Robots for your Photos takes the hassle out of sharing photos online
posted Wednesday, December 3, 2014 at 4:29 PM EST
Making a really great photo is only one part in the life of a photographer. Just as important is to place your photo in front of an audience to get some feedback -- and for many of us, that means placing it online.
And chances are, you don't just upload each image in one place: You probably share them on a variety of different social networks and photo sharing sites. Each of these venues has its own advantages and disadvantages: One site might give your artworks a wider audience and elicit more response; another might be limited to those with a more critical eye, but some photos may gain little comment. And it's through those responses, not just our own, that our photography grows.
But uploading to all of these sites -- then gathering all the feedback -- is a tedious, time-consuming process that robs you of valuable minutes which could be spent capturing your next vision. That's where a new Czech-created service called Robots for your Photos comes in.
We're not talking robots in the modern sense of the word here, though. The word itself derives from the Czech language with connotations of forced labor or drudgery. It first gained its modern meaning courtesy of Czech writer Karel Čapek and his 1920 sci-fi play R.U.R., or "Rosumovi Univerzální Roboti" -- that's "Rossum's Universal Robots" in English.
Čapek's robots were something akin to cyborgs or clones in today's lingo, but Robots for your Photos hints at the earlier meanings in its name, suggesting that it can take the hard work out of sharing your photos online. Simply set up the service, upload a photo, and it will automatically be shared for you on all of your various social media and photo sharing outlets, either immediately or at a time chosen to best gather comments from those who view each image.
And where it gets really clever is that Robots for your Photos will then gather all of the likes, comments and so on that each photo receives on the various sites, and provide them for you in a single place, saving you checking venue after venue separately to ascertain the response any given photo drew from friends and fans alike. In fact, Robots for your Photos will even go a step further, and suggest more services to which you could be sharing your photos.
It strikes us as a pretty clever idea, and one that could give photographers more time in which to hone their skills, rather than fiddling with a mouse and keyboard. At the moment, it's in a closed beta test, but you can apply to take part by providing your email address and first name. Services that can be linked to Robots for your Photos include Facebook, Flickr and 500px.
Find more details on the Robots for your Photos website!
(via PMA Newsline)