Have you been wondering how to get your photography noticed?
Today, I thought I’d share some tips on where to post photos online, how to get exposure for your photography and how to become a published photographer.
Are you feeling a bit stuck because you have created a nice collection of photography and don’t know where to publish it?
Do you feel frustrated that you have this whole catalogue of images sitting on your computer hard drive but don’t know how to get your photography noticed?
As a fine art photographer myself, I have wondered many times how to get my photography published, be it online or in traditional media.
After thoroughly researching the topic and pursuing quite a few avenues over the years, I now have some answers to this question, and I would love to share them with you today.
In this article, we will delve into everything you need to know about getting your photography noticed:
How to prepare for sharing and posting your images, ways to get your photography published online and offline, and one very important tip for sharing your photography publicly that could save you a lot of headache later on!
What to Do Before Publishing Photos
OK then, let’s dive right into it.
I think it’s very easy to get over-excited about sharing your photography and posting it haphazardly all over the internet without doing the necessary preparation work.
Let me explain.
Imagine you had a flower shop and were trying to sell beautiful bouquets, but didn’t devote any time or thought to creating a beautiful shopfront, investing in a proper logo and branding, having a presence on social media and presenting yourself in a professional manner.
Your flowers may be beautiful, but would people buy them if your shop environment was not presentable?
Applying this to photography, if you want to know how to get your photography noticed, I think the answer is, before sharing images online and submitting them for publication, make sure that you have an attractive “shopfront” in place.
Your “Artist Shopfront”
Thinking about your overall “appearance”, as it were, is important because whenever somebody decides to feature your images, they will need information from you, like your website, your artist bio, your social media links, etc.
Hence, you want to be as prepared as possible.
In my opinion, your “professional artist shopfront” should include:
A Portfolio
First, you will need some kind of portfolio that shows a range of work; ideally, this would be hosted on your own website.
However, if you don’t have one, a great alternative is using Adobe Portfolio (free with a Creative Cloud/Photoshop subscription) or Behance.
An Artist Statement
This might feel a little pretentious, but people do ask about it once in a while, so make sure you have one ready.
I think it’s actually really helpful to write this anyway, because it forces you to reflect on your motivation and driving forces as a photographer/artist.
If you have no clue what to write, here is an excellent article on how to craft your artist statement.
A Presence on Social Media
Don’t worry, I’m not talking about amassing thousands of followers – this is more about connection.
Once you start sharing your photos or submitting them to publications, people may want to reach out to you and follow your journey, get to know you and contact you about your work, and social media gives them an opportunity to do so.
I personally use Instagram for this purpose, but you could pick any platform that you like (and are most likely to use regularly).
Right, so you have set up your “shop”, now let’s get to the next part: where to post photos online/how to get you photography published.
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Online/Digital Opportunities for Publishing your Photography
There are many options for sharing your photos online. Here are my favourite ones:
Feature Accounts
Post your images on Instagram and then tag large accounts with specific hashtags to be featured on one of their pages. Here are some examples:
- @https://www.instagram.com/lostinlovemagazine/
- @https://www.instagram.com/thebest_capture/
- @https://www.instagram.com/underfleuron/
- @https://www.instagram.com/visualambassadors/
- @https://www.instagram.com/illegalvisuals/
- @https://www.instagram.com/royalsnappingartists/
- @https://www.instagram.com/globalcapture/
- @https://www.instagram.com/passionpassport/
- @https://www.instagram.com/fstopmagazine/
- @https://www.instagram.com/monoart/
- @https://www.instagram.com/streetphotographyinternational/
- @https://www.instagram.com/street.classics/
- @https://www.instagram.com/timeless_streets/
PS: This list is updated regularly whenever I come across a new feature account on Instagram. You will also find some more options by doing a quick Google search.
Websites and Photography Portals
Photography portals like Photocrowd or Viewbug are a great option for getting your photos noticed, especially if you also want to take part in photography competitions and receive community feedback on your images.
The way these portals work is that you create a profile and post your images, which you can then enter in weekly or monthly competitions.
Online Publications
There are lots of online magazines, photography blogs and other digital publications you can submit your images to for a chance to be featured.
Some examples include:
- https://photovogue.vogue.com/
- https://www.dodho.com/
- https://www.fstopmagazine.com/home.html
- https://www.itsnicethat.com/
- http://www.thejealouscurator.com/
- https://www.creativeboom.com/
- https://www.featureshoot.com/
- https://fotoslovo.art/en
Facebook Groups
This one is more of a long-term strategy, but it can work really well!
First of all, join a handful of Facebook groups dedicated to photography (I particularly love the Facebook community “She Clicks” – find all information on their website here.)
Then, all you have to do is regularly show up on the page, post helpful comments and keep an eye out for featuring opportunities.
For example, somebody recently posted about wanting to interview different types of photographers for a publication.
I got selected, which means I will have an interview and some of my pictures published, so this strategy can definitely pay off (plus you will meet lots of lovely like-minded people in the group!).
I think Pinterest is a greatly underestimated tool for getting your photography noticed, and it’s really worth learning more about the platform if you’re not familiar with it yet. However, if you do decide to post your photography on Pinterest, it’s definitely a long-term strategy, as well – you do have to create a professional looking profile and post very regularly, and it’s normal for a new Pinterest account to take a few months to gain traction.
Photography Competitions
Taking part in competitions is a great idea if you want to get your photography published or noticed – often, winners get featured on the organizer’s gallery, website or social media account.
Even better, sometimes your competition prize includes being featured in an online or print exhibition, which will greatly enhance your exposure. Read all information on how to find competitions and tips for submitting your images in my previous article here.
My photo in last year`s British Photography Awards shortlist on their website
WARNING! Before we move on to offline publishing opportunities, I just wanted to give you a quick tip for submitting images online.
I recommend you NEVER publish or post high-resolution images online, as anyone can simply save your picture and technically “steal” it.
This is still possible with low resolution images of course, since today’s AI tools enable copycats to upscale images to a higher resolution, but at least you’re making it a bit harder for them.
So, only ever post files with a resolution of around 75ppi online.
Offline Opportunities for Publishing your Photography
As mentioned above, competitions are a great way to get your photography noticed, and these are also available offline, like the ones organised by photography magazines. Again, please read my article here for more information.
Photography Magazines and Publications
I think nothing beats having your work published on actual paper.
If you’re wondering how to get published in a print magazine, you may be happy to hear that it’s not as out of reach as you may think.
There are many magazines looking for photo submissions, and they will usually advertise this somewhere within the publication. Some examples include:
- Black+White Photographyhttps://www.blackandwhitephotographymag.co.uk/
- Amateur Photographerhttps://amateurphotographer.com/
- All About Photohttps://www.all-about-photo.com/
- Blink Magazinehttps://www.blinkreflex.com/
- The Incandescent Reviewhttps://www.theincandescentreview.org/magazine
- Shots Magazinehttps://shotsmag.com/
- Professional Photohttps://professionalphoto.online/fine-art/
It’s worth buying a few local photography magazines in your area – they will almost always contain submission guidelines for being featured.
Portfolio Reviews
Another great way to get your photography noticed is to take part in a portfolio review.
Again, this is more of a long-term strategy because your photos are only evaluated, not published, but you get valuable feedback from expert photographers (which will make you a better photographer long-term).
And more importantly, portfolio reviews are a chance to get eyes on your photographs – your images are critiqued by established curators, photographers and photo editors, which can lead to incredible opportunities later on.
You can find portfolio reviews in your town via a quick Google search, however it doesn’t even have to be location-based as many portfolio reviews are now done online.
I live in London, UK, and I can recommend this portfolio review offered by the Photographers Gallery London.
Other Options for Getting your Photography Noticed
There are two other options for showcasing your photography that can really make an impact but require a bit of time and effort.
Number one is publishing your own book.
Obviously, you need a fairly large body of work to do so and it can be costly, but there’s something magical about curating your own book with your favourite images. It’s certainly something I am planning to do in the future.
Secondly, you could set up your own exhibition.
Again, this requires investing some money and can be a lot of work, as you have to find an exhibition space, get your images framed, think about marketing materials, pricing etc.
However, if you get the location and setup right, your own exhibition can be very helpful for exposure and getting some actual real-life feedback on your images.
If organizing your own exhibition is a bit too intimidating, you could also find local spaces that exhibit photography or art, like coffee shops or community centres, and ask them about submission guidelines.
That’s it!
Please do leave me a comment if you think I’ve missed anything out or if you have additional links for publications and magazines to be featured in.