In case you have been living under a rock, of if you are on the fence about starting up a portfolio on 500px, here are 10 good reasons why I think you should. Please note I have no affiliation with 500px, I am simply a happy member.
1) Amazing Photographs – While there are many other photography websites with beautiful photography, the sheer volume of amazing photographs on the site is truly unbelievable. If you don’t believe me, just have a look at the most popular photographs at the time this post was written.
2) Beautiful Website – 500px is designed to perfection. The first time I saw it I cursed because I wish I had come up with the idea myself. The thumbnails are huge, and the square crops allow photographs to fill the majority of the page without any wasted space. There is also no shortage of photographs to look at, with categories such as Popular, Editor’s Choice, Upcoming and Fresh. The voting system is simple as your only choices are thumbs up or thumbs down. The rating system is genius as photographic ratings are reduced at the end of each day, which means the content is refreshed on a regular basis. I’m a huge fan of statistics, so I love the fact they keep track of Favourites and Affection. Last but not least, the Friend’s Feed allows me to keep up to date with photographers I am interested in.
3) iPhone, iPad and Android apps – I am impressed at how much better my 500px experience is when I use the iPad app. I am not alone in my thinking. According to GigaOm, as of Oct 17th:
- Users flip through an average 80 photos per visit to 500px for iPad, spending 35 minutes in the app
- The iPad app now serves 50 percent of all traffic seen by 500px’s website
- The app is on track to serve more than 1 million flips on Monday alone
I’m willing to bet the stats have increased since then.
Link: 500px iPad App
Link: Third Party “ISO 500″ iPhone App
Link: Third Party “500px Land” Android App
500px iPad App
4) Exposure – I only joined 500px six months ago. In that time I have averaged 200 views per photograph. There are other websites I have been with for 4 or more years (namely PBase and flickr), and I don’t have as many views per image. I’m not the only one who feels this way either. If you follow 500px’s Twitter feed, you will often see users who are surprised at getting a few thousand views in a short period of time.
5) Instant portfolio – In the past I took the time to build my own website. It was time consuming and because of the style I wanted, it was Flash based. Thanks to 500px, I literally had my website up and running in less than 5 minutes since I already had photos uploaded to my portfolio. You can create collections which will show up as separate menus on your website, as well as choose from an assortment of different styles. The websites are written in HTML5 and Javascript, so they are compatible on tablets and smart phones. The best part is, if you feel like changing the look of your website, it’s only a click away!
Available website themes
6) Awesome customer service – I wanted to add a 500px Widget to the side bar of this blog, but unfortunately they only had a horizontal version that didn’t fit. I wrote them an email suggesting that they create a vertical version, and about a week later, they had one ready to go. Now that’s customer service.
7) Easy to Use – I like how I can upload my photographs, add some minor details such as a the category, and submit. I don’t need to spend time adding my photographs to numerous groups just to get views. Sound familiar?
8) Prints – Personally, I’ve never felt that motivated in terms of selling my prints. I’ve always been more focused on finding the time to take photographs, and to promote myself online. While they don’t have this print services available as of yet, my understanding is that it will be an available feature in the future. If I can display my website and sell prints through a website which I am actively involved in, then I am one happy photographer.
9) It’s a young community – While 500px has been around for some time, the site redesign is less than 2 years old. I am excited to see what new and exciting things they will bring to the table in upcoming years. Events such as Pixel Hack Day show that they are vested in the community, and are willing to have a little fun as well.
10) They’re Canadian – While that may not mean much to you, it certainly makes a world of difference to me!
Conclusion:
I’m not saying that 500px is the best solution for everyone, nor am I saying that the site is perfect. I have a few recommendations for improvements which I will share in a separate post.
In the end, if you are looking for somewhere to host casual photographs, then 500px is not for you. But, if you are looking to put your best work out there, and be involved in a community with thousands of talented photographers, then I suggest you spend some time there.
Feel free to share your 500px profile links below. As always, feedback is welcome.
Good summary. Amazed that half of all traffic comes from the iPad app...wow. My 500px link: http://500px.com/Phrasikleia
You have some beautiful photographs. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you! I enjoyed looking at yours too! By the way, I noticed that one of my photos got about 1550 views in one day--about four times more than normal. Could it be that traffic through my link here is the reason?
Extra views yes, but not 1550. Chances are your photograph got a high enough rating that it made it to the "Upcoming" or "Popular" section, in which case it would have garnered many more views. See Reason #4 of this post :D
Hmmm, I've been pretty happy with the duo of DPC and Flickr, but this may be worth trying out as a place to show off my very best stuff.
I find that the reaction to my photographs varies from site to site. A photograph that might not be popular on one site, does well on another.
I'm on.
https://500px.com/Yo_Spiff
Found ya! :)
#1 was really the deciding factor for me, and it really encouraged me to use 500px only to post the pictures I was most proud of (which is the whole idea, after all).
I've never been good at the self-promoting aspect or at getting views, but the few I get on 500px are more than I manage on flickr or deviantart
http://500px.com/spaskaluk
Thx for posting your link. I paid you a visit :)
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500px is a very nice website indeed :). Simple, clean layout and contains pretty much the best photos that can be found on the net!
I'm pretty young and relatively new to photography but I'm doing my best, as every photographer should do. If you want to have a little look, thanks!: http://500px.com/NikooliX
Greets,
Alexander
Had a look at your photos and left a few comments. :)
Instagram-like voting and view system is a deal breaker to me. And oh boy, the iPad app is god-sent :) http://500px.com/salvianace
Left you a couple comments. I'm jealous of your camera :P
http://500px.com/alexeidebono
loving the site and the photos are simply beautiful and inspiring. I'm doing my best to get exposed cause its not that easy.
Love the lightroom extension they added
Had a look at your portfolio and gave a few thumbs up.
Lightroom extension? Where can you find it?
http://500px.com/gsravanetti
I've started using 500px -- haven't gone "awesome" yet, but I'm considering moving my website over, once they have photo sales established again. I'm spending much less time on Flickr these days, and am ready to simplify and to spend more time in a high-quality environment. Appreciate your post.
http://500px.com/NWexposure
Thank you for the review! The 500px is really great, the quality is fantastic.
I am trying to find an answer why awesome accounts has much more views per photo and much more chanses to get on top. Awesome just mean that it is paid, isn't it? Is it mean we can buy a popularity ?)
http://500px.com/axily
Nice Article ...
http://500px.com/sarojpandey
500px is very ok ! ^)°
http://500px.com/Dronadev
I just joined 500px a few weeks ago, and I'm very happy with it: http://500px.com/miso-photography
The site is clean and crisp!
oh and - http://500px.com/grimoire
Yes! Finally something about seaweed nutrition.
No matter if some one searches for his essential thing,
so he/she wishes to be available that in detail, so that thing
is maintained over here.