500px rubbish?

[StoneNYC]

Why the fuss?

500Pix is just an image host with some built in social activities/features. It's just like Flickr in that its just a place people host photos on to show on the web and also talk with other photographers.

It really only gained popularity because a host of "skilled" photographers on flickr got tired of seeing "bad photos" so shifted to a smaller niche-focused site. As the site grows in popularity the range of skills increases as well as does the volume at each skill level. Since there is no examination nor assessment to block people joining, if 500Pix continues to increase in popularity it could well end up identical to flickr's user base overall.


The only time a community will have a fixed level of skill is when there are barriers/gatekeepers to entry into the community. Even then the barrier is likely to end up more focused on style than skill unless they retain a broad spectrum of moderators approving the content.



As for nudity on the forums, we do not allow hosting/embedding on the site of nude content. We do allow emedding/hosting in the subscribers NSFW section and we do allow users to link to NSFW content on the open forums, but provided it has a warning above the link to inform that it is linking to NSFW content.
As a rough guide line we generally accept skimpy clothing akin to what you'd see on a normal beach - anything less and its likely to be removed.

Thanks! So my link is safe cause I made a warning, good lol.

And glad we agree, as 500px grows it will get crappy ... Hah!

 

[Overread]

And glad we agree, as 500px grows it will get crappy ... Hah!

And then another niche site will crop up and the "skilled" will flock there until it repeats again!

 

[StoneNYC]

And glad we agree, as 500px grows it will get crappy ... Hah!

And then another niche site will crop up and the "skilled" will flock there until it repeats again!

Yup! Like Friendster to myspace to Facebook to... Well who knows but I hope it happens soon... Lol

 

[Derrel]

Well, it's not like every single shooter can be at the top of the heap...500px represents a wide range of skill levels and abilities. It's kind of like a real-life beauty pageant in a way; there are the winners, and then there are the ones who are merely "Kind of cute with good light and good makeup." Those are not the ones that win, but they bulk up the talent pool.

 

[StoneNYC]

Well, it's not like every single shooter can be at the top of the heap...500px represents a wide range of skill levels and abilities. It's kind of like a real-life beauty pageant in a way; there are the winners, and then there are the ones who are merely "Kind of cute with good light and good makeup." Those are not the ones that win, but they bulk up the talent pool.

But the idea behind 500px is that it's all top of the heap and not "cute"

 

[BrickHouse]

I think what I'm seeing then is that the problem is mine. I always have had 500px on this pedestal as a showcase of professional photography and this place I can go to see great work and learn from analyzing it. Then over the last year I've seen this infusion of weak material as the site has grown and it put me off. I guess I need to just stay off the fresh tab and stick to the popular and editors picks. Thanks for the great conversation everyone!

 

[Scatterbrained]

No, I think you've got some great stuff and that it definitely has a place on 500px. I'm talking more about stuff like this: 500px / octopus by Kelly MJC. Don't get me wrong, there's some incredible stuff on there, perhaps most of it. I just have seen a lot more poor photos show up. I am a hobbyist and brand new, so you know what? I post to places like this to get better, not to 500px to "showcase" my rubbish. It was mostly an observation and subsequent rant anyway.

I see what you mean, there was this one image of a blond woman I was horrified, I can see that doesn't really fit anything that would be close to art...

I was told when you first joined 500px that they had some kind of system where he posted that images you actually be removed from the system entirely and banned, so I'm guessing that that he has changed and or was never truly seriously in effect.

Thanks for sharing, now I understand.

Up until very recently you used to be able to down vote images. If an image received enough down votes it would no longer show up on the public pages (just your own page). Not everyone had the option to down vote. I know I did, but I only used it for the obviously egregious images. Images that were blatantly horrible, yet made it through to popular via the tireless social media promotion of the photographer. Down voting was a way of letting someone know they still had work to do, but with that gone. . . . . . .

And glad we agree, as 500px grows it will get crappy ... Hah!

And then another niche site will crop up and the "skilled" will flock there until it repeats again!

It's called 1x. You have to be quite good to get on there however, as there are only a dozen curators, and it's up to them whether your image makes it through. Even there you'll see the occasional image that will have you saying "WTF?".

Well, it's not like every single shooter can be at the top of the heap...500px represents a wide range of skill levels and abilities. It's kind of like a real-life beauty pageant in a way; there are the winners, and then there are the ones who are merely "Kind of cute with good light and good makeup." Those are not the ones that win, but they bulk up the talent pool.

But the idea behind 500px is that it's all top of the heap and not "cute"

No, the idea behind "Popular" and "Editors Choice" is that the creme rises to the top. Their algorithm helps to enforce that as well. The higher an image score is, the less points it receives for each viewer engagement activity. If the first person to view your images likes it and favorites it that might give you over ten points. By the time you reach 90 points a like and fave might only give you one tenth of a point. The theory being that it helps keep the crap from reaching the front page. There are photographers out there who put way more work into promoting their mediocre images on facebook, G+, Reddit, Pintrest, Stumbleupon, etc.,than they do into honing their craft, but they are a minority.

I think what I'm seeing then is that the problem is mine. I always have had 500px on this pedestal as a showcase of professional photography and this place I can go to see great work and learn from analyzing it. Then over the last year I've seen this infusion of weak material as the site has grown and it put me off. I guess I need to just stay off the fresh tab and stick to the popular and editors picks. Thanks for the great conversation everyone!

I think the issue is you're spending too much time looking at the rotten work on the fresh page. If you want top notch work stick to Popular and Editors Choice, or swing by 1x.