The art of viewing images... your audience.

[V-12]

So what I'm taking away from this is that my audience likes bright colored images that don't require much effort to view. Hmmm...

You are confusing 'pictures' with 'fine art', you are expecting a deeper reading of your photograph but viewers are expecting to see a picture. Fine art is an abused term that is hijacked to encompass everything from sunsets to nudie pictures. But it is really a photograph where the subject is revealed and directed by the photographer as an exploration of an idea, so fine art is never a single picture or thought, it is a body of work.

But most people like to look at single images, have a single thought, nothing more complicated, so they like coloured images because they offer a simple way in. Not that these people are ignorant or anything, they just may not be into deeper ideas on photography or photography at all for that matter. They know what they like.

So if you have a single image that doesn't seem to grab peoples attention you need to add to it, do more in a similar vein, then they begin to see the connections, they 'get' the idea, they become interested in what you are working at/towards. And as soon as they see you are 'working' they may take it more seriously because nobody works unless there is a payback in understanding. That is why artists work, even the most gifted doesn't knock off something like a Rembrandt one day and a Pollock the next, they stick to a theme and work ideas. And I bet if you expand upon your 'unpopular' photograph viewers will catch on, they'll see you are delving into something deeper.

V

 

[Michael Markey]

is nobody concerend about loosing your copyright when posting to facebook?
I kind of am, after reading this: http://blog.exposedplanet.com/why-sharing-photos-on-facebook-is-bad-for-you/

No and judging by their presence neither are the major photo agencies or the large number of international photographers.

 

[Pherdinand]

you don't "lose your copyright", you just... share it 😀
Anyway
i can't understand why on earth a photographer would upload to FB photos he is using professionally.
FB is not made for promoting your business. It's Facebook, for god's sake. It's to see your old classmates aging, and to share your stupid baby shots distorted by instagram or whatever.
That's why it's for free.
If you expect to have your work promoted by a free service, well, welcome to the brave new world.

And don't tell me it's not for free because of ads etc etc.
I am not directly paying a single cent to FB.
And whatever i upload there it represents no financial value to me.

 

[Richard G]

So many different photographers, photographs and forums. I put some stuff on Flickr but don't hawk it to different groups much. Looking at some of the photos by others with thousands of views and long columns of comments, often the really positive comments with a logo, I am amazed. My best photos get viewed least.

I like what goes in the Gallery here, but posting there regularly can subtly change my outlook. Even the thumbnail entry determines what sort of pictures get noticed.

I have a colleague at work who travels a lot, has a DSLR, but shoots more and more with the iPhone. She 'follows' some Nat Geo photogrpahers and other good photographers in Instagram and has just started seeing the benefits of editing, as in post-processing. She has a wonderful eye. How very different to mine her whole approach is. We discussed Lightroom. She might go there. She might not. I admire what she's doing.

Then there are the large format photogrpahers whose images, in black and white, in thumbnail preview, would leave most outsiders puzzled. They've probably never printed an image and never seen a good print. That's another photography altogether that my colleague will most likely never be interested in.

I haven't even seen Facebook for photographs. From the little I know of it, I don't see why it couldn't be enormously powerful for photographic marketing.

 

[hepcat]

Anyway
i can't understand why on earth a photographer would upload to FB photos he is using professionally.
FB is not made for promoting your business. It's Facebook, for god's sake. It's to see your old classmates aging, and to share your stupid baby shots distorted by instagram or whatever.
That's why it's for free.
If you expect to have your work promoted by a free service, well, welcome to the brave new world.

And don't tell me it's not for free because of ads etc etc.
I am not directly paying a single cent to FB.
And whatever i upload there it represents no financial value to me.

I don't think you understand how I'm using this... I'm in a small market. A VERY small market. There are more locals on FB than subscribe to the local newspaper. I'm not putting anything out there that is commercially viable as an image for sale, necessarily... although I'd certainly sell any of the images I have (and I've posted them as being "for sale.") I'm doing it to attract attention to what I do. What I really do well is commercial work; advertising, aerial, and industrial. What I mostly do here are weddings and portraits... and the wedding market has largely gone away, so I'm trying to get a little name-recognition advertising out of this.

So, what I'm trying to do is build a following for name recognition, and then in the middle of the "pretty pictures" I'm putting up, continue to put samples of my "real" work... just for the name exposure. It's one form of guerrilla marketing, actually.

But my point to this whole thread is that I find it really interesting which kinds of images the "general public" (for lack of a better adjective) respond positively to, and which genres don't get much air play. I'm pandering to the lowest common denominator in trying to direct traffic to see my work. I'd liken it to posting a billboard along the freeway... if you get enough folks driving by, eventually you'll get a call for your service. And honestly, I'm having a good time making and posting "pretty pictures" too for a change.... so it's all good.

 

[daveleo]

I don't want to be the object of your fantasy, but a really nice set of images. Italy is exactly as I remember. Thanks

Michael

😀😀😀

...................

 

[Pherdinand]

I don't think you understand how I'm using this... I'm doing it to attract attention to what I do. ...

thats what i mean 🙂 so i wasn't referring to you but to the comment about worrying of copyrights, and about the linked article.

 

[kbg32]

Each and every social media site has their own particular audience. The goal is to use more than one. What of my work gets no views, or very few here, can go crazy on Instagram, Facebook, my blog, Flickr, etc... You just never know. I primarily shoot work for myself and make multiple posts of it. I could never just shoot specific work to make more views or cater to an audience. It's not who I am. I'd rather have the audience find me via what I do. Let the truth of what you do and who you are come through.