Peyto Lake

Hi, I'm new here, so I apologize if I'm out of line with this question. I mean no offense, I'm just trying to understand how the rating system works around here. Could somebody explain to me the high Originlity ratings this photo has received when there are thousands of virtually identical images on the web, taken from the same overlook?

It's a nice image for sure, but what has the photographer added that would qualify it for a high Originality rating?

Steve,

Please keep this hush-hush but I dispense several thousand dollars per week to PN subscribers in exchange for high ratings! The one thing you'll learn here is not to take the ratings too seriously. Many factors influence the ratings. For instance, notice on this image that most of the high rates appear to have come from Europeans who are not as familiar with this Canadian setting. Likewise, I probably tend to rate non-North American landscapes higher because some of them look "different" (ie, original) to me. On the other hand, I am a pretty hardened traveler and subscribe to several of the big monthly travel mags. Yet, I don't remember ever having seen this image Peyto Lake prior to my visit.

Based on what I saw in your, as of now, small portfolio you appear to focus on the artistic and fine art aspects of photography whereas my focus is on documentary travel photography. The segment of the market that you represent has probably gotten smaller here at PN over the past year as they have tried to make the site more mainstream, build traffic and sell advertising.

If you choose to stick around here (which I hope you will), you will see a lot of cheesy stuff like this image and I suspect that some of your work will be under-appreciated. Nonetheless, there are some nice people here and the odd photographer who will cause you to improve your own work.

Jim