Photocritic photography blog

When we first wrote about Photostockplus, a discussion was sparked as to whether there is any point in spending money to make money. I realise this whole thing is turning into a bit of a saga, but you guys keep asking such great questions that I can’t let it lie.

Long-term reader Andy asked:

After reading the original post I was immediately interested in signing up for photostock plus. It sounds like a great idea. My only question is how effective are their marketers? Does the site get enough traffic that it wouldn’t be difficult to make a profit with a modest sized portfolio?

Of course, they were all excellent questions, and I didn’t have any of the answers. But hey, that’s why I’m a journalist, right? So I decided to call up the company and interview them, to see if I can help find you guys some answers… Read the rest of the article »

Whoah, it’s a long time since I’ve heard opinions quite as strong as the ones fired up by my The Holga and why it should be avoided post. My opinion on the matter is clear (Short version: I love the Lomo, but I think the Holga is a waste of space).

I’m not one to push my opinions on people ruthlessly, so here is the other side of the story from the Holga-loving Photocritic readers: Read the rest of the article »

When I first started out in photography, I used to love Foto.no. It had a strong community with photo critique etc. I used to be active on DPChallenge and on PhotoSIG, but they both seem to have grown out of control, and they were a veritable wild-west of people posting all sorts. I gave up on all of the above a long time ago, and I haven’t been able to find a good forum that’s worth going to.

So… Do any of you know of any good forums worth hanging out on? Or - and this is my real question, I guess - should I have a forum for my readers right here on Photocritic? Read the rest of the article »

Right, I’ve just added a page which shows you which polls we’ve run in the past. You can still vote on most of them, and you can see the results. Interesting, no? Of course it is, you little statistics geeks :)

Find our past polls here. If you’ve got a good idea for a poll, why not add it as a comment to that post?

Of course, I can’t have a post whoring out polls if I don’t add a poll to it…

Quite frequently, when you enter your photos into various photo competitions, you are giving away the rights to your photo, due to the small print in the terms and conditions. What most people don’t realise, is that you also give away these rights if you don’t win the competition. This lets organisations, newspapers and other unscrupulous, money-grabbing twits get away with building up massive photo libraries they can use for free, against the relatively cheap cost of a couple of crummy competition prizes…

In the UK, at least, this is completely illegal. Here’s what you need to know about licencing photos, and this also kicks off our series about setting up a photography business - All the blog entries will be tagged with Business, so you can easily go back through the archives and read all the articles! Read the rest of the article »

Retro is the new modern. Just look at the new design of this website! Anyway, as far as we can call the 90s retro, there was a distinctive trend in photography that developed rapidly, and has since all but vanished: The ring flash.

Giving an even, smooth light without casting shadows, and giving the funkiest reflections known to man, ring flashes are expensive, but cooler than a penguin’s testicles dipped in liquid nitrogen. The phat bit is that you can make them yourself. You’ll look like a right plonker when you use it, but never you mind - it’s all about the results, isn’t it? Read the rest of the article »

I’ve gone on about PhotoJoJo before, back in may, when they were just starting out but they deserve it, damn it, so here’s officially a re-recommendation of what they do. Read the rest of the article »

As someone who has worked as a freelance photographer, I’ve talked the talk and walked the walk about running my own photography business. I managed to stay afloat for 2 years, and then I couldn’t hack it anymore, realising I was more of a writer than a photographer. Fair dinkum, I’m now a journalist again, and I’m happy - especially because part of being a journalist means I have lots of time to work on writing projects, including my book, and Photocritic. Read the rest of the article »

My jove, you lot are harsh critics. A couple of days ago, I launched a new design of Photocritic, and asked for comments. The whole design was instantly shot down.

Comments such as “It looks like a clown puked after eating too much candy. It’s hideous and amateur looking” made me think, and then even my designer friends started making fun of me. Hey, what can I say, I’m not a designer, all right? Read the rest of the article »