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Photography can often be a solitary art which requires long hours of work, late nights and plenty of studying to keep up to date with the latest trends and technologies, particularly if you’re a professional or a working freelancer.
To compound this, it’s not always easy to meet people in your daily life who share your passion for photography or have in-depth knowledge about the genre that you work in or want to learn more about. This is why online forums that are dedicated to photography are such a wonderful resource and meeting place for photographers from around the world.
The best platforms create a strong sense of community, help to foster debate and provide a vast collection of knowledge, tips, tricks and hints that you can learn from and add to with your own experience. You can also get advice on how to find jobs, suitable courses and a whole host of other ways to boost your own career.
There’s a wide range of people on the photography forums that include total beginners and seasoned professionals; but no matter where you are at in your own personal journey you’ll be welcomed with open arms and friendly greetings.
How Do You Pick A Photography Forum?
Selecting the right forum might take a little while until you find the one that fits your personality, interests and the genre you are focusing on.
Amateur vs Professional
There are forums that cater to both amateurs and professionals and depending on who you want to interact with and what your own status is this may be an important factor to consider.
Professional forums will be more formal and many of the conversations, or ‘threads’, will be dedicated to finding jobs, taxes, insurance, laws surrounding the business and other matters that may not interest you if you are an amateur who takes photos as a hobby.
On the other hand, amateur forums may focus more on educational materials, tips and hints for how to get the most out of your equipment as well as answering questions about the general practise of photography. Overall, if you are an amateur photographer you’ll probably enjoy yourself more on a dedicated forum that’s more designed to cater for you.
However, most forums are welcoming to both professionals and amateurs and they tend to have a mix of topics, threads and subjects which you can both contribute to and learn from at the same time!
The Genre.
If you work in a particular genre then you might be more comfortable in a forum that is dedicated to that topic. There’s a huge selection of forums that are dedicated to every genre you can imagine, and some that you had never even thought of!
From landscapes to portraits, wildlife photography to real estate work; there’s something for everyone. Alternatively, there are also forums, especially the larger ones, which have threads on a massive amount of genres which means that you can swap and change with ease.
Either way, when you’re looking for a photography forum you should keep the type of genres that you’re interested in at the forefront of your mind. This will help you to quickly narrow down your search and end up with a result that genuinely meets your needs.
Your Personality.
Every forum has its own unique vibe which is bound to suit some people but will inevitably put others off. Your personality type will play a part in determining which forum is best for you. This is a factor that you’ll have to judge for yourself by dipping your toe into various forums until you find one that makes you feel at home.
Trial And Error.
There’s multiple ways that you can start to narrow down your search for the perfect photography forum or forums that will be influenced by multiple factors. However, at the end of the day, the best way to find the right forum for you is to jump into the photography community with both feet and see what you discover! Don’t be put off if the first forum that you join doesn’t tick all the boxes and keep looking because the benefits of being part of a thriving online community will improve your life as well as your photography skills and practise.
Why Join An Online Photography Forum?
There’s plenty of reasons to join a photography forum, no matter what point you are at in your career or as a practising hobbyist photographer.
- Gain Extra Exposure For Your Work: Joining a forum is a great way to start sharing your work with the photography community. This can lead to collaborations, exhibitions and even job offers!
- Get Feedback From Other Photographers: When you share your work on a forum you can get invaluable feedback from other practicing photographers. Of course, feedback from the general public or clients is always going to be useful but you’ll probably get much more insightful feedback from fellow photographers.
- Get The Latest News: Once you’ve joined a photography community you’ll get all the latest news, up dates and gossip from the industry. This is not only interesting but can be useful knowledge to have up your sleeve in the future. You’ll also be the first to know about the newest gadgets, trends in the industry and unmissable deals from the leading companies.
- Camaraderie, Friendship And Community: Joining a photography forum will instantly make you part of a welcoming community where you can make friends and feel genuine camaraderie. You can share your personal highs and lows to a non judgmental group of fellow photographers who will lift your spirits and give you lasting support on your journey as a developing photographer.
The 5 Best Photography Forums.
The following are the best photography forums:
As one of the early leaders of photography online forums this site has remained a solid resource that’s full of valuable information. There’s no adverts and your searches will only bring up what you’re looking for, which can save time if you’re looking for some inspiration on a specific topic.
There’s also a good amount of active discussions in progress at any one time and what’s more it’s the perfect place to learn from other people’s trials, mistakes and successes.
This hugely popular relative newcomer is one of the most hit or miss forums online where you never quite know what to expect. The forum is proud to cater for total newbies and there’s hundreds, if not thousands, of active threads every time you log in.
The topics are not particularly well organized so you’ll end up scrolling quite a bit, but in doing so you’ll always stumble across something interesting that you hadn’t thought of which might be worth checking out making it a great all round forum for anyone who’s interested in photography. Do bear in mind that image link posts are not allowed though so it’s not the best place to get more exposure for your work.
This strangely named forum is something of a hidden gem with great threads, easy navigation and plenty of highly informed photographers chatting about all sorts of topics. You can quickly choose to check out the threads in categories such as sports, digital art, smartphone and wildlife photography.
There’s also a huge amount of information about gear and photography equipment as well as a ‘Buy/Sell’ section where you can pick up some serious bargains on second hand kit. The ‘critique’ section is fantastic because you can get valuable feedback on your own work from other photographers.
Overall, this is a hard forum to beat and since it covers so many bases you’re bound to find something that is of interest to you in a wide number of fields.
This new entry into the photography community has been impressing its members with a fantastic selection of threads and topics to discuss. There are more than 8 million posts on the site which means that almost everything you can think of is covered!
You can find great information about equipment, studios and lighting, genres of photography and post editing techniques. You can also have your work critiqued in any genre by other photographers making it a good option for gaining exposure and making friends in your own niche.
The unique forum’s ‘meeting place’ feature actually helps you to arrange to meet up with fellow photographers offline in your own location which is an excellent addition to an otherwise superb photography forum.
This amateur photography forum is a great place for up and coming creators who are considering going pro; with the ‘Business District’ section being full of advice and tips on how to turn your hobby into a job.
There are interesting sections that cover topics such as film photography, DSLR galleries and the latest news and updates on the industry. The forum hosts a fantastic gallery of user’s work which you can dive into for inspiration and ideas for your own practise and even a ‘Cafe’ section for off topic conversations with other members.
The site is really well organized and easy to navigate which makes it convenient to jump into a thread on a chosen topic but it also has enough variety for you to always find something new and interesting.
Photography Forums – Invaluable Online Communities.
There’s a good range of photography forums online which cover every topic and genre that you can imagine offering you the chance to make friends, get exposure for your work, discover the latest news and trends in the industries as well as read reviews on gear and equipment.
It’s certainly worth joining a dedicated forum if you’re a photographer where you can share your experience and learn from other people’s. Finding the right forum will give you the support you need to transition from amateur to pro and give you tons of inspiration for your personal projects.
Whatever it is you’re looking for though, there’s a photography forum just waiting for you to discover; so why wait, and start exploring the possibilities today!
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