11 Tips for Getting Your Photography Noticed (2024)

Learning how to create great photographs requires a lot of time, skill, and talent. While some photographers are content to make work they love, others want to share their images far and wide. The key to getting your photography noticed starts with these 11 tips.

GETTING YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY NOTICED WITH THESE 11 TIPS

1. Consistency is Key
One of the best ways of getting your photography noticed is to have a consistent, recognizable style. It doesn’t matter if you make highly styled light and airy portraits or black-and-white documentary shots. Producing high-quality images that are instantly recognizable as yours is a great way to stand out and get noticed.

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2. Display Your Work
Getting your images off your hard-drive and onto walls is a great way to get your work noticed. Ask local cafes and shops if they are willing to display your work, even for a short time. Think about ways you can make this beneficial for the venue, such as hosting a reception in the café, shooting subjects wearing their clothes or otherwise promoting your show to bring in new customers. Or shoot for the stars and approach an art gallery about hosting a show there or being part of a group show.

3. Be Savvy with Social
Find your audience where they are and post frequently on social media. Be thoughtful about the hashtags you use. Tag the specific location where your image was taken and the same of the city. Use a hashtag to highlight any products in your photo, including clothing brands or car models. Be sure to highlight the style of your images whether it’s #nycnewbornphotographer or #fineart. If you are not sure where to start, check out hashtags others in your niche are using.

4. Consider Competitions
Search for local and national photography contests and enter as many as you can! Often you can enter images you already created. If you win, you will receive recognition for your work and the competition organizers will likely promote your work for you. This can help you reach people who otherwise never would have seen your work and gives you credibility as an artist.

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5. Community Consideration
Be active in your community and take your camera with you! Share photographs of everything from your local farmer’s market to Halloween costumes. Your community will probably the photographs and share them with their friends which opens up an entirely new audience for your work.

6. Barter Better
Just like photographers, other small business and artisans struggle to get their work noticed. Consider partnering with a local restaurant or boutique to trade photographs for goods or services. Many small businesses can’t afford a professional photography but are happy to barter gift certificates, meals, massages and more! Once your photos go up on the businesses websites or walls you can reach thousands of people who would not otherwise have seen your work.

7. Perfect a Portfolio
Having a portfolio of your best work that is easy to find can be a great way to get noticed. You will be ready to share your images easily whenever you see someone looking for a photographer in your niche. Post your portfolio on your website and share your images on popular photo sharing sites like Flickr, Unsplash and 500px. Be sure to use metadata so that your images can be found more easily.

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8. Get Published
Getting published can not only get your work noticed, but it can also give you credentials that can lead to new opportunities.It’s not as hard as you think! Start with local publications and pitch photo essays in your niche. That could be portraits of people active in your community or a photo spread of popular areas to visit. You can also offer photos of local events. Requesting press passes to events is often an easy process that can help you get unique shots.

9. Volunteer
Non-profits and charitable organizations always need volunteers to help them carry out their mission. That includes photographers to help them tell their story or decorate their walls. The possibilities are nearly endless! Offer to photograph events, create portraits of clients or Board members, donate images for their walls or create content for their website.

[Read: Community Over Competition]

10. Collaborate with Creatives
There are opportunities to collaborate everywhere! Create a collaboration on Instagram with other photographers where you share each other’s work or agree to tag one another. Work with local models, florists, or make-up artists to create a referral network.

11. Teach Camera Classes
Everyone walks around with a camera in their pocket but very few people know how to use them. Consider teaching photography classes ranging from getting better cell phone photos to how to use a DSLR. These classes will be particularly popular after the holidays when a lot of people get new devices. This is not only an additional source of income, but will help you establish yourself as an expert and reach a lot of new people.

JamieDavisSmithis a writer and photographer based out of Washington, D.C. Reach out to her for more ways of getting your photography noticed at: jamiesmithwrites@gmail.com.

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