500px.com

[kalisto]

Finally overhauling my website, and took the plunge into 500px.

Tons of crap just because I am uploading a ton of old albums:
http://500px.com/jesseparis

[Wiilbert]

Started using mine a bit more. Followed a bunch of you guys.

http://500px.com/rhquade

[hitek79]

Anyone wanna give me a bump on this picture? Thanks!

http://500px.com/photo/50310528

[HotDiggity]

Great shot!

[horizon]

Some really good work here.

Here's mine, just started it:

http://500px.com/cedricpopp

[smmokan]

I'm WAY late to the game, but after using 500px to scout tons of locations for my Iceland trip, I thought I'd join and share the love with others. I only have three pictures up there as of now, but I plan on uploading them occasionally just to contribute to the site.

www.500px.com/SteveMokanPhotography

[joedesperado]

I'm in sort of a love/hate relationship with 500px, but anyway...here's my account:
http://500px.com/Christoph_Oberschneider

[Lonnie]

500px has just rolled out it's Groups feature. So far, with all the spam e-mail I'm getting about it, I'm not sure it's a great idea. :/

[From_the_NEK]

I opened up an account a couple days ago and I'm slowly loading some pics up. I started with a dump a 10 pictures the first day before figuring out that is a good way to make sure 9 of the pictures are barely seen by anyone.

https://500px.com/tim_kirchoff

I've started following the rest of you on there as well.

[smmokan]

I really like 500px for viewing, but unless you dedicate a lot of time to jerking off everyone on that site and begging them to like your page, it's not worth much time in terms of exposure. I've put up 8-10 pictures over the last few months with mixed results. There are some killer pictures put up, but some of the most popular ones make me wonder.

[From_the_NEK]

I've started to notice that already as well. Unless you have a shit ton of followers, it looks like your pictures can get buried very quickly.

[Fuzz]

^ Isn't that pretty much every online photo sharing site? It's one big circle-jerk -- "you like mine and I'll like yours" kinda thing. I recently saw an exchange on Instagram where person A got mad at person B because A followed/liked B but B did not reciprocate; so A threatened to unfollow B.

And given 500px's scoring system (where scores decline automatically over time), even the best pictures will get buried after a few days. A couple of my images made the top 10 of 500px's Popular list, but didn't have staying power beyond a couple of days.

I also agree with some of the popular ones (that applies to most photo sharing sites) -- I see overcooked, radioactive snapshots with thousands of likes and wonder how it got there. Then I remember the whole circle-jerk thing and it makes sense.

Unless you win some awards in some well-known online competitions, and/or get profiled by a well-known online photo site (e.g. 500px, PetaPixels, etc.), I think it is very hard to build a solid brand solely through something like 500px. Not impossible, but hard, especially if you're not shooting full-time for a living.

Having said all that, I do like looking at many of the pics on 500px. Many/Some of them are just stunning. It has definitely been a source of inspiration for me, a place where I can figure out what I like and what I don't like.

[smmokan]

Having said all that, I do like looking at many of the pics on 500px. Many/Some of them are just stunning. It has definitely been a source of inspiration for me, a place where I can figure out what I like and what I don't like.

I agree 100%... it's an excellent site for inspiration and research. Before I went to Iceland last summer, I spent hours on the site (and app) looking at different locations and perspectives so I knew what I was getting myself into.

[Lonnie]

Another value of 500px is it's an unbiased way of figuring our which photos of yours are good, which one's are OK and which one's suck. I've definitely been surprised by which photos of mine garner attention by the general public and which ones don't. Based on those results (and other feedback/research), I've altered both my shooting and processing style to some degree.

[smmokan]

Another value of 500px is it's an unbiased way of figuring our which photos of yours are good, which one's are OK and which one's suck. I've definitely been surprised by which photos of mine garner attention by the general public and which ones don't. Based on those results (and other feedback/research), I've altered both my shooting and processing style to some degree.

And how exactly do you do that? Because in my experience, the feedback/views/likes/faves is a total crapshoot based on how you tag the photos, how many "fans" you have, when you post them, and generally has absolutely nothing to do with the actual quality of the photo itself. I don't think I'd ever change the way I shoot based on how many likes a photo gets on that site. There are very few (if any) photo websites that give that kind of quality feedback, IMO.

For instance, I posted this photo from my Iceland trip this summer, and I think it maxed out around a 95 or 96 pulse.... but I think that's because it's an "iconic" location (Kirkjufell) that more people are searching for, and it's a pretty good shot so people like/fave it. I certainly have better shots on my page, but they're not as popular of locations so they get far fewer views.

https://500px.com/photo/80827275/alo...m=user_library

[hitek79]

Yeah, I'm with Smmokan on this one. I don't know why, but I seem to have the best luck with taking a month or so break between uploading images for some reason. If I post one image per day for 3-4 days straight, Each picture gets less and less views/likes. I can't figure out why. If I wait for a month or so then post a new pic, I'll almost alway get up to a 95 or higher score. I top out around 90 a few days later, no matter what the picture is.

One thing I like about 500px is I've found a few great photographers that have video tutorials for sale. If I like the way they process their photos, I'll buy their videos to learn a bit.

[Fuzz]

I agree with Steve and Tony as well -- trying to change my style (not sure that I even have one, to be honest!) based on feedback on sites like 500px or Instagram would be an exercise in futility. It can be completely random. Plus many people don't really know good art (yes, I know that sounds pretentious -- but it's true) -- give them an oversaturated image of a pretty place and they'll love it to death.

The way that 500px has influenced my photography is in finding and trying to emulate photographers that I personally like. I think it's a tricky balance between creating images that sell well/are popular and creating images that you like yourself (and it's a challenge in all art forms, not just photography) -- ideally we'd all like to be at the intersection of both those sets.

Another useful thing about 500px are their blog posts where they get different photographers to share their tips, behind-the-scenes look, etc. It's not easily found on their website (tucked away under the settings area), but I've found a lot of their stuff pretty useful: https://iso.500px.com/ (they have stuff under two sections, "The Craft" and "The Creative"; many of the their tutorials in "The Craft" are handy).

[hitek79]

Give me a vote if you guys can!

https://500px.com/photo/91071649/rip...m=user_library