Some of you may know that I've been heavily involved in the Photography tag since I arrived back in May this year. I just wanted to give a bit of an update on my involvement on Steemit particularly as it relates to photography.
This is kind of like a 'witness' update, except... not! :)
Steemit Photo Challenge
Supported by @berniesanders and more recently by @blueorgy who built a useful backend judging app.
This has been running for 12 weeks so far. @berniesanders has been instrumental in his support not only for the Steemit Photo Challenge, but for photographers on the platform altogether. He also created the Curie project, which I have submitted photography links to for some time. Join the # curie channel on Steemit.chat and read their rules before suggesting links.
The SPC has given over 4300 Steem as prizes, about half of which has come directly from donations from @berniesanders and a couple others, and the other half has come from his upvotes! :P. He has also provided a $250 USD Gift Certificate as a prize. On top of that, the encouragement to post more has led to more upvotes across the board, with SPC entries showing up in trending each week.
Here are the previous winner posts:
Week 1 - Animal Portrait
Week 2 - Shadows
Week 3 - Desolation
Week 4 - Nature Macro/Closeup
Week 5 - Emotive Human Portrait
Week 6 - Landscapes
Week 7 - Architecture
Week 8 - Long Exposure
Week 9 - Action - High Shutter Speed
Week 10 - Minimalism
Week 11 - Glamour / Fashion
Week 12 - Soul of the City
Curation Trail
Streemian.com is a site which allows you to follow other user's votes as a curation trail. I've set one up which anybody with a Streemian account can follow. I can't promise you high curation rewards, but I can promise that I focus most of my votes on photography. So if you want to encourage and add value to photographers using the platform β follow me.
You can also set up your own bots to follow the votes, if you prefer that. I vote at 100% at least 10 times a day.
Photography Channel
I am a moderator on the photography channel on steemit.chat. It's a place to discuss all things photography, as well as to share links - our own, and others. Join us some time!
Steem Guild - Photography
Most recently I've been given the opportunity to further curate photography on the platform. Working alongside @pfunk, another regular and early user, I scour the Steemits looking for what I consider to be undervalued photographers producing consistent quality work. The team then gives those posts an upvote usually resulting in about $30 as a booster, likely bringing more eyes to the work and encouraging the poster to stick around!
We work independently to the rest of Steem Guild, having a bit more leeway to work within the photography tag. We are able to reward an author on one post, once per day. So far this weekend we've sent more than 30 Guild upvotes.
What I get out of all of this
I get to look at a lot of sweet work, and I get to help spread value to my area of interest. Reward-wise, I get a maximum of one upvote per day on my posts (if I post every day) and small curation rewards (tend to be about 0.5 SP per post upvoted).
My goal is, and always has been, to spread and increase value to my area of interest (photography) and encourage more interaction on the posts. More photographers (and creatives in general) using the platform, the better.
Supporting me and my projects means supporting photographers from all over the world who are using Steemit to share their work, and I appreciate that support :)
Suggestions
When posting a photo, give us a bit of information or back story. There's just something so bland about opening a post and it's just a single photo sitting there! Include equipment, if you want, techniques. Tell us about the day, where the subject is, etc etc. It just makes it more interesting, and we can learn something!
User @dreamstream also suggested 'photocritique' which I think is a good idea.
If you'd like to have your photos critiqued, add them to the tag #photocritique and a user who is up to the task will know that you don't mind being critiqued :)
Photographers To Follow
Here's a list of photographers that you should be following!
@siavach, @dek, @daveks, @darkb4dawn, @begstreets, @jay-kopinski, @runrudy, @randyclemens,
@condra, @pfunk, @sharker, @stansmith, @zaebars, @pcste, @kryshen, @maryfromsochi, @ansharphoto
@isa-za, @sulev, @zorro, @leylar, @litrbooh, @violino, @tytyd, @skypilot, @lgm-1, @birdie, @yzomri, @mweich, @photorealistic, @lscottphotos, @nords, @ilanaakoundi, @steemkat, @jasondaum, @yostopia, @xroni, @mcsvi, @azurejasper, @ocrdu, @nicoledphoto, @pkattera, @alexandre, @simba, @sean-king, @theyam, @k471, @shieha, @mikemacintire, @movievertigo, @xcepta, @photography, @marinauzelac, @jasonmcz, @dexter-k, @sature, @kommienezuspadt, @avtzis.petros, @nicoledphoto, @dpapadimitroylas, @marinauzelac, @jasonmcz, @dexter-k, @sature, @kommienezuspadt, @avtzis.petros, @nicoledphoto, @dpapadimitroylas, @marinabogumil, @dercoco, @thecryptofiend, @winstonwolfe, @shaka, @dreamstream
There are many more!
Give me some photographers to follow!
hi Jam, I think photography is one of more engaging elements of Steem right now and you've been doing a great job generating interest and bringing awareness to insightful posts.
Thanks, I think it's one of the more engaging elements as well.
100% agree - and 100% up vote!
Alright all you damn photogs! Others have asked me to join Steemit.chat but I have resisted because I have a mild case of OCD : ) Steemit alone has been overwhelming to me already. Yet, this program is the best I have seen to help photographers and really push the community to promote quality content. I'm all in. I starting following all of you today and I apologize in advance for my chattiness. Thank you for mentioning me.
Hi @jamtaylor - thanks for the great list :)
I have one more to suggest - @artist1989. Here is a link to his latest post:
π Halloween Party Decorations Sneak Peek! π | Walk-Through Photos & Video
Do you have any guidance about the size of files that are best for posting to the photography tag? In looking at other Steemit guides focused on longer blog posts, the suggestion is to keep images small -- 800 pixels wide or less than 50KB. I can appreciate the need to be respectful of fast loading times and not chewing through someone's data plan. But, boy, that's not so good for nice photos! Do you have any recommendations or are you seeing any patterns in the successful posts? Thanks.
When I am saving for Steemit I resize to 900px wide. The content area only scales up to about 800 or 850px wide, so anything over that will be scaled down... That means if you have a large file being scaled down, you may get more grain than normal... If you resize, you should be good, and it'll be a smaller file size anyway.
So that's what I do, others may have better suggestions
Thanks for sharing what you do. I'll downsize my photos and start posting a few.
I recently saw a how-to post by @mrlightning that suggested uploading a full resolution post and then linking the photo to that. So when a person clicks on a photo, it would bring up the high resolution version. Here's the post: https://steemit.com/photography/@mrlightning/howto-linked-images-showing-off-full-photo-quality-using-steemimg
IΒ΄ll do my best to eventually make it to your list as well, jam :-)
Thanks for your great support so far!
Done :)
Wow, wonderful! :D
Thank you for your trust! It's nice that my photographs like! Ahead will be a lot of interesting, I recently returned from a trip to Kamchatka and traveled to Poland!
Nice! Look forward to seeing the new stuff!
Hey don't forget about me! LoL
Got ya :)
Awesome! :D
I have been posting some very amatuerish photography. I promise to be better about following the rules. Can't afford a good camera right now but would appreciate any feedback on how I can improve my photography. Thanks for all you do!
Join us in the photography channel and talk with some of the regulars! You'll also see a lot of inspiring stuff.
Having a good eye [for composition] is better than having a good camera, besides... cell phones are coming with very good cameras these days!
Regarding people who are trying to improve their photos... I'm a bit cautious to go on a new persons post and offer constructive criticism. Maybe we need a second tag like photocritique or something or some way people can designate they are open to feedback.
thanks as well for the mention in the list, much appreciated
That's a good idea. I'm going to add that to this post as a suggestion.
I would like to be on the list of photographers.
Upvoted and followed you.
Thanks. I'm sorry but your page doesn't fit in that list.
thank you!!
Great info and suggestions! And thanks for the mention, too! :)
I have had some photographs posted but they generally don't do very well. I'd love to be on the radar with them but I also know I need to get my butt in some of these challenges and interact more on the chat channels. I just wish chatting wasn't such a time/life suck! Then there's that moment of "it's not good enough" and I hold back...but only from sharing. I'm actually practicing with lighting and technique...and learning all the fancy-shmancy options on my camera instead of doing a straight point & click like I've always done.
Steem Guild is a great initiative and I'm looking forward to seeing the quality curated works! :)
I've got some neat photography articles lined up! I LOVE how Steemit appreciates all forms of art! Also thank you for the honorable mention in the Photography Challenge :)
Thanks for mentioning me @jamtaylor! I recently took a few days off but i'm going to get back into the swing of things. I can't wait to check out all the things you've mentioned in this post and to give some of those photographers mentioned a follow!
Hey @jamtaylor, super honored to be included in your list of photographers to follow, thanks so much! Also great job with all you've been doing for photography here on Steemit. You and @pfunk are really making this a place that photographers will love to be :) Keep up the amazing work!!
it is a good idea because this way we can help each other to develop as a forum.
if u like some photos - You can move in private)))
I am new to Steemit, I am glad I found your profile! Suggested photographers to follow is really helpful. Thank you for curating the list!
Great. Like the Idea @jamtaylor
B) like a boss
Hey, I'm on the list! Thanks @jamtaylor, you rock as always!
Seems like I really have to get on that chat channel! And thanks for sharing the information about the #photocritique tag - I don't mind getting some constructive criticism. After all, we can always learn more and improve our skills.
Have a good day and keep up the good work! Resteemed!
Awesome work @jamtaylor, keep it up!
(And thanks for adding me to the list! I'll have to dig a little deeper!)
great post @jamtaylor, you have done a lot for photography on steemit and you are an inspiration to this community.
keep up the good work. :-)
when week #13? XD
Thursday :)
I am just 4 days old on steemit. Glad I discovered this post. Looking forward to more photo challenges :)
I'm only new, but have started writing about photography. I love to share my images and stories. If I can brighten someone's day then I'm happy :)
Thanks so much for all you're doing @jamtaylor! And wow thanks for including me in your list to follow! I'm honored :) Cheers!
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Advanced Steem Metrics Report for 11th October 2016 by @ontofractal
Learning from mistakes, a photocritique self study by @dreamstream
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Following now. Already upvoted before on this. Keep up nice work.
Throw me int the mix too. Loving playing with you!
@vannour you might be interested in this post :)
I hope that you can take part to become a curations photography.
keep on steemit @vannour
@safar01: very useful information. resteemed
followed you & your trail :) nice to know great photographers here.
Thanks very much!
Great article. Really appreciate the time and effort you've made to provide all those links. I'm going to have to resteem it to reference it later!
I'm new to steemit and have been finding it a bit of a minefield to find true photography content as the photography posts under new, hot or trending seem to be unrelated articles where someone tags 'photography' just because they have included a photograph!
Once again, thanks for this article @jamtaylor, I'm going to enjoy checking out the account recommendations you've made and will check out the chat this evening :)
Ahhhh there's no resteem icon :(
It was posted before the ReSteem function happened, the updates don't work retroactively unfortunately!
Welcome to Steemit. Unfortunately the incentives on Steemit to plagiarise and post spam in exchange for small amounts of money is pretty high, so we have to stay on top of that sort of thing... but it means that people just tag irrelevant stuff to the popular tags in hopes of getting more views and the chance at getting some upvotes.
The photogs on that list are very good, some are no longer active but many are.
What you can do is check out the Steemit Photo Challenge posts on my account, the winners are always active photographers and you can find a lot of cool stuff. I also reblog from photographers from time to time.
Hope you enjoy your stay and are successful :)
Great tip, that's my evening reading/viewing sorted for tonight :)