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Nearly everybody has heard of photo sharing sights like Flickr, but what other photo sharing sites are there specifically aimed at photographers? Here I look at some and examine their good and bad points, taking into consideration ease of use, design, the quality of the photography, social networking aspects, cost, promotional potential and additional photography resources. |
Onexposure is a photo sharing site aimed at photographers run by two Swedish advanced amateur photographers. Membership is completely free and the standard of photography on the site is extremely high. The operators of the site have come up with a simple system of ensuring the high standard of photography. Before a user can display a photo on the site, it is screened to see if the photo comes up to the required standard. If they aren’t sure, they will post it for a day on the site and ask members to vote. The number of photos a member can upload is dependent on on their acceptance rate, the more photos that are accepted the more one can post. This is a great idea for ensuring the quality of the photos on the site, and means that visitors can enjoy browsing the photos without having to sift through poor quality work. There’s a wide variety of work to see, organised in categories such as Abstract, Landscape, Fine Art Nude, Portrait and Urban. As a user however, I found the submission process a little frustrating. My first two photos were accepted, and the second two rejected. In light of the time spent choosing and preparing the photos to upload, I was asking myself the question ‘Why did I bother?’ But if you like a challenge, it’s a good feeling to see your photos displayed alongside the work of some very accomplished photographers. The site is very easy to navigate and use, and is very well designed, displaying the photos against a black background, with minimal distraction. The social networking element is emphasised, members are encouraged to comment (with appreciation or gently constructive criticism) on photos that they like and to reply to any comments they receive. All members have a profile, with a link to their website if they have one, and as a promotional tool, it’s an excellent way to bring visitors to your website as long as you make the effort to post photos regularly. The emphasis of the site is on the photographs, with a forum being the only additional photography resource. Verdict: An excellent site for browsing extremely high quality photography with links to the photographers websites. Free membership encourages new members. The site is easy to use and beautifully designed without any advertising. However, the submission process can be frustrating when photos are rejected, which means submissions are for advanced photographers, not for beginners. I also disliked that the number of photos a member can upload depends on their acceptance rate. A great resource for learning by example and inspiration by looking at the displayed photos. Started in 1993 as the home page of Philip Greenspan, Photo.net has grown into a network of over 100,000 photographers. Initial membership is free and allows the user to post a portfolio of up to six photos, and full membership (required to take full advantage of the site) costs $US25 a year. Unlike Onexposure, members can post whatever photos they like. Once posted, they can submit photos for critique and they are given scores out of seven on aesthetics and originality by other members. Visitors have several options for viewing photos, searching by category, ranking or most recently posted. It’s also possible to see recently submitted photos in order of ranking. This system encourages visitors to view the highest ranked photos and means the standard of photography is very high. Due to the high level of membership there’s a wide variety of talent and photography, and the best portfolios are simply breathtaking and awe-inspiring. Social networking is heavily emphasised, with members leaving lots of encouraging comments on each other’s work. Each photographer has a profile page with a link to their website. As a promotional tool, like Onexposure it has excellent potential, as long as you regularly post photos. Photo.net is another easy to use and navigate site, with a simple, non-confusing design. It’s also an excellent photography resource, with lots of articles on learning photography, equipment reviews, interviews, news, extensive forums and classified adverts. Verdict: Another excellent photo sharing site aimed at photographers. There’s lots of inspiration with some simply amazing portfolios. It’s also a great learning resource with a large selection of useful articles and forums. The $US25 annual membership fee may put off some users, but for anyone that uses the site a lot it’s very good value for money. Trekearth is a website aimed at travellers. Photos are organised by country and subdivided into cities and regions. As a way of finding out what a place looks like by browsing photos taken there, it’s an excellent resource. Membership is free and users can post as many photos as they like, but not more than one every 24 hours. Trekearth asks for a lot of information, including place, country, date and technical details (it’s not compulsory to provide them all). However, the overall standard of photography is low and I found it a little frustrating to research a location and to see lots of boring photos amongst the few good ones. Social networking is an integral part of the site, members have a profile (although it’s not easy to include a link to a website) and comment heavily on each other’s work. Posted photos receive a lot of views in the first few days they’re online. As a promotional tool it’s very limited, I posted a lot of photos and not one person followed the link to my personal website. The emphasis is on travel photography, not the photographer. A nice feature is a world map on photographer’s profiles that highlights the countries their photos were taken in. There’s also a forum for photography and travel questions. Trekearth also has two sister sites, www.treknature.com (aimed at nature photographers) and www.treklens.com (aimed at all types of photography not just travel). A quick browse of the sister sites reveals the same strengths and weakness of trekearth. Verdict: A great site for travellers and travel photographers who want to research the visual potential of a location. The emphasis however is on the photos and the places not the photographer. Membership is free and it’s a great site to meet other travellers and photographers that like the same places. The overall standard of photography is low, and the site seems to be aimed at travellers who take photos, rather than travel photographers. Did you know that there is an online photography magazine where anyone can upload their photos and photo essays and post their profiles? JPGmag is a photo sharing site for photographers with a difference. Members upload photos and articles which are voted on by other members. The best of the best are published in a magazine and the authors paid $US100 and given a free subscription. The magazine is available for download in PDF format and also for purchase in print form. The standard of the photography in the published magazine is inspirationally high. That’s not surprising, consider the following statistics for JPG Magazine Issue 10: 10,743 photos submitted by 6,771 people, 1,057,974 votes cast by 21,024 people in 147 countries. Membership is free, and members can submit articles, photos and photo essays. Single photos can be submitted to themes; recent themes include ‘America’, ‘Dreamscapes’, ‘Are You Ready to Rock’ and ‘Fashion’. The site is easy to use and navigate with a modern design fitting a cutting edge photography magazine. Visitors can view photos, photo essays, articles, stories and contributor profiles. Photos can be voted in or out of the next edition of the magazine, but no comments can be left. Verdict: An excellent site for aspiring photographers who take on the challenge to see if their work is good enough to publish in the magazine. The photos, articles and photo essays are very interesting to explore. The potential of publication is a great incentive to use the site. The standard of the best work is extremely high. Conclusion Four different photo sharing sites for photographers, all with different strengths that suit different types of user. Trekearth is a great website for travellers, Photo.net is the best for resources such as articles, interviews and forums, Onexposure is great to browse for inspiration, and JPGmag offers the incentive of publication in a cutting edge photography magazine.
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