Why do you use a photography website?

[davidedric]

This thread is just posted out of interest and curiosity, and prompted by a recent thread asking which site to use.

Until I joined CiC I had never thought to share photos with anyone except family and friends (and only then if they were persistent). It's obvious that many members do use photo websites, and I can imagine there could be lots of reasons.

I would be really interested to know more about what and why. Any offers?

Thanks in advance,

Dave

[dje]

This thread is just posted out of interest and curiosity, and prompted by a recent thread asking which site to use.

Until I joined CiC I had never thought to share photos with anyone except family and friends (and only then if they were persistent). It's obvious that many members do use photo websites, and I can imagine there could be lots of reasons.

I would be really interested to know more about what and why. Any offers?

Thanks in advance,

Dave

Hi Dave

I was in the same boat as you and never really considered sharing photos until joining CIC. I decided to join a site (PBase) because I wasn't terribly impressed with the TinyPic method of posting images on CIC. WIth PBase, I have full control over image size and quality.

Having joined PBase and also Flickr, it has become obvious just how popular photo sharing is and it amazes me how must storage space must be used by these types of sites. The main advantage for me with PBase is that I can direct friends who want to see my images to that site where they can see everything neatly arranged in galleries. I can control access where necessary.

One observation with comments on these sites is that there is a certain amount of "palsy walsy" involved - you comment on my images and I'll comment on yours!! The comments are usually compilmentary and there is rarely critique offered.

Dave

[Mike Buckley]

The comments are usually compilmentary and there is rarely critique offered.

I've gotta disagree, Dave. I see lots and lots of extremely helpful critique here at CiC every single day.

One observation with comments on these sites is that there is a certain amount of "palsy walsy" involved - you comment on my images and I'll comment on yours!!

Some would call that building effective relationships. There is a social element to anything in which people interact and I don't think that's a bad thing.

EDIT: I see from Bobo's comments below that you are probably not referring to CiC.

[NorthernFocus]

A web site with contollable access is the quickest/easiest way to share photos long distance. You can be selective in who you allow to view them, you don't have to worry about emailing through firewalls, antivirus software, etc, and you can link photos to other sites like here.

Regarding the palsy walsy stuff, it doesn't take long visiting a site to figure out whether people are really interested in critique or if they really just want their egos stroked. Some sites have established cultures but people are always people and have different levels of tolerance, objectivity, etc. The sites that I've found with the most useful critique/comments usually have a good set of guidelines on how to critique and require a ratio of comments to posts. Of course there are always those who live by the axiom that rules are made to be broken and will game the system. I've found that if you hang around a site long enough, the culture manifests itself and those things are self correcting.

[jeeperman]

I use Smugmug for much the same reasons as have been mentioned by all three above me. I use the Pro formatt of that for another reason, many of my daily customers from work have enquired how they may purchase a print should they like. For a while I would have a print made and deliver to them, this got old really fast as I have a day job and would rather spend my gas and free time out shooting.

Smug saves me time and money in the long run. I never intended to sell images and at this point would rather keep the impact on my daily life to a min.

Mike, I don't think Dave was referring to this site when he said there was little to no critique. I find very little if any critique on Smugmug. They have there own forum which is likely where that occurs. As for on the site itself, I don't think many of the people sharing images would like to see "how to make it better" critique on their images they may be offering for sale or just showing their friends and family. It is reallly just a matter of what you want that pushes you to a sharing or to a forum based site.

[Mike Buckley]

Mike, I don't think Dave was referring to this site when he said there was little to no critique.

Ahhhhhhh. That makes sense. I didn't even realize Dave, the OP, was referring to photo-sharing sites such as Smugmug as opposed to photo-sharing sites such as CiC.

[dje]

Yes Mike my comments were aimed at sites such as Flickr, PBase and Smugmug, not CiC. I do think though that with sites such as Flickr etc there is a social element just as there is with CiC - however it's a bit different. It's not just ego massage either, I do believe that many participants on these sites have a genuine desire to acknowledge good photography as they do on CiC.

Dave

[GrahamH]

CIC is my main photo critique site and usually find it useful without too much of the social climbing (you pat my back and I will pat yours) or petty aggressiveness. I also use model mayhem but I find it too destructive and petty, interestingly enough I don't see much of the social climbing going on.
I use Flickr mainly as a photosharing website where I post pics as 'contact prints' where they then request from me larger versions.

I can understand the social climbing aspect as many people want to have 'positive strokes'.
I can also understand the anonymous aggressiveness people use. That says a lot about the thin veneer of civilisation that we live with. If you think you can get away with negative behaviour without any comeback, why not?

I don't agree with either approach to life, I'd rather be open and honest, with a lot of respect added into the mix - called being an adult. (Read a lot about Transactional Analysis when I was younger).
Graham

[rpcrowe]

Prior to the advent of digital photography and the Internet, many photographers lived a fairly insular existence and given the relatively high price of photographic prints and the relative lack of display opportunities; did not interface to any great extent with other photographers...

I joined several photo clubs in those days and my relationshp with those clubs was usually of a very short duration. The members seemed more interested in formal meetings following Roberts Rules of Order than in going out and actually photographing.

I didn't have any ongoing venues in which to display my efforts after I retired from Naval Photography. Even in the last half or third of my Naval Career, my duties were primarily supervisorial and administrative rather than concerned with the actual shooting side of photography. Instead of going out to shoot, I managed crews who did the shooting and interfaced with other organizations that needed our services. Commercially, I mostly shot weddings and although they were excting at the beginning became fairly mundane after a while.

Amongst family members, I did not have anyone who cared a whit about any picture unless a family member or close friend was pictured. Then if the photo showed a close person, the quality of the image didn't matter a bit...

Joining CiC, I found a family of other persons who were also interested in photography and to whom I could talk and display my efforts while they in turn displayed their efforts and communicated with me. After a long time struggling with posting imagery to this and other forums, I chanced upon smugmug and that has become my photo album on my cyber coffee table. I use smugmug to link images and I can also tell people just stop of on my smugmug site at http://rpcrowe.smugmug.com/ and see my images. It is even pretty easy for someone to remember on the occasions when I don't have a card to give them. Smugmug has also saved some of my better images when a hard drive collapsed.

All in all, CiC and smugmug are important parts of his very enjoyable hobby.

[drjuice]

In general I don't use sites like Flickr, PBase, and SmugMug, though I have to say I like the name of SmugMug. I have a server with 16terrabytes of storage attached to it and I keep the active copies of everything there. The archival copies are in several locations on DVDs. Free is better than anything else, especially since I didn't have to buy the server or pay the electric bill. ;~|

JMHO.

virginia

[Letrow]

I use Flickr, mainly because I like the lay-out of it and the flexibility. It isn't too expensive and if you can live with the limitations you can even do it for free.

My main reason to use Flickr is that it enables me to access my favourite photos wherever I want in an easy way. I can point friends to it if they are interested in certain photos, without having to drag them to my computer.
Backup online isn't a reason, because the images are sampled down anyway. Also, I am still a bit paranoid and don't trust others to keep my stuff safe for me in the cloud (I do have money in the bank though, so I am not consistent).
I do have my photos backed up on different locations, one outside the house.

Over time I have joined some groups as well (mainly related to my own interests; e.g. Nikkor 50mm F/1.8D group). I don't care too much about feedback and rarely give it, but the groups enable me to see the possibilities of certain lenses for instance. I have looked at photos in these groups before buying a lens and read all the comments and critiques on it.

Nowadays I use Facebook as well to bring some of my photos to the attention of friends. I like that better actually, because it is focused on a small group.

All in all the photosites leave me with mixed feelings. On the one hand there are the advantages mentioned above, on the other hand there is too much blabla surrounding all of it sometimes.

[davidedric]

I use smugmug to link images and I can also tell people just stop of on my smugmug site

Hi Richard,

I just downloaded one of your Yosemite pictures. Just wanted to check how easy it would be for my not very tech family to do it, before signing up.

Hope you don't mind!

Dave

[Geoff F]

I originally went for a separate image hosting site because I sometimes need to link images elsewhere.

When I joined CinC there wasn't any Tinypics upload option so it was a case of limited space with a personal album or create links to other storage areas. So I went for P base because it seemed easier to use than many others

It is possible to prohibit public viewing on P base but I'm happy to share what I have. And in under 3 years I have had over 105,000 views.

Those images don't get a lot of personal replies, as Dave mentioned, but there are discussion forums on the P base site which I rarely use because I was already a member of CinC which is sufficient for me.

[Tina222]

Though this thread is old, I've decided to add my post. I also was one of those people who shared photos only with family members and friends. But nowadays there exist such inspiring websites like flickr or vimeo, and I decided to build my own site. It has to be noted, as the demand for the website builders has increased, they have become easier-to-use. Personally I used one of the photography website builders and didn't face any issues, though I had no experience. I should say, photography websites help not only to share your images, but also find clients and sell your works, of course, if you want to do this.

[Manfred M]

Though this thread is old, I've decided to add my post. I also was one of those people who shared photos only with family members and friends. But nowadays there exist such inspiring websites like flickr or vimeo, and I decided to build my own site. It has to be noted, as the demand for the website builders has increased, they have become easier-to-use. Personally I used one of the photography website builders and didn't face any issues, though I had no experience. I should say, photography websites help not only to share your images, but also find clients and sell your works, of course, if you want to do this.

Tina - part of the issue of adding to an old thread is that the context of the original posts may or may not be applicable.

There were tools out there 5 years ago (WordPress, Wix, SquareSpace, etc.) but all have been evolving and becoming more powerful and useful. That is of course assuming that one ones ones own website.

That is definitely not for everyone as maintaining a website takes some time and effort, and that might not be an area where people wish to put their resources. For some, a site like TinyPic, that provides a fast way of embedding ones images is enough. For others sites like Flickr add a bit more to the experience.

Not everyone needs or wants a website.

[rachel]

I use smugmug and to be honest, it was more about finding a safe place for back-ups after a couple of tech disasters which resulted in some photos being lost forever. Displaying photos is a bonus I suppose and one I don't make much use of but I like that I have that possibility and I like the privacy options which allows me to control who can access them - I never got the hang of that with Flickr.

[rpcrowe]

Let me add something to this old thread. I have the smugmug.com app on my iPhone and can easily show images of my rescue dogs both past and present using that smartphone...

https://rpcrowe.smugmug.com/Pets/MAL...RNIA/i-jZQ96Xp

The only difference is that it takes longer to sift through my pictures on the iPhone and while, when I bring up my smugmug account on my desktop computer, it starts with the most recent images while the iPhone app brings up my oldest images first.

Perhaps someone more familiar with the iPhone smugmug app could tell me how I can open my smugmug on the phone to show my latest images first. Otherwise, I have to scan through all the images to get to the most recent. I am usually most interested in the most recent images...

[NorthernFocus]

...Perhaps someone more familiar with the iPhone smugmug app could tell me how I can open my smugmug on the phone to show my latest images first. Otherwise, I have to scan through all the images to get to the most recent. I am usually most interested in the most recent images...

Switch to Zenfolio maybe? The Zenfolio app shows the images organized exactly as they are on the web site. Page by page, gallery by gallery, sort order etc. are all the same. Appearance is the only real difference with images filling the entire screen on the app. Also the app is slow the first time a gallery is loaded but thereafter it opens instantly, presumably because it stores smaller copies of the images on the phone.

Though I find it hard to believe that the Smugmug app doesn't have similar functionality. Perhaps the problem lies between the back of your chair and the phone in your hand?

[skitterbug]

I've not sprung for a Smugmug account but I see there has been a recent update to the phone app (March 22nd) according to the developers' posts on the app store page. I didn't find anything useful about lining up your photos from new to old. Surely there has to be a way to do that? I wonder if you could mark the most recent photos you want to find as "favorites" and pull them up more easily?
Hope you can find a solution!

[rpcrowe]

I am fairly certain that the problem is user error...