[zabatuvajdka]

Instagram could be use as a “snapshot” of the real thing. If I were a photographer I would use it to hook folks into browsing the full version on my website (and buy prints if they’d like).

The fact is, with huge DPI densities of photos the best way to view something is a very high quality print at scale.

Real life > Flickr > Instagram (in terms of visual quality). The limitations of canvas form factor is a huge damper on visual arts. A square canvas is VERY different than a rectangular one, or a hexagonal one.

But the humble square is perfect for instant grammification.

[prawn]

I'm a photographer on the side and I doubt many people end up on my site from Instagram: the funnel is just too awkward. I mostly found selling prints to be a bit of a waste of time - high touch, low return. Instead, I focus almost entirely on government entities or reasonably sized operators who will commission projects. I've had more commissioned projects than I've ever sold prints, and the former pay x0 times as much and are far more fun and interesting. But where your first point works is that in that mode, you don't need a lot of people visiting your site and getting in touch, you just need the few, right people.

Met a photographer the other day who said he sold about three prints a week, with a margin per print of $150 (after framing, shipping, etc). A day rate for a commissioned job is likely to be $1-2k.

Flickr and their ilk is where you meet other photographers. Instagram is where you get in front of people with photography budgets, IMO.

I don't think many are putting squares on Instagram - it's almost all 4x5 in the main feed or 9x16 in Stories. Whatever fills more of the screen, at least in my industry.

However, I shoot a lot of panoramas^ and resent that Instagram is such a terrible place to show them!

^ https://serio.com.au/show/panoramas/

[transistor-man]

Those Panoramas are gorgeous.

Have you tried 360 photography / meshing? It may allow for those gorgeous long image to fit on mobile better, not really sure. I've been toying with pannellum[1] , and displaying 360 mesh's, its fairly good on mobile. [2]

1: https://pannellum.org/ 2: https://transistor-man.com/Panorama/ashland_reservoir-9-2021...

[prawn]

Thank you.

No, never tried it. Some people split panoramas into multiple photos that people then swipe through, but that's awkward if the initial shot doesn't hold its own when viewed in isolation. Another option is rendering it out as a panning video, which I could try but haven't yet bothered.

However, my work increasingly shifts from photos towards video as that's where the demand/money appears to be. So I shoot loads of panoramas and then they just sit there unless someone licenses them.

[yesenadam]

Hey, so many beautiful pics on your site! Really nice work.

..then I clicked on your name here.. you have 9 websites/businesses?! Arggh! How do you manage that?

[prawn]

Thanks!

Not very well. For a long time, I struggled to focus on one thing, and eventually gave in to just do everything I wanted to do. There are definitely pros and cons, and I certainly neglect many of my projects. But it's making for an interesting life.

[yesenadam]

That sounds awesome! Best wishes. I hope to read your blog/book about that one day. Or see the documentary. p.s. Hi from Sydney.

[seoulmetro]

Flying a drone and taking photos seems very disconnected to photography for me. But that's just me. The photos are great however. But it feels like a "photographer" who also just uses their phone.

[prawn]

Seems like a pretty arbitrary line to draw, especially phone vs camera. Modern cameras have software assisting too. Strikes me as gatekeeping, but you're welcome to your opinion.

I had two jobs last year shooting video for my country's national tourism authority - I shot half with my phone, and half with a tiny gimbal camera (Osmo Pocket) that uses the phone as the monitor/display/interface. I got paid, got two holidays, and the content went out to several million people. I'm perfectly OK with being someone who (amongst multiple cameras, four drones, etc) "also just uses their phone". :)

[seoulmetro]

Don't worry. I'm definitely on the fence with this.

I am not the kind of anti-software purist. But I am definitely against fake elements in a photo, which there are more than plenty in Instagram and other photo sharing platforms.

[ghaff]

>A square canvas is VERY different than a rectangular one

I agree and I'm very much used to a ~35mm aspect ratio. That said, medium format film (120/220) was usually approximately square so it's not an objectively "bad" aspect ratio.

[seoulmetro]

Instagram has stopped using square dimensions for a long time. In fact if you want to lose followers, you should maintain your photography dimensions and scale. If you don't post in "iPhone portrait" mode, you will soon disappear from the algorithm.

[user_named]

Photography isn't about image quality.

[Hoasi]

Photography is more than just about image quality, but image quality matters a lot. In fact there are entire subfields in photography devoted to it.