Find clients and create a name. Where is the best place for a photographer to post pictures | Articles | Photo, video, optics

In order to suc­ceed, you need not shoot “on the table”, but pub­lish your pho­tos. But not all novice pho­tog­ra­phers know where to go and where to start.

We will tell you about this today: we have col­lect­ed for you a selec­tion of Russ­ian and inter­na­tion­al sites where you can and should upload your pho­tos.

Instagram

Pro­file of a pro­fes­sion­al pho­tog­ra­ph­er on Insta­gram. Screen­shot of the author

Insta­gram is one of the most pop­u­lar apps for pho­tog­ra­phers. The social net­work focused on the visu­al has become an ide­al plat­form for find­ing your audi­ence — it is easy to find both the view­er and the cus­tomer there. There is also the oth­er side of the coin — it is easy to get lost in the infor­ma­tion­al noise. Those who want to real­ly get pro­mot­ed will have to spend time, mon­ey on tar­get­ing and learn­ing hash­tags.

In addi­tion to pro­fes­sion­al pho­tos, it is cus­tom­ary to post shots from every­day life on Insta­gram. So you can cre­ate a pub­lic image for your­self and talk about life and work phi­los­o­phy.

Insta­gram severe­ly reduces the qual­i­ty and lim­its the size of the pho­to. In fact, users get a pre­view of the pic­ture, and the site itself turns into a show­case with pho­to­graph­ic works.

Insta­gram has a strict pol­i­cy on nude pho­tos. Nude pho­tog­ra­phers who don’t want to cen­sor their shots should look else­where.

Pros:

• avail­able to every­one;
• suit­able for both com­mer­cial and cre­ative pur­pos­es.

Minus­es:

• pho­to cen­sor­ing;
• com­pres­sion and loss of image qual­i­ty.

VKontakte and Facebook

Pho­tog­ra­pher’s albums in the VKon­tak­te com­mu­ni­ty. Screen­shot of the author

Both social net­works offer sim­i­lar fea­tures. Pho­tog­ra­phers can cre­ate pub­lic pages and pro­mote them to find clients and mod­els.

Both VK and Face­book com­press pic­tures, but not as much as Insta­gram. The qual­i­ty of the pic­ture is enough to watch pho­tos from the screen of a lap­top or even a TV.

In social net­works, there are many already pro­mot­ed aggre­ga­tor groups in which you can pub­lish your work. A good way of free adver­tis­ing, but be pre­pared for neg­a­tive reviews if the pub­lic audi­ence is caus­tic and aggres­sive.

VK and Face­book have a strict infor­ma­tion pol­i­cy, which includes a ban on the pub­li­ca­tion of vul­gar and obscene images, pro­pa­gan­da and incite­ment to any kind of hos­til­i­ty, the pro­mo­tion of drugs and oth­er restric­tions. In addi­tion, often the com­mu­ni­ties them­selves intro­duce addi­tion­al rules and reg­u­la­tions for pub­li­ca­tions.

Pros:

• you can cre­ate com­mu­ni­ties;
• you can pro­mote the prod­uct;
• avail­able to every­one.

Minus­es:

• con­tent cen­sor­ing.

tumblr

Pho­tog­ra­ph­er pro­file on tum­blr. Screen­shot of the author

Tum­blr is a blog­ging plat­form. Tum­blr has very sim­ple rules: You can post any­thing, any­time. And with the right hash­tags, you can reach view­ers from all over the world.

From the point of view of com­mer­cial pho­tog­ra­phy, Tum­blr is not suit­able for find­ing clients — there is no access to the audi­ence and direct com­mu­ni­ca­tion with clients. But it is ide­al for those who want to share their artis­tic vision and achieve fame among pho­tog­ra­phy fans — the site has its own trends and stars.

Pros:

• free con­tent pub­lish­ing.

Minus­es:

• there is no access to the client.

Flickr

Ran­dom selec­tion and sort­ing pan­el on flickr. Screen­shot of the author.

Flcikr is known as a source of stock pho­tos where you can post your pic­tures and make a prof­it every time some­one down­loads them. But the ser­vice offers much more options. The resource has become a plat­form for pro­fes­sion­als and fans of pho­tog­ra­phy, so you can find dis­cus­sions, inter­est groups, and tips for begin­ners there.

Flickr is espe­cial­ly good because search engines often return images host­ed on this plat­form in the results. There­fore, make the most detailed descrip­tions and use hash­tags.

Flickr only allows you to post your pho­tos. If the images are not suit­able for chil­dren or NSFW (“view at work”), the rules require a warn­ing about this. Oth­er­wise, Flickr is a free plat­form with a min­i­mum of rules. Cre­ativ­i­ty is the main goal of all authors, and cen­sor­ship is lim­it­ed only by gen­er­al­ly accept­ed norms.

Pros:

• free pub­li­ca­tion of con­tent;
• oppor­tu­ni­ty to earn pas­sive­ly;
• com­mu­ni­ties with tips and lessons.

Minus­es:

• there is no access to the client.

500px

A selec­tion of “Edi­tor’s Choice” pho­tos on the 500px site. Screen­shot of the author.

500px is a plat­form that is pop­u­lar both abroad and in Rus­sia. Russ­ian pho­tog­ra­phers use the plat­form to offer their ser­vices to clients from all over the world. At 500px you can sub­mit your pho­tos, cre­ate albums and lists of reviews for your work.

After Insta­gram and VKon­tak­te, this is the most pop­u­lar and acces­si­ble plat­form for direct com­mu­ni­ca­tion between a pho­tog­ra­ph­er and a client. There you can eas­i­ly find a spe­cial­ist of any genre and pro­file, just like on a free­lance exchange.

Novice pho­tog­ra­phers can use the plat­form as a way to get feed­back from pro­fes­sion­als by ask­ing pho­tog­ra­phers to com­ment on their work.

500px offers handy view and like stats. This is a good tool for track­ing trends and audi­ence pref­er­ences.

Pros:

• access to the client;
• com­mu­ni­ty of inter­na­tion­al spe­cial­ists;
• oppor­tu­ni­ty to find mod­els.

Minus­es:

• small audi­ence com­pared to social net­works.

Profi.ru

Pho­to album page. Screen­shot of the author.

“Profi” is a ser­vice exchange. There you are look­ing for a client and orders, just like on any free­lance plat­form.

Clients select a pho­tog­ra­ph­er based on their port­fo­lio. It’s impor­tant to sub­mit mul­ti­ple shots that best reflect your style and skills. This is not so much a plat­form for pub­lish­ing pho­tos as an exhi­bi­tion of your best work.

Pros:

• access to the client;
• large audi­ence.

Minus­es:

• lim­it­ed pos­si­bil­i­ty of reg­is­tra­tion of the pub­li­ca­tion.

eye em

The main page of the Eye­Em por­tal. Screen­shot of the author.

Eye­Em is a plat­form for upload­ing and search­ing for stock pho­tos. There you can pub­lish pic­tures of any gen­res and styles and earn mon­ey on them. The com­pa­ny buys the pic­tures, leav­ing copy­right to the pho­tog­ra­ph­er.

A sep­a­rate plus of the Eye­Em plat­form is the oppor­tu­ni­ty to take part in var­i­ous events — exhi­bi­tions, com­pe­ti­tions, sem­i­nars.

Pros:

• com­mu­ni­ty of pho­tog­ra­phers;
• their activ­i­ties;
• pas­sive income.

Minus­es:

• there is no access to the client.

GettyImages and iStock

The main page of the get­ty­im­ages por­tal. Screen­shot of the author.

Pop­u­lar stocks are a great earn­ing oppor­tu­ni­ty for pho­tog­ra­phers. It used to be easy to get on the plat­forms and start sell­ing your work. With the growth in pop­u­lar­i­ty, the sites intro­duced the appli­ca­tion process.

To reg­is­ter, you need to fill out the form, tell about your­self and attach some pho­tos. Each pho­to is mod­er­at­ed. Edi­tors eval­u­ate its rel­e­vance to the stat­ed top­ic and image qual­i­ty. At the slight­est hint of “soap”, the pic­ture will be reject­ed.

Pros:

• pas­sive income;

Minus­es:

• mod­er­a­tion and pho­to selec­tion.

Own website/blog

Pho­tog­ra­pher’s per­son­al port­fo­lio site. Screen­shot of the author.

If you don’t want to deal with mod­er­a­tion and cen­sor­ship, then there is an alter­na­tive way. You can use your own blog or web­site to upload pho­tos. If you are ready to pay for host­ing (about 300–400 rubles per month) and invest mon­ey and efforts in pro­mot­ing your own site, then this option is best suit­ed for pub­lish­ing pic­tures.

You can ful­ly per­son­al­ize the site, and if nec­es­sary, even sub­mit your own vir­tu­al pho­to book.

Pros:

• free­dom of action (with­in the frame­work of the leg­is­la­tion of the Russ­ian Fed­er­a­tion);
• indi­vid­ual design;

Minus­es:

• the need for expan­sion.