In 2025, photographers everywhere are reaching a breaking point with Instagram. What was once a haven for sharing beautiful imagery has morphed into an endless scroll of reels, ads and algorithm battles. Your carefully crafted photographs get compressed, buried beneath viral content and forgotten within hours. Sound familiar?

The truth is, social media platforms were never designed to showcase photography properly. They're designed to keep people scrolling, not contemplating your artistic vision.

What's more, the constant pressure to post, engage and chase likes quickly becomes exhausting. Not to mention annoying, because it's work you're not directly getting paid for.

So what's the alternative? Quite simply, make your own website.

Why a website?

There are compelling reasons to make your own website rather than rely solely on social media. Most fundamentally, you'll enjoy complete creative control over how your work is presented. No more fighting against arbitrary format restrictions or worrying about algorithm changes that could render your carefully curated feed irrelevant overnight.

Also, social media platforms severely compress your photographs to save bandwidth, diminishing the quality of your work. On your own site, visitors can see your images as they're meant to be seen – in high resolution that showcases every detail and nuance you worked so hard to capture.

Having a dedicated website instantly elevates how potential clients perceive you. It signals that you're serious about your craft and gives you credibility that social media profiles simply can't match. When someone visits your website, they see only your work – not competitors' photos, ads or notifications pulling their attention away.

You're also protecting yourself from platform volatility. When you build your own site, you're not at the mercy of companies that might change their terms, algorithms, or even shut down entirely.

With proper contact forms and booking systems, you can create smoother pathways for potential clients to work with you. No more missed opportunities because a DM got buried in a sea of notifications. And perhaps most importantly, on your own site, you determine what's appropriate to share, free from the often restrictive content policies of social platforms.

"Great in theory," you might think, "but I don't know anything about building a website." Well, the good news is that in 2025, you don't have to.

It doesn't take long

Nowadays, there are dozens of web-building platforms dedicated to making it super-easy for non-techies to make their own website. So if you assume it will be complicated, time-consuming and expensive, you're wrong on all counts.

Don't believe me? Well, to put my money where my mouth is, I just tried out Weebly (other platforms are available) and managed to create a small, working website in just under an hour. Not a placeholder or a half-finished draft – a fully functional website with a homepage, photo gallery, an about page, contact form, and even a blog.

If you want, you can check it out at (clunky URL alert): tom-may-photo.weebly.com. Be warned: it's basic, and it's certainly not going to win any awards. But if someone wants to know who I am, what I do and how to contact me, they'll find everything they need on these pages.

I found the process of making it remarkably straightforward. I selected a portfolio theme (admittedly from a somewhat limited selection, but it did the job), uploaded my images, wrote some basic text and hit 'publish'. The drag-and-drop editor makes everything intuitive, even for someone with zero coding skills.

You can do it for free

Best of all? It was free – no strings attached. While I could upgrade to add features like a custom domain (removing the ".weebly.com" from the address) for as little as $5 per month, the free version gave me everything I needed to get started. And there's no time limit: I could let that website stand forever and still wouldn't be charged a penny.

Sounds too good to be true? Well, I guess I have to add a couple of disclaimers here. Firstly, I'm no stranger to web-building platforms, having tested a few in the past, so I may have been quicker off the mark than a total beginner. And secondly, I'd already lined up the images and text I wanted to use.

In other words, I'm not promising that anyone can build a website in under an hour: it may take you two or three on your first crack. But ultimately, that's not a lot of time to invest in what is a far better way to promote your photography and build your career than messing about on social media.

You can let your photos breathe

If I could build a basic website in under an hour using Weebly, just imagine what you could do with a bit more time. Web builders aimed specifically at photographers, such as Format and SmugMug, are also easy to use, and may offer specific tools such as the ability to password-protect galleries.

Most offer free trials or free tiers to get you started, and you can always upgrade as your needs grow. The important thing is to begin somewhere.

You don't need to abandon social media entirely; many photographers use their websites as their primary portfolio, and social platforms as marketing tools to drive traffic to it. But in a world where it feels like everyone's shouting into a void, having your own digital space is refreshingly empowering.

It's a place where your photography can breathe, where visitors can appreciate your vision without distraction and where you regain control over how your work is presented to the world.

Ultimately, your photography deserves better than being squeezed between viral dance videos and food photos. In 2025, there's no excuse not to give it the showcase it deserves: especially when that showcase could be just an hour away.

You might also like…

Take a look at the best website builders for photographers along with the best web hosting sites for photographers. And once you're in the zone, check out these six essential ways to improve your photo website.

Photo-sharing website Flickr has shared insights into the most popular cameras, photo spots, shooting dates – and a whole lot more besides – for images uploaded over the past year in its 2024 Year in Review, and it makes for fascinating reading.

It may come as no surprise that smartphones were the most popular photo-taking device, but what is perhaps more of an eye-opener is that out of the top 10, the first nine entries were various models of Apple iPhone, headed by the now-three-year-old Apple iPhone 13. Here's the list in full.

1. Apple iPhone 13
2. Apple iPhone 14 Pro
3. Apple iPhone 13 Pro
4. Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max
5. Apple iPhone 11
6. Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max
7. Apple iPhone 15 Pro
8. Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max
9. Apple iPhone 12
10. Canon EOS R5

The only dedicated camera to make the top 10 was the Canon EOS R5, sneaking into the 10th spot on the list. The fact that it was a top-of-the-range enthusiast mirrorless, rather than a cheaper entry-level model, may surprise you, but what's even more surprising is that Canon completely dominated the top 10 of non-phone cameras, with six out of 10 being Canon cameras, while Nikon and Sony had two models apiece. Interestingly, the two Nikon cameras were DSLRs rather than mirrorless cameras, showing that plenty of photographers still remain faithful to their older workhorses.

1. Canon EOS R5
2. Canon EOS 5D Mark IV
3. Sony Alpha 7 III
4. Nikon D850
5. Canon EOS R6
6. Nikon D750
7. Canon EOS 5D Mark III
8. Sony Alpha 7 IV 
9. Canon EOS R7
10. Canon EOS R6 Mark II

When it comes to the most popular photo spots, it's New York, New York, New York, with famous Big Apple sights taking the top three places of the top 10 most-photographed landmarks.

1. Times Square, New York, USA
2. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA
3. Empire State Building, New York, USA
4. Eiffel Tower, Paris, France
5. Space Needle, Seattle, USA
6. Big Ben, London, United Kingdom
7. The Colosseum, Rome, Italy
8. The Trevi Fountain, Rome, Italy
9. Sagrada Familia, Barcelona, Spain
10. Shibuya Crossing, Tokyo, Japan

And Flickr also shares some fun date-related stats. The most popular date that images were taken was May 11. Why? Well, it happened to be the day that the largest solar storm in decades hit our planet, causing the Northern Lights to be visible as far south as New Mexico in the United States, and Spain and Portugal in Europe. But the most popular day for uploading images was September 30, the reason for which is less clear…

Check out Flickr's 2024 Year in Review for more tidbits and insights!

Stock photography platforms Getty Images and Shutterstock are finalizing talks to merge into one company, the brands announced. On January 07, Getty Images Holdings Inc. shared that it has entered into a definitive merger agreement with Shutterstock. Getty says the move will help offer a wider content library for customers while providing more opportunities for creators contributing to the platform.

In the planned merger, the two companies will be called Getty Images Holdings, Inc and retain the GETY stock market ticker. However, the merger is an equals transaction, with Getty stockholders estimated to hold about 54.7% of shares and Shutterstock 45.3% at close. Getty’s current CEO Craig Peters will lead the combined company while the Board of Directors will be made up of six Getty Images directors and four Shutterstock directors, including current Shutterstock CEO Paul Hennessy.

Getty says that the merger will allow for a larger investment in “innovative content creation,” including generative AI, search, and 3D imaging. Both Getty and Shutterstock currently have built-in generative AI tools, labeled as safe for commercial use.

In an email to customers, Getty said that the company will operate as usual until the merger closes. “Once closed, we expect this merger to allow for simplified access across our combined offerings and increased investment in new content and coverage, in new asset types, in enhanced customer service and support and in new technologies and capabilities,” the email reads. “All of this with the aim of providing you with the contents you need in a time and budget efficient manner and absent intellectual property risks.”

For creatives contributing to the platforms, Getty says the merger will allow artists to reach more customers around the world.

The companies did not discuss how the merger will affect the platform's current pricing structure. Shutterstock currently charges $49 for a five-pack of standard license downloads. In comparison, Getty’s most affordable five-image pack costs $750 for small images or low resolution videos.

Combined, the companies estimate a revenue between $1,979 and $1,993 million (which converts to about £1,581 million or AU$ 3,160 million). About 46% of that would be subscriptions, the companies note. Shutterstock currently has a ten-download subscription for $29 a month. Getty’s subscription options are customized based on needs, which means pricing information isn’t widely available.

“With the rapid rise in demand for compelling visual content across industries, there has never been a better time for our two businesses to come together,” Peters said in a press release. “By combining our complementary strengths, we can better address customer opportunities while delivering exceptional value to our partners, contributors, and stockholders.”

“We are excited by the opportunities we see to expand our creative content library and enhance our product offering to meet diverse customer needs,” Hennessy added.

Getty Images is arguably most known for its editorial images, covering more than 160,000 events each year; its current catalog includes more than 80 million images in the subscription plan alone. Getty also owns the iStock and Unsplash brands, which together include more than 576,000 content creators.

Shutterstock currently boasts more than one million contributors across 150 countries. Shutterstock says its library has more than 450 million images, with around 200,000 images added each day.

The merger is not yet closed and is subject to closing conditions. The companies also have not shared an estimated close date for the potential merger.

You may also like

For more, read our top recommendations for the best stock photography platforms or the best stock video sites.

It's been a tumultuous year for Adobe, but despite its ups and downs it continues to adapt to the modern tech landscape.

The software company has just added another new tool that enables customers use artificial intelligence to create images based on the contents of its library of stock images.

Importantly, the creators of the original images still get paid.

The tools were rolled out on Tuesday and enable customers to take an image from Adobe Stock, and modify it with AI in whatever way they want. The original creator is then compensated as if their original image was used, but only “when their stock image is used as a reference and the resulting generated output is downloaded.”

All stock customers can now apply the following “generative edits” to Adobe Stock images before licensing them: replace background, remove background and expand image.

It is not clear from Adobe’s article whether creatives with images currently in the stock image library have a say in this, or whether they will be asked to sign a new contract giving permission for their images to be altered.

Users can also use “generative variations” which include ‘style’…

“With this feature, you can seamlessly align the aesthetic of a generated image with the style of any existing Adobe Stock image. Type a text prompt, and Style will apply the overall aesthetic of your chosen image to your newly generated output. This will enable you to experiment with different styles and create a cohesive visual theme and ultimately download from Adobe Stock.”

… and ‘composition’:

“Find an image you love, and this feature will match its outline and depth and then apply the composition to a newly generated image that you describe in a text prompt. Together, Composition and Style allow you to adjust content to make it more unique and customized to your needs or branding guidelines.”

Adobe said: “Connecting these features to the Adobe Stock collection increases the versatility of an asset, which we believe will make it more likely to be licensed, increasing contributor earnings potential.

“With these new features on Adobe Stock, Contributors are also compensated when the generated output created from a Stock image used as a reference is downloaded.”

Adobe is the company behind software tools such as Photoshop, which are widely used in content creation, and it has been scrabbling to increase the AI capabilities of its programs due to a rise in competition from companies such as OpenAI.

Matthew Smith, vice president at Adobe for strategy, design and emerging products, told Reuters: "A majority of people still have a blank canvas problem.

"Generative AI is not replacing stock (imagery). It's not replacing creatives or contributors. It's enhancing and giving them more potential opportunity to increase their earnings."

Adobe announced plans to compensate artists for their work when used in conjunction with the AI tools in 2023, but earlier this year the Federal Trade Committee filed a lawsuit against Adobe accusing it of tricking its customers into unwanted year-long contracts, and making it impossible to cancel free trials.

In another dubious move, in June social media lit up with creatives calling for a boycott of the company and all its associated products after it updated its terms of use, giving itself access and rights over any form of content uploaded across its programs.

If you're looking for an alternative to Adobe why not take a look at our guides to the best software for image editing and the best software for video editing.

It's not often that an author has to source a whopping 32 photos for their own book, but this is the position I found myself in last year when I agreed to write a biography of Sinead O'Connor. On signing the contract, I had skimmed past that clause, telling myself it would all be fine (this strategy has not worked well for me in the past, so I probably need to drop it). I had been assured by an editor that there would be enough photos on Wikicommons, but there weren't – at least, not unless we wanted to use virtual duplicates of the same shot.

Slightly panicking, I searched for pictures of Sinéad online. The best, largest and most varied collection of photos of her was, unsurprisingly, on Getty Images, but each photo cost up to £375. However, other image libraries were available.

So I signed up for free trials from Shutterstock and Dreamstime, downloaded all the decent photos I was allowed, then shamefacedly cancelled the trials. It wasn't a classy way of doing business, but my book advance was small and I was virtually penniless at the time.

However, despite there not being 32 great photos of Sinéad on Wikicommons, there was one breathtaking black-and-white shot. Taken in 1987 by an unknown photographer, and published by the Houston Chronicle in November of that year, it was a publicity still for the iconic singer's debut album The Lion and the Cobra, originally commissioned by her record company, Ensign/Chrysalis (who will have paid the photographer). It features her staring into the camera, her expression part-melancholy, part-defiant, with her legendary shaved head and beautiful features on display. The left side of her face is in shadow, the background pitch black - she was only 20 at the time, about to give birth to her child, and she looks both delicate and strong. It's a stunning historical photo which I chose to be the cover of my book, as it encapsulates both Sinéad's sweetness and her courage.

So how did the photograph come to be in the public domain? Well, according to the explanation under the picture on Wikicommons, this is very common for publicity stills. It quotes film production guru Eve Light Honthaner, who told The Complete Film Production Handbook, 'Publicity photos (star headshots) have traditionally not been copyrighted. Since they are disseminated to the public, they are generally considered public domain, and therefore clearance by the studio that produced them is not necessary.' In fact, the companies which own them actively want these photos to be published as often as possible, in order to publicise the celebrities in question and their works. It's in their financial interests for them to be widely disseminated.

I can only imagine what such a photo would have cost me if I'd had to pay for it, but I suspect we'd have been looking at Getty's £375, so I'm very grateful that it was free. All hail Wikicommons – saviour of skint authors the world over.

EDITORS NOTE: The situation here is based on the 'Shorter Term' rule, which applies in the USA, but not in other countries like Germany (see 'Licensing' heading).

There are a number of different platforms that provide photo-sharing capabilities. These include Instagram, Behance, and even Unsplash. Alongside these options, the past few years have seen a significant rise in companies not only offering portfolio upload functionality but also the ability to generate a fully functioning website and marketplace. SmugMug and Format are two of the most popular options. 

At its core, SmugMug delivers a quick and easy way to showcase and sell your photos online. This platform is designed primarily for photographers, something that is evidenced by the ability to upload unlimited photos as well as sync photo libraries with Lightroom. The addition of a marketplace means photographers can easily link with printers to sell their work.

There is unfortunately no free version of SmugMug but the 14-day free trial gives you enough time to see if it'll deliver what you need. Our best website builders for photographers guide will help you compare and contrast all the big players in the market.

SmugMug: Who is it for?

SmugMug has video capabilities but it's better suited towards photographers. Gallery functionality takes centre stage with the website side of things coming secondary. This platform is a place to store and present photos with the additional option to sell your work. 

Very similar to Format, SmugMug lacks the extended functionality that the likes of Squarespace and Wix offer. It is possible to go beyond photo galleries with tools to create customized pages but these tools are not particularly intuitive or enjoyable to use. Anyone wanting to go beyond creating galleries and selling prints would be better off with something like Squarespace. 

SmugMug: Price

The most basic package is $18 per month and offers unlimited storage and easy-to-share galleries with professional photography website tools. If you want to make money by selling prints and digital copies of your work then you'll need the portfolio package. This jumps up to $37 per month and makes it more expensive than the equivalent Format package. 

SmugMug: Key Features

SmugMug offers all the basic functionality that you would expect from a portfolio builder. It is possible to upload photos, videos and generate web pages that contain both text and gallery content. 

Storage - One of SmugMug's biggest selling points is its unlimited storage. I'm forever running out of space with Google Photos and it's annoying to either have to upgrade or delete old photos. I won't have any of those issues with this storage solution. The uploads are also original quality so no compression takes place. Links with popular applications such as Lightroom make this builder easy to slot into existing photography workflows.

Sharing - With your photos uploaded it is now possible to create galleries and present them using four different layout types. I really would like to have seen more layout options but unfortunately it's limited to four of the most basic options.

Sales - After your photos are ready to go, users can use SmugMug's sales tools to connect with printers and deliver physical prints of their work. Photographers wanting to make money from their work will find all the tools they need to do so. 

App - Creatives wanting a mobile workflow will enjoy the SmugMug app. Mobile photography is becoming increasingly popular amongst professionals and having an app to meet the demands of displaying, sharing and protecting photos is important.

SmugMug: Design & Ease of Use

It's fairly easy to get started with SmugMug. Account opening is a breeze with package features easy to differentiate. Answering a few initial questions related to what I wanted to achieve set me on the right path. A specific theme was picked but unfortunately, I couldn't find out how to change this afterwards. I was able to adjust individual colors and fonts but couldn't change the overall theme all at once. 

There are also less than ten themes available, which is very limiting for a portfolio website builder. By way of comparison, Format offers over 75 different themes and they're easy to change at any time. The same is true for Squarespace.

Having difficulty finding settings and knowing that the expected workflow wasn't isolated to just the theme. I found myself regularly stuck or unable to find the part of the builder that I needed for specific tasks. It wasn't possible to upload images or videos at the point of creating content blocks but instead, they had to be added to a gallery first. These workflow limitations made for a really frustrating creation process.

Adding individual content blocks to pages wasn't too tricky but the clunky interface meant it was far from enjoyable. 

SmugMug: Results

Even though it was really hard work to create my portfolio, my final website was relatively pleasing. My photos were nicely displayed and the slideshow feature made for a great full-screen experience. Commenting and sharing functionality extends the capabilities of this portfolio builder and demonstrates what it’s all about. The lack of intuitive website creation tools really let SmugMug down but for those wanting just to display and sell their work, there's unlikely to be many complaints.

SmugMug Alternatives

SmugMug's main competitor will be Format. Its closest rival is considerably cheaper and provides a much nicer interface for building the website. Squarespace and Wix are far more comprehensive in terms of tools but are less specifically catered to photographers.

Most photographers and videographers want to share their work publicly. They want their work displayed in full resolution, with no compression, and with options over how those images are presented. Portfolio builders like Format and SmugMug are great for that. But some creatives want to go that step further, they want a fully-fledged website that goes beyond just displaying and selling work. This is where Weebly and Squarespace come into their own, providing comprehensive website editing tools for almost all use cases. Our best website builders for photographers guide rounds up all our favorites into one buying guide.

Weebly's free version is a great option for photographers wanting to quickly get their work online. It does have a storage limit of 500MB though and there's no option for a custom domain. The premium version gives a much wider range of tools and enables creatives to create any type of website they want. 

Weebly is well placed from a cost perspective, being one of the cheapest options available. Its professional package also offers unlimited storage which is perfect for creatives who don't want to be limited by storage caps.

Weebly: Who is it for?

Weebly is for everyone. It has a wide range of website editing, eCommerce, and marketing tools that make it a dream for any creative wanting a huge amount of flexibility and control over what their website looks like. 

This 'catch-all' solution does mean that the platform and interface are not specifically targeted or tailored towards photographers and videographers. Don't get me wrong, it is certainly possible to present your work in a beautiful way and to sell that work if you wish, but Weebly goes well beyond that. 

Some creatives might therefore find that they're getting a tonne of features that they're never going to need. Photographers who want a more traditional website gallery would be best off looking at Format or SmugMug.

Weebly: Price

Weebly offers four packages that cover everyone's needs. The free version limits storage and has no custom domain functionality but is a great option for getting up and running quickly. Most creatives will want the Professional package which comes in at $10 / £9 per month (paying annually). This gives unlimited storage, a custom domain option, and fantastic eCommerce tools. It's hard to beat Weebly when it comes to price. 

Weebly: Key Features

Weebly is very similar to almost all other website builders in the fact that it offers a simple drag-and-drop content-building interface. This makes it very intuitive and user-friendly where pages can be created and edited without any technical website knowledge. This is ideal for teams or for those who are great at photography but not great at website design. 

Photo galleries - Photos can be presented in six different layouts including a grid, slideshow, and mosaic. The background color of galleries can also be adjusted to really make photos pop. Creatives can rest assured that their work is going to look great in both desktop and mobile versions.

eCommerce - Photographers who want to go beyond presenting their work and selling it will find a whole host of advanced and extensive eCommerce tools. Storefront options look great for showcasing products and the back end makes managing orders an absolute breeze. For those who really want to push the boundaries of their marketplace, Weebly gives users the ability to identify abandoned baskets and handle vouchers.

Marketing - Another substantial feature of Weebly is its marketing tools. This largely centers around email marketing tools such as those found in MailChimp or Moosend. This is a great option for targeting those who have purchased prints from you in the past.

Weebly: Design & Ease of Use

Other than maybe Squarespace, it will be almost impossible to find a website builder that is easier to use than Weebly. Considering how comprehensive and far-reaching the tools are, the design team has done a fantastic job of collating tools and displaying them in the interface, giving users only what is required at that point in time. This made for a very enjoyable creation process. 

All the icons and fonts are clear and easy to use with the white background giving absolute focus to your website design. I found SmugMug's dark interface particularly challenging and much prefer the clean design principles followed by Weebly.

Weebly offers a wide range of different themes which makes it less likely that your website is going to look the same as another's. Once a theme has been chosen it is then possible to very quickly update the site style so that fonts, colors, and styles all match in beautiful harmony. Weebly take out all the guesswork here and provide the options you need. Every element of the site including buttons, text formatting, and icons can be adjusted with the properties panel.

Outside of the website builder, things become a little bit more complicated because Weebly has to accommodate every single service that it offers. It does this pretty well with a range of dropdowns and sections but these are a little unwieldy, especially for the uninitiated.

Weebly: Results

Weebly was an absolute pleasure to work with. The interface is intuitive and easy to use with a wide range of tools to match. The comprehensive set of themes and site styles means there's no limit to what you can create with this platform. I really liked the website that I created and found the builder remarkably easy to use. And with all the packages at such affordable prices, it is hard to find a better option for creatives to display their work.

Weebly Alternatives

Weebly is an extensive website builder that is comparable with both Squarespace and Wix. Format and SmugMug offer similar image gallery capabilities but fall far short on general website building capabilities.

There comes a time in every creative’s life when they think "I want to share my work with the world". This might come in the form of social media or an art-sharing website like Behance but for artists wanting more control over the presentation of their work with a custom domain, website builders are the best way to go. SmugMug and Format offer simple portfolio-building tools with eCommerce capabilities whereas Weebly and Squarespace offer more comprehensive website-building tools and marketing capabilities.

To get a clearer idea of which package is best for you, check out our expertly curated list at our best website builders for photographers guide.

Squarespace is one of the simplest drag-and-drop website builders around. Themes, templates, and content can be quickly customized and inserted, making the whole process of creating a website fun and enjoyable. Its interface is clean and intuitive yet offers a depth of functionality that puts it at the forefront of the sector. The fact that the initial package costs only $16 / £12 per month and will be fine for most creatives is impressive, to say the least.

Squarespace: Who is it for?

Squarespace is a fantastic solution for any creative wanting to display their work to the public. This includes photographers, videographers and graphic designers. The process of adding media to projects and then displaying them on Portfolio based pages is incredibly easy and intuitive. Once your work is ready to present, the process of uploading it and creating the page will take as little as 5 to 10 minutes.

Squarespace: Price

Squarespace offers four plans ranging from $16-49 / £12-35 per month (when paid annually). The Personal package at $16 / £12 per month will suit any creative who wants to present their work in beautiful customisable galleries. 

If you're wanting to market yourself more proactively and engage your customers in buying your prints and products then you'll need to upgrade to either the Business package for $23 / £17 per month or the Commerce package for $27 / £25 per month. The latter offers more merchandising capabilities so if that's not what you're after then I would settle for either the Personal or the Business packages.

Squarespace: Key Features

Squarespace has pretty much every single feature that you could want. Creatives are given all the tools required to present, market, and sell their work with a range of easy-to-use tools. This website builder heavyweight has even introduced new AI features recently for designing your website and writing its content.

Gallery layouts – Squarespace offers six layout types for presenting images, with three devoted to grid styles and three to slideshows. Grid options include simple, strip, and masonry which provide a nice variety of presentation choices. Once the layout has been chosen it is then also possible to customize the grids and either increase or decrease the number of columns and rows with properties for spacing also available. Even though Squarespace could offer more layouts I never found myself lacking variety.

Marketing – Squarespace offers some rudimentary marketing tools as part of its website builder including pop-ups and announcement bars. These are great ways to get a viewer's attention and point them towards the latest project or deal. These are all easily customizable in terms of text and styling.

eCommerce – I really like the simplicity of Squarespace's commercial tools with the process of setting up a shop super straightforward. It is possible to sell both physical and digital products as well as selling courses - a great option for creatives who want to pass on their knowledge and experience for a fee. Squarespace handles it all.

Squarespace: Design & Ease of Use

There is no easier-to-use website builder on the market than Squarespace. Weebly comes the closest in terms of usability but I still find Squarespace to be slightly easier to navigate around and get projects up and running quickly. 

Squarespace's interface is really clean, making it easy to build even the most complex of websites with dozens of pages. Page and content icons are perfectly designed to simplify the creation process and remove any unnecessary text from the interface. Squarespace is also quick. Moving between pages, adding content, and adding media all happen almost instantaneously.

The portfolio tools are equally straightforward and intuitive. Projects can be added really quickly, with a range of media types supported. Image gallery sections can be dropped onto any page and be linked to projects which themselves contain the media. Images can also be uploaded when creating these gallery sections which means you don't always have to go back into the projects.

Your website can be previewed both in desktop or mobile formats which makes it easy to see how different users will experience your creation. The responsiveness between the two is not always the most intuitive and something that looks good on desktop doesn't always look great on mobile, unfortunately. To overcome this, it is possible to create your website in desktop mode and then make adjustments in the mobile mode.

Squarespace: Results

I absolutely loved the website I created with Squarespace. The choice of themes meant I got exactly the look I wanted and being able to customize fonts and colors of texts was a nice extra touch. The gallery types meant I could display all my projects in beautiful layouts and vary them from project to project. The whole process of creating the website was enjoyable and easy with very few hiccoughs experienced along the way.

Squarespace Alternatives

Squarespace sits firmly alongside the likes of Weebly and Wix Studio. All three are comprehensive website builders that have marketing and ECommerce tools on top of the standard web-building capabilities. Creatives who want portfolio builders that are more tailored to photographers could look at SmugMug and Format.

A few years ago my new year's resolution was to make my photography business more legitimate. I printed business cards, built a website and started creating a more professional online presence. However, the last few years have been tough on everyone; jobs have dwindled and more and more businesses are going for the do-it-yourself approach when it comes to photography. With that in mind, I can't justify splashing out almost £200 to keep my Squarespace site running, so I'm looking into alternatives. 

The thought of building a whole new website from scratch is daunting. It took me ages to build my Squarespace site and create something that not only looked great but reflected who I am as a photographer as well as the services I offer. Squarespace made it easy to design each page, add text boxes, pictures, quotes, videos and even embed my Instagram feed so switching to an alternative isn't an easy decision but it's a necessary one. 

When I first signed up to Squarespace I used my brother's student discount which gave me 50% off plus a free domain for the first year so it worked out at just £108 for the whole year including the domain. Since I opted for the business account it cost £216 in the second year plus £19.20 for the domain. After a quiet year selling prints, I switched back to a personal account in my third year costing me a £175 in total but that's still significantly more than I initially paid. 

I love the look of my Squarespace site, the website builder is easy to navigate, everything comes together quickly and within a few hours, you have a website ready to launch. Even if you've never built or designed a website before, there are lots of templates and page layouts but that's the case with almost all website builders, not just Squarespace – as we covered in How to build a brilliant photo website.

Most of my work comes through existing clients, word of mouth or Instagram which begs the question, why bother having a website at all when Instagram is free? I think having your work neatly organized and displayed on a website makes you seem more legitimate. I can describe who I am, the packages I offer, how much I charge and provide client testimonials. While the number of jobs I get through my website may have decreased, the jobs I have got over the last few years have paid for it so I do think it’s worth having one – I just think it’s time to look for a cheaper often. 

Format and Zenfolio are both currently offering 50% off all plans so you can create a website from as little as $3.50/£2 or $5/£4 respectively when you pay annually. The basic packages are better suited to photographers just starting who don't require huge amounts of storage space, don't need an online store and just need the basic web pages (about section, contact, gallery etc). If your business is more established, a pro or pro plus subscription may be better suited as it gives you access to a personalized email, more storage, a selling platform, plus video hosting. 

I appreciate that after this year the price on both Format and Zenfolio will increase, but the basic Format site will still cost me a lot less than Squarespace. Creating a new website every year isn't an ideal solution but it can save money and a freshly designed website might just bring in a few extra clients!

• Want to have complete control? Check out the best website hosting sites if you would rather build you site using code

The best photo editing software will help you get your photos in order and optimized for web so you don't upload huge files.

I first started uploading photos to sell on stock photo sites (such as iStock) back in the early noughties. I earned around $800 per month which motivated me to shoot, keyword and upload new images on a regular basis. A shot I uploaded years before could still earn me a passive income a decade later. I became addicted to refreshing the iStock contributor’s page to see my sales increase on an hourly basis! 

But then the bubble burst. As time advanced smartphone cameras got better and more photos saturated the stock photo market. As a result, the renumeration for my photo sales began to plummet. 

By 2016 an image sale on Shutterstock earned me $0.25 cents per photo. Today a typical still’s price on Shutterstock is $0.10 per image. At that price, I’m no longer motivated to upload photos to stock sites. 

I do however upload video clips as these still bring in a reasonable passive income. A photo may only earn $0.10 but a 20-second video clip of the same subject still has the potential to earn a hundred percent or more of that measly amount. For example in August 2023 HD clip sales on my Pond 5 portfolio earned me between $3.48 and $20 per clip. I could earn up to 60% of a clip’s sale price if I signed up to Pond5 exclusively, but I like to spread my clips around a range of sites.  

Talking of other sites my biggest pool of income for video clips comes from Storyblocks. I have 754 clips for sale there and these earn me around $150 per month. Unlike other sites Storyblocks sells clips to subscribers who pay a monthly fee to download as many clips as they like. Contributors like me get a cut of the monthly pool, rather than earning money for each individual download. 

• These are some of the best stock video sites

Another reasonable payer for stock clips is Adobe Stock, with around $4.00 per clip. They can also pay up to a couple of dollars per photo which might motivate you to upload some stills as well as clips. However, the income from Adobe Stock, iStock, Pond 5 and Shutterstock combined doesn’t earn me as much per month as the subscription model of Storyblocks.

So what types of clips sell? Well, my best-selling clip on Shutterstock is a shot of two men up ladders installing lights in a ceiling (watch it here). It was uploaded in 2016, has been purchased 21 times, and has earned me $296.95. 

On Storyblocks my best-selling clips are mostly editorial. Editorial clips feature everyday sights such as passengers getting off a bus or police cars whizzing by, sirens blazing. Emergency services are a popular subject for customers, though I have occasionally been asked by police officers why I’m filming them. They don’t tend to mind when I explain I’m filming stock footage (though I did have one officer insist that I delete my camera’s memory card - but that’s another story.)

The beauty of shooting editorial clips is that you don’t need to worry about getting model release forms from people in the scene. In theory, editorial clips have a restricted use. They can be used for news or educational purposes but not for commercials for example. This restriction doesn’t appear to reduce sales. In my top 10 selling clips on Storyblocks this August 6 out of 10 had editorial content.  

If you own one of the best camera phones, then you have all the kit you need to capture high-quality HD or 4K editorial stock clips. Thanks to the iPhone’s built-in optical and software stabilisation you can capture tripod-steady editorial clips that should bring in a passive income for years to come. My current top seller on Storyblocks is a short sequence of sunlight flickering through the canopy of a forest. That was shot on a handheld iPhone in the woods at the end of my street.

To increase the chances of making clip sales check out Storyblock’s list of in-demand content and shoot your subject’s accordingly. The bubble may have burst for stock photos but I’m happy to enjoy spending the regular $200 or so per month that drips in from clips I’ve uploaded years ago! It covers my coffee costs as I sit in cafes typing up these opinion pieces!

• How to shoot and sell stock photography: 22 great tips from a top pro
• Make money with your camera: Shooting for stock
• Download Adobe Stock for free

Canon has announced that it will soon be launching a curated photography marketplace for digital art (NFTs) from innovative creators, and it's called Cadabra. 

Very little has been provided in the way of information surrounding this new NFT platform, with the announcement from Canon US taking the form of a simple two-sentence tweet and a newsletter sign-up link. 

• These are the best stock photo sites for photographers to sell images

Is Canon being deliberately secretive about this newly developed online marketplace? Or is there really nothing interesting to share yet in the way of specifics and details? "Coming soon" is also an extremely vague timeframe. Next week? Next year? When we could actually start using this new marketplace is unspecified, but at least a website has been created called Cadabra.io.

According to a report by Decrypt, the new platform will be hosted in the form of an Ethereum NFT (Non-Fungible Token) blockchain, and can be described as a curated marketplace for photographers to sell tokenized photographs. Ethereum is an open-source software, and decentralized blockchain platform, which uses 'Ether' as the native cryptocurrency for any sales. 

The concept of NFTs, navigating the blockchain, ownership, gas fees, and understanding cryptocurrency is still super confusing to a lot of photographers and content creators (us included). So to help make a bit more sense of it all, take a look at our NFT explainer . 

The article by Decrypt also suggests that Cadabra will only be launching in the US initially, and will also enable participating artists and photographers to offer physical prints of their images to purchasers (which Canon itself will fulfill). 

Canon jumping into the world of NFTs at this late stage is a little surprising, especially with the rise of AI image-generators dominating the webspace at the moment, rendering the concept of NFTs almost forgotten. We reported over a year ago that NFTs are coming to Instagram, as confirmed by Zuckerberg himself, but we're yet to see this or any timescale supporting its development. 

Previously, Canon dipped its toe into the world of NFTs last year when it joined up with the NFT marketplace, Immutable Image, and eight renowned Canon legends minted their images as NFTs as part of the Legends program. 

Would you ever consider turning your best photographs into sellable NFTs? If the process was made as easy as possible for photographers to follow, and more accessible for those a little less tech-savvy, then it could certainly be the future of selling photographs online. Let us know your thoughts and whether you agree!

You might also be interested in how to make your first photography NFT, as well as how photographers can make money with NFTs. You can also check out the best Canon cameras and best Canon lenses.

Zenfolio is already considered one of the best website builders for photographers and it just got even better with new video features and unlimited file storage on all the top-tier plans. Anyone with the ProSuite plan will now be able to upload 4K video files allowing professional photographers and videographer to show off their video work in high-resolution. 

Considered to be the market leader in creative and business solutions, Zenfolio has been serving photographers around the globe for almost two decades. It offers an all-in-one portfolio and website builder with a full suite of advanced business and e-commerce solutions. The company's brands and services include Format, a portfolio website solution with marketing and studio management tools for all creative professionals and PhotoRefine.ai, an advanced AI software that takes the work out of grouping, rating, and culling images.

• Check out the best web hosting sites for photographers with features such as 24/7 support, unlimited storage and free email hosting

As well as being able to upload 4K videos, those on the ProSuite service tier will also have access to unlimited storage. Users will be able to upload 4K videos up to 60 minutes long and up to 30GB in size complete with video watermarking and other advanced video features. 

John Loughlin, Zenfolio's Chief Executive Officer, says these major updates further cement the company’s market leadership position. “Zenfolio is constantly innovating and enhancing our service offerings to meet the needs of our customers and their clients. Our already robust video features are now even more appealing with 4K video and unlimited storage, reaffirming Zenfolio as the best single source for running a photography or videography business.”

ProSuite is by far Zenfolio’s most extensive plan offering SEO optimization, Instagram integration, email marketing, smart pricing and advanced order management. With this latest announcement, Zenfolio is even more well-equipped to make sure your professional portfolio looks its best for potential new clients. 

Zenfolio currently has a 50%-off sale running on its annual plans, which runs until 31 March.

Check out the best professional cameras, the best mirrorless cameras or the best DSLRs from Canon, Sony, Nikon, Fujifilm and more!

Selling stock footage is no longer really considered a serious money maker by content creators, but YouTuber Matt WhoisMatt Johnson would disagree. You’re not going to be able to quit your full-time job by selling stock footage, but it could boost your income and give you a nice chunk of extra money for a rainy day. 

One of the most popular and well-known stock sites is Getty Images, but there are hundreds of platforms out there on which to sell your content. Those used by Matt include Pond5, Artgrid, Lightstock, and Adobe Stock. Although each site individually doesn’t make bring in loads of money – except for Artgrid which made him over $4,500 (£5,500 / AU$7,800) last year – it does all add up.

• These are the best stock video sites

If you’re a photographer or videographer, chances are that you already have hundreds of files on your hard drive that could be uploaded as stock imagery or footage – files that are otherwise just sitting there, doing nothing and earning you nothing. Selling these files as stock is valuable passive income – a source of revenue that continues even after a job is complete.

Watch video: How to make thousands from selling stock footage

I'm in the camp of photographers that have never dabbled in stock libraries - I've always been put off by the lack of control I'd have over my photos and how little I'd get paid. The thought of seeing a photo or video I created without credit was unappealing, but that doesn't have to be the case. 

However, most if not all stock image sites list the creator and will often list the credit as the name of the photographer or videographer as well as the stock image site. 

In the video (above) Matt confesses that he’s been in the profession and building his stock image library for over a decade, so if you've just started out you may need to wait a few years before you have enough content behind you. Adobe Stock and Pond5 will pretty much allow anyone to upload content but Lightstock and ArtGrid require you to apply and have a backlog of content. 

Don't expect to become a millionaire overnight if you choose to start uploading to stock image websites but, as Matt has proven, they can be a very helpful earner. Rather than thinking about how much money you can make, think about what you could buy with it; earning $75 in a year doesn’t sound like much but, as Matt points out, that's 75 tacos if you live in the US (though considerably fewer if you live in the UK). 

It’s true that stock photography isn't the big earner it used to be but, if you do it right, you can definitely make some extra pennies. 

These are the best cameras for video - browse a range of mirrorless cameras, action cams, drones and phones!

Popular online photography platform Flickr, now owned by SmugMug, has announced the establishment of a nonprofit organization in the form of The Flickr Foundation – an attempt to preserve cultural and historical legacies within the medium and practice of photography.

This organization aims to not only protect and preserve online images that hold historical and cultural importance, but also promote access to these images as an accessible resource for future generations and students.

• Looking for the best hosting sites for photographers?

The Flickr Foundation intends to share a collection of world-renowned photography and culturally significant images in the hopes of creating an online resource, with the express goal of preserving photography for the next few hundred years.

"At SmugMug + Flickr, we believe that photography is an incredibly important visual record of our history," said COO Ben MacAskill, "but as citizens, we don’t have nearly enough access to our own photographic histories in the public domain. The Flickr Foundation is being founded expressly to change that."

The Foundation will be developing programs in four major areas of cultural preservation: Flickr Commons, content mobility, creative archiving, and fostering new curators. It aims, through these efforts, to care for and expand the wealth of historical images that exist on Flickr, and devise a longevity plan for the entire Flickr collection. 

Flickr has been a strong foundation and staple of the online photography community – and despite previous changes in ownership and developments, it has remained a viable source of visual imagery and sharing that many photographers still use and enjoy.

The initial idea for this concept was first presented 14 years ago, when in 2008 Flickr's then-designer George Oates intended to create a program to assist the world’s cultural and artistic institutions and share their vast photography collections. She called it The Flickr Commons program, and it launched in collaboration with the United States Library of Congress.

Continuing to work in the cultural heritage sector, Oates is regarded as something of a go-to expert on digital archives. "The Commons project began with two aims," she says. "Firstly, to increase exposure to the amazing content currently held in the public collections of civic institutions around the world; and secondly, to facilitate the collection of knowledge about these collections, with the hope that this information would feed back into the catalogs, making them richer and easier to search."

As for today, the Flickr Commons (now rebranded as The Flickr Foundation) boasts an immense collection of historically significant images, as well as those from the public domain, and from contributors that include the Smithsonian, the British Library, NASA, The Library of Congress, and academic institutions around the world.

As Flickr's future was at risk in 2018, and becoming increasingly uncertain (even facing potential shutdown) the MacAskill brothers, Don and Ben, came to the rescue, and acquired Flickr from Yahoo! Oates was brought back to Flickr in 2020 to help revitalize The Commons, with an aim to build something with value to the member organizations, and the open culture ecosystem.

The MacAskill pair already owned and operated the photography sales and sharing platform, SmugMug. "The idea that tens of billions of photos would just disappear – we couldn’t let that happen," explained Ben. 

"We didn't buy Flickr because we thought it was an amazing business opportunity – it was losing staggering amounts of money, and nobody else seemed interested in the potential. Instead, we bought Flickr because we've built our company around a love for photography, and we couldn't imagine an internet without Flickr."

Oates re-entered with a solution to save Flickr, in creating a nonprofit foundation that would run alongside the existing photo community, and preserve online photography. 

"The foundation's mission is to make sure Flickr will be preserved for future generations," she adds. "We are already working on the idea of a very long-term outlook, while acknowledging that we don’t have enough voices in the mix yet. A major project will be the 100-year plan, and we've held several research workshops to begin to shape what such a plan should look like."

• You may also be interested in the best web-hosting sites for photographers, as well as the best stock photo sites, and discover How to build a brilliant photo website.

"Download Adobe Stock for free" might sound like the sort of dodgy link you find on social media, that leads you on to a piracy site that puts all sorts of viruses on your computer. But actually, you don't have to do anything illegal to download Adobe Stock for free! Adobe themselves allows you to get a number of stock images, videos, and other assets for free, completely legitimately.

This is something well worth taking advantage of. After all, Adobe Stock is our top pick of the best stock photo sites, and it's recently introduced a bunch of helpful AI features (jump ahead to our FAQs to learn more). 

Even better, are THREE ways to download Adobe Stock for free. You don't even need a Creative Cloud subscription, although you do need an Adobe ID (but don't worry, that's free too).

Quick summary

• Back to the top ⤴

Download Adobe Stock for free: method 1

Although most of Adobe Stock's assets need to be paid for, there are more than a MILLION Adobe Stock photos available for anyone to download for free. And we do mean free. You don't need to give any credit card details to access them, nor take out a subscription to either Adobe Stock or the Creative Cloud.

You'll need to create an Adobe ID, if you haven't already. But that won't cost you anything, and you won't have to give any details other than your email address.

Once you've done that, you'll be able to access a variety of free assets to download from https://stock.adobe.com/free. 

At time of writing, Adobe was listing 545,721 free photos and 600,317 free vectors here, so you should be able to find something suitable. You'll also find lots of videos, design templates, 3D assets, and motion graphics templates, including work by recipients of Adobe Stock's Artist Development Fund. 

You can browse these free Adobe Stock files by category or topic. All of these free images are cleared for commercial use, and are royalty-free. 

• Back to the top ⤴

Download Adobe Stock for free: method 2

Another way to download Adobe Stock assets for free is to take out a free 30-day trial to Adobe Stock, which lets you download up to 10 Standard assets for free. 

What we mean by 'Standard assets' here is quite specific. That's because Adobe Stock divides its assets into 'Standard' and 'Premium'. The latter are, as the name suggests, higher in quality than the former, but there are plenty of great Standard files that are worth downloading too.

To begin your trial, visit https://stock.adobe.com/promo/firstmonthfree and click the button that reads 'Start Free trial'. You’ll need an Adobe ID to start your trial, and you'll need to supply credit card details. However, as long as you cancel your subscription before the end of the trial, you won't be charged. 

If you do cancel, you'll still get to keep the 10 free Adobe Stock assets you've chosen. Alternatively, if you want to keep your subscription, just do nothing and you'll be charged automatically from the second month onwards.

• Back to the top ⤴

Download Adobe Stock for free: method 3

The third way to download Adobe Stock for free is a bit off-the-wall, so bear with us. Basically, instead of searching through a library of stock images, you can make your own images using Adobe Firefly. 

Adobe Firefly is a free service from Adobe that uses generative AI to create unique images based on keyword prompts. To date it's been used to generate over 24 billion images worldwide.

Using it is easy: just type in a sentence like "Photorealistic penguin on a surfboard near Weston-super-mare pier" and you will get a range of images to choose from. The longer and more complex the sentence, the closer the result will be to what you're looking for. If you want to see examples of what you can make, check out the Community Gallery tab. 

While AI software is very controversial in the photographer and artist communities, Adobe argues Firefly is different. That's because its AI has been trained ethically, by using existing images on Adobe Stock, openly available images, and those which are out of copyright. And image sellers on its stock libraries also have the chance to opt out of having their work studied in this way.

Whether that seems ethical to you or not, the fact remains that using Adobe Firefly gives you a third way to get free AI illustrations and photo-realistic images from Adobe. Simpy go to the Firefly website, click on 'Get Firefly free' and then start playing around with some prompts. 

• Back to the top ⤴

FAQs

Want to know about how Adobe Stock works, how much credit packs and subscriptions costs, and whether there's any way to get a discount? Then keep reading, as we answer the most common questions about Adobe Stock.

• Back to the top ⤴

Read more:

Best stock video sites
How to shoot and sell stock photography
Best web hosting sites for photographers
How to download Photoshop
How to download Adobe Premiere Pro

It seems that AI-image generators are cropping up left, right and center all over the internet. Whether you believe that these tools are the future of image and art creation, or the downfall of the industry, major platforms are now putting their foot down and banning all forms of content that were created using AI tools.

Getty is the latest big name to explicitly ban AI-generated art and photography, in an effort to prevent any legal repercussions the company could face surrounding unclear copyright and unaddressed rights issues with AI.

• The war against the machines has begun as PurplePort bans AI images

Joining the likes of PurplePort, Newgrounds and Shutterstock, Getty Images has forbidden the upload and sale of illustrations and / or photography that has been generated using AI image tools such as DALL•E, Midjourney, Stable Diffusion, Jasper Art and Artbreeder-collages.

Getty's CEO, Craig Peters, told The Verge that the platform intends to protect itself and its customers from any potential copyright disputes that may arise in the future, prompted by concerns about the legality of AI-generated content. 

In most cases, AI software relies on existing pools of data and copyrighted works taken from all over the web – including stock photo sites, ironically – in the process of creating its prompt-generated content, often mining elements from original artworks without any form of credit or compensation.

"There are real concerns with respect to the copyright of outputs from these models and unaddressed rights issues with respect to the imagery, the image metadata and those individuals contained within the imagery," said Peters. 

"The world is already awash in imagery. Digital cameras generated an exponential growth in imagery given the reduced cost and simplicity of capture, transmission, and use… our business has never been about the ease of creating imagery or the resulting volume. It is about connecting and cutting through." 

The popularity of tools like MidJourney (Discord-based), Stable Diffusion and the DALL•E Mini (now called Craiyon) has soared over the last few months through promotion by social media websites, and AI-generated photorealistic meme content. Even Google has developed its own Imagen AI software that is not yet accessible to the public due to safeguarding concerns.

The latest DALL•E 2 software is currently being launched in beta mode to a limited number of people on a waiting list, and will operate as a credit-based paid model. The DALL•E 2 generator is created by a company called OpenAI, which reassures that the newest model will be filtered to control the creation of harmful or offensive content. The DALL•E Mini however is not associated with OpenAI, and its free-to-use for everyone approach appears to have limited safeguarding in place. 

The OpenAI website states that "we've limited the ability for DALL•E 2 to generate violent, hate, or adult images. By removing the most explicit content from the training data, we minimized DALL•E 2’s exposure to these concepts. We also used advanced techniques to prevent photorealistic generations of real individuals' faces, including those of public figures."

Stable Diffusion, on the other hand, is an open-source, unfiltered image generator that's free to use for anyone and for almost any purpose, without any restrictions. The company behind the funding and development of Stable Diffusion is Stability AI, and it has stated that it hopes everyone will use the AI generator in an ethical, moral, and legal manner, and contribute both to the community and discourse around it.

Images that have been generated by AI software machines are (as reported by PetaPixel) currently being listed for sale en-masse online via global stock photo websites such as Getty, Shutterstock, iStock, and Adobe Stock. 

This increased competition for "real-life" photographers selling their work is one thing, but the unaware purchasers of AI-generated images that might be used in advertising, for example, pose a risk to their own finances and reputations should they be faced with copyright infringement unknowingly. 

Peters didn't specify if the company had already found itself in a situation of legal troubles with AI  materials, though he did note that there is a limited amount of content existing on the platform. He noted that Getty Images users will be relied on to identify, flag and report AI images.

The company is also working with C2PA (the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity) to develop content-identifying filters, though the reliability of these filters and enforceability of the AI ban remains to be determined. 

As for Shutterstock, the company does not explicitly prohibit the selling of AI-generated images – though Vice has reported that most of the AI images on the platform are disappearing from sale and likely being removed by the company amid similar fears to those shared by Getty.

Searches for images and content on Shutterstock tagged with "Midjourney" is said to have once yielded several thousand AI images, but these results have since been drastically reduced to only 200 images, leaving mainly stock photos of the MidJourney AI's company logo instead. When searching "Stable Diffusion" on Shutterstock, only about 25 results show AI-generated content. 

Searching for AI content via Getty Images using the terms "MidJourney", "DALL-E", and "Stable Diffusion" yielded zero AI-generated images, as far as could be determined from the first five pages of results. 

Over 400 results could be found for searching "Midjourney" using Adobe Stock, revealing very clearly AI-generated images. Impressively, we could only find one AI image for sale on Picfair. 

• You may also want to take a look at our guides to the best photo editing software, as well as the best monitors for photo editing, and don't forget the best photo-editing laptops. Also, take a look at these Top 10 AI tools in Photoshop and the meaning behind What is an AI camera?

Back in 2005, I spent a day photographing fruit at home. There was nothing complicated about the shoot. I simply used a lightbox and took photos of a whole variety of fruit against a white background. I uploaded those photos to Alamy and to my delight within 12 months I had earned over $1,000 from those photos. With very little cost and only a day of my time, this represented the sort of ROI that we photographers dream of.

Oh, how the world of photography has changed since then…

On my most recent statements from one of the stock sites I submit my photos to, I saw sales for around 7 photos from a shoot that amounted to a little over $3. I calculated that at that rate it would take me approximately 42 years to break even from the costs of that shoot. How is this ever fair for photographers?

Luckily for me, this particular set of photos was taken while I was on assignment and so my expenses were covered. But it still doesn’t cover the time it took to edit them, add keywords and captions and upload them. And I can only see this situation getting worse with fees falling even more.

So the question is, should there be a minimum fee for a sold photo? In the same way that many countries have a minimum wage, should photos also have a minimum price?

I’m not naïve enough to ever think that even if a minimum fee was introduced it would be life changing. But at least as photographers we won’t see our photos licensed for a few cents.

The thing is, that I don’t actually blame clients who pay these fees for photos. Like anyone or any business, you always try to find the best deal. So if you can purchase a photo for a dollar why pay ten dollars for it? And with fees continuing to fall and even the last remaining stock sites that charge higher prices under pressure to change their business model, it’s only a matter of time before photos become worthless.

But this change is clearly not going to come from governments so how can this vicious cycle be stopped?

I believe that the only way is for the photography community to come together to agree on a minimum fee for every photo sold. This doesn’t have to be extortionate, but even a $5 minimum would represent a huge change in the industry. The majority of photos licensed are through the big stock sites such as Dreamstime, Getty, Alamy and Shutterstock. So imagine what a message it would send to the world if they all placed the same minimum fee for any photo sold.

As wonderful as this would be, I highly doubt it would ever happen. But I do believe that it is something that needs to be spoken about to protect the whole photography industry. Otherwise, we will end up at a time when photography as a profession won’t exist.

Of course, there is always a counterargument to every debate. And on this particular topic, people might argue that this is just the consequence of an open market and no different to say supermarkets competing on the prices of products.

Unfortunately, this is where this idea of a minimum fee will come up against a brick wall. The big stock sites are ultimately only concerned about their bottom lines so as long as photographers continue to supply them with photos, they will continue to sell them at minimal prices.

So, as much as a minimum fee for photos seems the only fair way forward, unfortunately, I think it may very much remain a utopian idea rather than a realistic solution.

Read more

The best stock photo sites
The best professional cameras
How to set the best fees for your photo services

Canon has become the latest major brand to jump on the NFT bandwagon. In partnership with Immutable Image, eight Canon Legends who are considered masters of photography in their respective mediums will release a collection of NFTs using iconic photographs they’ve captured. 

Immutable Image is another NFT marketplace but its mission is to support and uplift photographic communities by bringing together the world’s best photographers on a platform that looks to expand and diversify the collectors‘ class. It uses one of the world’s fastest-growing blockchains known as Solana to power the platform which offers very low-cost transaction fees.

What are NFTs and can photographers make money by selling them?

The photographers featured as Canon Legends include internationally renowned portrait and fashion photographer Barbara Bordnick, Duana Michals who is regarded as one of the greatest innovators of the last century, evocative portrait photographer Gregory Heisler and fine art photographer, Joyce Tenneson. 

They are joined by American photographer and film director Melvin Sokolsky, National Geographic photographer Sam Abell, Ryszard Horowitz who is considered a pioneer of special effects photography and last but certainly not least, Waler loose Jr. who is best known for his photos of some of the greatest athletes. 

NFTs have become increasingly popular since Beeple sold an NFT at Christie’s for more than $60 million putting him among the top three most valuable living artists. Nobody, not even Beeple himself expected to sell the digital piece of art for so much but people went mad for The First 5000 Days. Of course, not all NFTs have had the same success story and in fact, some NFT sales have caused a lot of controversy surrounding the ethics of it. 

We once thought NFTs would be a passing fad but it looks like it's definitely here to stay and as more major names and major brands jump on the trend, it’s cementing the future of NFTs. What photos will be included in the Canon Legends NFT collection is yet to be made public but we can be sure they are images that have impacted and changed the photography world.

Read more:

How I sell my photographs as NFTs
Fans furious over Nirvana NFTs
It's official: NFTs are coming to Instagram

A website is an important part of a photography business, but there's more to building a great photography website than just adding stunning imagery. By choosing a green web host you can make the process better for the planet, without affecting your day-to-day workload.

Building a more sustainable future for the photography industry benefits all of us, and we all have opportunities to make our photo workflow more eco-friendly. Whether you're a professional or enthusiast, finding the weak points of your business in terms of its environmental impact is useful.

One area, which many photographers may not think about, is web hosting. Since it is not a direct impact of our business upon the environment, it’s easy to overlook our online exploits as damaging. Hosting many hundreds of websites is energy-hungry – but yours isn’t the only one your web host is supporting, of course.

Here, we have taken a look at the best green web hosting services for photographers – those platforms that are the most eco-conscious and allow you to run a successful photo website with a minimal carbon footprint.

1) iPage

“For every kilowatt-hour (kwh) of energy that iPage uses, the company purchases Renewable Energy Certificates to offset that amount with wind energy by 200 percent”. 

This is how iPage describes its approach. It’s a clear statement and leaves little room for vagueness about how green the company actually is – a common issue amongst web hosts. The iPage system is also easy to use and the products are good, which adds up to true carbon-neutral quality.

2) GreenGeeks

GreenGeeks claims to be the world’s number one green hosting provider. It’s a confident claim, but that’s backed up by a 300 percent carbon offset standard.

This means that usage is more than carbon neutral, it’s technically carbon-reducing! The host provides features, such as WordPress integration, 24/7 tech support and a 30-day money-back guarantee.

3) A2 Hosting

Carbon neutral for 15 years, A2 Hosting has shown commendable dedication to making moves towards eco-friendly operations. In addition to getting energy from sustainable sources, its partnership with carbonfund.org has allowed work on reforestation projects. The offering for photographers is reasonable too, providing a wide variety of choice of plans. Prices are a little higher, but you get performance-boosting features and integrated virus scanning.

4) Kualo

Kualo isn’t as far along the path to being carbon neutral as others, but it has committed to carbon-offsetting programs and has a dedicated page that provides updates on its progress. The company uses sustainable energy sources in both the UK and the US, while its data centre facilities are rated to be as efficient as possible. It also offers a free website builder and uses a Machine Learning Firewall and malware protection.

5) DreamHost

Another hosting service that ultimately aims to obtain all of its energy from renewable sources, DreamHost has business-wide efficiency-boosting practices, from using reclaimed water for its cooling plants to in-house composting for its office kitchens. The company also invests as a partner in clean wind programs. Starting at just $1.99 per month, you can get a shared hosting plan that is beginner-friendly and – even better – if you already use a WordPress site, you can migrate it for free.

Conclusion

A website is an important part of a photography business, but by simply choosing a green web host you can make the process better for the planet, without affecting your day-to-day workload.

Read more:

Build a brilliant photo website
6 ways to improve your photo website
Go green: make your photography more sustainable

In an effort to de-stigmatize images that might otherwise be considered risqué or lewd, Flickr is taking the approach to allow its users to upload content under moderate and restricted categories that other platforms have banned. 

Uploading even the most subtle of boudoir images can have its risks on social platforms, particularly Instagram, with photographers and content creators facing fears of deletion and banned accounts when doing so. 

• Read more: Best camera for portraits

Almost every online photography community has measures in place to protect users from seeing content that could be derived as harmful, offensive, inappropriate or not safe for work (NSFW). While safeguarding content online is an extremely important thing, sometimes harmless images of subjects showing a bit too much shoulder can result in the photographer and subject alike being cautioned or banned from social platforms. 

This appears to happen most frequently on Instagram and Tiktok, with creators having their content removed and accounts taken down over what an algorithm deems as a conflict of terms. In the photographic community, boudoir images and those of a more taboo nature are often regarded not as being vulgar, but as a form of fine art. Tasteful nude images have been accepted in society and famous paintings for thousands of years, so why not on social media? 

Female bodies in particular are often more subject to shame, with Instagram users having to blur out their nipples to ensure that content remains on the platform – sparking movements such as 'Free the Nipple' whereby the absurdity is highlighted that male nipples are considered appropriate (both in public and on social platforms) whereas female nipples are not. This alone is a huge issue, and a campaign that many celebrities have gotten involved with, but that's a separate article. 

The important factor here is that Flickr has taken censorship into its own hands, and is allowing its Pro users to upload and post filtered content that falls into moderate and restricted categories, in an attempt to celebrate these works while also shielding them from communities of Flickr users who do not share this passion. 

"From now on, photographers are encouraged to discover, share, and interact with photography without fear of removal [and will have] a safe place online to interact with one another, share mutual interests, and put their art into the world without the fear of it being removed or them being banned entirely from the communities they’re a part of" says Flickr.

A Flickr Pro account, which starts at $8.25 / £6.99 monthly, or $72 / £60 annually, will enable photographers to post otherwise-restricted content to their photostreams, along with the added benefit of unlimited photo uploads (free users are limited to only 1,000 uploads). 

"This move will enable more photographers to practice their craft fully," says Don MacAskill, CEO of Flickr. "To us, that means they're not just creating photography that can only live on their camera, but that they also have a home and a community to share those photographs with."

Content considered to be moderate or restricted per Flickr’s community guidelines is now exclusively part of its Pro membership features, and the company has chosen the specific terms 'moderate' and 'restricted' to separate the art from other ambiguous, negative, and catchall terms. It reassures that Flickr's millions of users and communities will be safer and more inclusive, no matter what their focus is. 

"By asking members with this type of content to subscribe to Flickr Pro, we can devote more resources to ensuring that their communities remain safe and well-regulated,” adds MacAskill.

Good for Flickr! Whatever your standpoint may be on wishing to view explicit images on a photography platform, this move feels like a win-win situation for all Flickr users as it appears to be clamping down on filtered content slipping through the gaps, as well as sharing it with the communities who do wish to see this form of work.

Read more:

Best lens for portraits
Best Canon portrait lenses
Fine art nude photography: tips and techniques
Boudoir photography tips for images which are classy and creative 

The world’s first stock image library sharing photos strictly taken by female creators will launch on International Women’s Day on 8 March. Shot by Women is the brainchild of the Brighton-based female-owned company, Female Perspective LTD. It’s hoped the platform will be used to discover women in photography who are often sidelined or looked past. 

It’s no secret that there’s a massive gender gap in the photography world. Not only are women underrepresented by top camera brands but often they’re paid less too and don't have as many opportunities. Founder of Female Perspective LTD and photographer Tabatha Fireman said, “Opinions, habits and decisions are often arrived a through the published media we consume every day. With over 80% of it shot from a male gaze, how truth a representation of our world can that be’?

• Read more: Photo protest: Female photographers tackle the climate crisis

The motivation for Shot by Women was born out of a necessity to deliver more female captured content in mainstream media. Fireman explains, “There are so many talented women photographers out there with a lot of unseen content stored on their hard drives. With Shot by Women, I hope that I can gain their trust enough to permit me to welcome them to our community for discovery, connection and additional revenue stream potential issues arise.  

The motivation for Shot by Women was born out of a necessity to deliver more female captured content in mainstream media. Fireman explains, “There are so many talented women photographers out there with a lot of unseen content stored on their hard drives. With Shot by Women, I hope that I can gain their trust enough to permit me to welcome them to our community for discovery, connection and additional revenue stream potential.

• Read more: Best photo stock sites • Best video stock sites

The world’s first stock image library sharing photos strictly taken by female creators will launch on International Women’s Day on 8 March. Shot by Women is the brainchild of the Brighton-based female-owned company, Female Perspective LTD. It’s hoped the platform will be used to discover women in photography who are often sidelined or looked past. where. So, to have a practical solution where creatives can easily find images shot by women, for me is a no brainer”.

It could take a while before Shot by Women has the same reputation as Getty Images or Shutterstock but platforms like this prove that women are doing whatever they can to make themselves known. I can only hope that this platform receives the reaction it deserves and news outlets start looking for more varied inclusive content.. 

Read more:

22 pioneering women in photography you should know about
10 queer photographers you should follow on Instagram
Wedding photographer speaks out against sexual harassment

In honor of Black History Month, Mildred Howard, an internationally acclaimed mixed media artist, sculptor and designer is debuting her first NFT Collection, Millennials & XYZ. From 28 February to 7 March, the peer-to-peer marketplace OpenSea will showcase the work depicting the silhouettes of African American Youth on backgrounds with splashes of bright colors.

Mildred Howard grew up in Berkeley, California, USA to parents that were prominent civil rights activists. In her own work, Howard has been an advocate for social justice both in her professional and personal life. For the last five years, Howard has been working on her latest collection, Millennials & XYZ after being emotionally affected by the killings of young black men such as Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown. Wanting to better understand the loves of African American Youth, Howard set out to learn how these tragedies made an impact on their life by speaking to younger black men and women in the community. 

• Read more: What are NFTs?

“I wanted to talk with these young people about their lives, to capture them in the way they look and dress, to hear their opinion about what life was like for them,” said Howard.  “Most of the young people I spoke with were brilliant human beings trying to navigate their way through this maze and society that we live in today. They happened to be people of color; but there is only one race—the human race.”

The project is powered by Decrypt Studios - a new b type of production house that is dedicated to bringing artists, designers and thinkers to the Metaverse by legitimizing the participation in the world of Crypto so collectors can be safely buying artwork through it. Decrypt also helps artists of all types to enter the Web 3 (a new iteration of World Wide Web-based on blockchain technology) community through transparency between artists and consumers/collectors that hasn't existed before. 

Howard uses her art as a way of looking at the world while addressing issues on social justice and race. She hopes that selling them as NFTs it will get in front of a different type of audience and inspire a new generation of creators. On her entry into the world of NFTs Howard said, “Exploring new avenues helps in my growth as an artist; it’s an ongoing exploration of ideas and creative ways of thinking, making, and doing. I’m interested in pushing the boundaries.”

Of the collection, the artist said: "...young black men are still faced with a culture that pathologizes them based on the black-and-white worldview of an earlier era. Still the youth in these prints are undeterred; they cast shadows that obscure the past, stepping off the page and out of the margins in vibrant color, determined to make their own mark"

Her work has previously been displayed at the de Young Museum, SFMOMA - one of the largest museums of modern and contemporary art in the US and the Museum of African Diaspora. She has also been the recipient of the Lee Krasner Lifetime Achievement award as well as two Rockefeller Fellowships and an NEA Fellowship in sculpture.

To view the entire collection head to the Mildred Howard Collection on OpenSea.

Read more:

Selling photographs as NFTs: a pro travel photographer gives his tips
How I sell my photographs as NFTs
Jimi Hendrix' album photos by Karl Ferris go on sale as NFTs
Could Instagram be the next company to jump on the NFT bandwagon
Best mirrorless camera
Best professional camera

Earlier last year, a coalition was formed between technology and media entities such as Adobe, Arm, BBC, Intel, Microsoft and Truepic to combat the spread of misinformation and build trust in verifying online content. 

This joint Development Foundation project, known as The Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA), has managed to develop an end-to-end, open standard for tracing the origin and evolution of digital content.

• Read more: Best VPN for photographers

The C2PA has now released the first-ever technical specifications designed to certify a source, as well as the history of digital media. These specifications are the first of their kind, and will empower content creators and editors to develop tamper-evident media, enabling them to selectively disclose information about how their digital content has been initially created and further altered.

The goal of the C2PA since its formation has been to address the prevalence of disinformation and online content fraud, through developing technical standards for certifying the source and history or provenance of media content.

Some may wonder if this coalition is really necessary; with photo editors such as Photoshop and Lightroom being so popular among photographers, why has Adobe backtracked in a sense and is now fighting the upload of edited images? 

In October 2021, Adobe built a new feature into Photoshop called Content Credentials, enabling creators to attach attribution data to images before sharing them online. 

This news came following the setup of The Content Authenticity Initiative (CAI) that was founded by Adobe, Twitter, and the New York Times in 2019, as a means to fight image disinformation by increasing the trust and transparency of content shared online. The CAI has since expanded and now includes support from Nikon, too.

This foundation of misinformation goes far beyond changing a few tones using the histogram or adjusting exposure to perfect your photographs. Heavily manipulated images and filters can be dangerous when used in the context of news and especially social media, in regard to influencer culture and promoting something that may not be entirely truthful.

Other applications of images that can cause harm to others include things like catfishing (using fake or stolen photos to court potential partners), fraud, deepfakes, fake profiles, deceitful evidence submitted to news outlets… you get the idea.

In the first paragraph overview section of the technical specification, it states: "We are witnessing extraordinary challenges to trust in media. As social platforms amplify the reach and influence of certain content via ever more complex and opaque algorithms, mis-attributed and mis-contextualized content spreads quickly. Whether inadvertent misinformation or deliberate deception via disinformation, inauthentic content is on the rise".

The specification describes the technical aspects of the C2PA architecture; a model for storing and accessing cryptographically verifiable information whose trustworthiness can be assessed based on a defined trust model, as shown via a diagram. The trust model features three entities specified in different colors; a consumer is expected to use the identity of the signer along with other trust signals, to decide whether the assertions made about an asset are true. 

The schematics and specifications get more complicated as the contents unveil, but you can check out the specification standard for assuring content authenticity on the  official C2PA website.  

Read more: 

Adobe Photoshop CC review
Adobe Lightroom CC review
Adobe Lightroom Classic review

The lay-flat shot is an incredibly popular style in this age of social media, online marketing and web design. Arguably stock photography has gained a new purpose with the advent of ecommerce and online advertising; the appetite for image content bound for web page headers, blog posts, social media marketing campaigns and newsletters seems insatiable. The top-down lay-flat image fits these uses perfectly for several reasons.

Firstly the lack of depth is undistracting, enabling the image and written content to work seamlessly together without either overpowering the other. Secondly, any objects placed in the shot are all equally visible, which is ideal for product-based images. Shots can also be quite conceptual in nature, meaning they are generally interchangeable between pages, posts and stories. Finally they can be easily adapted for purpose, through the addition of other graphics or copy. 

This type of image is therefore a hugely useful one with which to become acquainted. They are deceptively challenging to get right, however, presenting some unique problems to identify and overcome. The two-dimensionality is effective, but can strip energy and interest if not balanced. Here we’ll take a look at some quick ways to set up, compose and light a stock-type lay-flat scene with movement and texture to complement the shallow physical depth.

1. Secure your props

It is endlessly frustrating to set out your elements for the shot only to have them move during the process. Use hidden adhesive tack or double-sided tape to secure each item in-place. Consider symmetry. 

2. Ensure 90° angle

It’s important to make sure that your camera is directly aligned over your arranged objects to avoid distortion. Extend your tripod legs as tall as they will go then use a lens setting that keeps the feet out of frame.

3. Rotate camera

Due to the disorientation caused by the extreme angle, it’s easy to produce misaligned frames. Use the tripod head’s pan feature to swing the camera laterally until all lines in the shot are horizontal. 

4. Stop down your lens' aperture

While depth of field is less of a problem with such a shallow scene, any fall-off may spoil the flat feeling. Since we’re using a medium format camera (the Fujifilm GFX 100S), f/16 and higher was required to keep all objects sharp.

5. Set flash power

We need quite an intense light to simulate sunshine, so zoom the flash to near the maximum focal length value and start at a mid-range output. Increase this incrementally as required, avoiding too many hotspots.

6. Shape the light

Create a narrow light beam using a gobo, if you have one – though we just fired the light between two books to control direction. Preventing light spill also enabled the falling petals to remain blurred, introducing some energy.  

Read more:

Best medium format cameras
Best macro lenses
Best professional cameras

Almost every photographer on the planet will, at some point, upload their images to the web. The internet is now the primary destination for photographic and artistic works, with platforms such as Instagram offering a more attractive destination for many creators than print. 

Using a social platform is significantly more effective at growing a following than printing your images and attempting to sell them at a local level. Overall the web offers an excellent medium from which to promote your brand and reach like-minded photographers and clients.

However, with any upload comes an element of risk. It is all too easy for a web user to download and illegally use a digital file, potentially divesting the photographer of a fee. In some cases it may be simply in ignorance of the rules – a school student using Google Images for example – but it is critical that professional photographers understand the risks and know how to protect their products. 

Here we'll explore the various options available…

1) Watermarking

This is the most common choice among photographers posting their images online. While it is effective at directly crediting your work as yours, it is a somewhat rudimentary solution. If kept small enough to be discreet, a simple watermark can be easily removed in software; any larger and the image is degraded. It is useful for applying to sample images and contact sheets, however, when sending previews to specific clients.

2) Right-click protect

Another long-time solution to prevent images from being copied from your website is right-click protection. This can be implemented either by downloading specialized apps, or by using tools provided by website hosting services. It is a good solution for dissuading innocent (uninformed) copying, but there are ways around it. If your images appear in Google Images, they can still be copied too. 

3) File size 

Downsizing your files before upload is often advisable for reducing data transfer times, if nothing else, so it can be an effective, easy way to prevent browsers from stealing high-res files. This is a likely choice for Facebook, Twitter and Instagram uploads. There are, however, times when you want clients to have access to large files, and you’re only really preventing large print reproductions – small files may still find their way to illegal web usage. 

4) Logo branding

A similar option to watermarking, but more sophisticated, this involves adding a logo to your images. It's more stylized than simple text, and is more professional in appearance. An image or logo is eye-catching, drawing attention to your business, while being harder to remove, if carefully placed.  

5) Smartframe

This platform is probably the most sophisticated and secure option. By embedding images in a website using SmartFrame, downloads are disabled – and when a download is attempted, a copyright warning is shown to the web user. This offers great protection but doesn’t negatively impact the viewing experience. Each ‘streamed’ image is encrypted, and a lack of file extensions means that bots can’t recognize it in a webpage’s source code. Legitimate sharing options for social platforms are also available. 

Read more:

Best website builders
Best web hosting sites for photographers
How to build a photography website in Wordpress
How to build a photo website in Drupal

Zenfolio is one of the leading online photography portfolio sites, offering tiered Portfolio, PortfolioPlus and ProSuite plans for photographers at all levels to showcase their work.

The Zenfolio Portfolio Plan normally costs $5 per month, but Zenfolio is offering it free for the first three years to the first 4,000 students who sign up by the deadline of September 15 2021. It’s to mark World Photography Day and to help promote the future of photography.

Zenfolio ProSuite Plan

Also new, the Zenfolio ProSuite Plan will cost $25 per month and includes 1TB online storage. It offers the same Shareable Client Galleries, Photo Sharing and Client Proofing, Advanced Search, Lightroom plug-in and People Filter of the other plans, as well as a Custom Multi-Page Website, Custom Domain and Instagram feed.

The key differences with the ProSuite Plan are the larger 1TB storage, Advanced Selling feature, Expanded Lab Access, Automated Client Campaigns and an online BookMe service (an add-on for the other plans).

About Zenfolio

Zenfolio is an online portfolio builder which photographers can use to promote their work but also to sell prints and other photo products to clients. It’s a subscription service that can be paid for monthly or annually – the annual subscription works out slightly cheaper.

Read more:

• Zenfolio review
• Best website builders for photographers
• Build a photo website (series)
• 6 ways to improve your website

A photography website is central to your online presence and brand identity. It therefore needs to be of significant quality to accurately represent the standard of your work, if it is to fullfill its role of driving images sales or shoot bookings. While there are a plethora of website building options available, resulting in the majority of enthusiasts and professional photographers curating one, the basic design and functionality may not be optimal. 

Once you have decided on the fundamental design aspects, such as colour theme, gallery style and page layout, consider customizing features, to appeal to your target audience specifically. While most website building providers offer page templates, you will likely be able tailor parameters to taste, often without the need for coding knowledge. Ensuring your best images are visible and traceable across your network of online platforms, can increase revenue, while also improving the user experience.  

Create pricing groups

Benefitting both your ease of curation and the simplicity of the information at the front end of your site, assigning your images to pricing categories produces a uniformity that can encourage repeat sales. It also ensures all images are priced automatically and confirmed as up for sale.

Make a ‘favourites’ gallery

While keeping your site updated with your latest images is good practise, ensuring your most popular images remain visible to new visitors is also important. Many viewers to photography websites are directed by individual images that appeal to them, so keeping your ‘greatest hits’ in their own gallery will reduce the time it takes a prospective client to locate them. They may not be willing to spend long searching an unfamiliar site, so improve your chances of a sale by promoting your best sellers.

Make homepage images findable

Similarly to placing your popular shots in plain sight, homepage images, which are also likely to be amongst those which garner the most attention, should also be easily accessible. When visitors land on your homepage, the images present provide their first impression of your portfolio and often produce the greatest reaction. Provide links to these files in your gallery or make them ‘clickable’, taking users directly to the correct image, for purchase.

Use image sliders

Adding carousels to your homepage or opening gallery pages, rather than static thumbnail grids, introduces an interactive element, that encourages audience engagement. If your viewer has control over the cycling through of images, they may be more tempted to explore your portfolio further.

Direct viewers to further galleries

Add links or buttons to take viewers to other galleries, through which they may be interested to browse. This keeps users on your site for longer, increases page visits and potentially the number of images sold. It also gives the site itself a feeling of breadth.

Provide external links

Connect images on your other platforms to pages where they can be bought on your site, to use these portfolios to advertise your main photography ‘shop’. Adding social buttons, for sharing on Facebook and Twitter can be useful for promoting individual images.

Conclusion

Think of your website as your ‘hub’, where your best images are kept and to which all of your other portfolios and blogs should direct visitors. Understanding that even amongst your best work, some shots are more valuable to you, will help you design a profitable website.

Read more

Create the perfect homepage for your photography website

The best website builders for photographers in 2021

Best web hosting sites for photographers in 2021

Published regularly from 1883 to 2000, LIFE magazine was a general interest news magazine that was dominated by its world-class photography. 

From theaters of war to Hollywood red carpets, LIFE published what became some of the most famous images of all time, from some of the century's greatest photojournalists, including Dorothea Lange, Alfred Eisenstaedt, Margaret Bourke-White, Andreas Feininger, John Dominis, Nina Leen, and Gjon Mili.

Its vast archive now includes more than 800,000 photos and magazine covers that chronicle the 20th century, from Neil Armstrong’s moonwalk to Martin Luther King marching for equality.

Many of these images remain in big demand today, for books, magazines, documentaries, TV period dramas, historical movies and more. So custody of this vast collection is a big deal in terms of both industry influence and raw profitability.

It was only last February that Getty Images announced it had added 75,000 images from The LIFE Picture Collection to GettyImages.com, and planned to add a further 400,000 Images between 2020 and 2025.

Well, we're not sure what happened there, but that's clearly no longer the case. Because its rival Shutterstock has just announced an editorial partnership with media company Meredith Corporation to exclusively represent The LIFE Picture Collection. 

The collection will form part of Shutterstock Editorial’s archive, The Vault, which makes over 60 million vintage photos and video clips available for commercial license worldwide. And the company is promising to make new, never-before available images from the LIFE archive available for license. 

However, if you don't want to pay to license pictures from the LIFE archive, and just want to browse them for inspiration, you can still do that via Google's Arts and Culture Library which contains over four million images from the magazine's archives.

Read more
Best photo organizing software in 2021
Best professional cameras
Best picture frames
Best photo albums
Best photo books

It’s a simple matter for a photographer to share a shot on social media sites such as Twitter and enjoy instant feedback from friends and followers. However these images quickly get buried under multiple layers of other social media posts and the initial flow of ‘likes’ soon runs dry. 

Zenfolio enables you to showcase your images more effectively in a professional looking website complete with a welcome page, multiple portfolios showcasing different subjects, a blog that enables you to add more of your personality to the site and even the option for visitors to buy products featuring your photos  - which is much more rewarding than receiving a few likes! 

• See also Best website builders for photographers

You don’t need to have any design web skills or a knowledge of HTML as Zenfolio provides drag and drop templates that you can customize by adding assets such as photos,  a personalized logo and copyright information. Each gallery offers links to share your work to social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter so you can easily promote your Zenfolio site once you’ve created it.

Interface

After registering with Zenfolio you can enjoy a 30 day trial which gives you more than enough time to put the service through its paces. Setting up your site is quick and easy. Choose a category that best represents your style (such as ‘Wedding and Engagement’ or ‘Commercial/Editorial’). You then check boxes to include desired features such as Portfolio, Blog and Selling. 

Next is the option to choose a template for your Homepage and Galleries from a range of attractive designs. You then drag and drop your photos into a field on the browser to upload them to your site. The beauty of creating a Zenfolio site is that everything is done through your web browser. You don’t need to download and install any extra apps (so it works on both Mac and PC). While designing your site in the browser you can preview it there too, hitting the Publish button when you’re happy with its look. You can easily tweak content at any time and then update the published version with a click. 

After setting up your site’s layout and uploading images you are presented with Zenfolio’s Dashboard. This workspace gives you an overview of the site’s content so you can see properties such as Portfolio, Blog, Visitor Stats etc. After working in the Dashboard you can click on Customize Website to go to the Editor. Here you preview your site in a panel on the right and access an Edit Site panel on the left. You can click on Themes to experiment with different template layouts if you’re not happy with the one that you chose in the initial set-up. You can fine-tune the currently selected page to change the layout of the thumbnail display grid.  By clicking Preview you can interact with your site as a visitor would. If you need to tweak content there’s a handy Edit button at the top of the browser.

Clicking on a gallery photo’s Buy icon takes visitors to your shop which features a range of products (such as a 5 x 7 prints) at various prices. People can also buy your work on products such as greetings cards and canvas prints. They can also preview how a particular picture will look when adorning a smart phone’s case and fine-tune the composition to include key areas of the image.  

At the time of reviewing the shop wasn’t able to deliver to the UK, but that doesn’t stop UK users making sales to customers in other parts of the world.  As with other online shop services such as Redbubble.com, Zenfolio will take a percentage of the price paid by the buyer (in this case 9.9%).

Key features

Zenfolio understands the importance of helping people find your site. In the initial set-up process you’re invited to briefly describe your site in 160 characters to help users of search engines understand what it’s all about. Although you’re designing your site on a desktop browser a mobile version will automatically appear if you view the site via an Android device or on an iPhone. The mobile version optimizes your images to look great on a smaller display, ensuring that people can enjoy your photographs on the move when they’re on the move.

In the Portfolio section it's easy to create multiple themed galleries (such as Street Photography or Weddings) and upload content to them.  You can then share web URL links to each gallery, where visitors can click to view larger version of each photo or consume the images as a slideshow. The slideshow can play automatically, mixing sequentially between each shot in the gallery.  The site’s visitor can manually skip forward or back through the slideshow using their keyboard’s arrow keys or jump to a specific photo by clicking on thumbnails in the filmstrip at the bottom. You can even roll over the EXIF label to discover what shutter speed and aperture settings the camera used to capture a particular image.  Your name will appear when the cursor rolls over the copyright icon. If you’ve added metadata to your photos (such as an editorial description) then these labels will appear as a text banner under the image during the slideshow.  Viewers can click even to make the slideshow play full screen to get a more detailed look at your photographs.

While editing a gallery page the Set Options drop down menu lets you change how an image behaves when someone interacts with it. For example the ‘Dim the lights’ option causes the rest of the screen to fade to black so you can concentrate on the image that you’ve clicked on. Small but subtle touches like this improves the site user’s experience and helps present your work with the minimum of distractions.  

Quality of results

Zenfolio’s collection of default templates provide slick and clean layouts that enable the your portfolio site’s visitors to enjoy your photographs without being distracted by the site’s design.  You can fine-tune a template’s default properties (such as colour and type face) if you want to customize the look. When your photos set sail on the social media sea they may float out of sight and get used by ‘pirates’ without your knowledge. Zenfolio helps you protect your work by enabling you to overlay a default copyright watermark over every photo - or you can add your own custom copyright information by importing a Photoshop .png file.

Verdict

Thanks to a collection of attractive drag and drop templates Zenfolio enables you to quickly showcase and market your work via a professional looking website complete with a blog, multiple galleries, slideshows and even a shop. You can get a desktop and mobile version of your site up and running in minutes and then fine-tune its look and behavior at your leisure. There are three subscription packages available. The Pro subscription package is probably the most useful one to go for as this works out at $22 per month (if you take the billed annually option). With a bit of luck (and some self-promotion) you’ll make your subscription costs back from a few sales in your shop. 

Read more:

Best web hosting sites for photographers
Best website builders for photographers
Best photo-editing laptops

Whether you're in the market for a good VPN for torrenting, a Fire Stick VPN or an Apple TV VPN, it can be difficult to narrow down exactly which VPN service will be best for you. However, ExpressVPN is one of the best VPN services around, offering professional features and multiple layers of protection that will keep you secure when you're browsing online. 

ExpressVPN supports a wide range of platforms, with apps for Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, Linux and many other operating systems as well. Plus, ExpressVPN also features manual setup guides for the best streaming services, such as Apple TV, Fire TV and more. 

ExpressVPN uses its own DNS servers to protect your internet traffic and high-end encryption that helps to protect your activity online being leaked or spied on. It even features a kill switch that will immediately activate and block your internet connection if the VPN happens to drop – perfect for keeping you and your data safe online. 

With a vast network of over 3,000 servers spread across 160 cities in 94 countries, ExpressVPN offers an impressive amount of coverage. For comparison, rival VPN service TunnelBear only features 34 countries in its entire network!

For those concerned with privacy, you'll be heartened to note that ExpressVPN's privacy policy explains that the service doesn't log any sensitive information. ExpressVPN has even had its servers recently audited to ensure that the company is following its own policy correctly. 

However, our favorite feature has to be ExpressVPN's 24/7 support, with agents available on live chat that can walk you through any technical issue you experience. This means that you should be able to resolve any potential problems within a matter of minutes, as opposed to the hours or days you could experience elsewhere.

ExpressVPN plans and pricing

ExpressVPN has three plans, beginning with $12.95/mo. While this isn't overly cheap, it's worth keeping in mind that competitor services such as CyberGhost, Hotspot Shield and VyprVPN all charge a similar price as well. Plus, while you can find VPN services for as little as $9, the quality that you receive from ExpressVPN more than makes up for the few dollars difference in price. 

However, if you want to cut down the price, you can sign up for ExpressVPN's 6-month plan, which drops the monthly price down to just $9.99/mo. Alternatively, the annual plan works out at just $8.32/mo, which is a substantial 35% discount on the monthly subscription. 

It's worth noting that other VPN services can cost much less. For example, Windscribe is just $4.08/mo on an annual plan and Speedify's three-year plan costs just $3/mo. However, be aware that many vendors boast low initial prices that then increase later. For example, NordVPN begins at $4.92, but later renews at $9.92. 

If you want to check out ExpressVPN's service for yourself, but you don't want to commit to paying for a year, ExpressVPN's 30-day money-back guarantee means you have ample time to test it out without worrying about potentially wasting your money. 

ExpressVPN privacy policy

ExpressVPN offers a comprehensive privacy policy with a long list of features to back up its data protection promises. One of the ways that ExpressVPN sets itself apart from other companies is how open it is about its features. While other VPN services might throw in a few references to technical terms, VPNExpress goes a step further, explaining that it uses a 4096-bit SHA-512 RSA certificate with AES-256-CBC to encrypt its control channel and HMAC (Hash Message Authentication Code). This means that VPNExpress is able to protect against regular data being altered in real-time. 

Meanwhile, Support for Perfect Forward Secrecy automatically assigns the user a new secret key every time you connect, replacing it every 60 minutes while the session remains open. This means that even if a hacker is able to somehow compromise your system, the most they'll get is just 60 minutes worth of data.

ExpressVPN also runs its own private, zero-knowledge, 256-bit encrypted DNS on each of its own servers to prevent data abut your online activities leaking out of the VPN tunnel. This is an advantage over other VPN services that might offer DNS leak protection that's outsourced to a third-party, such as OpenDNS. This is because using an unencrypted DNS gives attackers the chance to intercept, filter, block or alter your requests. 

Interestingly, ExpressVPN has recently gained an ioXt Alliance certification. This process involves scoring the company on details such as cryptography, network security, automatic updates and more. Other VPN services such as Private Internet Access and NordVPN are also certified as well. 

Performance

When you're looking for a good VPN, speed is often one of the most important factors. However, ExpressVPN boasts lightning-quick speeds that will enable you to surf the internet without experiencing any frustrating lags or delays. 

Our testing process began in a US location with a 1Gbps connection. Using the standard ExpressVPN Windows 10 app to connect to our nearest location, we then check the download speeds reported by multiple speed test sites and services (including TestMy.net and Fast.com). We fetched at least five results from each site and then repeated the test using three protocols (OpenVPN, IKEv2 and Lightway). We ran the entire test at both morning and night in order to look at any potential variations between the two sessions.

We found that ExpressVPN's OpenVPN speeds were well above average at 270-280Mbps (services including CyberGhost, IPVanish and VPN Unlimited couldn't even reach 200Mbps). Meanwhile, ExpressVPN's IKEv2 speeds were at an impressive 300-310Mbps and ExpressVPN's Lightway protocol had an astronomical 490-630Mbps. 

To test how ExpressVPN's service held up over long distances, we then tested the connection from the UK to Malaysia. This reached 68Mbps on a 75Mbps connection, which is what could be expected with no VPN at all. 

ExpressVPN and streaming services

ExpressVPN supports over 25 services and platforms, including Amazon Prime Video, BBC iPlayer, Netflix, Disney Plus, YouTube and more. After running a series of tests on these services from different ExpressVPN locations, we found that Netflix, Disney Plus and Amazon Prime performed particularly well – with all three locations unblocking the services. 

BBC iPlayer was a little trickier, with only two out of four ExpressVPN servers enabling us to view the content. However, this is still better VPN protection than many of the other VPN services. 

ExpressVPN verdict

ExpressVPN is a fantastic VPN service that's not only lightning-fast, but also gives the user plenty of protection when surfing the web. Its unblocking abilities make it essential for anyone who frequently travels and wants to watch their favorite streaming platforms – and the 24/7 live chat support means that you'll never have to wait for hours if you encounter a problem. 

While it might be a little more expensive than most VPN services, its 30-day money-back guarantee ensures peace-of-mind so you know you're getting a good product for your money.

Read more

Best Apple TV VPN
Best Amazon Fire Stick VPN
Best VPN
How to watch HBO Max
Best streaming services

Adobe Stock is essentially an image stock library embedded in Adobe apps and services, and you choose a subscription plan that offers a certain number of royalty free image downloads, starting at $29.99/£19.99 per month for 10 assets with bigger allowances and credit packs available. It’s convenient, but not exactly cheap.

But Adobe’s new Creative Cloud Pro Edition comes with unlimited Adobe Stock access and the company’s library of 200 million ‘standard assets’ including images, vectors and illustrations.

That’s a huge potential cost saving, but it’s currently only available to teams and enterprises of five or more users. It’s an extension of Adobe’s Creative Cloud for Teams plan, which is administered centrally with enhanced user management. The Pro plan is not for individual photographers or designers.

The biggest advantage of the Creative Cloud Pro Edition will be for companies specialising in graphic design, product design, marketing materials etc that require ready-made imagery for mockups and finished layouts.

Adobe Stock images are also useful for photographers who composite artworks and illustrations, but individual photographers will only have access to the regular Adobe Stock plans.

Adobe Creative Cloud Pro Edition pricing

Adobe’s Creative Cloud for business Pro Edition is available now for teams and enterprises with five or more users.

If your organization already has a Creative Cloud for Teams plan, you can upgrade to. The Pro Edition at the same price as your existing subscription for up to one year.

Otherwise, the Pro Edition for Creative Cloud for Teams will be $79.99/£59 per month per user for the first year, then $89.99/£66.42 per month per each user from year two and beyond. 

The Single App version is $33.99/£25.25 per month per user for the first year and $39.99/£29.75 per month per user from year two and beyond.

Read more:

• Best Adobe Photography Plan deals
• Best photo editing software
• Best Photoshop alternatives

Making a living from photography became quite difficult during the Covid-19 pandemic and, although the situation in Australia is under control, local photographers are still finding it hard to make a living.

To help out, Canon-backed SunStudios – a creative hub for all things filmmaking and photography with locations in Sydney and Melbourne – has set up an online platform to help connect art buyers around the world with Australian photographers.

The initiative, called Sun Editions, will feature a curated range of limited-edition photographs available for purchase as prints.

Each piece of art can be purchased in three different sizes, with different frame options also available. SunStudio's own premium printing service will undertake the process of bringing the photographs to life.

Prints will cost between AU$800 for the smallest 650x650mm prints, and will go up to AU$4,000 for the larger 2,200x1,520mm option – depending on the choice of frame.

Currently, SunStudios has hand-picked nine Aussie photographers to be featured, with select images from each artist available to view both online and at SunStudio's Alexandria location in Sydney between April 23 and May 19, 2021. The in-person exhibition will be open to the public and free of charge to view.

For the aspiring photographer

According to SunStudios, this initiative was started not only to support Aussie photographers, but to also provide exposure for local artists. 

"Supporting commercial photographers and videographers is what we at SunStudios are passionate about," said Luke Harrison, Senior Business Manager at SunStudios, "and our Sun Editions platform is a unique way for us to connect the best Australian talent with buyers looking for exclusive pieces of art for their homes, offices, or gallery spaces."

However, not anyone can be featured on Sun Editions. If you're a photographer looking to sell your work on Sun Editions, you will need to be part of SunStudio's professional photography community.

If your work has the tick of approval from both peers and the broader art community, the chances of you being picked become higher. You'll also need to be a versatile photographer, with a mix of genres and art styles in your portfolio.

If you're a part of the SunStudios community, you'll be invited to sell between eight to 10 selected works online for a 12-month period or until sold out. 

According to SunStudios, only 10 editions of each print size will be sold per artwork, with the artist getting 60% of the sale price, and the rest 40% being a commission for SunStudios to be utilised for purchasing "the highest quality fine-art print paper" and to "manage the printing costs for each sale".

How do you get started?

Building a website is not as daunting as you might think, and it doesn’t need to cost much if you do it yourself. If you take on the challenge we recommend that you use a website builder – a templated website that you can customise. 

When it comes to the best website builders, three that spring to mind are Wix, Squarespace and WordPress. All these work in a similar fashion; you create an account with your email, and design your website from the dashboard. 

Once it has been published you can update your website at any time by simply logging into the dashboard online. For payment, most offer a yearly/monthly subscription service, but always remember to read any terms and conditions before you commit your money.  

When posting images, resize them to 72dpi, and keep them as small as possible. The larger your images and the more you have, the slower your website will run.

What should you put on your website?

We are all guilty of including too much and prioritising images we are emotionally attached to. Selecting the right images, selling your business, and marketing yourself is a whole different skillset to being a photographer, so don’t be disheartened if this doesn’t come easy at first. 

When it comes to your website you need to consider what service you are selling. Does your website say that? If you have too many images/genres it can be difficult for customers to define what you are. 

If you simply want to have a website to showcase a mixture of images, segregate your work into genres that viewers can easily navigate. Most people only look at a website for a few minutes, so get across what you want to say in that time

Should you put together a newsletter?

We recommend thinking about who your newsletters are for, what you want them to achieve, and if it is worth the effort. A daily newsletter is too much, so maybe a monthly newsletter could be a good start.

Newsletters can be incredibly useful for building your brand, marketing any upcoming events, and offering discounts and deals. However, there are pitfalls to avoid. Firstly, don’t make them too long or too short!

Newsletters that go on for anything longer than a page will not be read, but if it’s only a few words it will be hard to communicate anything of interest. Remember, you are competing with many other emails from other companies, so try to make your newsletter stand out. Using great imagery, the subject line of the newsletter and bold fonts are a great way to catch the reader’s attention.    

When it comes to designing your newsletters, resources like Mailchimp, MailerLite and others will help you create eye-catching templated designs.

For UK citizens who are storing clients’ personal information (i.e. email addresses), familiarize yourself with the data protection law and General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) guidelines.

How do you get your website seen?

What is SEO, and how does it work?

SEO is simply the means of how someone finds your website through online searches such as Google. The higher the ranking of your website, the more chance you’ll be visible to people searching online. 

You can broadly split SEO into two areas; on-site SEO and off-site SEO. In simple terms, on-site is your website, the content and the code. Off-site would include inbound links from other sources. The more reputable, the more they’ll help you.

What top tips would you give to DCW readers for getting their websites noticed? 

As a photographer, you have the benefit of beautiful imagery that can take centre stage. Take advantage of this fact. To achieve this you should be looking to keep things simple and adhere to some cornerstones in effective digital design. 

A clean and straightforward page layout goes a long way, making use of negative space to help frame imagery and copy. If you add something that distracts from your photography, remove it. An asymmetric layout can help you curate a visual narrative as someone scrolls on your page.

And how about tips for increasing Google ranking?

Try your best to build a lightweight site. The smaller the file sizes and less code bloat you have, the faster your website will be – something that Google is increasingly prioritising.

Make sure to add clear ‘title’ and ‘alt’ tags in all of your images uploaded. Make them read as you would say them. Add reference to your name and copyright for each photograph.

Set up Google analytics so you can track visits along with submitting a ‘sitemap.xml’ to Google.

Customize your https://www.digitalcameraworld.com/news/format-is-offering-one-free-year-of-workflow-pro-for-photographers UvMEDtTBVo2imqSh58BYLd Mon, 29 Mar 2021 14:44:41 +0000 false false false

Format recently announced the launch of Workflow, a new suite of productivity and communication tools that are designed to help professional photographers run their businesses. Excitingly, Format is offering Workflow Pro (worth $180) for FREE for a year – just make sure you snap up this deal before it expires on Wednesday 31 March!

Workflow is a new additional service from Format, who provide one of the best website builders for photographers around. 

Format Workflow Pro deal

Workflow Pro offers some fantastic productivity and communication tools to help professional photographers streamline their business and keep on top of all of their projects.

Client galleries

The Client Galleries not only enable pro photographers to easily share their images with their clients, but it also gives those clients the ability to favorite photos directly or share them with others for feedback. The Client Galleries also mean that the photographer can more easily up-sell their clients as well.

File transfers

Workflow Pro enables photographers to transfer files in multiple different ways, depending on the client's preference. Whether you want to use a branded zip file or a shareable gallery, Workflow Pro enables photographers to securely transfer up to 10GB of photos. 

Client overviews

Ever feel overwhelmed by the amount of project information you have? Well, Workflow Pro is designed to give photographers the ability to organize their project information with ease. Client Overviews is designed to give photographers the ability to store their contacts, project notes, file transfers and Client Galleries in one place.

Read more

Best web hosting site for photographers
Best website builder
Best password manager
Best data recovery software for photos
Best online storage for photos

If you've ever wondered whether you should try building a photography website, you're not alone. It might be tempting to think that creating a photo website will take hours of your time – but there are plenty of options to show off your portfolio. 

Whether you'd rather use a photo sharing website such as 500px or Flickr, or you want to build your own site from scratch using a CMS such as Wordpress or Drupal, we've put together everything you need to create a fantastic photo website.

Part 1: Choose a photo sharing site

If you'd rather not spend your time tinkering around in the back end of a website, why not consider using a photo sharing website. While social media sites such as Instagram are ruled by algorithms, website such as Flickr, 500px and others can give your photos more opportunity to be discovered. Plus, photo sharing websites can also make great portfolios, enabling users to scroll through your images with ease.

Part 2: How to build a photo website in WordPress

If you'd rather build your own website, Wordpress has a super easy-to-use CMS (content management system). This means that you can create your own photo website without having to spend hours building each different page. While many see Wordpress as a CMS built primarily for bloggers, photographers can definitely take advantage of this system too.

Part 3: How to build a photo website in Drupal, part 1 

If you love the idea of popping up the hood on your photo website, then why not consider building your own site on Drupal. This is a step-up from creating a Wordpress website, but your efforts can be richly rewarded with ultimate customizability. Plus, Drupal is an open-source CMS that's free to use. Don't forget to check out part 2 and part 3 of our Drupal tutorial too.

Read more

Best website hosting sites for photographers: get your portfolio online  
Best cloud storage for photos
Best online photography courses – from beginner guides to masterclasses
Best website builders for photographers
Best password managers
Best student laptop
Best photo editing software

For the final part of this series, we’re going to walk you through the final stages of building a photography website from scratch using the Drupal content management system (CMS). 

Websites built using a CMS are more sophisticated than ones consisting of fixed or ‘static’ pages of text, and are essential for displaying images. 

As an open-source general-purpose CMS, Drupal boasts a large community of contributing developers, and is popular with governments, non-profit firms and educational institutions. 

Building a website in Drupal is more involved than doing it in other CMSs like WordPress, so it will appeal to computer-literate people who like the idea of going ‘behind the curtain’ of a website. 

The reward will be a bespoke and secure website built on a highly customisable platform where added functionality is bestowed via installing modules (extra features) and themes (which determine the look and feel). 

To get to this point, we started our site build in a local environment, using the Acquia Dev Desktop local host. 

Start by downloading Acquia Dev Desktop and running the installer, then launch the software and select Start From Scratch. 

Use the suggested default for locating the codebase files on your system, enter the name of your site, and accept the default prompts for the version of PHP and the database name. Choose v8.9.1 under Install A Drupal Distribution, enter any required information and Drupal will be installed. 

Next, install the Media Gallery module and the Showcase Lite theme. Then start creating your galleries…

What you’ll need to build a photo website in Drupal 

• Computer
• Internet access 
• Images ready for upload
• Development application (we’re using Acquia Dev Desktop) 
• Time: 1 week (build) 

The three stages of developing a Drupal site 

1. Start by setting up your domain name 

Unlike wordpress.com, Drupal doesn’t offer a hosting option, so you’ll need to make these arrangements yourself. 

Before you start, you’ll also need to acquire a domain name for your site – visit Domain.com, Bluehost or www.123-reg.co.uk, or search online for a supplier. 

Enter your desired site name and you’ll get a list of available extensions (.com, .co.uk, etc) and registration fees.

2. Develop your Drupal site on your own computer 

You could install Drupal on a web hosting site and build it there, but developing your site on a local host (your own computer) makes things much easier. You can build the site at your own pace, fixing any snags that arise, and refine the look and feel as you go along.  

3. Deploy the finished site to your hosting provider 

When your site is ready, you can deploy it to your hosting provider. Transferring the files to the host site and configuring all the settings could take up to one day, but then your photo website is ready for its big reveal.

Build a Drupal photo website in 10 steps  

Using the Acquia Dev Desktop local environment, we continue developing our
site before testing and subsequent deployment to a website hosting platform…

01 Create menu links for the galleries   

After creating some galleries, we linked them to the main navigation so that site visitors can browse them easily. In the Admin area, we clicked on Structure then Main Navigation and Edit Menu. 

We entered a title for the menu link, then typed ‘/media_gallery/1’ in the Link field, repeating this step for the other galleries, replacing ‘/1’ with ‘/2’, ‘/3’, and so on.

02 Improving the image displays

Our galleries would benefit from a ‘lightbox’ to display the photos. Selecting an image would open a pop-up overlay, which we can click through to view all the images displayed in the gallery. 

Colorbox is a popular lightbox plug-in that has worked with several versions of Drupal, so it’s well-established and is actively maintained. 

You can find its page here – have a peek at the description of the plug-in to see what it can do. 

03 Download the Colorbox module

You’ll notice from the description that there are two discrete elements to Colorbox – a module and a plug-in – and the plug-in is a separate download. 

Let’s start with the module. Scroll to the bottom of the page and locate the Drupal 8 version (it’s the top one of the two green boxes), mouse over the tar.gz link, right-click and select Copy Link Address. 

Back in the site’s Admin area, click on the Extend tab, click Install New Module, paste in the URL and click Install.

04 Download the Colorbox plug-in

Return to the Colorbox download page; immediately under Dependencies, click the Colorbox Plugin 1.x link. This will save a compressed archive file to your computer’s nominated location for downloads. 

Now you need to create a directory on your system for the Colorbox plug-in files. As per the instructions on the Colorbox download page, create a directory so that the path to the files becomes [site name]/libraries/colorbox/, then unpack the archive in that location. 

05 Place the uncompressed plug-in files

With the archive uncompressed, you should be able to see 14 files in the directory, including the all-important jquery.colorbox-min.js JavaScript file. 

If your folder displays anything different, make sure you’re looking in the right place – the [sitename]/modules/colorbox folder features syntax that’s very similar. (This folder should contain 22 files, including eight sub-folders – see inset, above.) 

06 Enable the Colorbox module

Having already installed the Colorbox module, we now need to enable it. (This process isn’t automatic.) Go back to your site’s Admin area and click the Extend tab. 

Scroll down two thirds of the page; under the Media section, place a tick to the left of Colorbox. Right at the bottom of the page, click Install. 

Go to Reports and run a status report: if Colorbox isn’t listed in Errors Found, then all is well.

07 Check out the effect of our new lightbox

Now let’s see what difference having an image lightbox has made. Click Back To Site in the top-left corner of the screen and call up one of the galleries that you added to the main navigation. 

Click on an image and it will open in a pop-up overlay. A pair of buttons in the bottom-left corner allow you to move through the images in the gallery, while an X in the bottom-right closes the pop-up – everything is working fine.

08 Review the image caption information

Another feature of Colorbox is its ability to display a caption for the images, which pops up from the bottom of the image being viewed when you mouse over it. 

At present, it’s using the alternative text (a short description used by screen readers or when an image doesn’t load) that we input for each photo while uploading the image files. To change any captions, open the image file in the Content/Files menu.

09 Add some other key pages to the site

With the image display looking better now, we can start building out the site and adding some other key elements. First off, let’s create an About page to outline the photographic services we’re offering. 

Click on the Content tab, click Add Content and select Basic Page. Enter the desired text plus an inline image cropped to an appropriate size. (We used 200 x 200 pixels.) Other pages to build include the Welcome page. 

10 Assess progress and add other elements

So now we have a fully functioning photography website, organised into a series of galleries that display the images in a pop-up overlay with caption information. 

It’s a good start, but this is only the beginning. Other site elements  you could think about adding include regular blog posts, to open a conversation with visitors to your site – and this is another function that Drupal supports right out of the box. 

Final steps: deploy your local site to the net 

So you’ve completed your build and have ironed out some rough edges by fully testing it – now it’s time to deploy your site to the internet and reveal it to a global audience. Here’s how it’s done…

1. Find a hosting service provider 

Once your site is fully built and tested, and any bugs or snags are smoothed out, it’s ready to be released to a global audience. 

The first step is to find a hosting provider. Make sure that your hosting provider can support PHP and MySQL, both required by Drupal. 

2. Download an FTP client to your computer 

File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is the means by which you upload your local site’s files to your web hosting provider. One of the most popular FTP clients is FileZilla, which works on both Windows and macOS. You can find FileZilla here. 

3. Upload the files using Control Panel   

Your provider will give you access to a control panel, for all-in-one-place site management – cPanel is a popular option. Follow your provider’s instructions for deployment, but be aware that the file transfer and settings configuration could take up to a whole day. 

Read more:

Best website hosting sites for photographers: get your portfolio online  
Best free cloud storage options for photographers: platforms and apps
Best online photography courses – from beginner guides to masterclasses
Best website builders for photographers
Best password managers
Best student laptop
Best photo editing software

In part 1 of this series, we showed how to start building a photography website from scratch using the Drupal content management system (CMS). 

This approach is an alternative to enlisting the services of a dedicated website-builder platform like SmugMug, Squarespace or Wix (see part 2 of this series), or using the WordPress CMS (see part 3). 

Drupal is an open-source general-purpose CMS, with a large community of contributing developers. It’s popular with governments, non-profit firms and educational institutions. 

Security is one of its USPs – vital for anyone looking to use their photography website to sell images or prints – and its relative lack of penetration compared with the ubiquitous WordPress makes Drupal less vulnerable to hackers, who tend to target larger platforms. 

Once Drupal’s ‘Core’ code has been installed, it is highly customisable via the addition of modules (features that offer functionality) and themes (how the site looks). 

Last time, we showed how to install Drupal’s ‘Umami’ demo site in a local environment (on a computer). 

Now let’s start building our live site, before developing and testing it ahead of uploading it to a web hosting platform (a process known as ‘deployment’). 

What you’ll need to build a photo website in Drupal 

• Computer
• Internet access 
• Images ready for upload
• Development application (MAMP PRO or Laravel Homestead, for example) 
• Time: 1 week (build) 

The three stages of developing a Drupal site 

1. Start by setting up your domain name 

Unlike wordpress.com, Drupal doesn’t offer a hosting option, so you’ll need to make these arrangements yourself. 

Before you start, you’ll also need to acquire a domain name for your site – visit Domain.com, Bluehost or www.123-reg.co.uk, or search online for a supplier. 

Enter your desired site name and you’ll get a list of available extensions (.com, .co.uk, etc) and registration fees.

2. Develop your Drupal site on your own computer 

You could install Drupal on a web hosting site and build it there, but developing your site on a local host (your own computer) makes things much easier. You can build the site at your own pace, fixing any snags that arise, and refine the look and feel as you go along.  

3. Deploy the finished site to your hosting provider 

When your site is ready, you can deploy it to your hosting provider. Transferring the files to the host site and configuring all the settings could take up to one day, but then your photo website is ready for its big reveal.

Build a Drupal photo website in 10 steps  

Using an application called Acquia Dev Desktop, we’re going to develop our site locally, before testing and subsequent deployment to a website hosting platform…

01 Enter the site’s configuration settings

Click on the local site link and select Standard on the Drupal installation screen. Enter the requested details on the Configure Site page, including a name for the website (we’re using ‘Drew Paul Photography’), an administrator account name and password. 

Click Save And Continue, and voilà – your site’s front page is displayed and you’re up and running.

02 Run a site status report

The first thing to do is to click on Reports in the site administration bar at the top of the page, then click on Status Report. Even though you installed v8.9.1 in Acquia Dev Desktop, a more recent version of Drupal’s core will be available. 

Search on drupal.org for instructions on how to update it. Once done, clear any other errors and warnings in the status report, searching online for help if necessary.

03 Get acquainted with the default theme

Drupal uses themes to determine how a site will look. The default theme of our site is Bartik; while it may look rudimentary, it is customisable and also responsive – this means that the display will adapt to whatever device a site visitor is using for browsing. 

As web browsing largely takes place on mobile platforms these days, this is an essential feature. To explore the Bartik interface, click Back To Site.

04 Explore the Drupal administration menus

Now let’s go back behind the administration curtain and have a look around. (The theme changes to Seven for ease of use.) 

Click on any of the tabs in the white bar along the top of the screen. (If you can’t see the bar, click Manage, next to the ‘hamburger’ icon in the top-left.) 

On any of the pages you’ll access here, there are helpful short descriptions so you can easily find what you’re looking for.

05 Take a look at the Content panel

Now click on Content to bring up a list of content posted to the site. (The list display is useful for sites that have multiple users posting content; the display of items can be filtered according to need.) 

To see which types of content exist out of the box, click Structure in the top bar, then Content Types. Here, you’ll find them all listed – Basic Page, Article and Image – with brief descriptions.

06 Expand functionality with a new module

For our photography website, we’re going to display our images by using a module called Media Gallery. Modules add extra functionality to Drupal sites; they have to be downloaded and installed. 

Locate Media Gallery here  – at the bottom of the page, in the green box with ‘8.x-1.0’ at the top, mouse over ‘tar.gz’ and copy the link address.

07 Install the Media Gallery module

Back in the administration area of your site, click on Extend and then the blue Install New Module button. 

In the first box, ‘Install from a URL’, paste the link you copied from the Drupal page, then click Install. The files for Media Gallery will be extracted into your Drupal directory. 

Now click on Content, and you’ll see that a Media Gallery tab has been added to the four content tabs at the top of the page.

08 Change the site’s theme to Showcase Lite

In the first of this series on Drupal, we identified Showcase Lite as a potential theme for a photography website. It has a clean, uncluttered design, and is also responsive. Let’s download and install it now. 

Go to the Showcase Lite download page and copy the tar.gz link. Back at your site, click Structure and Install New Theme. Once done, click Install And Set As Default.

09 Upload images and create your galleries

Now let’s add some galleries and start populating the site with images. Select the Media Gallery tab in Content, then Add Media Gallery. Enter all the required information (title, description, etc). Under Gallery Images, click Image then Add Files. 

Images will display in upload order, but you can change this by clicking Show Media Item Weights. Repeat this process for the number of galleries you wish to add to your site.

10 Link the galleries to the site’s navigation

So that site visitors can find the galleries, click on Structure. Then, in the list underneath, Main Navigation and finally Edit Menu. Enter a title for the menu link, then type ‘/media_gallery/1’ in the Link field. 

Do the same for the other galleries, replacing ‘/1’ with ‘/2’, ‘/3’, and so on. Enter a description for the gallery, click Save at the bottom of the page, and you can access your galleries from the navigation. 

This concludes tutorial 2 of 3 – in part 3, we conclude the site build and finesse its look and feel.

Read more:

Best website hosting sites for photographers: get your portfolio online  
Best free cloud storage options for photographers: platforms and apps
Best online photography courses – from beginner guides to masterclasses
Best website builders for photographers
Best password managers
Best student laptop
Best photo editing software

Building a photography website from scratch using a content management system (CMS) is the next step up from enlisting the services of a dedicated website-builder platform like SmugMug, Squarespace or Wix. 

Websites built on a CMS are more sophisticated than those consisting of ‘static’ pages of text, and are essential for the display of photos.

 Images are stored in a database and ‘served’ to site users as required; the website’s host CMS accepts requests from a remote computer and instructs the server to send the data. 

Previously, we have looked at developing a photo website using the WordPress CMS – ideal for tech-familiar folk who don’t mind the idea of getting under the hood of websites, although being able to write computer code isn’t a prerequisite. 

But for anyone who wants to take things to the next level, the Drupal CMS is a sensible step. Although 37% of the web is built using WordPress (source: wordpress.com), Drupal’s share is in the low single digits. 

This makes sites built in Drupal less appealing for hackers, for whom targeting the most popular platforms is more worthwhile. 

Add to that the fact that Drupal is renowned for its security – vital for anyone looking to use their photography website for selling images or prints. 

Drupal is a general-purpose CMS, meaning that it is highly customisable. Once the Drupal ‘Core’ has been installed, the addition of modules (features that offer functionality) and themes (how the site looks) deliver this customisation. 

If you were to liken WordPress to Lego, then Drupal would be Meccano. This open-source CMS can help you do it all – display a portfolio, sell images and market your creative business.

What you’ll need to build a photo website in Drupal 

• Computer
• Internet access 
• Images ready for upload
• Development application (MAMP PRO or Laravel Homestead, for example) 
• Time: 1 week (build) 

The three stages of developing a Drupal site 

1. Start by setting up your domain name 

Unlike wordpress.com, Drupal doesn’t offer a hosting option, so you’ll need to make these arrangements yourself. 

Before you start, you’ll also need to acquire a domain name for your site – visit Domain.com, Bluehost or www.123-reg.co.uk, or search online for a supplier. 

Enter your desired site name and you’ll get a list of available extensions (.com, .co.uk, etc) and registration fees.

2. Develop your Drupal site on your own computer 

You could install Drupal on a web hosting site and build it there, but developing your site on a local host (your own computer) makes things much easier. You can build the site at your own pace, fixing any snags that arise, and refine the look and feel as you go along.  

3. Deploy the finished site to your hosting provider 

When your site is ready, you can deploy it to your hosting provider. Transferring the files to the host site and configuring all the settings could take up to one day, but then your photo website is ready for its big reveal.

Build a Drupal photo website in 10 steps  

Start by selecting your Drupal installation version and setting up a local development area on your own computer – then take your first look at Drupal in action… 

01 Start researching Drupal themes

Drupal is a sophisticated CMS that you could fritter away a lot of time on, but this wouldn’t leave much room for photography. Once you’ve got some basic content uploaded to the CMS, you can install a theme to give it a professional look and feel – rather than having to do all the heavy lifting yourself. 

Have a play – take a look at the available themes on the Drupal website. 

02 Check out the Showcase Lite theme

Useful search terms for themes that are relevant to photography include ‘Photography’, ‘Gallery’ and ‘Portfolio’, although you can also search by newness or popularity. 

One theme that will work well for a photography website, however, is Showcase Lite. It has a clean, uncluttered design and is ‘responsive’ – this means it’s optimised for use on mobile devices. As most people do their internet browsing on a smartphone or tablet nowadays, this is a must-have. 

03 Check your system’s compatibility for Drupal

Like any piece of software, Drupal’s code is updated on a regular basis; version 9 was released in July 2020. But many themes and modules – including Showcase Lite – have not been ported to version 9 yet, so we’ll use version 8. 

First, visit the Drupal site and check that your computer will meet the system requirements for the installation. As this version will be supported until November 2021, there will be plenty of time to upgrade your Drupal 8 site to Drupal 9.

04 Set up a local host on your computer

Previously, when building our photo website in WordPress, we used paid-for MAMP Pro software. This time, though, we’re going to use Acquia Dev Desktop. 

This is a platform developed by the founders of Drupal that enables you to install, build and test Drupal sites on your own computer, with the optional ability to host them on Acquia’s cloud platform. 

Acquia Dev Desktop can be used on computers running Windows or macOS, and is free to download here.

05 Configure the local host environment

Run the Acquia Dev Desktop installer and enter any required information. Start the software and select Start From Scratch. 

Use the suggested default for locating the codebase files on your system, enter the name of your site – we’re using drewpaulphoto.com for this tutorial – and accept the default prompts for the version of PHP (the scripting language that runs Drupal) and the database name.

06 Install the Drupal demo site

Click Local Site at the top of the window, then select ‘v8.9.1’ on the Drupal distribution page. Set the language as English. On the next page, select Demo: Umami Food Magazine. This will give us a useful introduction to how Drupal 8 works. 

Enter the requested details on the Configure Site page, including an admin ID and password. Click Save And Continue and the Umami welcome page opens. 

07 Take the Umami site tour

Structured as an online magazine, the Umami Food Magazine demonstration site showcases what Drupal 8 can do out of the box; the tools used to build this will also be key ingredients in developing a photography website. 

Helpfully, you can take advantage of a built-in walkthrough to become familiar with these. In the top-right of the home page, click Tour, next to the question mark symbol.

08 Check out the theme’s site structure

Drupal 8 was quite a step up from previous versions, and introduced new features including Media Library (useful for photographers) and Layout Builder. 

These are built into the codebase, rather than having to be installed. Another handy feature is being able to mouse over content blocks while logged in as an administrator, then just click on them to access their configuration settings – very elegant.

09 Explore the content types that Drupal uses

Let’s take a step behind the admin curtain now. At the top of the screen is a tabbed white ‘Content’, ‘Structure…’ bar. (If you can’t see it, click Manage next to the hamburger icon in the top-left.) 

Click Content and you’ll see that there are three basic types of content on the Umami site: Article, Basic Page and Recipe. Click on an example of each one in turn to familiarise yourself with the different elements they contain.

10 Read and watch the online tutorials

Some of Umami’s functionality goes beyond what we need for building a photography website, but it’s a still useful demonstration of Drupal’s potential for being customised; adding extra functionality like blogs and e-commerce will be pretty straightforward. 

For a deeper dive into Drupal, read the Drupal User Guide. This is a comprehensive resource that also offers video tutorials.

This concludes tutorial 1 of 3 – in part 2, we start the site build and add the image galleries. 

Read more:

Best website hosting sites for photographers: get your portfolio online  
Best cloud storage for photos: platforms and apps
Best online photography courses – from beginner guides to masterclasses
Best website builders for photographers
Best password managers
Best student laptop
Best photo editing software

So far in this series we’ve looked at a variety of ways to get increased exposure for your images, by putting them in front of an online audience. And as we’ve seen, there is more than one way of doing this, including using a website-builder service. Building a photography website is actually easier than you may initially think, so check out how to do it below.

But for those happy with the idea of going behind the curtain and spending time noodling around with the back end of a website, there is an alternative: build your photography site using a content management system (CMS). 

A CMS is what holds the contents of a website, and is driven by a database. This is where your images, and the relevant information to accompany them, are stored; the CMS accepts requests from a remote computer and instructs the server to send the data. 

WordPress or Drupal are two popular CMSs; both offer plenty of options for customization, so you can extend the scope of your site further down the line. 

Although Drupal – see part 4 of this tutorial series – is the more sophisticated of the two systems, WordPress is more widely used and will comfortably meet most users’ needs.

As its name suggests, WordPress is widely considered to be a tool for bloggers. But continual updates have expanded its functionality, and it is well suited for creating photography sites.  

A default WordPress site won’t do much more than host a blog; you add functionality via themes (how the site looks) and plug-ins (what it can do). 

With around 20,000 themes suitable for creating a photography website, from a total of 500,000, you’re sure to find something to meet your needs, whether this is displaying a portfolio, selling some of your favourite images or marketing your photography business.

What you’ll need to build a photo website in WordPress 

• Computer
• Internet access 
• Images ready for upload
• Development application (MAMP PRO or Laravel Homestead, for example) 
• Time: 1 day (build) 

Some key concepts before you start

1. Do you self-host your site, or get WordPress to host it? 

There are two options for hosting WordPress sites – hosted by you, or hosted by WordPress. 

If you’d prefer to make the hosting arrangements yourself, then download the WordPress core from wordpress.org. (You’ll also need a domain name for your site – visit Domain.com , Bluehost , www.123-reg.co.uk or search online for a supplier.) 

If you want WordPress to host your site for you, then go to wordpress.com

2. Why you should develop your site locally 

Developing your site on your own computer (in a local environment, using the jargon) gives you full control of the process. You can build the site at your own pace, honing your problem-solving skills by fixing any snags that arise. 

3. Deploy your site to the host site 

When your site is ready, you can deploy it to your hosting provider. Transferring the files to the host site and configuring all the settings could take up to one day, then your photo website is ready for its big reveal…

Build a WordPress photo website in 10 steps  

We’re using an application called MAMP to develop our site in a local environment, ahead of fully testing it, before subsequent deployment to a website hosting platform…  

01 Scope out your site and choose a theme  

First, give some thought to how you want to organise the images on your WordPress site. Unlike social media or photo sharing sites, you have full control of image placement, so start by deciding which theme you want. 

Go to wordpress.org/themes, click Feature Filter and make a selection via the three category columns: Layout, Features and Subject. 

02 Choose a local server environment

Although you can set up a blog at wordpress.com, we’re going to develop our photo website ‘locally’ on our own computer. This way, we can choose our own custom website address, and perfect the site without having to connect to the internet, before deploying it to a web hosting provider. 

We’re using MAMP for our local server, which works on macOS or Windows. (Windows users can also use Laravel Homestead.) 

03 Download your environment 

MAMP is free software, but MAMP Pro (which we’re using in this example) is paid-for (£69/$79). MAMP allows you to have the essential tools for website building all in one place: Apache (the web server that serves website pages), MySQL (database software) and PHP (the scripting language). 

MAMP is straightforward to set up and use, but if you do get stuck there are plenty of helpful tutorial videos available online. 

04 Set up your local host 

The first stage of the process is to set up your local host. (The main difference between the two versions of MAMP is that MAMP Pro allows you to set up multiple hosts – and therefore multiple development sites – simultaneously.) 

Click the ‘+’ button at the bottom of the host panel to create a new host. Fill in the information you’re prompted to supply, including the name of your local host. We’re using ‘johnspriggsphoto’, for John Spriggs Photography. 

05 Download and install WordPress

As mentioned, MAMP is an ‘all in the box’ solution and makes things straightforward. To download WordPress, click on the ‘+’ at the bottom of ‘Extras’ and select WordPress. 

When prompted, supply an email address and populate the other required fields. Go back to the General tab, click on the arrow and you now have a functioning WordPress local installation on your computer, using the default theme. 

06 Now install your chosen WordPress theme

To start personalising your site, go to the Dashboard and sign in using your admin name and password. In step 1, we identified a theme we liked, and can now install it. 

Follow the prompts on the Dashboard, then add any of the suggested plug-ins that will be relevant for your site. We’ve chosen ‘Hitchcock’ – a free theme that offers tiled galleries and easy social media integration. 

07 Change your site’s default header image 

Starting at the beginning, let’s personalise the home page. Click Customize Your Site, navigate to Header Image and click Choose Image, then upload a shot you think best sums up your site. 

You’re not tied to having just one image: if you’d rather use a selection of standout shots, you can upload multiple files and switch between them on the
home page by selecting Randomize Uploaded Headers. 

08 Start creating your image galleries

We’re going to arrange our images into three galleries that can be formed from individual posts: ‘Street’, ‘Travel’ and ‘Fashion’. WordPress sites are built up from ‘blocks’, and blocks can act as containers for galleries. 

Go to Create Post, title it, select Gallery in the block type, and start adding images. When you’ve done this, navigate to the home page and refresh it, and the images will be displayed. 

09 Choose the gallery header images 

Having created a post and a gallery of images called ‘Travel’, it’s time to choose the image that will be displayed on the gallery’s home page tile. 

Navigate to the right-hand sidebar, click Advanced and choose a header image from one of the images you’ve just uploaded. 

Now we’re can repeat our recent steps to create the other two galleries. Once done, go to the home page, refresh and see how things are looking. 

10 Add menus and social media buttons 

Next, let’s customise the home page menu. Click on Dashboard, go to Appearance/Menus and create a menu called ‘Top Menu’. Under Theme Locations, assign it Primary Menu status and start adding posts, pages, galleries or links to it. 

Next, configure the home page’s social media buttons by adding a new menu, giving it Social Menu status and adding the relevant URLs. Our basic build is done – enjoy!

Read more:

Best website hosting sites for photographers: get your portfolio online  
Best cloud storage for photos: platforms and apps
Best online photography courses – from beginner guides to masterclasses
Best website builders for photographers
Best password managers
Best student laptop
Best photo editing software

Whether you’re an enthusiast or a keen amateur photographer, photo sharing platforms offer you a chance to showcase your skills to the photography community and the rest of the world – and building a photography website is the best way to do this.

Beyond making it easy to share images, the best photo sharing platforms provide ways for users to organize their photographs in a way that makes them easy to display whenever required.  

When it comes to choosing between the range of sites available, you have to consider which services you want to use, as each photo sharing platform
will have strengths and weaknesses in specific areas. 

Each site is feature-rich and most are free, with extra storage space and other additional perks available for a price. Things you need to consider are: shareability, storage space, image quality, ease of use, privacy options and cost. 

Using a photo sharing platform will create an instant portfolio for a photographer at any stage of their career. Many sites allow you to use templates to customize your landing page, keep photos in separate albums, and append comments to each shot. 

Because so many of these customizable options are pre-loaded, you can set up an online photo gallery in just a few minutes – far quicker than it takes to design a custom website. 

Because of their built-in search tools and high placement in search engine rankings, photo sharing sites can bring more people to your photos without much effort having to be expended on your part. 

And if you’ve named and tagged your photos appropriately, it’s possible they’ll see more traffic on a photo sharing site than they would on your own custom domain. 

Things to consider before uploading images 

Set yourself apart from the work of other photographers by having a clear identity. Over the years you may have shot images across a variety of genres, but from a professional point of view it’s best to showcase the genre that best defines you. 

If you need to show two or three styles, it’s best to put them in separate galleries rather than together on the landing page. 

Don’t assemble your portfolio on your own: when looking at our own work, we tend to be blinded by our own biases. An outside perspective is the best way of overcoming this. 

Talk to different people – even those who aren’t interested in photography; this will give you a view of what a general audience would be looking at. 

To get started, we suggest gathering your best 10 to 12 images and then building it up from there. Keep your style consistent so your viewers will return for more. 

Which image sharing site is best for you? 

Get your portfolio out there with one of the four best options available – all you’ll need is a computer, internet access and an evening’s worth of spare time… 

01 Flickr 

Best for: Storage space; volume of images

When Flickr was introduced in 2004, it caught on like wildfire and is one of the most popular online photo sharing sites ever. The Free account permits up to 1,000 images to be in your portfolio, while Pro account users get unlimited storage. 

Image presentation is beautiful and there are great community features, with photo interest groups covering almost any topic. 

On the downside, Flickr does tend to alter its price plans and perks, and Free account users have to endure some adverts, as well as little to no control of their portfolio’s overall layout.

02 500px

Best for: Getting and increasing exposure

Launched in 2009, 500px is used by leading photographers to share and discover images, increase exposure, take part in photo contests, and license their photos through distribution partners. 

500px’s clean interface and community driven voting system means it’s home to some of the best work from top pros. 

Full stats and analytics are available for all images in your portfolio; one downside of 500px is that you can’t have a giant user base that will automatically see the images you post, and the site doesn’t really have a community aspect.

03 Pinterest

Best for: Organising and sharing ideas 

Think of this as the digital version of a pinboard or corkboard… somewhere you can pin up interesting ideas to share with others. 

When considering the reasons you want to use a photo sharing site – showing friends and family your latest creations; hoping to get increased recognition for your photography; or looking to sell some of your images – Pinterest will be useful for the first of these, but not for the last two. 

The platform is particularly useful for photographers to research, collate and seek feedback on new and inspiring photographic techniques. 

04 Unsplash

Best for: Turning professional 

The Unsplash platform features stock photography at its best. The images you typically see on this site are high quality, taken and shared by leading creative photographers. 

Unsplash is therefore an ideal space for publications, bloggers and small businesses to collaborate with top-rank photographers. 

Because you can only upload and publish 10 photos a week, Unsplash isn’t ideal for personal photo storage and backups; but it is the perfect way for up-and-coming photographers to get the exposure they need for starting to get paid work. 

Read more:

Best website hosting sites for photographers: get your portfolio online  
Best free cloud storage options for photographers: platforms and apps
Best online photography courses – from beginner guides to masterclasses
Best password managers
Best student laptop
Best photo editing software
Best website builders for photographers

No matter whether you shoot with a mirrorless camera or a DSLR, APS-C or full frame, black & white or color – there's one thing every photographer needs. A photography website. There are plenty of options out there, as shown by our best website builders for photographers guide. However, there are few that are quite as good as Format.

Format has been around for years (it was actually the host I used for my own photography website years ago) and has only got better with time. Its website builder is easy to use and has plenty of design options available to help you customize your photography website as much as possible. 

• Read more: Best full frame DSLR

There are plenty of page designs to choose from, such as contact pages, gallery pages and more. However, you can also build your own page designs from scratch as well, allowing for the ultimate customizability. One of the best aspects of Format is the fact that you can have a 14 day free trial. This means you have plenty of time to ensure the service has everything you need for your photography website.

If you're ready to commit to investing in your own photography website, Digital Camera World is offering an exclusive 15% off code to help you save 15% on any yearly plan. Use DCW15 at Format to save!

Read more:

Best web hosting sites for photographers
Best VPNs for photographers
63 free Photoshop templates for photographers
How to shoot and sell stock photography

UPDATE 02/09: After the alleged hacker attack on Canon USA last month, there have now been reports that 5% of the data stolen has now been leaked. Canon USA was hit with this attack by the Maze ransomware gang, with many of their services affected, including their email, Microsoft Teams, the Canon USA website and other internal applications. 

Canon USA also had 10TB of data stolen (although this appears to be internal data and not users' photos or videos). Bleeping Computer, the site that first ran the story on Canon's hack, has given an update on the situation.

• Read more: Best Canon camera

"Maze is an enterprise-targeting human-operated ransomware that compromises and stealthily spreads laterally through a network until it gains access to an administrator account and the system's Windows domain controller. During this process, Maze will steal unencrypted files from servers and backups and upload them to the threat actor's servers…

If a victim does not pay the ransom, Maze will publicly distribute the victim's stolen files on a data leak site that they have created."

It now seems that this might be the case, as Bleeping Computer has reported that a 2.2GB archive called 'STRATEGICPLANNINGpart62.zip' was released on the Maze data leak site. Bleeping Computer has been told that it contains marketing materials, videos and other files related to Canon's website. However, apparently the leak does not contain any sensitive data, such as financial or employee information.

Whether this will motivate Canon to pay Maze's ransom remains to be seen, but we will update this story with more information as the situation continues to unfold. 

• Read more: Best antivirus software

UPDATE 10/08: Canon has announced the results of its investigation into the loss of image data on the image.canon cloud platform. According to Canon, when the company switched over to a new version of the image.canon software on 30 July, the code to control the short-term storage operated on both the short-term storage and the long-term storage functions, causing the loss of some images stored for more than 30 days.

On 4 August, Canon was able to identify the code causing the incident and corrected it. Canon has now reported that it found no unauthorized access to image.canon and the incident caused no leakage of images. 

Canon has said that there is no technical measure to restore lost video files, but that photo files can be restored – albeit not at their original resolution. This means that if the affected users have not backed up their files, then they will have lost them forever. Canon has said: "We will contact affected users shortly and offer our deepest apologies". 

ORIGINAL STORY:

Canon may have been hit with a ransomware attack from Maze, impacting several services including Canon's email, Microsoft Teams, USA website and other internal applications. According to this article from Bleeping Computer, a ransomware attack from Maze has resulted in the loss of data, private databases and more.

Bleeping Computer were first tipped off to this potential hack when the image.canon site had an outage on 30 July, 2020, which lasted for six days until it went back into service on 04 August, 2020. Bleeping Computer first started investigating this outage after the final status update said that while some of the photo and video files saved in the 10GB storage had been lost, "there was no leak of image data".

Through some investigation, Bleeping Computer was eventually able to get their hands on a partial screenshot of the alleged Canon ransom note. This note claimed that "We hacked your network and now all your files, documents, photos, databases, and other important data are safely encrypted with reliable algorithms. You cannot access the files right now. But do not worry, you can get it back!… The only method to restore your files and be safe from data leakage is to purchase a unique for you private key…"

Bleeping Computer contacted the ransomware operator Maze and was given confirmation that the group was behind the attack. Bleeping Computer explains the group as "an enterprise-targeting human-operated ransomware that compromises and stealthily spreads laterally through a network until it gains access to an administrator account at the system's Windows domain controller… Once they have harvested the network of anything of value… Maze will deploy the ransomware throughout the network to encrypt all of the devices". 

If the cyberattack victim doesn't pay the ransom, Maze will then publicly distribute the stolen files on their own data leak site. In a statement to Bleeping Computer, Canon said that they are "currently investigating the situation", so we will have to wait and see how the story develops…

Read more

Hands on: Canon EOS R5 review
Hands on: Canon EOS R6 review
Canon EOS R5 vs R6: What are the differences and which is best for you?

When operating a high street studio, the photographer is directly relying on passers by for business. Therefore it is easy to see that the appearance of the studio itself - the decor, interior design and the images chosen as display samples - is of critical importance for attracting their attention. In the online marketplace we have a far greater potential customer base, yet it is also more challenging to get yourself noticed. 

For this reason a website homepage is by far the most important page in your network of online portfolios and social media platforms. The homepage is essentially your online shop front - it is likely the first page viewers see when they navigate to your website and is responsible for their following browsing behavior. A badly designed page can instantly cause viewers to lose interest and ‘bounce’ from the site, whereas a strong page can convert web hits into image sales and commissions.  

• The best website builders for photographers

1. Color scheme 

The choice of main colors for the design of your homepage, and indeed the rest of the website, is central to presenting your images at their best. Make sure there are no obvious color clashes with the hues present in the image themselves so that the page is easy on the eye and the images are able to speak from themselves. A good strategy is use a neutral, universal scheme, to fit any photographs which may be featured as you update your portfolio over the years. 

• Best website hosting sites for photographers

 2. Image choice

Just as the choice of images you display in the public areas of a studio matters, so does your selection of images to appear in the homepage. Image carousels are common but sometimes you may choose a limited number of shots to represent your entire database of images. It is vital that you choose carefully and pick a sample which is representative of both the quality and style of your common work. 

 3. Image aspect 

If you shoot multiple subjects, with several different camera formats, it is likely you will have images files with different aspect ratios. However, where possible, minimise regular changes in frame shape in your homepage carousels. Having images continuously alternating between landscape, portrait, 3:2, 4:3 and 1:1 formats can distract from image content.

• The best monitors for photo editing 

4. Text style

On any photography website the total amount of text should be kept to a minimum, to give the images the space to be appreciated. Some copy is necessary to convey important information such as pricing and your bio however, so ensure the font and colour of all text is in keeping with the website scheme and fits your photographic style. Minimalist imagery may be dominated by bold text for example. 

5. Discrete galleries

Make browsing your site as easy as possible to maximise the contact between your viewers and your image content. All galleries should ideally be accessible from the homepage and be clearly identifiable. “Gallery 1” is not informative whereas “Landscapes” tells readers exactly where to find certain images. 

• The best webcam for home working

6. Space distribution 

The arrangement of items on your homepage is especially important for a photo website. Many templates feature adjustable ‘padding’ for images which physically separate photographs from ‘functional’ content such as buttons, introductory text or menus. This is a good option if your images regularly feature dense levels of detail. For minimalist compositions consider full page background images with limited overlaying text, filling the negative space.

7. Conclusion

The purpose of a homepage is not just to attract visitors, but to tell clients that you can provide the services they require. It is critical to say something about your style, to guarantee you will be able to form a constructive working relationship with prospective customers.  

Read more: 

Free eBook and lens glossary with Digital Photographer Magazine Issue 228!

Get six issues of a top photo magazine for £9.99 with this amazing subscription deal!

The best photo-editing laptops in 2020: top laptops for photographers

It's long been known that taking and selling stock photographs just doesn't pay like it used to. However, it seems that stock website Shutterstock has taken the percentage it pays its contributors to new lows – and seemingly without adjusting the price that the consumer pays. Their new pay structure means that contributors can receive as little as 10 cents for their photographs. 

We put out a call for Shutterstock contributors to get in touch with their experience of how the change in payments has affected them – and we were overwhelmed with emails. Many photographers contacted us to share their anger and disgust at the way they'd been treated by Shutterstock. Jess Wealleans from That Dog Spot helpfully broke down how the new payment structure had affected her earnings, which you can see below.

• Read more: Best full frame DSLR

One of the many issues with Shutterstock's behavior is that now only has the company enacted this policy with reportedly very little warning, it's also done so in the middle of a global pandemic when photographers' earning powers are already severely limited. However, one of the main problems with Shutterstock's new payment structure is the fact that it resets contributors' earning potential each calendar year. 

This means that no matter how many images someone sold the previous year, they'll be set back to square one every single January – and until they've sold 100 image licenses, they'll only earn 15%, which, to our understanding, equates to 10 cents. This means that for the first 100 photographs each contributor will sell each year, they'll only earn $10. 

While each contributor will have their earnings affected in different ways, Jess Wealleans from That Dog Spot gave a really helpful explanation.

"I'm a Level 4 stills contributor with a heavily dog-focused portfolio with lifetime earnings of around $8,000 and 11,078 downloads. This works out to an average of $0.72 per download. It's been nine days since the change. I read the initial email and felt disheartened, but then I did some research and, given I'm a Level 4, I thought it wouldn't have much of an impact. I was wrong.

"I [recently] checked my earnings report and… thought there had been a glitch [as my earnings had significantly dropped]. I logged a support ticket and received a generic reply that included the paragraph:

'Under the new earning scheme, when your commission percentage from the sale price of a content falls below 0.10 USD, you will get 0.10. This happens in very large subscriptions plans with huge number of photos in the package (for example 750 images per month or 9,000 images per year).'

"So this leads us to believe that a 10 cents earning is pretty rare right? However, this month more than half of my downloads have been 10 cent downloads. I did some digging and it turns out that my average earning per download for this month so far is 30 cents when you take into consideration all plan types for different buyers.

"As a comparison, [before this new payment structure], my average download was worth 70 cents to me (as opposed to the new average value of 30 cents). So, if my maths is right, I've lost 57.1% of my income from Shutterstock. I'm shocked and actually quite angry."

Jess went on to explain that, like many Shutterstock contributors, she's considering moving her portfolio over to other stock websites – and perhaps even closing her Shutterstock portfolio entirely. 

Other than a generic message posted on Shutterstock's Facebook page (as seen below), there doesn't seem to have been any follow-up to the outpouring of anger at Shutterstock's decision. There has even been a Change.org petition created in response to the new payment policy that currently has over 9,000 signatures. 

If you've been affected by the new Shutterstock payment structure, please feel free to share your experiences in the comments below. 

Read more

Best travel camera in 2020: see the world and capture amazing images
Best film scanners in 2020: give your cherished negatives and slides new life
Best compact cameras in 2020: cameras that are big on quality, small on size

If you’re a regular web surfer, you've probably seen news notifications start popping-up on the top right corner of your computer screen, or the lock screen of your phone/tablet, from one of your regularly visited websites. You may have even received a few from us at Digital Camera World. These in-browser notifications are great for staying updated on the latest news and deals as soon as they happen, but not everyone wants them to be active at all times. 

Every website has to ask for your permission to send you its own notifications before it can start sending you these pop-up notifications, and even if you originally clicked “Allow” when the website first asked for this permission, it’s easy enough to turn them off if you change your mind. 

Here’s how to disable them in four popular web browser programs – Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge – whether you’re using a Mac, PC or an Android device. iPhone and iPads automatically block web notifications, so anyone with a portable Apple device won’t need to worry,

Turn off website notifications in Google Chrome

Open up Google Chrome on your computer, smartphone or tablet (PC, Mac, or Android). Then head to the ‘Settings’ tab, found on the drop down menu when you click the three vertical dots in the top right hand corner of the browser itself. Scroll down to the ‘Advanced’, and open up the ‘Content Settings’ section under ‘Privacy and Security’. 

Here, you’ll find a tab call Notifications, and clicking through to that will show you which sites you’ve allowed and blocked from sending you web notifications.

To block a specific site, just click on the three vertical dots next to its name under the Allow section, and choose Block. 

These settings are tagged to your Google Chrome account, and will therefore apply to all your devices which use Chrome using the same login.

Turn off website notifications in Firefox

If you’re using a PC or Mac, open the Firefox browser and type in about:preferences#privacy in the top url bar (where you would norrmally enter a web address).

Scroll down to Permissions, then Notifications, and click Settings. From here you can edit which sites to Allow and Block from sending you any in-browser pop-ups before hitting Save Settings at the bottom. 

For those using Firefox  on an Android device, you’ll need to block each website manually by heading to their homepage in Firefox, clicking on the Padlock icon in the top left corner, and selecting Edit Site Settings. This will provide you with the option to select the Notifications section and hit the Clear button at the bottom to unsubscribe from the site’s pop ups.  

Turn off website notifications in Firefox

Open up the Edge application on your computer and click on the three horizontal dots in the top right hand corner of the browser. 

From here, click Settings, then  Advanced Settings, and then on Website Permissions. 

Here's where you’ll be able to edit which sites can and cannot send you web notifications. 

Turn off website notifications in Safari

Boot up the browser on your Mac computer, and click on the button that says Safari in the top left corner of the screen, before hitting ‘Preferences’ from the drop down menu.

Within here, head to the Notifications tab, where a list of websites that can send you notifications will appear. 

Prevent these websites from sending you further pop ups by hitting Deny next to their listing. You can always come back and re-allow them in this menu if you ever change your mind. 

Read more
The best VPN for photographers

The best website builders for photographers

The best camera insurance for photographers

The best wifi cameras for security and surveillance

In the wake of the report that 2.5 billion online images were stolen every day in 2018, and with the European Parliament recently passing the controversial Article 13, two of the giants of the internet imaging industry have taken steps to combat image theft. 

Flickr and online image protection service Pixsy have partnered to produce "a first-of-its-kind, fully integrated end-to-end solution to help photographers properly protect their work and rights". 

This strategic collaboration empowers photographers by enabling them to track their images and take legal action, worldwide, to protect against theft of their creative works. 

Flickr Pro members are now able to automatically integrate their library of images with Pixsy’s monitoring tools. They will then receive notifications when new instances of your work are discovered online, at which point a number of options will be presented. 

These range from sending legally binding takedown notices to generating a case via Pixsy’s legal team, which to date has handled over 70,000 cases of copyright infringement to the tune of millions of dollars in compensation.

“We want our photographers to feel comfortable sharing their work online. We offer clear controls for privacy and copyright, and we stand by our photographers in asserting their rights in the case that theft occurs,” said Andrew Stadlen, VP of Product for Flickr. 

“Flickr has a long-standing reputation as the world’s most influential photography platform and with Pixsy, their members will know that their images are being actively protected," added Kain Jones, Pixsy CEO. "We use state of the art technology to find and fight image theft.”

As part of the strategic partnership with Pixsy, Flickr Pro members get access to 1,000 monitored images, 10 DMCA takedown notices, and unlimited case submission for free. 

It's a welcome move from Flickr and a much-needed response from the internet imaging industry, after Copytrack called out Google and Yahoo! (Flickr's former owner) to meet the challenge of online image theft. Hopefully this new partnership will spur other companies to step up to the plate.

Read more:

2.5 billion online images stolen every day in 2018
Google Images finally adds credit metadata to images - and copyright is coming soon!
How to add copyright and website details to every image

With its near-limitless potential for subject matter, selling stock images is without a doubt a quick way to make money from your camera. 

But from the millions of images on Flickr’s Creative Commons site to the tens of thousands of daily uploads at more exclusive stock agencies, the global demand for low-cost imagery has made stock photography incredibly competitive. 

Here we’ll share some tips for giving your shots the edge, and get some exclusive advice from the prolific Yuri Arcurs, one of the world’s biggest selling microstock photographers.

• The best stock photo sites

Tip 1: Get the classic look

The clothes your subjects wear will date your photos, albeit subtly. Current fashion trends may change in a year’s time, and when a picture editor is looking at your images, they may like what they see but be put off by clothes that date the image. 

So if you’re using models, ask them to wear classic styles that don’t show their age – solid colors, blacks and whites, and absolutely no branding or slogans. 

Tip 2: Go for multiple interpretations

The images with the longest shelf life are those that are open to multiple interpretations. When Lehman Brothers crashed in 2008, for example, an image of Lehman’s London office shot from a low angle under a brooding sky would have sold quite well; now it’s really dated. 

So rather than literal images, try to shoot suggestive pictures; they’ll sell better over the longer term than a straight interpretation of a very current subject in the news. 

Tip 3: Take the thumbnail test

An easy way to tell if your picture’s message is clear enough is to reduce its size. Cut it down to 15% or so, turn your head away, and then look back again. Is the theme still really obvious? 

By viewing your image as a thumbnail, you’ll put yourself in the shoes of a picture editor – they tend to be busy, overworked people who simply don’t have the time or inclination to open all your images and pore over them in the way you would. Instead, they’ll scan your shots on a contact sheet, and if they can’t immediately tell what’s going on with the shots, they’re more than likely going to end up in the bin. 

Tip 4: Be tech-savvy

Dated technology is as obvious as dated clothes and news stories. Is your business traveller running Windows 2000 on a laptop? Is that lady on the beach talking on a 2004-vintage Nokia 7710 phone or an iPhone 4? Why is she using such an old phone if she can afford such an expensive beach holiday? 

With its incredibly short shelf life, technology will instantly put a sell-by date on your image. This isn’t to say that you can’t ever include technology in your pictures; a laptop or telephone is often a great device for expressing communication. But if you’re going to do this, place yourself so the make and model are either not visible or are not an obvious point of interest. Even better, see if you can borrow a more up-to date phone or laptop from a friend.

Tip 5: Fill the frame

You don’t need a high-end DSLR or mirrorless camera to shoot stock photography, but you should have a frame-full of your subject. In other words, leave your wide-angle lens in your bag. Don’t make a person a tiny speck in the distance; they’ll be lost in your composition, and so will the point of your image.

 This might be okay if you’re shooting moody landscape shots, but unless you’re very lucky, most people aren’t going to buy your personal photos thousands of times over. If you’re going to use people in your image, it should be clear to the viewer why they are there. People are best used large in the frame to express a mood or concept – check out annual reports and other types of corporate literature. 

Tip 6: Go for the emotion

A clear, strong emotion as a dominant theme will enable an image to be used for a number of different scenarios. For example, think of a couple seated at a kitchen table; the woman is frowning; the man has his arms in the air in exasperation. The emotion here is tension, and it’s recognised immediately because you’ve kept the composition simple. 

An image like this might be used by a marriage counselling firm in its promotional literature, but it may also be used by a magazine editor looking to illustrate an article about the credit crunch or job losses. Or perhaps it’s being published in a government report on the gender pay gap. 

The point is, the general nature of the subject matter means it can be used with anything that requires a sense of tension. That’s why stock images that illustrate emotions tend to be fantastic sellers, because while social norms and political establishments change, the range of human emotions tends to stay the same. 

Tip 7: Master one thing

If you think of traditional high-street businesses, the successful retailers usually specialise in one thing, be it shoes, greeting cards, phones… you name it. Similarly, when you’re starting out, you need to find one subject and do it better than everyone else. 

As stock-photo tycoon Yuri Arcurs explains: “Becoming a master of a niche is perhaps the real key to success. So many people do the opposite. They look at what I shoot and try to duplicate that, but what they don’t realise is that they’re putting themselves in a line of competition that is so tough, they won’t get many sales.” 

You can find niches everywhere, “through special access and knowledge you could do better than pros like me. Your partner could be a psychologist, for instance. Ask what pictures they come across in their work. Mental health problems, for example, make the world feel like it’s falling down. There aren’t many pictures like that out there, so this could be a prime niche to target. The key to selling your pictures is to find something that others haven’t shot.”

Tip 8: Always look on the bright side

A bright picture is attention-grabbing. It radiates energy and a happy mood. So look for white backgrounds and well-lit rooms, or overexpose for a ‘high key’ effect, as with the image above. Remember the thumbnail test? A dark image won’t stand out as well as a brightly lit one.

Tip 9: Be aware of different norms

Remember that not all potential markets for your imagery have the same customs and norms as your home turf. Let’s say you’re shooting a series of images to illustrate rising petrol prices. A tight frame around a hand holding a pump in a car’s petrol tank will obviously have global relevance. 

But the moment you show someone driving a car, or even just the interior, you could exclude your image from all those countries where they drive on the right. It’s the little details like this that can make or break a shot’s chances of making you money. 

Tip 10: Evoke people power

Did you know that about half of all the stock images sold feature people? People identify with other people, which makes human subjects so much more effective at conveying moods and messages in pictures than inanimate objects. So try setting up a shot with your friend or partner in a situation that might translate globally, such as an angry phone call or a couple arguing. Couples and families are perennially popular subjects for stock photography.

Tip 11: Give yourself some space

Whether you’re shooting a portrait, a still life or a nature scene, it’s wise to shoot a few frames with extra space on the right or left side. This may seem like an unbalanced composition, but to a picture editor or graphic designer it could be a great space for adding a logo or some text. 

Images with lots of ‘negative space’ will appeal to retailers, but also to greetings card companies – these are among the biggest and most consistent buyers of stock. think about which situations they might want to produce cards for, and then consider how you might be able to create space in your composition. 

Blank walls or monitors are great for this, as are skies and bodies of water. Remember, too, that greetings cards are usually portrait format. That’s not to say landscape-format images are never used on cards, but composing in the portrait format gives you more options.

Tip 12: Be model-savvy

You can only use your friends and family so much, so when choosing a model, you obviously need someone who’s easy on the eye. But you don’t want your subject to be ‘model beautiful’. Try to find someone who’s good looking, but in an everyday girl- or boy-next-door sort of way. 

In other words, exceptionally beautiful and stylised people will take the focus away from the message. If the person or scenario doesn’t seem realistic, the viewer might not trust the product or service  that’s being illustrated.

Tip 13: Get the right form

Make sure you have a model release form, signed by the model, which gives you permission to use the model’s likeness for commercial purposes. You need this form to protect you, should the model change their mind at a later date. 

Stock agencies nearly always insist on them before buying people shots, too. Model release forms vary, but keep the language simple and clear, and make it really obvious to anyone viewing the document what the image is going to be used for. If you’re serious about stock photography, it’s wise to get your model release forms checked over by a legal specialist before you start working with models. 

The Royal Photographic Society has a model release form available for download on their website.

Tip 14: Find a good lawyer

As someone who produces a massive volume of images and has booked hundreds of models, top stock shooter Yuri Arcurs warns that you need to be on top of the legal side. One misuse of an image, and a complaint by the model can erase any profits you’ve made from it. 

“The best thing to do is work out a flat rate with a lawyer on how to deal with these situations before they ever arise,” he says. “You don’t want to be negotiating a rate with a lawyer when you need their services really badly, because you’re unlikely to get the best deal. Getting that quote in advance not only saves you money long-term, but it helps you to plan these inevitable legal headaches into your budget.”

Arcurs reckons he needs to call on his lawyer to resolve at least one complaint a month. Even though he’s currently selling two million images a year, he’s adamant that a stock photographer just starting off – or even an amateur shooter – should anticipate a legal challenge every couple of years.

Tip 15: Be age aware

When shooting young people, be aware that the age of adulthood varies, often quite significantly, from country to country. Know the legal age of adults wherever you are before you start shooting, and don’t be afraid to ask for proof that your subject is legally an adult. If your subject is still classed as a child, only their legal guardian can sign the model release form.

Tip 16: Mix it up

Try to put yourself in the mind of a picture editor when composing your pictures. Offer a range of points of view and focal lengths. Sure, there are the classic head-and shoulders profiles of people around a boardroom table. But maybe take a few from a lower angle, with the camera on the table. Sometimes art editors want something different, so you can afford to get a bit more creative, but only if you’ve already got the traditional compositions ticked off. 

Tip 17: Be a good sport

Sport-themed images are big sellers, but there are a few points to consider. If you want to photograph a football team, why not just approach a local Sunday league team and ask to shoot their next match? You should avoid top-tier sport events, as well as prominent logos (this includes advertising brands and well-known team logos). 

Clients won’t use an image that has corporate branding everywhere. Smaller, less well-known team names and logo designs won’t prove as distracting, but they’re still best avoided if possible. Again, put yourself in the buyer’s shoes.

Tip 18: Think 'less is more'

We hear this a lot in photography, but in stock photography, it’s really vital. Your images should be technically superb, but stop short of making them too flashy. too much processing will give your images a slick, fashion-like finish.

This will limit the opportunities for multiple sales because only glossy lifestyle magazines use such pictures – and once one title has used it, no other will touch it.

Tip 19: Keep it real

You can always tell when something is staged. So if you want to sell a picture that evokes the atmosphere and excitement of a live gig, why not find an up-and-coming band and offer to shoot their next concert? The result will be much more natural-looking, and less hassle than trying to shoot well-known bands. Check with stock libraries that you don’t need model release forms, however. 

Tip 20: Be creative with nature

Earlier we warned about excessive artiness, but you can flex your creative muscles a bit more with images of the natural world. A literal take on a forest scene produces an opposite effect in advertising: it’s too ambiguous and has been seen innumerable times. If you’re trying to convey a theme of green energy, for instance, you might take a straight shot of a forest scene and then mask in a separate image of an ‘a’ rated fridge in between two trees. think of the natural world as a canvas – a base on which to make illustrative points. 

Tip 21: Stay sharp and keep the noise down

When you’re competing with so many other wannabe stock photographers, you need every advantage you can get. So make sure you do the little things exceptionally well. Invest in quality gear and put the time and care into getting everything right in-camera. 

Your images must be pin-sharp and noise-free, for this is often the deciding factor between two pictures. A picture editor may find two shots that they like equally, but one may be just a little bit softer, or noisier, than the other, and guess which one they will reject…

Tip 22: Choose the right keywords

You’ve taken your photos, processed them and submitted them to a stock agency, but your work doesn’t end here. People still need to be able to find your shots, and for this to happen you have to make them as visible as possible. 

To this end, stock photographers rely on keywords, which they can assign to their images so they turn up in agency customers’ search results. Some photographers go as far as assigning a keyword for every visible object in the frame, but this can sometimes have the reverse effect of annoying both the agency and the picture editors searching for photos. 

Generally, you want to keep your keywords below about 20 words, and even that’s a lot. Also, never give your image a keyword that’s a common search phrase, such as ‘romance’, if it doesn’t apply. This will get you reprimanded. Good keywords shouldn’t make assumptions about what could happen in a situation (such as ‘divorce’ on a photo of an arguing couple) but they can be conceptual – for instance, terming a frosty landscape ‘winter’. 

Like your composition, keywords should also aim to set your image apart from all the others like it. In other words, if you have a picture of a Texas rancher on horseback waving at the camera, assign it the literal terms stating what it is, but also consider terms like ‘happy cowboy’ which might be a little more unusual. 

Finally, when keywording a location, such as the aforementioned Texas rancher, if you know he’s from Laredo, it’s fine to use the keywords ‘Texas’ and ‘Laredo’. But don’t start listing every city you know in Texas. You’ll inevitably run into problems when someone spots the wrong landmarks in the background, or even knows the rancher.

Read more:
• Best website builders for photographers

• How to add copyright and website details to every image you take

The world wide web is a wonderful thing for photographers and photography, but the issue of image theft has escalated to unprecedented heights in the digital age. The latest report from image rights agency Copytrack says that as many as 2.5 billion images are stolen per day on the web. 

The group's latest Global Infringement Report makes for eye-opening reading. According to a pair of studies by Copytrack and IMGembed, around 85% of the 3 billion images shared daily on the internet are used without a valid license – with the creators and image agencies largely unaware that they have been used without permission. 

When broken down by continent, it is actually North America that's the biggest copyright offender with 33.90% of the world's violations – closely followed by Europe at 31.40% and Asia at 29.38%. Each continent is accountable for about one third of global copyright offenses, with South America (2.57%), Africa (1.48%) and Australia (1.27%) comprising just 5.76% combined.

"Our leader in regards to copyright infringement was not Asia, as many may have assumed, but rather North America," the report stated, speaking to the assumption that countries like China with a more 'relaxed' attitude to copyright might have been more abundant in their violations. 

"Exact reasons are hard to pinpoint considering that accurate information on the number of websites per country and continent is hard to compile… we do know that internet and e-commerce sites are used extensively in North America and Europe, which could be an indicator for why image theft is higher on these continents."

Indeed, when broken down specifically by country, it is the United States that's far and away the most prolific nation in terms of copyright infringement, with a staggering 22.96% of violations – well over triple the number of infringements of the second leading country: Panama. 

"What is astonishing however, is that Panama, with a population of only 4 million, comes in second place with 6.76 percent of copyright violations," the report notes. "While this may be shocking at first glance, the reason why this is the case makes this figure much more reasonable. 

"Panama is actually a popular destination for privacy protection services to register domains on behalf of third parties. This service is provided in order to disguise domain ownership information and publicly accessible 'Whois' data with the intention of keeping a site’s actual owner undetected."

China, despite earning a reputation for playing fast and loose with copyright law, only comes in third with 6.57% of illegally used image material worldwide.

While the report may suggest the lack of regard given to image rights in the modern age, Copytrack does point out that this isn't the full story. "Concealment of actual image sources through search engines, as well as the very nature of the internet itself, often make it difficult for people searching for images to properly identify authors and confirm their image uses," it states. 

"This problem will most likely continue at a similar rate until major search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and the like figure out a way to reliably identify the authors of images posted online."

Read more:

Google Images finally adds credit metadata to images - and copyright is coming soon!
How to add copyright and website details to every image

It's been trailed for months, but now the day is upon us: from 12 March 2019, Flickr will be deleting photos from Free accounts where the owners have uploaded more than 1,000 files. 

The image gallery and community site announced this move in November 2018, and granted an extension after first announcing a February 2019 deadline, but time is now up for Free account holders with large collections.

However, there are some important exceptions that mean some photos are protected from being removed. So let's take a look at whose photos are protected and who might need to back up their images quite quickly…

What is Flickr doing?

As announced last November, Flickr is changing its Free account from providing one terabyte of storage in each account (potentially tens of thousands of images) to a much more limited provision of 1,000 files per account.

From 12 March, accounts with more than 1,000 photos or videos will have content deleted. Images and videos will be removed according to the order in which they were uploaded, starting with the oldest.

Are there any exceptions?

There are three exceptions:

1) Pro members

The key exception to this move, of course, is any Flickr member who has a Pro account rather than a Free account. The subscription plan is £5.99/$5.99 a month, with a discount if you pay annually rather than monthly.

2) Creative Commons images

If you have applied a CC licence to any of your photos on Flickr, Flickr has now undertaken to continue to provide it free of charge to the whole Flickr community. Before you rush to change the licence on all of your photos, however, be aware that Flickr has disabled its batch-processing tools for altering licences on Free accounts. “We’ve done this to prevent community members from flipping all their images to a new license without first understanding the significant implications of the various free licenses we support,” Flickr says in a blog entry. “Any member (Free or Pro) can still change the license of any of their photos on the photo page.”

3) 'In memoriam' photo collections

If the holder of a Flickr account dies, a relative can notify Flickr of this, and (after verification) the account will become an 'in memoriam' collection in tribute to that photographer. Photos won't be removed from these accounts.

Why is Flickr taking this action?

Yahoo!, the previous owner of Flickr, sold the service to the image-sharing site SmugMug in April 2018. The new owner is seeking to make Flickr a more profitable enterprise in order to assure this famous brand's future.

Read more:

SmugMug acquires Flickr, promises a new beginning

Free Flickr user? Big changes are coming from January 8 - what you need to know

Flickr delays free account deletion after complaints and complications

Stock photographic and image agency Alamy has informed its contributors via email that, as of February 2019, the commission rate will be slashed from 50% down to 40%.

The "new commission structure" has not gone down well with stock photographers, who were still aggrieved about the slash in royalties from 60% back in 2010. Famously, Alamy was founded on a principal of paying the lion's share of royalties to photographers, which began at 90%.

• The best stock photo sites

In an attempt to calm nerves, Alamy co-founder and CEO James West took to YouTube to explain the changes.

"The thing that we got wrong, and I was pretty naive about with hindsight, was the royalty split," describing the initial 90% split and low commission fees as "eBay for photographers". 

Explaining that "it was very unpopular with photographers who knew more about this market than we did," Alamy then moved to a 60% commission. Following the 2008 recession, 2010 then saw the company enter an "investment and recovery period" (using the Alamy's own finances, rather than entertaining loans or investors) resulting in a drop to 50% royalties.

"If you look at the long timescale, you can see it's kind of cyclical… I think we're entering another one of those phases [economic hiccup and recovery]; partly there's a lot of uncertainty about the UK's relationship with its neighbours in the European Union, there's a lot of uncertainty about the global economy in general."

West expressed his confidence that over three to five years, the company would be able to return a higher revenue to contributors than would have been possible without the commission cut. Further, Alamy aspires to close the gap with the "Tier 1" agencies like Shutterstock, Getty and Adobe.

"In doing that we will be paying a royalty of 40%. The entry level royalty at our competitors is still around 20%, and the average probably across all of their business is around 30%. So were' still going to be paying a higher royalty rate after this change."

So, in short, the company is doing what it needs to survive things like Brexit, it's still paying you more than the other agencies do, and it aims to provide greater revenue returns than it would have been able to if it hadn't cut commissions.

"I don't think this is something we're going to need to do again – famous last words. I think I've probably said that before. [But] I'm probably less naive than I was when we started out."

Read more:

How to sell your photographs as stock images: 22 pro tips

20,000 Adobe Stock contributors to get Photography Plan free for a year