Foto Friday – Pin your Pix!

If you haven’t been bitten by the Pinterest bug, you will now. It’s an addiction to rival the digiscrap addiction, trust me.

What is Pinterest and what does it have to do with Photography?

Pinterest is a neat little site where you can collect and organize things you find on the web. With a twist.

Ever save a layout or preview then come back to look at it weeks or months later and think, “what the heck did I like about THAT?”

Me too.

But Pinterest lets you save the image “pinned” to a digital bulletin board, AND it lets you write yourself a little note about it!

You set up Boards – name them whatever you want. (See mine here.)Then download the bookmarklet and put it in your bookmarks bar. When you’re out and about on the internet and come across something you love, click the bookmarklet, and add your notes, tell it what board to go to and ta-da, you’re pinned!

The BEST part is when you go back to look at them. Not only do you have your notes to yourself (“LOVE the color scheme on this!”), if you click on the picture it takes you to the original web page! No more wondering “WHERE did I find this?”

THEN, you share! You can follow people (follow me here) and when you start up Pinterest you’ll see a wall of images (Pins) that the people you are following have pinned. Think of it like your facebook news feed, but in images. But you aren’t limited to the people you are following! There’s a pull-down menu of topics at the top of the page so you can see pins done by people you’ve never met. If you like what they’re pinning, follow them!

What does this have to do with photography? Two things:

1. The visual format of Pinterest is a great way to collect photos and links to tutorials that inspire you. And nothing gets the creative juices going by looking at great images. In any art a great way to improve your skills is to attempt to recreate work by other artists. You learn a lot, and develop your own style in the process.
2. The social part of Pinterest will broaden your horizons. Find people who are pinning good stuff and follow them. They’ll take you to websites and tutorials that you’d never have found on your own!

   Try this: Search by topic by typing terms into the search box. Want to take better portraits? Type “portraits” into the search box. Want tutorials? Type Photoshop Tutorials in the box. When you get results at the top of the page you’ll be able to choose Pins, Boards, or People with your search terms in them. Don’t forget to check all three!

How do you get started?
You need an invitation. Leave a comment on this post and I will send you one, or if you don’t want to wait for me, go to Pinterest and request one. I got my invite within a day or so, yours may come even sooner!

Want to follow me on Pinterest?

If you follow me, I’ll follow you!

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