[Perfessor5646]

I photograph a lot of events, rallies and fund raisers for non-profit organizations at the request of my besty and I also shoot promotional photos for her Puppy Pack Adventures, Take It From Tara Facebook live casts and lots of dogs belonging to strangers as I am out and about.

People ask me, “Where can I see these photos?” I have no internet presence other than here and boardgamegeek.com. If Tara doesn’t use them on her social media platforms, I get their email addresses and send them some photos of their dog or whatever. It would be easier to say, “Go to my ???? Page.”

Tara is an inveterate cell phone photographer and not a critical judge of Image Quality but she is a professional social media and marketing expert with 10,000 followers across all platforms. She initially said I needed to be on FB, Instagram and Twitter to maximize my exposure. In fact, she offered to help me set up an Instagram account yesterday but looking at users here, very few use instagram but many use Flickr.

I’d like for people to be able to view my photos in a manner that’s easy for them but low maintenance and secure for me.
Am I making myself clear?

[MarkJerling]

I photograph a lot of events, rallies and fund raisers for non-profit organizations at the request of my besty and I also shoot promotional photos for her Puppy Pack Adventures, Take It From Tara Facebook live casts and lots of dogs belonging to strangers as I am out and about.

People ask me, “Where can I see these photos?” I have no internet presence other than here and boardgamegeek.com. If Tara doesn’t use them on her social media platforms, I get their email addresses and send them some photos of their dog or whatever. It would be easier to say, “Go to my ???? Page.”

Tara is an inveterate cell phone photographer and not a critical judge of Image Quality but she is a professional social media and marketing expert with 10,000 followers across all platforms. She initially said I needed to be on FB, Instagram and Twitter to maximize my exposure. In fact, she offered to help me set up an Instagram account yesterday but looking at users here, very few use instagram but many use Flickr.

I’d like for people to be able to view my photos in a manner that’s easy for them but low maintenance and secure for me.
Am I making myself clear?

None of the platforms are particularly "secure". I have a photography Facebook page, which is easy to manage and it's easy for people I deal with to access. It's not a dedicated photo site like Flickr or Instagram, but most people I interact with are on Facebook, and not on Flickr or Instagram.

Once your photos are online, I think it's important to have watermarks if you want to protect your IP.

[photolady95]

IMO, Flickr is safer than Facebook. Facebook claims they can use your photos any way they want to, and my photos aren't on FB. On Flickr, no one can download my photos even if they right click and chose download they'll get a message that says they can't do this. The only way is if you do a screenshot. Which gives you a crappy photo. If you upload them for web use at 72dpi.

There are others besides Facebook, and Flickr, there is Smugmug, and Zenfolio These cost money. Well, Flickr does too but it's again IMO worth it, only $49.99 a year.

[pschlute]

I’d like for people to be able to view my photos in a manner that’s easy for them but low maintenance and secure for me.

I have used Flickr for years and like it.

You can mark your photos as private so no-one but you can see them or mark them for friends only, but that does require your viewers to have a Flickr account too.

If you upload photos which you do not wish to be downloaded you can set that too.

Exactly what do you mean by "secure" ?

[photolady95]

but that does require your viewers to have a Flickr account too.

Here your family and friends could just have the free account that way they could see your photos without having to pay anything.

[virusn3t]

Instagram can be a start, ask the hashtag of the non-profit organization and put them in your post,let that organization quote you and you can slowly get views and followers..

[boriscleto]

IMO, Flickr is safer than Facebook. Facebook claims they can use your photos any way they want to, and my photos aren't on FB. On Flickr, no one can download my photos even if they right click and chose download they'll get a message that says they can't do this. The only way is if you do a screenshot. Which gives you a crappy photo.

Not quite. If you click on View All Sizes and then click on the largest file size you get a page that disables right clicking. But if you open the web inspector in Safari (Develop menu), you can see the static address for the photo. Double clicking the URL in the inspector opens the file in a new tab and you can download it.

So secure enough that someone who doesn't know about the Develop menu can't download it, but not so secure that it can't be done...I'm sure Chrome and Firefox have the equivalent...

[photolady95]

Well, it's secure from most people.

[Paul the Sunman]

Instagram is very low quality, and hard to upload to from a computer. It's designed specifically for mobile phones. If you have a pro license on flickr, your uploads will be available at several sizes for your friends (or others if you wish) to view.

[ramseybuckeye]

I like Flickr because it's easy to use, and you can see the images at a good size. Instagram is ok but all photos will look good since they are displayed so small. I tried facebook for a while and it's just not a good place.

[Perfessor5646]

I have used Flickr for years and like it.

You can mark your photos as private so no-one but you can see them or mark them for friends only, but that does require your viewers to have a Flickr account too.

If you upload photos which you do not wish to be downloaded you can set that too.

Exactly what do you mean by "secure" ?

Although I’m not interested in discussions with strangers on social media, I’m beginning to think I need two places.

1) One public where I can post photos I take at events and festivals like pet contests, or fund raising events and public awareness rallies where participants and strangers can be directed to see (and retrieve?) photos of themselves in the specific context of that event. The more people that use them and see them the better. I’m essentially taking the photos for their cause anyway and not me. This sounds like FaceBook. Most people have access to that.

2) Then Flickr where I post my personal photography.

3) My friend recommended I place big freaking watermark across the center of my artsy photos to prevent IP theft but I don’t see many people here doing that and aesthetically it sucks. And it seems that is really unnecessary.

4) No one here uses instagram?

EDIT: While I was typing, some of you were replying.

I’d read that Instagram was developed specifically for cell phone shooters and viewers. I’m pretty sure 90% of the shots I take on hundreds if not thousands of dollars worth of gear gets viewed on a cell phone screen about the size of the LIVE View screen on the camera itself. (Where’s an emoticon when you need one?)

EDIT: I can’t right click on anything. I only use a 12.9” iPad Pro.

[pschlute]

1) One public where I can post photos I take at events and festivals like pet contests, or fund raising events and public awareness rallies where participants and strangers can be directed to see (and retrieve?) photos of themselves in the specific context of that event. The more people that use them and see them the better. I’m essentially taking the photos for their cause anyway and not me. This sounds like FaceBook. Most people have access to that

The problem with facebook is it is not a photo hosting site. So your followers are going to be limited to what resolution they are able to download. For a repost to social media it wont matter, but if someone wants to make a print from your image FB is not up to scratch. You would do better to use Flickr. then anyone can download the images in many sizes including the original resolution you uploaded.

i agree with you about watermarks or using another method to prevent downloads. I am not a professional so do not care who downloads my images.

[KiloHotelphoto]

I use Flickr smugmug and Instagram. Flickr I use the most smugmug I usually only put up galleries of shots I think turned out really well and Instagram I only use becypeople kept telling me to use it. I think it’s kind of a waste for me to put a 50 mp image on such a little viewing format.

Watermarks I gave up on a while ago. They really do look bad and are so easy to remove in photoshop.

[Perfessor5646]

Mr Schulte,
First, I love your dog photos. I have thousands of dog photos I’d like to show off but no dog of my own. Not too concerned about people trying to print photos from facebook., I suspect that’s a rarity. If they want a print, I’ll sell them one or six.

[virusn3t]

I use Flickr smugmug and Instagram. Flickr I use the most smugmug I usually only put up galleries of shots I think turned out really well and Instagram I only use becypeople kept telling me to use it. I think it’s kind of a waste for me to put a 50 mp image on such a little viewing format.

Watermarks I gave up on a while ago. They really do look bad and are so easy to remove in photoshop.

I tend to upload medium quality images on Instagram (mostly because, i cant post at higher resolution) as im an enthisiast who do not make money out of this, the weird 3 times someone ask for pictures (usually the same people who are in the picture) i gave them HQ version of the images, those who prefer a cheap screenshot of the image, i think they can take it at low quality cause they do not ask for a better file

Im not monetizing or selling, so smugsmug is out of the question, maybe if i could sell enough just to pay the membership (same with flickr) i maybe use them, i do not use Flickr, i use it before to upload and share trough blogspot, but the limit (even if enough for me) make the whole thing more complicated.

Facebook i use it for personal things, so there goes anything from my cellphone to the camera and ramdom pictures