What is a photoblog?
Better to see once than hear a hundred times.
It is no secret that human perception is arranged in such a way that over 80% of information a person perceives visually. In the age of digital technology, coupled with an explosive increase in the number of online “blogs” - blogs, and affordable digital photographic equipment, so-called photoblogs have spread around the world. What is a "photoblog"?
A photoblog (photoblog) is a website containing regularly published photos based on the name of the image, date / time, text description, EXIF ​​information, and other parameters. Entries are published in reverse chronological order. Photoblogs are usually managed by a content management system (CMS) and are dynamic sites. The content management system (we will call it the engine or script) of the photoblog often contains the ability to add comments, rating or rating photos, supports RSS / ATOM technology and is designed for viewing with the help of RSS aggregators. Photoblog can be copyright or collective. In this article we will consider only author photoblogs.
Strictly speaking, any blog that contains photos in its posts (posts) can be considered a photoblog. Nevertheless, in recent years, the classic structure of the author's site has been formed, which most photoblogs follow, namely: the main page usually shows the last downloaded photo, a link to the previous photo, as well as links to the photo archive and other pages of the site. Thus, based on this definition, the number of simultaneously displayed records is always one.
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What are the reasons for encouraging a photographer (professional or amateur photographer) to create and maintain a photoblog? There is no single answer to this question. Thus, a professional photographer can show the level of his skill, his vision of the surrounding world, show his work to potential customers and even sell them online. Photo amateurs, through photoblog, improve their skills and abilities, exhibit their photos for constructive criticism, learn, looking at the work of other authors. However, a photoblog, in general, cannot be viewed as a portfolio. Photos on frequently updated photoblogs can reflect the events occurring at that moment, or be a bold creative experiment. In the photoblogs you can find works of almost all genres, from studio portraits and macro to street and nude photography. Despite the fact that many pictures may not have commercial value, a fairly wide audience may be interested in them. The Internet shortens the distance between the author of the photoblog and his visitors, and the promptness of updating visual information generates a lively interest in photos taken on the other side of the planet, in another country, in another city, people with a different lifestyle and different culture. In this sense, even pictures of beginning photographers can be interesting for professional photographers.
Currently, anyone can get their own blog, since there are a huge number of sites that offer bloggers such an opportunity, for example: www.livejournal.com , www.blogger.com and others. By registering on such resources, you get free basic opportunities for maintaining your blog, which, however, is usually enough for a full-fledged diary.
In contrast to creating a regular blog, creating a photoblog poses additional difficulties, such as the need to store image files, the need to process them, the lack of free public sites that provide photoblog hosting services (namely photoblog hosting, not digital photo album services), the complete absence or limited support for the Russian language, the inability to create a unique unique design.
Despite the fact that there are very good photoblogs hosted on resources intended for hosting ordinary text blogs, the use of specialized script engines allows you to get flexible functionality from your photoblog, high speed of work, ease of administration, the ability to use your own design and not depend on the company providing photo hosting services.
For this reason, a full-fledged photoblog is recommended to be placed on your own domain name and use paid hosting services. We omit the issues of registering domain names and choosing a company providing hosting services and move on to the fact that most script engines for photoblogs require support for PHP and MySQL, as well as the presence of some other specific libraries - GD, ImageMagick, CakePHP and others. Of course, there are developments on ASP, ASP.NET, as well as other database servers. I note that there are engines that do not require a database at all (for example, Folderblog), in addition, you can customize the engines that were originally designed for organizing text blogs: Wordpress, Movable Type, Drupal, etc. to the needs of photoblog. As an option, if you have the appropriate skills, you can write your own engine yourself, although it is much easier and safer to use a ready-made debugged system. For those who are interested in choosing the right engine, I recommend to visit the wiki.photoblogs.org/wiki/Photoblog_Software page, which in sufficient quantity contains links to existing photoblog management systems.
Domain name. The first thing a novice photoblogger will have to face is the need to select and register a domain name. Consider that it is difficult to find a free, short, memorable name, but nothing is impossible (besides, you can use the very interesting service xona.com/domainhacks ). Decide on the name of the photoblog and find a good free domain. The second-level domain name (<your_name> .ru / com / org / eu) will cost approximately $ 20 per year.
Hosting The second difficulty is paid hosting services. The use of free hosting, as a rule, creates additional difficulties, such as inconvenient and hard-to-remember URL-name, third-party advertising on your site, the lack of full-fledged support for databases, PHP, ASP, ASP.NET, etc., limited disk space, the lack of guaranteed round-the-clock access to your site, lack of technical support and much more. Monthly expenses for a full-fledged hosting account for approximately $ 3 to $ 10.
Content management system (photoblog engine). The third stage that you have to perform is the selection and adjustment of the engine for organizing a photoblog. The problem is exacerbated if you do not have experience with server scripts. Nevertheless, the installation of a modern photoblog management system is not a difficult task and can be done by anyone. Usually, the job is to upload files to your site via an FTP protocol, set permissions on directories and files, modify configuration files, actually run a script that directly performs the script installation procedure (creates tables in the database, makes initial settings, etc.). d.) You will be required to enter information about the database user name and password, database name, table prefixing, and other information. The installation procedure is usually described in detail in the documentation supplied with the engine. In the next article we will take a closer look at the most common scripts, as well as describe the installation procedure for photoblog based on the popular Pixelpost engine.
Design. Next, you need to decide what the design of your photoblog will be. After installing the engine, you will have a default template at your disposal, which, in principle, can already be used. But in this case, you doom yourself that the design of your site will repeat the design of a large number of other sites whose authors did not bother to create their own recognizable style for their site. On the other hand, the main content of a photoblog is photos, and very often the appearance of a photoblog is such that the navigation and other elements of the site do not distract the attention of visitors from the photos themselves. It's hard not to agree with this, but the unique details and design features of your photoblog will surely attract the attention of visitors and distinguish it from other sites. I would recommend to visit well-known photoblogs, analyze the features of their navigation and decorative elements, and only then proceed to the design and creation of what suits you. From scripts and design, let's move on to the most important component - filling your site.
Subject photos. Every photoblogger solves this question for himself. Whether you choose a style of black and white photography, a bias for portrait photography, macro or astrophotography, or publish works of various genres, whether you follow the canons of photography or experiment, photos make your photo blog interesting for a particular category of visitors.
The size of the photos. You have to decide the trade-off between the physical resolution of photos (size in pixels in height and width), the compression ratio and the size of the final files in kilobytes. Large photos are particularly appreciated, in which there are no visible artifacts from compression in JPG, the flip side of the coin is the increased size of files, especially on subjects with a large number of details (for example, on landscapes). Often, the photoblog mechanism allows you to post several photo options, for example, large and small, to satisfy both those who prefer viewing large photos and those who have a slow Internet connection.
The frequency of publications. Frequency is a very important feature of photoblog. You need to evaluate your strength and set the rhythm that you can afford. Daily photoblogging is valued especially, but imposes on the author the burden of daily work on shooting and preparing photos for publication. In any case, a well-defined rhythm of publications will attract regular visitors.
Categories, tags and keywords. These navigation elements allow you to quickly search your site. It is advisable to think in advance the structure of categories or tags, which you will define your images.
Text description and additional information. Despite the fact that the main characters of your photoblog are photographs, the text description helps to reveal the idea of ​​your picture most fully. Even the insignificant details mentioned in the text description can tell a lot about the photo. Along with the text description, the information stored in the EXIF-file information (camera model, shutter speed, aperture, focal length, ISO sensitivity, etc.) is usually indicated. In addition to EXIF, it is also possible to output IPTC information. Information about post-processing of a photograph, place of filming, etc. will also be useful. With the spread of GPS navigation devices, it is possible to indicate the exact geographic coordinates of the location of the survey, as well as show this location on the map (thanks to Google).
Digit or film? Leaving aside the controversies of supporters of digital and analog photography, we state the fact that the vast majority of photoblogs are made using digital technology. The availability of compact, and recently, SLR digital cameras, as well as the convenience and efficiency of receiving image files, determine the general trend of growth in the number of photoblogs in general. Of course, film photography in photoblogs lives and thrives, but the end product is not a negative or an imprint, but a digital image published on the network, so the daily routine work of the “film” photobloggers is noticeably larger.
Over the past few years, a large number of photoblogs have been created in the world, and their number continues to grow. The number of photoblogs registered on the site www.photoblogs.org exceeds 30 thousand. On October 27, 2002, this figure was much more modest - 15 photoblogs, this popular resource for photobloggers began its work from this figure. After analyzing the statistics of this site over the past few months, we can say that about 15 photoblogs are created and registered on www.photoblogs.org every day in the world. The growth of this indicator in the Russian-speaking sphere is much more modest. I hope that in the near future the activity of Russian-speaking authors will increase.
In order to navigate in such a large community of photobloggers, there are online catalogs and ratings of photoblogs. Consider the main ones.
Recently, all annual contests for the best blog have a separate category, “The Best Photoblog.” We will consider contests specially organized to identify the best photoblogs. Such contests are very useful both for the authors of photoblogs and for their visitors, as they allow to find sites of really talented photographers.
Having reviewed the annual contests, we turn to a review of equally interesting contests of photobloggers. On the sites reviewed below, with some frequency (usually weekly), thematic contests for the best photo are announced. Participation in such projects will help you attract new users to your photoblog, and also gives you a chance to win. As a rule, prizes in such competitions are not awarded, and the best award to the winner is to place a link to your photoblog in the annals of the site. The number of participants is in the tens and hundreds. Along with participation in competitions, it is useful to look at the photos proposed by other participants. I think there will always be photos from which there will be something to learn.
Thus, almost every day of the week carries a new topic on one of the listed sites.Regular participation in these contests will add visitors to your photoblog. Of course, this list is far from complete. I would be grateful for any links to contests for photobloggers that you did not find in this list.
Mobile photoblogs. Recently, the so-called mobilography has become widespread - a type of photograph in which devices with a built-in digital camera are used that were not originally intended for photography (mobile phones, smart phones, PDAs, irons, etc.). The main advantage of mobile photoblogs is their mobility, since any snapshot can be published on the site in seconds. The quality of digital cameras embedded in various devices is constantly improving, so it is hoped that this direction in photoblogging will be very popular.
Text photoblogs. It turns out that it happens! San Francisco's Michael David Murphy from Michael Francis created a photoblog without photos - unphotographable.com, each post on which begins with the words: "This is a photo that I did not take ...". The following is a text description of the image. The conceptual idea originated in 2004 and became very popular. The author of the idea quoted newspapers and magazines, he was invited to television. Sorry, photoblog is not currently being updated. In Russia, this phenomenon does not yet exist. Who will be the first? Domain unphotographable.ru is free for now.
It is no secret that human perception is arranged in such a way that over 80% of information a person perceives visually. In the age of digital technology, coupled with an explosive increase in the number of online “blogs” - blogs, and affordable digital photographic equipment, so-called photoblogs have spread around the world. What is a "photoblog"?
Introduction
A photoblog (photoblog) is a website containing regularly published photos based on the name of the image, date / time, text description, EXIF ​​information, and other parameters. Entries are published in reverse chronological order. Photoblogs are usually managed by a content management system (CMS) and are dynamic sites. The content management system (we will call it the engine or script) of the photoblog often contains the ability to add comments, rating or rating photos, supports RSS / ATOM technology and is designed for viewing with the help of RSS aggregators. Photoblog can be copyright or collective. In this article we will consider only author photoblogs.
Strictly speaking, any blog that contains photos in its posts (posts) can be considered a photoblog. Nevertheless, in recent years, the classic structure of the author's site has been formed, which most photoblogs follow, namely: the main page usually shows the last downloaded photo, a link to the previous photo, as well as links to the photo archive and other pages of the site. Thus, based on this definition, the number of simultaneously displayed records is always one.
')
What are photoblogs for?
What are the reasons for encouraging a photographer (professional or amateur photographer) to create and maintain a photoblog? There is no single answer to this question. Thus, a professional photographer can show the level of his skill, his vision of the surrounding world, show his work to potential customers and even sell them online. Photo amateurs, through photoblog, improve their skills and abilities, exhibit their photos for constructive criticism, learn, looking at the work of other authors. However, a photoblog, in general, cannot be viewed as a portfolio. Photos on frequently updated photoblogs can reflect the events occurring at that moment, or be a bold creative experiment. In the photoblogs you can find works of almost all genres, from studio portraits and macro to street and nude photography. Despite the fact that many pictures may not have commercial value, a fairly wide audience may be interested in them. The Internet shortens the distance between the author of the photoblog and his visitors, and the promptness of updating visual information generates a lively interest in photos taken on the other side of the planet, in another country, in another city, people with a different lifestyle and different culture. In this sense, even pictures of beginning photographers can be interesting for professional photographers.
How to create your own photoblog?
Currently, anyone can get their own blog, since there are a huge number of sites that offer bloggers such an opportunity, for example: www.livejournal.com , www.blogger.com and others. By registering on such resources, you get free basic opportunities for maintaining your blog, which, however, is usually enough for a full-fledged diary.
In contrast to creating a regular blog, creating a photoblog poses additional difficulties, such as the need to store image files, the need to process them, the lack of free public sites that provide photoblog hosting services (namely photoblog hosting, not digital photo album services), the complete absence or limited support for the Russian language, the inability to create a unique unique design.
Despite the fact that there are very good photoblogs hosted on resources intended for hosting ordinary text blogs, the use of specialized script engines allows you to get flexible functionality from your photoblog, high speed of work, ease of administration, the ability to use your own design and not depend on the company providing photo hosting services.
For this reason, a full-fledged photoblog is recommended to be placed on your own domain name and use paid hosting services. We omit the issues of registering domain names and choosing a company providing hosting services and move on to the fact that most script engines for photoblogs require support for PHP and MySQL, as well as the presence of some other specific libraries - GD, ImageMagick, CakePHP and others. Of course, there are developments on ASP, ASP.NET, as well as other database servers. I note that there are engines that do not require a database at all (for example, Folderblog), in addition, you can customize the engines that were originally designed for organizing text blogs: Wordpress, Movable Type, Drupal, etc. to the needs of photoblog. As an option, if you have the appropriate skills, you can write your own engine yourself, although it is much easier and safer to use a ready-made debugged system. For those who are interested in choosing the right engine, I recommend to visit the wiki.photoblogs.org/wiki/Photoblog_Software page, which in sufficient quantity contains links to existing photoblog management systems.
What technical difficulties arise on the way to creating a separate photoblog?
Domain name. The first thing a novice photoblogger will have to face is the need to select and register a domain name. Consider that it is difficult to find a free, short, memorable name, but nothing is impossible (besides, you can use the very interesting service xona.com/domainhacks ). Decide on the name of the photoblog and find a good free domain. The second-level domain name (<your_name> .ru / com / org / eu) will cost approximately $ 20 per year.
Hosting The second difficulty is paid hosting services. The use of free hosting, as a rule, creates additional difficulties, such as inconvenient and hard-to-remember URL-name, third-party advertising on your site, the lack of full-fledged support for databases, PHP, ASP, ASP.NET, etc., limited disk space, the lack of guaranteed round-the-clock access to your site, lack of technical support and much more. Monthly expenses for a full-fledged hosting account for approximately $ 3 to $ 10.
Content management system (photoblog engine). The third stage that you have to perform is the selection and adjustment of the engine for organizing a photoblog. The problem is exacerbated if you do not have experience with server scripts. Nevertheless, the installation of a modern photoblog management system is not a difficult task and can be done by anyone. Usually, the job is to upload files to your site via an FTP protocol, set permissions on directories and files, modify configuration files, actually run a script that directly performs the script installation procedure (creates tables in the database, makes initial settings, etc.). d.) You will be required to enter information about the database user name and password, database name, table prefixing, and other information. The installation procedure is usually described in detail in the documentation supplied with the engine. In the next article we will take a closer look at the most common scripts, as well as describe the installation procedure for photoblog based on the popular Pixelpost engine.
Design. Next, you need to decide what the design of your photoblog will be. After installing the engine, you will have a default template at your disposal, which, in principle, can already be used. But in this case, you doom yourself that the design of your site will repeat the design of a large number of other sites whose authors did not bother to create their own recognizable style for their site. On the other hand, the main content of a photoblog is photos, and very often the appearance of a photoblog is such that the navigation and other elements of the site do not distract the attention of visitors from the photos themselves. It's hard not to agree with this, but the unique details and design features of your photoblog will surely attract the attention of visitors and distinguish it from other sites. I would recommend to visit well-known photoblogs, analyze the features of their navigation and decorative elements, and only then proceed to the design and creation of what suits you. From scripts and design, let's move on to the most important component - filling your site.
Subject photos. Every photoblogger solves this question for himself. Whether you choose a style of black and white photography, a bias for portrait photography, macro or astrophotography, or publish works of various genres, whether you follow the canons of photography or experiment, photos make your photo blog interesting for a particular category of visitors.
The size of the photos. You have to decide the trade-off between the physical resolution of photos (size in pixels in height and width), the compression ratio and the size of the final files in kilobytes. Large photos are particularly appreciated, in which there are no visible artifacts from compression in JPG, the flip side of the coin is the increased size of files, especially on subjects with a large number of details (for example, on landscapes). Often, the photoblog mechanism allows you to post several photo options, for example, large and small, to satisfy both those who prefer viewing large photos and those who have a slow Internet connection.
The frequency of publications. Frequency is a very important feature of photoblog. You need to evaluate your strength and set the rhythm that you can afford. Daily photoblogging is valued especially, but imposes on the author the burden of daily work on shooting and preparing photos for publication. In any case, a well-defined rhythm of publications will attract regular visitors.
Categories, tags and keywords. These navigation elements allow you to quickly search your site. It is advisable to think in advance the structure of categories or tags, which you will define your images.
Text description and additional information. Despite the fact that the main characters of your photoblog are photographs, the text description helps to reveal the idea of ​​your picture most fully. Even the insignificant details mentioned in the text description can tell a lot about the photo. Along with the text description, the information stored in the EXIF-file information (camera model, shutter speed, aperture, focal length, ISO sensitivity, etc.) is usually indicated. In addition to EXIF, it is also possible to output IPTC information. Information about post-processing of a photograph, place of filming, etc. will also be useful. With the spread of GPS navigation devices, it is possible to indicate the exact geographic coordinates of the location of the survey, as well as show this location on the map (thanks to Google).
Digit or film? Leaving aside the controversies of supporters of digital and analog photography, we state the fact that the vast majority of photoblogs are made using digital technology. The availability of compact, and recently, SLR digital cameras, as well as the convenience and efficiency of receiving image files, determine the general trend of growth in the number of photoblogs in general. Of course, film photography in photoblogs lives and thrives, but the end product is not a negative or an imprint, but a digital image published on the network, so the daily routine work of the “film” photobloggers is noticeably larger.
Statistics of growth in the number of photoblogs
Over the past few years, a large number of photoblogs have been created in the world, and their number continues to grow. The number of photoblogs registered on the site www.photoblogs.org exceeds 30 thousand. On October 27, 2002, this figure was much more modest - 15 photoblogs, this popular resource for photobloggers began its work from this figure. After analyzing the statistics of this site over the past few months, we can say that about 15 photoblogs are created and registered on www.photoblogs.org every day in the world. The growth of this indicator in the Russian-speaking sphere is much more modest. I hope that in the near future the activity of Russian-speaking authors will increase.
Photoblog directories
In order to navigate in such a large community of photobloggers, there are online catalogs and ratings of photoblogs. Consider the main ones.
- www.photoblogs.org - the most famous and largest catalog of photoblogs. At the time of this writing, it has 21'188 photoblogs. All photoblogs are regularly tested for availability. The site has a system of tags and bookmarks, presents the top 100 photoblogs, has its own blog. The photoblogging rating on the site is formed by the photoblogging community by the number of users who added one or the other photoblog to their list of selected photoblogs (bookmarks). To take part in the rating, you must go through the procedure of free registration, as well as place on the page of your photoblog a special tag with a unique code that identifies the photoblog.
- www.coolphotoblogs.com is a catalog of the best photoblogs designed to promote photoblogs around the world. Unlike the previous site, here there is a division of photoblogs by countries, and the photoblog rating is calculated using a special algorithm that takes into account both the voting of visitors and the frequency of updating the photoblog.
- www.photoblog-community.com is a community of photobloggers around the world, which at the time of this writing had more than 3300 photoblogs in six categories. You can cast your vote for any photoblog, and also leave text comments with feedback about photoblog. Based on the number of votes cast for a particular photoblog, a rating is compiled for each of the six categories. There is a division by country.
- www.photoblogs.ru - my personal blog about photoblogs. Now the blog is closed, but you can download the offline version of the site at this link (CHM, size 4Mb).
- directory.mblog.ru/?c=27 - section of photoblogs on www.mblog.ru .
- dmoz.org/Arts/Photography/Weblogs/Photoblogs - photoblog section on dmoz.org.
Photoblog contests
Recently, all annual contests for the best blog have a separate category, “The Best Photoblog.” We will consider contests specially organized to identify the best photoblogs. Such contests are very useful both for the authors of photoblogs and for their visitors, as they allow to find sites of really talented photographers.
- www.photobloggies.org - the annual ceremony of awarding the best photoblogs in the world. Photoblogs are divided by genre and geography. At the moment, the site contains results of the competition for 2004, 2005 and 2006. According to rumors, the consortium for 2007 will not.
- www.photoblogawards.com is the brainchild of www.coolphotoblogs.com . Held on an annual basis.
- www.rosbest.ru - competition "The Best Russian Photoblog".
Active week for photoblogger
Having reviewed the annual contests, we turn to a review of equally interesting contests of photobloggers. On the sites reviewed below, with some frequency (usually weekly), thematic contests for the best photo are announced. Participation in such projects will help you attract new users to your photoblog, and also gives you a chance to win. As a rule, prizes in such competitions are not awarded, and the best award to the winner is to place a link to your photoblog in the annals of the site. The number of participants is in the tens and hundreds. Along with participation in competitions, it is useful to look at the photos proposed by other participants. I think there will always be photos from which there will be something to learn.
- Weekly Shot (http://www.weeklyshot.org). “Snapshot of the week” is a weekly closed contest, in which every Thursday a certain topic is announced, in accordance with which you can send up to three different photos. At the same time, there is a discussion and rating of photographs on five criteria (compliance with the theme, general perception, composition, shooting technique, image quality). In accordance with a certain algorithm, the details of which were not disclosed, the best works go to the category of favorites (featured). Registration of new users is carried out only by invitation, the number of which is limited. Currently, new topics are not announced, although there is access to existing information on the site.
- Photo Friday (http://www.photofriday.com). Photo Friday (“Photo Friday”) is a site that has been popular among photo bloggers for more than 6 years. The contest rules are simple: every Friday a topic is announced, according to which you can send a link to a page with your photo. The link should be permanent and point directly to the photo page. You cannot specify a link to the home page of your site or such a page if you need to click on additional links or scroll through the page in search of a photo to view your photo. It is forbidden to participate twice in one week. You can use old photos (from the archive of your photoblog / site). From Friday to Sunday, the voting phase begins. On Monday, as a result of voting, on the main page of the site are published links to the six best works of last week. Registration on the site is not required. Discussion of photos is also not provided.
- Lensday (http://www.lensday.com). Lensday - in its structure is a blog whose entries announce the theme of the current week. If you want to take part in the competition, you must leave a link to a photo (no more than one link per week) by posting a comment on the post with the current topic. The site administration reserves the right to delete any photos without giving a reason. However, this is a common condition for such contests. A new theme, as well as the result of past competitions, is announced on Tuesdays. You can subscribe to the newsletter via email. Registration on the site is not required. Discussion of photos is not provided.
- Moody Monday (http://moodymonday.org). The photo contest with the resounding title Moody Monday started in April 2004. Every Monday a new mood is announced on the site. Sometimes it's good, sometimes it's bad (we know that Monday is a hard day). In accordance with this mood, you must send a link to your photo. Registration on the site is not required. Discussion of photos is not provided.
- Tuesday Challenge (http://www.tuesdaychallenge.co.uk). Tuesday Challenge is another weekly contest held on Tuesdays. After a new topic is announced, voting for the previous one is allowed. Unfortunately, there is no RSS feed on the site. Registration on the site is not required. Discussion of photos is not provided.
- Photo Theme for Thursday (http://www.spunwithtears.com/thursday.html). Photo Theme for Thursday - competition on Thursday. Translated into several languages ​​(Italian, German, Hungarian, Indonesian, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish, Slovak and Japanese), unfortunately there is no Russian. Registration on the site is not required. Discussion of photos is not provided.
- JorjDotOrg PhotoHunt (http://www.jorj.org/hunt/). “Photo hunting Jori.Org” is a very interesting site with original game rules. Consider some of them. Each “hunting season” consists of a certain number of weekly competitions (or “hunts”). You can earn points by participating in these “hunts” if your photo meets the criteria declared for “hunting”. Each participation gives 5 points. Additional points are awarded depending on the decision of the jury: 5 points for the first place, 3 points for the second, 2 points for the third, 1 point as a thank you. An additional 3 points can be awarded in the special category “Prize for the funniest frame”. Some competitions may have additional bonus points. The conditions for awarding additional points are described at the beginning of the next competition (the topic itself may be made public in advance). For example, the following competition may be cited: “A Leather-Bound Book”. An additional point will be awarded if the book is not religious, two points - if the pages are with a gold-plated border, 3 points, if the cover is similar to the old German manuscript Fraktur. The next competition starts on Thursdays. During the week you can send links to photos. The number of applications submitted is limited to 50. Images taken during the game week are encouraged, however, you can also send old photos. To judge the competition invited the winners of the previous game. Registration is required. Discussion of photos is not provided.
- Macro Day (http://www.macroday.com). Macro Day is a weekly themed macro photography competition. A new competition is announced on Sundays. As can be seen from the title of the competition, the photos must be macrophotography. Unfortunately, there is no RSS feed on the site. Registration is not required. Discussion of photos is not provided.
Unique's Photo Challenge (http://www.uniqueexposures.com/challenge/). Unique's Photo Challenge is another weekly photoblogging contest. Designed as a blog, the posts of which set the topic, and comments to it - links to photos. Registration is not required. Discussion of photos is not provided. - See It Sunday (http://www.seeitsunday.net). See It Sunday is another contest website for Sunday. On Saturday, the theme is announced, on Sunday, just one day, from 00:00 to 23:59, visitors leave links to their photos.
- Photo Sharks (http://www.photosharks.com). The Photo Sharks site is interesting because it has its own icon in the form of a shark's fin: _ (\ _ _. Of course, I'm joking. The site is not as popular as the famous Fotofjatnitsa, but it has its own unique flavor. Registration is not required. Discussion of photos is not provided.
- Vaazar (http://www.vazaar.com/) is a subsidiary of the famous Weekly Shot from Brandon Stone himself, the creator of photoblogs.org. Unlike Weekly Shot, which far from everyone can get into, participation in Vaazar will be available to anyone. At the moment the site is at an early stage of development, and to participate in testing the engine, you must fill out a questionnaire and wait for the next portion of invitations.
- Pxite (http://pxite.com/). Pxite is an online club for photographers who want to show off their photos. As usual, the site is given a theme in accordance with which you can send links to your work. Each week, the editorial board selects the best, in its opinion, a snapshot that is constantly stored in the annals of the site. Unfortunately, the last competition is dated November 26, 2006.
Thus, almost every day of the week carries a new topic on one of the listed sites.Regular participation in these contests will add visitors to your photoblog. Of course, this list is far from complete. I would be grateful for any links to contests for photobloggers that you did not find in this list.
Other types of photoblogs
Mobile photoblogs. Recently, the so-called mobilography has become widespread - a type of photograph in which devices with a built-in digital camera are used that were not originally intended for photography (mobile phones, smart phones, PDAs, irons, etc.). The main advantage of mobile photoblogs is their mobility, since any snapshot can be published on the site in seconds. The quality of digital cameras embedded in various devices is constantly improving, so it is hoped that this direction in photoblogging will be very popular.
Text photoblogs. It turns out that it happens! San Francisco's Michael David Murphy from Michael Francis created a photoblog without photos - unphotographable.com, each post on which begins with the words: "This is a photo that I did not take ...". The following is a text description of the image. The conceptual idea originated in 2004 and became very popular. The author of the idea quoted newspapers and magazines, he was invited to television. Sorry, photoblog is not currently being updated. In Russia, this phenomenon does not yet exist. Who will be the first? Domain unphotographable.ru is free for now.
Tips for a beginner photoblogger, or how to attract traffic to your photoblog?
- Publish photos regularly (better daily).
- Be sure to use RSS / Atom. The vast majority of photoblogs are viewed using this technology. In addition, many sites created for photobloggers work through RSS feeds.
- - www.photoblogs.org . , photoblogs.org , .
. : « !» « – !». , . , , , , , . - , del.icio.us . photoblog-posts, blog.photoblogs.org . : .
- RSS- photos.vfxy.com . VFXY Photos – , RSS. – . – RSS- 180130 ( 130180, ). , - .
- (Photofriday, Vazaar .). In the PDF version there is an additional overview of the engines for photoblogging.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/29454/
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