ViewBug

At first I really liked the page its an amazing place to get inspiration and see photos from all around the globe. So many talented photographers to learn from and get in contact with there. I used to be a paying pro member but one thing bugged me to the point where I just had enough and stopped enjoying it. When i discovered that multiple times photos kept showing up over and over under one contest so you could vote for the same photo over and over under the voting time and when I reached out to view bug about it they said NO thats not possible the system makes it that the photo will only show up one time, so i made shore to check the photos and ad the likes to them to see if i was wrong and NO it was the same photo taken by the same photographer and the same profile it hapend so many times that I just saied nope if viewbug dont even want to check in to the fact that there system have a problem or even say hey that should not happen lets see what glitch we might have and fix it instead of nope thats not possible then why should I pay for a membership so I closed my account and have not been back even do I miss looking at all the photos it was a fun site I just refuse to be a part of something that just want to take your money and not correct something that is clearly wrong. Would I recommend the site maby to get inspiration thats it BUT NEVER becoming a paying member dont waste you money

I definitely have new favorite photography website, they are so user friendly and offer so much. They even offer help to you to showcase your photos.

Love all aspects the contests, challenges, the voters, all are worth every minute, love voting and welcoming new viewbug participants

The interactive nature of the contests is so engaging. It is more than just a competition. It is a way to connect and grow.

I have put much effort into my gallery and some challenges, community interaction and, guess what my photos. Been a paying member for 7 years.

First of all, they lure you into making points... even promising you a 'swag' after 500.000 points. I can assure you if you dreamt of an Aussie swag, there isn't even one for your beer tinnie coming up. Nothing. It's a lie.

There was a good forum where you could tell them about flaws, quirks and (View)bugs. Not anymore, it has been cancelled.
Challenges used to get a meaningful description. Not anymore.

Contests should differentiate between photos and digital artwork. Nope, a photo contest is won by a clearly fake, composite image.
In the middle of the pandemic, they do contests like 'haute couture' fashion in the city or Wedding moments which must have recent photos! That really tops it, weddings being limited to 4 guests and no reception.

Why not do a contest like 'health service at work? Heroes of the pandemic, enjoying at a distance, keeping safe, making the best of it. Might be more appropriate.

Which gets me to prizes. Win a podcast interview? The ' possibility' to get your photo published? Are you kidding? Why not donate a computer to poor kids who need to follow courses online if you don't want to give anything to the photographer?
Another good one
Get Your Photos Exhibited
As part of our mission to empower photographers Worldwide, we are running the first-ever ViewBug Virtual Exhibition Project with the goal to showcase unique images and feature the best creators of the community.

Now how is this a 1000 bucks prize value?

I wish I never had put all the effort in it.

Last but not least.
Now they want a GeoTag OK. Fair enough you should think...
Now WHY does San Carlos de Rio San Juan (Nicaragua) create a common tag with all the San Carlos in the world? Why does a very well know landmark in Australia not come up in the search abnd you have to use a town 200 kms away?
Why bother, let's use coordinates as in 9.45 N 91.23 W as in google.

Easy to use - this site is a great place to share photos and is relativley user friendly. It also has contest and cash prizes.

I'be been a member about a year and like any site, it has its good points and bad points. People are friendly and I've found customer service response time to be excellent - usually within a couple hours. There's a variety of contests always going on and they've just started having more and more professional photographers as impartial judges.

As far as the contests go, the worst part is the member judged contests. He who has the most friends wins, regardless of what the pic looks like. One reviewer talked about the points system and how it was spam just to rack up points. To be fair, I recall that reviewer being atop the monthly and weekly points board the whole time they were there. They also had a mega load of groups they created, most of which were redundant. And you earn points for that so yet more easy points for that reviewer and quite hypocritical IMO. I can understand why they changed that rule.

This site is for all types of photographers. I believe if you're truly a professional, you wouldnt be wasting your time at photo sites anyway. I believe the site is more known for the contests and not for selling. There are plenty of other sites for that. I find it's easy to upload and consolidate my pics into albums. The site is easy to maneuver thru. I do not like that they allow minors and have highly sexual adult contests and pics without being able to verify a persons age (like requiring a credit card or driver's license at sign up).

All in all, I've been happy with it. You'll always find someone that doesn't like a particular site and sometimes it's just sour grapes. The only way to know is to try it for yourself.

The prizes aren't just cool. They are amazing! It feels so rewarding to be recognized for your hard work.

Viewbug has opened doors to endless creativity. The contests and community support have fueled my passion like never before.

Still sending me spam emails even after unsubscribing, which I believe is in breach of Anti-spam laws.

I love the site its a great opportunity to get my shots out for others to see, but... I am becoming a little discouraged about the competitions. It raises a red flag when the last 3 contest (perhaps more) were won by people who have joined JUST BEFORE a contest submission period ends... if you go back and review several recent contest, you will find this is becoming the norm and these "activities" seem quite questionable.
Case in point:
>> Winter Photo Contest - The latest winners' "portfolio" consist of 2 shots, which just happened to be the maximum # of shots for the contest; they won 1st place (a BX2 Backpack plus a BX2 Holster) (new member)
>> Thunder Photo Contest - 12 photos in winners portfolio (new member)
>> Natural World Photo Contest - - 15 photos in winners portfolio (new member)
>> Joy photo Contest - 2 photos in winners portfolio (new member)

Now don't get me wrong, the "winning" photos are great shots... and I've placed a few "Judges Favorite", "Featured Shots", and even a few "Featured Store". 8 "Awards" in all... just enough to keep me enticed...

As others have mentioned, the sight really lacks proper critiques from peers and seems to be post/point driven. It (the site) also lacks the meta data to "see" how the shot was taken and/or what software was used to edit the shot. There are also still "bugs" with the site that will place images in the wrong category. I don't know how when or why it happens but I've had on several occasions shots where I went in to edit the title or description and found B&W in color category. Landscapes (Nature) in animal category etc...

Bottom Line: I will continue to use the site perhaps past my subscription... but will continue to keep watch over the powers that be... the "contest" prizes are variable from inexpensive 120mm Holga cameras, gorrilla pod tripods. Or the likes to several $1000 prizes. You be the judge.

Thanks Viewbug for your response.

Could you please give me some more feedback on the following.
As a paid member i can use more peer awards than a none paying member such as "magnificent capture". Could you advise what these are used for? They seam pointless as they do not effect any voting or gain you anything in regards to challenges of contests. If these are just to give a complement then why is it an upgrade when i could just say it in a comment on the photo as both have no effect on anything?
I am almost daily getting messages from other competitors saying "congratulations on becoming a curator". These as stated in my review we know are generated by viewbug and not written by anyone, this is solely so someone gains a badge for communicating. Its no better than dating sites using fake profiles of good looking people to send messages to new members to get them to pay. I have had a few real comments for others and find this really rewarding only to be diluted by the amount of fake ones.
As for being able to see how my photos are doing in a contest. First i could have 5 in each contest and would have to go into each photo one at a time to get any information, what i get is, Your doing great. Your photo is in the top 30% most voted!
Your photo placed ahead of 27,649 submissions. Witch really means i am somewhere around 11,849 th place if i bother doing the math. I don't see how may people have had the chance to vote or how many have voted for my photo. How could anyone see this as a transparent way of running any competition? And please remember this is not a free site like many others as to enter a lot of competitions you need to pay a fee.
If you could give more transparent information and site guideline it would help others make a more informed choice. Information as to what peer awards are for, the face that messages can be sent from viewbug with the click of a button from a curator not knowing what they will be sending or even having looked at your work. How and when dose a photo qualify for your hall of fame so it gets way more exposure than any other photographs on the site?
I feel all the above are reasonable to expect from a product i have paid for and should already be available to a paying or not paying member as to allow an informed choice. One that if i had to make again would currently be a none paying if at all member
Thanks

I just won a top 20 class week 1, i would like to understand what does that mean #beginner

So I'm a pro+ and first I thought that the site was fun, and enjoyed participating in contests and challenges... Then I started noticing how most of the contests where just full of pictures that did not fit the contest description, and how you could have fantastic pictures, spot on at the description be lower than someones shaky phonepics that barely fit in the description. So maybe the winner was handpicked but everything else is just random.

I tried to make my own challenge, and thought that that would be nice boost for getting noticed... well the issue is, you can't find the non-sponsored challenges anywhere! So even after marketing it on the forum (I'll get back to that soon) I just had 10 pictures submitted. So, even though I'm paying a silly high amount of money for "exposure and extras" I get nothing for it. Except for a "logo" that pretty much was my name in a circle... That's quite a expensive logo.

Then the forum, starting off, the forum was full of ideas, help and shoutouts about new challenges, and it was fun. Then the tones started changing, more and more negative comments about viewbug, and how people aren't getting what they've paid for, how customer service is non-existent and how unorganized the site has become. VB responded to these with shutting down the forum without notice, so now you have no possibility to actually connect with everyone else. So now we don't have the forum to connect, the challenges are impossible to get upped, contests winners/placements are randomized but mostly I feel discouraged by having the feeling that they made enough money to just let the site die. Even here you can see that they still tried to answer peoples comments, but not anymore. I recommend that if you are searcing for a photography contest site, go somewhere else, this site is taking its last breaths.

I am trying to delete my account... I CANT FIND HOW

AND WHY TO THEY TOOK THIS MONEY FROM MY PAYPAL?

$#*! IM SO PISSED!

I'm seeing a lot of reviews throwing the word "Scam" around. This is a little ridiculous. Even a cursory look at some of the profiles shows some extensive bio's and linked websites that easily prove there is nothing shady going on. The judges are real people with real websites too. If it's a scam, than it's a damn good one, and these people are going to WAY more trouble than it's worth. Are the people running the website trying to make a profit? Yes, they are. That's not a scam. That's called a business.

Now, some of the other complaints center around the award process. Should there be some kind of rule about submitting a winning photograph to other contests? Maybe--but keep in mind that ViewBug allows anyone to submit the same photos to as many contests as that person's subscription allows (whether it be PRO, Premium, etc.). So essentially the complaint is going something like this: "The best photo's are winning all the contests." Well... yes, they are. Shouldn't they? And this statement isn't coming from someone who has won anything. Are there times I think to myself, "Man, this just isn't fair--these people who are winning have such expensive equipment, and can go wherever they want to photograph the greatest scenes"? Sure. Welcome to the game of photography. The technology is much more accessible, but it's still a rich man's game.

All in all, you get out what you put in. If you're interested in networking, exposure, finding inspiration, and rubbing shoulders (so to speak) with people who are REALLY GOOD at what they do, you'll be really pleased with ViewBug. I've learned a lot just in a few short months, and I love using the topics of the contests as inspiration for my next shoot. It's a great way to get your creative juices flowing. Keep in mind that most photography contests will charge you per entry (or per every 3 photos or whatever), whereas if you pay for a a one year subscription to ViewBug for a PRO membership, you get unlimited access to every single contest they make available.

One of the other reviewers said, "There's no such thing as a free lunch". They are correct. If you come to ViewBug thinking you're going to submit a few decent photos and get showered with contest prizes and recognition, then move along, post those pictures on FB, and reap the rewards of those worthless "Likes" from your friends. If you're looking for opportunities to get exposure, network with other photographers, and get creative with a broad range of different topics of contests, ViewBug is well worth it.

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.

And even worse, it's like pulling teeth to contact anyone, STOP CHARGING MY CARD EVERY MONTH! This is just ridiculous!

I really don't think that many, if any, of the negative reviews can be relied on. As an example; we have some saying that photographs that win the competitions shouldn't even be entered as they are rubbish, while others say it's unfair because they are so good the ordinary person doesn't stand a chance. A bit contradictory if you ask me.
The people that have the biggest downer on ViewBug call themselves professionals, really! If you are all so great why are you considering such sites? I come to the conclusion that these people, some of whom claim to teach photography, are just worried about losing some business which in my mind isn't very professional, it's called competition. I've seen a lot of so called professional's work (outside of ViewBug) and it is appalling. How they actually earn a living is beyond me, yet their arrogance seems to know no bounds.
I joined ViewBug in March 2016 and have had great fun. It inspired me to pick up my photography after 30 years away from it. I'm not a great photographer, never was, but I have improved with the help of ViewBug. I've tried techniques that I wouldn't have dreamed was possible. As for the whingers that haven't won a contest, then your in ViewBug for the wrong reasons. Why not do as I do? I joined with the intention of getting inspiration and improving, entering competitions are an added bonus. I join challenges they don't offer prizes but they offer exactly what they are, a challenge. There is often a distinct lack of entries - in comparison to competitions offering a camera or lens - but the quality is still high. I assume this difference is down to lusting after a free camera or improving your hobby skills.
I see one person complaining that it's often down to who has mastered processing. Why not? What's the problem? Don't these people realise that it has always been that way? Winning a competition or producing excellent work was never down to 100% what happened in the camera, a lot was down to processing and manipulation in the darkroom.
As for an anti-ViewBug Facebook page! Well, what do you expect? Nearly everything has an anti Facebook page usually started by someone that is disgruntled about not getting a freebie. Waken up, Facebook is the biggest trap on the internet.
As for receiving "likes" within seconds of putting up a photo, I wondered about that, but the reason is obvious. You post a photo and it is immediately shown on your followers wall, they like it. It's really not that hard to work out. As for claiming you received "likes" up to a week or two prior to taking on your membership, I just don't believe it. How on earth could that be possible unless ViewBug has some sort of telepathic link to prospective members.
ViewBug is great if you join for the right reasons, keep it up ViewBug.
I'll finish with a request. I would like to second the suggestion of the other reviewer for a forum. A place where we can ask for help and give advice.
Bill

The people who run this site are totally clueless. They lure you in with the plethora of meaningless "rewards" - you get nothing for these alleged rewards. A Good portion of the photos posted are sub-amateurish although having said that there are some outstanding pros that habituate the site. Of course you get little unless you pay annual fees to use the site.

There are lots of issues with the software, too numerous to mention, but the one I dislike most is the ability to paste something that you cut from something that you wrote off-site that you might want to use as a photo description.

As an side, I am not a disgruntled user who never one any of their silly awards. As of this writing, I have "won" ******* of their alleged awards and have 5382 followers - IOW, my stuff was quite popular on the site.

I live in Florida and I am a nature photographer. This time of the year it is hot, humid, buggy and the creatures are in short supply, hence to amuse myself I started a Photoshop project of putting my dog in various scenes. For example, the photo attached shoes him as one of the lions at the New York City Library.

I got a note from the rocket scientists who run the site claiming that I was violating their rules - I guess the clowns have no sense of humor - they are too busy out there protecting illegal immigrants I guess. They indicated that after years of using the site, I must remove the offending photos. In that I have been disenchanted with them and their alleged support when I have had an issue and in that I have to pay a annual fee to perpetuate said disenchantment, I informed them that they simply could delete my account and the 5078 photos I had uploaded over the years. They were finally fast to comply with a request!

Interestingly, for a site for which you have to pay, if you ever lose the original of one of your photos and which to download another copy from your own portfolios on this ridiculous site, you are unable so to do. Conversely, on the photo site Flickr, which is a free site, one can download the any photo in its full size at any time and there is no cost so to do.

Oh and yes, on the free sites of 500PX, Pixoto, and Society6, where I have uploaded a fraction of those uploaded to ViewBug, I have sold many of my photos. The same ones were available on ViewBug, including many what have won major International photo contests, been published full page in major publications, and have even been displayed in the Louvre in Paris, and not a single one has sold in the years I have been there.

Bottom Line: The site is a total waste of your time and money - go elsewhere!

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

What are the cost and fees to a winning participant?

I am thinking someone on this review site has issues and cant stop complaining about things... hmmm