The photograph since ancient times it has been considered a means of artistic expression in which it is impossible to separate art from artist. Each photographic work is, in a sense, a look inside its creator, an autobiography, the author’s eyes turned into an image.
Whether photography is your profession or you are taking your first steps as an amateur, it is important that you know which are the platforms that are dedicated to making this profession something sublime; those that will help you not only develop in the art of photography, but also encourage you to promote your creations.
Next, we show you different platforms related to this art, where you can find some inspiration, tips to improve your photographic techniques and even the ability to organize your own portfolio which will allow you to promote your most creative photos and share them with other photography enthusiasts.
List of the best pages for professional and amateur photographers that you should know
Let’s see a list of the 10 best websites to enhance your performance as a professional and high-quality photographer:
Flickr.com
One of the best known photography pages by many and also one of the oldest. Flickr offers you 1000 GB of free space where you can store, order, sell and share all kinds of multimedia compositions with a whole community of users as well as allowing you to interact with them.
It was intended for be especially a social network for photographers, although over the years different options have appeared that have left it a bit behind compared to other platforms. Too It is available in a mobile version for users of iOS, Android, PlayStation Vita, and Windows Phone, among others.
500px.com
Created in 2009, 500px is one of the networks leader for online photographers. It allows you to share photos, gain meaningful exposure, compete in photography courses, and even license your photos through distribution partners.
On this platform, when uploading a photo, this must meet minimum quality requirements to be accepted, that is, they are quite demanding, they do not accept any photo. Both its free version and its premium version are available, the latter allows you to monetize your photos. It also has some social network type functions where you can find groups specialized in various topics.
Behance.net
It is a platform created by Adobe, and as expected, it is more associated with editing work done through Photoshop. It is a good option if your works are more oriented to photo editing or you are a graphic designer. This space is widely used by job websites to recruit personnel in these areas.
You can create a totally free account to upload your projects, although you should bear in mind that, if your thing is not the photographic edition, perhaps this is not the best place for your portfolio. This platform has Served Sites, that is, show the work in specific categories such as fashion, industrial design, architecture, typography, among others.
Portfoliobox.net
It’s a website specialized to create a creative portfolio with many customization options. It is quite versatile, since you can show your work through interactive galleries, sell your works without paying additional fees for the service or develop a blog or your own domain.
Portfoliobox offers a large number of interactive and dynamic templates where you can show your projects (images and videos) in different layers, either thumbnail, portrait, landscape, slide or full screen; In addition, your web page can be viewed from any device. They offer a free plan in which you can upload a maximum of 50 images and a payment plan that allows you to upload 1000 images for a price of € 6.9 per month.
Deviantart.com
It is one of the oldest platforms and known to many illustrators and graphic designers in the world. On this website, apart from being able to create your portfolio, you will be able to interact with other users of the same by commenting on their work and voting for them. It is a platform that has infinities of categories where you can find graphic resources, photography courses, design and even poetry.
Domestika.org
It is not an exclusive website for photographers, it’s actually a community of creative people (photographers, designers, illustrators, audiovisual directors, publicists) but it will offer you different sections that will help you continue to specialize and develop as a photographer.
These sections include:
- Forums, where you can ask, interact and learn from other users.
- Courses, where you will find classes taught by top-level teachers. Here you can learn photographic techniques, Photoshop, marketing, brading and programming and web design.
- Job, where job offers related to photography are constantly posted.
ClubDeFotografia.net
It is a page that is in Spanish, very blog style, that it is not specific to develop portfolios but rather it is an educational page. In this web as well as domestica you will find tips and tricks sections for taking your photos, necessary equipment according to the level of professionalism you want in your photos and you will even find material designed to inspire you to create art.
Social networks for photographs
Another very good option for photography hobbyists who would like to start submitting their photos, is the use of social networks as a portfolio, and even some professional photographers are already making their way into these spaces.
As we know Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are the most popular social networks today, but despite this popularity, these have been used by photographers rather as a complement to reach more people your professional portfolios created on other platforms.
Next, we will name you some social networks that you can use perfectly to start your portfolio on the internet:
Tumblr.com
The perfect point between a social network and a blogging platform. This is a very interesting platform to start developing a portfolio, since, among other things, it allows you to have your own domain and choose the template you like.
Pinterest.es
It is par excellence a social network to share photos and generate a lot of visibility, although it really is not the best option if you want to develop a portfolio with your creations. Pinterest works best as a promotion for your work.
Paid web pages
All these websites have one thing in common: you can use their entire platform for free, except for some extra services that you can purchase by paying. If you are an amateur starting out in the world of photography surely this is your best option, but if you already have experience in this trade and want to expand your professional level, other tools, in this case, may be a good option when choosing where to invest in your works.
We present you the most popular site among photographers to create paid portfolios:
Arcadina.com
It’s a website specially designed for photographers. It is currently the best option on the market if you want to establish your photography website, since it is capable of adapting to the best quality standards of each photograph and it is quite easy to use, since you do not need to know programming to be able to handle it.
Basically They give you everything ready-made and optimized so you can have a photography page that looks pretty professional. and in the easiest way possible. This page has a wide variety of templates so you can choose the design that best suits your art, comes with search engine optimization (SEO) and with the option that you can sell your photographs. You can get the price list on its page in a very detailed way for each of the plans where you are offered a free trial period of 14 days.
Tips to take better photos for your social networks with any camera
Is a popular belief that you need a professional camera or SLR to take photos like a pro and the truth is that this is not so.
Here we will give you some tips so that you can take professional photos regardless of the camera you use and just let your creativity fly:
Know the Law of Thirds
A key aspect of composing a photographic shot is taking into account the law of thirds, which is that you must divide the scene into three identical thirds, both in shape vertical as in shape horizontal. In the place where the vertical and horizontal lines converge in four points is he place where we will have to place our subject or to the element to be photographed, that is, in one of these four points. This is used to have a photo with a good framing and that it is the element to be photographed that attracts the attention of said photo.
Know the Law of Horizons
Another important issue for the good composition of a photograph is to take into account the law of horizons. This is simply based on draw two imaginary horizontal lines in our photo, which would mean that the photo is divided into 3 thirds. Our object to be photographed must be occupying 2/3 thirds of that image so that it is the protagonist of our photo.
Play with depth of field
Depth of field is a tool that refers to the focus area behind and in front of the subject in focus. When we play with depth of field, we are basically playing with focus, that is, we make a plane remain sharper than the rest of the planes. This allows you highlight object of the photo of the rest of the photograph with the degree that we want.
Natural framing
When wanting to highlight an important aspect of a photo, be it the object or the background of it, we must first of all look around us, as there will be many elements that will help us to put a frame on the center of interest of the photo. Some of them will be windows, doors and bridges.
S curves
Are a component widely used in photography to transmit movement and to help guide the gaze. It is related to sensuality. S-curves are a very powerful visual element that will add interest to any photograph. These can be rivers, highways, roads, etc.