scent, Billabong reflections, Same reflection | Different result, 18,628 fragments

---

A few helpful tips

• Photos should be in focus and clear. Humans think in pictures so the initial impression you leave with the image is likely to be the one the observer is left with, no matter what you write. Leave a good first impression and it will last.
• If you have put zero effort into the image it is likely those observing it will see that; I certainly do. The walked past random shadow and blurry-photographed it post is going no where, trust me. Keep the photos interesting.
• Note: Single-photo posts are considered acceptable for contest entries however are unlikely to be selected for curation.
• Camera details may be great for a photography community but I'm pretty sure the curators here don't care what phone or camera you used - Sure, add it in, but don't make it the text body. It's actually not all that relevant.
• Try different things with your shadow hunting; Don't be one-dimensional. Try a few effects, but twenty seven different filters on the same image isn't very legit; I get bored and click away and that's not what you're trying to achieve. You want to keep your audience interested and engaged. Anyone can apply filters, but you need to stand out!
• That's where text comes into it, the story, explanation or simply just your thoughts...It can add a lot of interest to your post and keep people engaged. It doesn't matter if you don't write well or English isn't your first language we'll take all of that into consideration if you're showing the big three! Passion, personality and effort.
• You can explain where you took the photos, how you got there, what the shadow or location makes you feel, why you're there, how often you go there. It doesn't matter too much what you say as long as it is relevant and keeps the observer engaged.

• Presentation is important also. It's amazing how many users do great posts but they seem to lack in the presentation area which shows lack of effort or care-factor I suppose also. If you don't know how to centre images learn, I'm happy to help you it's quite simple really: <center>your image here</center> and makes a huge difference. Spell check your text, don't over-use emojis and bold or large text...Keep it simple and your posts will look more appealing and capture more interest.

• Respond to comments left on your post with relevance and validity. Simply saying thank you to a comment left is polite, but it doesn't really open up much in the way of conversation. Remember, it's relationships that will help an account grow and a user gain profile. I know a lot of people around the place and often call up a few to do some additional voting on what I feel is great work; That's how relationship-building works, and it can work for you too. So, respond with effort and personality because you don't know who is looking.

• Tagging everyone...I'm not a huge fan of people doing this although I know why they do it; To draw attention to themselves...I've always felt it's a little desperate though, and intrusive. It doesn't need to be done in the Shadow Hunters community, or any for that matter. Let your work speak for itself - Trust me, it will get seen without the tags. Do your contest entry and drop the link into the contest post, that's all you need to do. Of course, this doesn't mean you can't thank people for their support and effort which I actually encourage - Just be a little careful about over-use of the tag thing.

• Lastly I want to suggest consistency. I've been here since the 13th of June 2017 and have posted daily; Sure, some have been better than others but I've been consistent in my posting, done so to the best of my limited ability and have engaged with the community a lot. Doing this will pay dividends in time - This isn't a get rich quick scheme, just a blogging platform, and consistency, building and nurturing relationships along with passion, personality and effort will help put you on the community's radar which is exactly where you need to be.

---

I don't speak for the community leader or admins here, it is not my place to do so. I speak from my own perspective and with the hope that someone reads this and takes the opportunity to create some great posts in the Shadow Hunters community and that also spills over into every post they do and every interaction they have.

The community in general is pretty easy to get along with and most users will interact with you in a good-natured manner. Starting with the whales is probably not advisable though, nor is spamming people. Just have some fun with it, find enjoyment in the posting and engagement and the rest will take care of itself.

This goes for all of your activities here, not just for the Shadow Hunters community. Applying a few simple principles will bring great results if done consistently...And doing the same thing expecting different results could be the definition of madness in my estimation.

I hope to see you all in the Shadow Hunters community at some stage; It will be a pleasure to send your posts to curangel or ocd and to see you get some rewards commensurate to your efforts...And don't forget, reflections are welcome too!

Feel free to comment below if you like, I'll be sure to get back to you.