Where to show your images on the internet

forgotten bench postcard by martinspaperstore
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Forgotten Bench

You spent weeks finding access to the perfect location, you’ve researched it and you got up in the middle of the night to get there and set up ready for the perfect time of day, yes the weather was not right the first two time but this time everything was right. Then you spent too many hours to count in postproduction, making sure the image was just right, till your vision was realised in the image before you. After all this effort don’t you think that the world should see your image?

Web and Water in Sepia Postcard by martinspaperstore
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Web and Water inSepia

There are many ways to put your images on the internet for other people to see them, both paid and free. Over the coming months I will look at some of them in more detail but for now it will just be a brief over view of some of them. As a rule of thumb the more control you want the more it will cost you ether in time, skills or money.

Snowdonia Postcard by martinspaperstore
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Snowdonia

Website:

Having your own website may seam like the obvious option and indeed they can be a great asset. Though they can be a little static and search engines like new content all the time. How much control over the look of your website will depend on your programming skills and how much money you want to pay?

Blogs:

This may be the first place that you think of placing your images and I would recommend that you have your own blog even if you have your images elsewhere, so that you can have a central point on the internet that links to all your other internet galleries. If you are short on time this will give you one place for you to market that will link to all your images on the internet. Wordpress.com or Bloger.com or Tumblr.com are a good place to start.

Photo Galleries:

Photo galleries have the advantage of being known for their images which means that people looking for photos will know what to expect when they go to the site. They range from Flickr that is free and popular to paid for hosting at sites like 500px. 

POD Print on Demand:

POD sites are sites that let you sell your images on products and you get a percentage of the sale. Some sites let you add your images for free while others will charge you every month even if you do not you make any sales. Some sites like Zazzle will let you add sections / galleries while others like Redbubble will put all your images in one store / gallery.

trees and snow postcard by martinspaperstore
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Trees and Snow

Of course as in everything there are advantages and disadvantages to each of the above methods, indeed even within each method above there are advantages and disadvantages between each company involved in each method. First off you need to decided what you want from your exposure on the internet and of course this may change over time but what do you need now? This will help you know if a particular method / sites advantage is an advantage for you, even to pay for and if the disadvantages of a particular method / site is in deed a disadvantage for you.

Understanding Exposure.

Set the shutter speed to the ASA film rating (100 ASA = 1/100^th second) and the aperture to f8 for bright sunny days. This was the rule of thumb exposure settings that you use to get with rolls of film back when many cameras did not have an internal light exposure meter built in.

This might seam like a bit archaic by todays standards but let me explain, many people take images in RAW format thinking that you can recover and correct any mistakes made in camera when processing the RAW file. Sure you can recover some detail while processing the RAW file just like you could with film by changing the developing times but the key word here is SOME.

Of all the aspects of photography, exposure is the one you need to understand and get right, it is the foundation of the rest of your photography. Yes you could leave you camera set on auto but you would be missing out on some great tools to influence your photography. A great book to help you get started is Bryan Peterson’s Understanding Exposure.

Understanding Exposure, Fourth Edition: How to Shoot Great Photographs with Any Camera

This newly revised edition of Bryan Peterson's most popular book demystifies the complex concepts of exposure in photography, allowing readers to capture the images they want. 

Understanding Exposure has taught generations of photographers how to shoot the images they want by demystifying the complex concepts of exposure in photography. In this newly updated edition, veteran photographer Bryan Peterson explains the fundamentals of light, aperture, and shutter speed and how they interact with and influence one another. With an emphasis on finding the right exposure even in tricky situations, Understanding Exposureshows you how to get (or lose) sharpness and contrast in images, freeze action, and take the best meter readings, while also exploring filters, flash, and light. With all new images, as well as an expanded section on flash, tips for using colored gels, and advice on shooting star trails, this revised edition will clarify exposure for photographers of all levels.

I am back again

 For what seams like forever my home has been in the upheaval of renovation and I have been living out of boxes but now I am back. I do not normally talk about what kit I use as a lot of people that I have encountered tend to be equipment and brand junkies rather than photographers.

I am not rich so when it comes to choosing equipment the over riding factor is my wallet and what I can afford at the time as well as the subject matter that I will take photos of. Over the years I have used many different cameras from compacts to medium format, I have even sold images taken on my smart phone, each camera has its pros and cons but it comes down to personal choice but more importantly are you happy enough to take the camera out with you at every opportunity so that you are ready to take that all important photo.

Well my latest kit is a Nikon D3200 with an 18-55 and a 55-200 kit lenses. It feels quite a bit smaller than my Cannon 5D and 6D and I am hoping that this will make it easer to carry around. Now that I have got that out of the way lets get on with the subject of photography.

I try to carry my camera as often as I can so that I do not miss out on a photo opportunity, other time I am out and about just hoping that inspiration comes too me, both methods are not very productive and I am just lucky if I get any photos to keep. I do have a back up plan that is growing my catalogue of close up of interesting textures that I can use in other projects but some times this is all that I come back with.

Having had such a long spell from photography I intend to make the most of this camera and my time, looking at other images for inspiration is great but if I wanted to take images of the Northern Lights then I would have to book a flight and wait around for about seven months, not very good for productivity.

Projects: Is the way to go from short one day projects for when the weather is not that good and open ended projects that I can pick up on when I do not have anything else filling my photography time.

One Day Projects

Still life:

These are great for when the weather is overcast; in fact this helps as the clouds act as one big diffuser when lighting your subject with natural light. Stuck for subjects why not raid the kitchen or garden shed for utensils and tools arranging them together or on their own. Be sure to work all the angles and as well as taking images that show the whole subject move in and isolate parts of the subject giving you an almost abstract image.

Food Photography:

Planning a special meal or just papering your self, then why not document your progress as well as the finished result. This could be part of a bigger project by getting the images for that cook book you have always been meaning to write.

Back catalogue:

It is a great feeling creating the image but what are you going to do with it now, just leave it on your computers hard drive. Why not post it on the internet on sites like Flicker or 500PX you could even offer it for sale on sites line Zazzle or Redbubble.

Open Ended Projects:

Taking the Same Photo:

Some places character changes dramatically as the seasons change, why not revisit them through the year and capture that change. Other places change over a much longer period with new buildings and renovations, so if you hear of such a project in your local area big or small get out get some images before it all changes. Do not forget to go back when the work has finished and who knows over the years you could build up a body of work that is of important social documentary, there might even be a book in it.

Post Cards:

Many places have post cards of their surroundings be it cities, towns, villages and even individual buildings. Why not have a go at recreating some of them but with a twist. Some times it is impossible to find the vantage point that the original post card was taken from and the weather is sure to be different so use a different vantage point and go for inclement weather to give a totally different mood to the post card. When you have your collection on new postcards why not publish them.

A year in the life of your pet:

Some pets will play for the camera more than others giving greater photo opportunities, you know your pet better than anyone else so you will be better able to capture their personality. You can take the images every day or every couple of weeks, it is up to you. Have a product in mind for the end of the project, like a photo album or photo book to help keeping the project going.