| Exposure & What it Means to You by Rolando Gomez return to our main tips page When most photographers think of exposure, it’s the technical quality of the photograph that comes to mind. Is it composed correctly, was the lighting just right and does the image convey the right message? But today, exposure means a whole lot more than simply creating an image. Exposure in the 21st Century is beginning to take on a much different meaning. It’s not enough to simply have a dynamic image. Today, exposure is more about getting that image seen and the photographer’s portfolio put out in front of the maximum number of potential clients. An effective way to create exposure is by placing photographs in portfolios on the world-wide-web. The web is known as the “great equalizer,” giving everyone the benefit of world exposure to their talents—necessary marketing today. A photographer can do this by one of three ways, owning their own website domain, pay a portfolio-hosting site, or use free web space from their Internet service provider (ISP’s). Regardless which method a photographer chooses, placing photographs on the web is critical to gain maximum exposure. Portfolios hosted on free sites, don’t allow linking of images on photography forums, and have annoying advertising, leaving an unprofessional appearance. Free sites are limited on design and the total amount of images hosted. Free sites disable portfolios when “bandwidth,” costs exceed their limits—easy to accomplish with images. Portfolios on free sites are difficult to find in search engines, limiting your exposure. Portfolio-hosting sites are another option. For a small fee, these sites host your portfolio and allow linking images on forums—a good source of exposure. Search engines tend to top-rank these sites, as these sites are large in content, heavy in traffic and have many return links to the site. The downside, design is limited to the site’s unique format. Another option, a photographer can create their own website with their own domain. The photographer can link images on forums and control the appearance of the entire site. The downside, besides high-bandwidth costs associated with images, is the photographer has to understand layout and design principles and html editing, or pay a good webmaster for this service—which is rather costly. Initial inclusion on search engines takes considerable time, and usually the site’s ranking will never make it to the top in popular search engines, from lack of page (text) content, return links from other sites, and low traffic. The best value for a photographer is to pay to have their portfolio hosted on a portfolio-hosting site. The fee is minimal, especially on a site like Garage Glamour™, normally less per month than the fees associated with hosting a personal site, and portfolio-hosting sites normally have excellent design principles incorporated throughout the entire site. Most of these sites have marketing budgets bringing exposure to the entire site. These sites usually rank high in search engines and have established traffic—instant exposure. Once a photographer is happy with their online-portfolio, the photographer must keep the portfolio content fresh, and closely edited, similar to traditional portfolios. Photographers should include their online-portfolio, Internet address on their business cards, stationary, and advertising. The quantity of exposure for the technically correct exposures a photographer creates and places online, flourishes with exposure from all directions. return to our main tips page ©2002 Rolando Gomez |