Here are the web applications for getting feedback on your images from the entire world, or just to find some inspiration.
Most people knows Instagram, but there are many more places where you can post your images and get feedback on your work. In some cases you can even sell your images or use the applications to backup your images and much more. Here is 12 apps and places to share your work.
Do you want to follow your friends? – choose Instagram
Instagram have many nice easy-to-use editing functions.
Instagram is the most used image sharing service, especially for those who takes pictures with the smartphone. But you can also move images from your camera or computer to your mobile. I use Picasa for that, which is the Google image application. I can drop my images to the Picasa app on my computer and then open them from any device to share through Instagram and/or EyeEm and any social media I like.
Instagram in the latest version have very nice functions for editing images and applying filters and effects. I especially like the HDR button, which can be used steplessly to apply the HDR effect, making shadows lighter and highlights darker, very useful for sunset images for example. The latest version of Instagram also has very nice and easy to use editing functions, besides the filters for different effects.
It is easy to use Instagram for sharing your images through other social media such as Facebook or Twitter.
But everything in Instagram isn’t perfect. We don’t like the function for tagging the images in Instagram. There is no help in choosing the right tags when posting an image; you have to check what tags others use for similar images and Instagram is full of misspelled tags.
Images on Instagram doesn’t have to be square anymore. But it is in my view irritating that when you are looking through a user or hashtag feed, you can still only scroll through the feed with miniatures. I’d prefer if it were possible when opening an image, to just continue scrolling down and viewing images in the gallery in full size.
Instagram is used by almost everybody with a mobile and there are hashtags for any special subject you can think of. You’ll find something regardless if you like images of colourful nails, home interior or vintage cars.
You may also want to read How to get more followers on Instagram on this site.
Me and Picsngear on Instagram.
EyeEm is better looking than Instagram and more fun if photography is your main interest.
Instagram, but with more photography enthusiasts
EyeEm was started by a girl from Germany that went to the USA to make a career as a professional photographer. Unfortunately she lost her camera and through different events she instead started an image sharing service for mobile users.
EyeEm is similar to Instagram, but you can post images in any format. You can at any time click on a user too see her or his feed. Then you can click on a miniature to see the image, just as in Instagram. But if you like you can just scroll down to see the entire feed in full size. And if you want to take a closer look at an image, just click on it to see it on full screen. You can even zoom in to see details on the image.
When you upload an image to EyeEm you can search for Albums, (instead of the Instagram hashtags), too choose the most appropriate ones for you image. Maximum 10 albums per image so pick the best ones for your image.
EyeEm used to bee a bit unstable from time to time, but now it’s working better.
If you like you can choose images for selling on the EyeEm Market. They also have cooperation with Getty Images, where the best images are sold.
If you want to sell your images you must however be careful not to break any laws. If your images have people in the motive you need written consent by the persons in the motive. And you’ll not get rich quick. You’ll get 50 per cent, but that will not be many dollars per image.
If your ambition is to sell images you’ll need to consider creating collections with images in the same style and of very high quality, much better than you normally get with the typical smartphone. You may also want to try your luck directly with the big image agencies on the market.
EyeEm is available as apps for your smartphone but can also be used for viewing with a web browser on the net.
The content on 500px is fantastic if you love world class photography.
The best source – Compare your images with world-class photographers
500px is another service where you also can sell your images. Here almost everybody are pro’s or semi pro’s and the images is mostly of very high quality. You may upload up to 20 images per month for free, if you want to show more you’ll have to pay a small amount for a subscription.
You can upload your best images on 500px and see how you compare to world-class photographers.
Like with Instagram and EyeEm you can like images and follow you favourite photographer. There is also a favourite mark-up, which allows you to return to that image afterwards.
500px is my preferred source of inspiration. This is good choice if you want to view excellent images and reflect on how they were taken. The photographers often describes how the shot the images and the meta data is shown with the images, often telling you what camera, lens, shutter speed, ISO and aperture was used.
500px offers a free app for your smartphone and is also great to visit on the web for enjoying the images on a larger screen.
A good web service but not only for enthusiasts
Photobucket is similar to 500px but not as well designed when it comes to browsing albums and liking images and not as much populated by the greatest photographers.
You get ten gigabyte of free storage for your images. Advertising finances the site, which sometimes is very disturbing. You automatically get links to images or albums for sharing through other channels or your blog. You can also order prints of your images.
Photobucket is not bad, but not best in any aspect. And not at all as interesting if you are looking for inspiration.
There is a free app for your mobile, and you get an extra 8 GB if you use it to back up your mobile photos.
Backup of your images and lots of smart features into the bargain
Backup of your images and lots of smart features into the bargainPicasa is Google service for storing and sharing images on the net and through social media. I use it for saving images that I want to share from my computer and then I can get them from any device anywhere. I can download them to my phone for sharing through Instagram or EyeEm or any social media I prefer. Of course it’s especially convenient if you are using Google+.
You can set privileges per image or album and make the images public, private or available by password or for those with a link.
Picasa is not like Instagram or EyeEm in this aspect, but it’s such a useful tool we want to bring it up in this context.
If you are using the mobile app you can set it to automatically make back up copies of all your images. There is also an option to let Picasa make automatic improvements to your images, which actually works rather well under most circumstances. Do you want to edit your images yourself? No problem just shut that function off.
Flickr is very useful, but not always so easy to use.
The largest photo site – not entirely well deserved
Flickr is probably the largest photo site in the world. It can be used for very much, such as securely storing your images, setting of who can view them, per image or album, show them to the world and access them from any device. You can also create albums and invite friends to share images there. You get as much as one TB for free, so why not use it to store backup copies of you best images. It is also nice to create web albums and publish on your blog or anywhere, with code for embedding.
Unfortunately it’s not always so easy to use Flickr. It can be tricky to publish how images may be used, something that many companies publishing their press images on the site failed to notice. If you are a journalist visiting and the images says the standard phrase “all rights reserved” you can’t use them for publishing.
A lot of thing appears unnecessary tricky, such as uploading and organizing images, naming them, writing captures and saving them to albums. Flicker should visit for instance 500px to see how it should be done.
Marketing yourself as a photographer
Pinterest is a very popular app for viewing and showing interesting images. Just as Instagram it have something for every special interest and there is no shortage of really good photographers.
One of the advantages with Pinterest is that it’s okay market your self as a photographer. Why not try to use it for driving traffic to your Facebook page or blog? But don’t forget the opposite. You can get more audience for your work if your visitors can pin your images or blog postings to Pinterest.
Normally Pinterest is more about the content than the images and not the best choice if you want constructive comments on your images. Should you for example search for Night photography you’d get an almost infinite flow of boards. One advantage is that there is plenty of inspiration. But this also means that it’s difficult to climb high enough in popularity to reach the top of the list.
My Picsngear stories board on Pinterest.
Interesting idea but several shortcomings
Foap is run by a Swedish company and similar to EyeEm, but with some significant differences. You can follow others, show your images and there are many ambitious photographers here. But instead of merely liking images you have to grade them in a scale from one to five. The more images you grade the better exposure you are promised for your own images.
When you upload an image to Foap you must grade at least five images. If you get a grade of more than 2.6 in average, the image can reach the Foap Market, where they are on sale for 10 USD each. Photographers receive 5 USD for each sold image.
There is a smartphone app for the photographers and a web interface for the buyers.
Watch out when you are grading images. Giving a low grade often results in revenge from the photographer in form of low grades on your images. Better to choose to grade only good images.
Foap may be an interesting alternative if you plan to start selling your images. You get to show your image and maybe you’ll make a buck or two as well.
The buyers are probably companies looking for local images. Check information on what they want before choosing images to upload.
Tublr blog is also an
alternative
alternativeTumblr is a kind of micro blog service where you can post text, links, video and sound, apart from images and there are plenty of good photographers here. It is also good for advertising yourself if you do it right. But the main language here is English, so if you wish to blog in another language and you customer are local, you may want to prefer another place to use.
Other services
//www.dropshots.com/ to create web albums for sharing with your friends.
//share.pho.to/ for uploading images, create albums and quickly get embedding code for sharing on social media and your blog.
//dayviews.com/ for creating a daily image diary on the net. Unfortunately the function for creating an accout didn’t work when we wanted to try it.
Conclusions
Let your ambitions guide you. Our favorites are Instagram and EyeEm for easy sharing you images with friends from the mobile. If you are good – go for 500px for your best images. And it’s a great source of inspiration.
Picasa offers many advantages, especially if you want to access your images from any device and if you are using Google+.
