Great Ways to Get Your Photos Noticed

juicyrai/flickr

One of the biggest challenges new photographers face is getting their work discovered by the people that matter. These tips will help you stand out from the crowd.
Before you can even begin to make money as a photographer, you have to get noticed. It’s easy to get lost in the sea of competitors trying to catch their big break, even if you have strong portfolio — but there are some proven ways to get yourself on the map. Follow these tips from Chris Gampat of The Phoblographer, and you’ll have a real shot at being the next big thing in photography.

Find Your Voice

The average photographer snaps thousands of pictures over the course of her career, far more than any person could stand to look through in one sitting. When you’re putting together your portfolio or picking pictures to post on your blog, make sure there’s cohesion — in other words, that each individual picture contributes to the broader, more general picture of who you are as an artist.
Your photos should highlight your strengths and show off your photographic interests. The more similarities people notice in your work, the better sense they’ll get of your artistic personality. If you don’t have any noticeable tendencies, viewers won’t be able to distinguish your work from that of others. The more unique your posts or prints are, the more likes and shares you’ll get, and the more people will see your work as a result.

Get Competitive

One great way to get your work noticed is to enter photo contests. Winning one of the top prizes will get your work shown to a wide audience and might even earn you a little prize money.
There are the big-name photo contests, like the PDN 30, National Geographic, and Nikon, but these require an entry fee. For beginners, it’s best to find contests that don’t require payment, unless you can justify it as an investment in your career. Winning contests, even lower-profile ones, could get you recognition by major galleries, shares on social media, and even offers for paid work.

Be Social

Ian Lamont/flickr

Getting your pictures shared on social media is now an essential part of the photography world. Instagram and Tumblr both host plenty of curated accounts for collecting and sharing photographs. Typically, they credit your work, but stay on the lookout for accounts that try to steal photos, as Time reported having happened. Tag your posts with frequent keywords, like black and white, nature, or landscape, so they can be found easily. You can also look into EyeEm, Behance, and of course Flickr, which are free platforms for showcasing photography to a wide audience.

Put Yourself Out There

Don’t wait for someone to ask you to show your best work — sometimes, being a little pushy pays off. If there’s a publication, website, or blog whose work you admire, send a polished pitch email to the editor and include a few carefully selected photos, a little about your background, and an idea for a story. Even if they don’t love your story idea, they’ll get a sense of what you’re capable of, and they just might invest in a chance to see what else you can do.
Though an email works fine in many cases, nothing can replace the feeling of holding a beautiful photograph in your own hands. If you really want to wow editors, send them real prints of your photographs.
Printique does professional quality checks with each of its prints, and with the wide variety of sizes and finishes to choose from, you’re guaranteed to find the format that best displays your work. High-quality prints of your high-quality photos will have you standing head-and-shoulders above the rest in no time.