ViewBug

I joined ViewBug about four years ago, back when I first got into photography. About a year before I even got my first "real" camera, when I was still using my cellphone to take photos. I was going through a very difficult time in my life and photography literally saved my life. ViewBug gave me a good place to look through thousands of images, talk with other members and learn more about photography. I actually won a contest this year and have won several contest finalist, along with many challenges. ViewBug has helped me, and continues to help me become a better photographer as time goes on. I know that I still have a lot to learn, and there is always room for improvement, but I know that I wouldn't be at the level I'm at as a photographer, without ViewBug. I have made several good friends on the site and the staff has always been beyond helpful, understanding and professional in every single email exchange I've had with the them. I'm actually very thankful for the site. I see many bad reviews on here, but to me, ViewBug is just like anything else in life, you get what you put in to it. I also wanted to mention that although ViewBug is a huge site with hundreds of thousands of members, they still have a way of making you feel special and cared about. And before I end this. If anyone from ViewBug reads this, I want to give you a huge thank you for all of the hard work that you do to provide such an amazing website for me and other photographers like me. To me there isn't a better photography site out there, that accomplishes everything that ViewBug does. So again, thank you, for everything!

I have not been a member very long. I really enjoy looking at other pictures. However I am surprised that I sometimes see members who have posted hardly any pictures (less than 100), which aren't very spectacular, sharp or otherwise outstanding and still they have thousands of followers and awards. So I really do wonder how to get more followers, I like, award, vote but still it remains a bit low. HoResPhotography

After being a Premium Member for a few years, I think i can share a little bit of my experience with this site.

Things i like about ViewBug:

Plenty of good photographers and good photographs, makes it really hard to even think about winning a contest, so I've given up on that haha. I had a photo chosen as a finalist twice, that made me happy!

The design of the site is al-right, it displays the photos in a good way and disables right clicking, which is good to discourage thieves!

I've got quite a few awards from the ViewBug team, which i think is really awesome. One of my photos was featured as the cover of the site for a day. I'm not sure if they still do this, but i thought it was really nice and definitely encouraged me to keep shooting, back in 2013 :) So thanks for that ViewBug!

The whole contest thing, what ViewBug is really about, is amazing and it makes Viewbug a very unique site! It's really easy to join contests, there's no confusing stuff or anything involved, and you maintain the rights to your work. This is 100% why i joined ViewBug in the first place, to enter contests!

It's hard to know how well your photo placed, as many people have said. Yeah that's true, but it all comes down to a Jury so if they think your photo is good enough to be the winner, it will be. So i don't really care much about how well my photos did, as long as i have a chance to win.

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Things that i do NOT like about Viewbug:

You can report a picture a thousand times for being inappropriate, nothing happens.
You can report it for being stolen, nothing happens.
I've seen many profiles with stolen photos, photos that have almost won contests, I've reported them and nothing happened. This is definitely the thing that worries me the most. One time i even contacted the real photographer to let him know that his photo was stolen, he said he contacted ViewBug about it, but it's still online and gathering likes and peer awards.

Memberships are too expensive, especially if having a Premium, Pro or Lite membership makes no difference to you. If you are sure you have what it takes to win a contest, then pay for the PRO membership and enter as many contests as you can.

View count is depressing. If you post a photo and don't add it to any contest or photo challenge, that photo will get maybe 2 or 3 views in a month.

Right now i have 4745 followers. Posted a photo a few weeks ago, and it has 34 views. And yeah it's a really good photo. This isn't the site to get views, so i wouldn't bother joining if that's all you're interested in. Join 500px or Instagram for that.

Bot members. Yes there are plenty of bot members! These are members who award everything and like everything! It's super annoying, I've got a few of them following me and whatever it is i post, they like and award. Even if the photo is completely white or black, they will like and award. They are real accounts with real photos, but they probably use bots or whatever, to like and award everything they see automatically. So they end up with thousands of followers, even if their photos are bad.

Stuff i do not care about:

Points and being a curator ( you can be a curator in 1 day if you really apply yourself by liking and awarding everything you see). By being a Curator, you welcome other people to the site, comment on their photos, like and award, ask them to join contests and photo challenges and whatnot. I've never done that. Sorry!:)

I'd give 3.5 / 5 stars.

Conclusion on a very long post:

If you're interested in joining photo contests and growing as a photographer, JOIN!
If you're interested in views, comments, awards, whatever, but don't really want to push yourself to have a chance at winning contests, then don't bother joining.

IF you're just starting in photography its a great way to get to see what other's do and and then compare your work with others and get tips from them. IF you don't win contests no big deal, you can still show your work to the world.

It is the first time I have joined a photo contesting site in weeks back, as an amateur photographer it is pleasing to see my photos receiving likes, peer awards or viewed by professional photographers in the globe, It is really incouraging me to take up photography very serious and try to improves further. I have no experience to critisize but I give thub up to viewbug by giving amateurs and professional photographers opportunity to showcase their photos
Thank you viewbug.

Sometimes, it feels like ViewBug's marketing plan is to get you to not only do your own marketing but their marketing as well. It's very easy to advertise yourself (and thus viewbug) on social media. Although they encourage you to pose photo challenges, it's a crap shoot as to whether they will put your challenge of the "hub" where others can see it. And if you don't make the hub, all you can do is spam your contacts on social media or individually invite ViewBug members without the ability to copy-and-paste or even share your challenge URL. What's up with that? And "reward points" are just vanity points, like all the silly "badges" they give.
THAT SAID, the site is addictive. I quit at one point of frustration with the patronizing attitude of "support." But I discovered, I just didn't shoot as many pictures, much less better pictures. I rejoined for the fun and learning I get from competing with professional and amateur photographers all over the world. The chances of winning any real prize (like a camera) are miniscule, but you can get rankings as how you compare to other photographers.
All in all, it's one of those sites where the more you put into it, the more you get out of it.

I have been a member of Viewbug for quite a few years, I have had the pleasure of winning one of the contests with my image. I had a few problems but I have since had incredible service from their team which has helped me greatly. They have been very kind and considerate and have put any concerns I have had to rest.

Its a great way to get inspired by other photographers, and while amateurs can also participate there are plenty of professional and talented photographers to locate.

I have been a member for a little under 6 months. Before joining, I did my due diligence and did some research into the ViewBug site. I stumbled upon these reviews and a few Facebook pages directed at calling ViewBug a scam. I have to say it almost deterred me from joining. I noticed though that it was only a handful of people who were having issues. ViewBug has hundreds of thousands of members so the ratio wasn't worrisome to me. One of the main complaints was how they hound you about joining or raising your membership level at a cost.
I cannot tell you the amount of emails I get from other reputable companies that offer similar services doing the same thing. ViewBug's sales model is no different than that of other companies. To me, this doesn't make it a scam or a bad site. People fail to realize the cost associated with running a site like this. I also read there were issues receiving and/or winning prizes. For me, I was looking for a site that I could receive honest feedback about my photos and learn in the process. In the end, I decided to join.
I am truly happy I did. Not only have a met a TON of talented photographers who I learn so much from on a daily basis but I also have gained a great deal of confidence in my own ability. The networking opportunities are so worth what I pay each month to be a member. When it comes to entering contests, yes, it's a numbers game. If there are 60,000 photographs entered in one contest or challenge, what are the odds yours will get noticed. You do get weekly emails letting you know roughly where your photo ranks ahead of other entries but nothing specific. I'm ok with this. I'm very motivated when I get an email saying my photo is ahead of 52,000 other photos. The bottom line to recognition is you have to work at it. I spend the time going through photographs and commenting on them, liking them and giving peer awards. I spend the time voting in contests that I am in. I also follow photographers who have similar styles and interests as my own. As I do this, I grow the number of followers, I noticed my votes started to increase and my ranking progressively get better. I make a point of interacting this way at least once a day. Because of this, I started gaining more and more likes, more and more peer awards etc. This make sense. Just like Facebook, your main feed is made up of people you follow. The more people you follow and that follow you, the more your work gets noticed. People usually return the follow when you follow them too. Overall, this site is no different than other sites that offer the same type of service. Yes, there is a membership fee. The higher the membership, the more you pay but the more you get. Of course I would like to win a contest but that's not my main goal. I would rather have my work noticed by like photographers and grow my name as a photographer than win a prize. I really like ViewBug, it's really done wonders for my confidence, my photography knowledge and inspires me daily.

I have really enjoyed my experience with ViewBug. It even inspired me to take my hobby more seriously and now I have my own photography business. While I understand that adult content photographs have their place in the art world, I don't think ViewBug is the best venue to display this type of art. We have a lot of under aged patrons at ViewBug and I think there are a lot of other places these photographs could be displayed.

It seems recently there has been an increase in the number of adult content photos. I even tried to report one photo because of the nudity and the picture ended up on my Facebook page. As a result, I stopped reporting these images. While I will continue to support ViewBug at the Pro level, I wish more was being done to make this site a little less "sexual" and a little more artistic.

This site is a great way to connect with others passionate about photography. However, it's main goal is "traffic". The more people interact with the site the better. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that.

I've chosen not to make any monthly payments for the "PRO" or "Premium" status as those will get you to enter every contest instead of a few dozen. If you treat the site as another branch into a community of people that LOVE photography it is 5 stars. It's very addicting an satisfying to get feedback and give feedback.

If you treat the site as a way to further your photography business and exposure you will have to work very hard at building a base of fans to get your photos up to the top tier awards and possibly winning. Every contest will have 10's of 1,000's of entries and members are allowed to repost their best shots over and over for each new contest. Contests are the way to lure people in as a source of income. As long as you don't fall prey to ego on your photography skills thinking you have a chance of winning you'll have much more meaningful interactions in creating your own contests and connecting with others.

I don't plan to spend a dime on Viewbug memberships and have been enjoying the site despite that decision.

It is nice to be a member in VB!

What is it mean if my picture win featured store?
What is that do?

Been member for 2-3 years. Won a few awards. Finalist in contests. Seems to be a good site with alot of good photographers. At this point have 1000 followers and have gotten aot of messenges from people all over the world including australia. Have learned alot and improved much as a photographer just observing others work and competing with myself., a good site so far. Not expensive..

What are the cost and fees to a winning participant?

I love this site. Amazing talented people sharing their amazing photos. Whenever I view the new pics I am just constantly in awe. Hopefully, I will be able to learn from them.

I have been a stock photographer for over 30 years. I am a member of ViewBug and enjoy it. I both enter and create challenges and enter the bigger contests. If you look at it as a way to learn and update your skills it is a great site. It can be fun for beginners and pros alike. The bulk of the 'winners' don't get more than a pat on the head type award so you aren't going to get famous.

I am a very amateur photographer that discovered this site by accident. I own no photo editing software. The most editing I ever do is perhaps a bit of cropping and some changes to black & white or sepia and creativity is not really my thing either. After looking at the images posted on this site I am quite certain I will never, ever even come close to winning a competition. However, once I got past this reality I discovered that it's fun just to post photos and see what people have to say. So, I will continue to enjoy the beautiful work of others and take whatever compliments come my way.

This site is actually a lot of fun, even for a professional. Art and photography are subjective, so this is by no means bible, its my point of view. I have seen some wonderful images on this site. Manipulation is part of photography and takes a lot of work to perfect, so for those of you that are complaining about these types of pics, learn the craft before you say its easy, or just a person clicking a button. Remember that its not the camera or how big your lens who takes great pictures, its the person using it.
I am a free member mostly to keep my social media aspect for my website. If I can have fun in the meantime, even better.

I love ViewBug, it's a great place to showplace your photography. What I'm not absolutely sure about is why, when I'm going through other people's photos, some of them are repeated on different profiles. I have emailed ViewBug about this twice, but they haven't as yet responded.

While I do feel that Viewbug could improve on browsing and social interaction on their site, fewer sites have the quality of images and opportunities to network with so many like-minded photographers. I have enjoyed my time there, and will continue for the foreseeable future. Once they get a handle on advertising their print shop, making browsing easier, and including more interactivity, this will be a amazing place to go!

Just joined, really like it so far but can't seem to edit my entry to a contest. I submitted the wrong image by mistake, when I go to the edit entries page nothing works. Having said that, the interface is really user friendly, the whole process of uploading, exploring, entering contestes etc is really fast and simple and there is a wealth of ideas and inspiration available.

I have been a ViewBug member for over a year now and I feel that is time to write a review. I finally won my first Amateur prize in a contest, feel so so happy about it and even more inspired to continue working on my photography. Many people that I have talked to feel that it is hard to win contests and indeed it is hard but that is what makes it challenging. I was discouraged at the beginning but now I found a new light and want to continue shooting.

I just started taking photos not too long ago when I found this site. I love the page, I really do. I also like that contests are for everybody, so I can join them. It makes me happy to know people are actually looking at my photos and LIKING them! So yeah, no complaints there. However, I was wondering why that Viewbug doesn't keep you up to date on where you are rated until the contest's over. I get these random emails, occasionally, about how I'm in the running to be crowned, but I'm not sure where that puts me in the running for top few pictures.

And the fact that you don't get your exact rating also bothers me. My contests simply say that I was in the top... Let's say eighty, fifty, or thirty, like three of mine, for my photo. It bothers me that I don't know who the others participating are, or what rank I am. I'd like to see that, so I can see who I lost to, and who I beat. If only to improve myself for the next contest. I really want to know what my ratings were, or currently ARE for the contests I'm in. Any chance you can tell me why you don't tell me that information?