Photoblogs
What is a photoblog? The word blog stands for weB-LOG, which is a personal journal posted online. A photoblog, therefore, is a personal journal that is full of pictures and perhaps text. The choice is up to you. Generally there is no charge for posting photoblogs.
How to Design a Photoblog
Because a blog is like a journal, photographers often add photos from day to day and month to month. Each posting becomes a journal entry, and old entries are saved and catalogued. A blog can usually be about anything you want, and there are often no rules other than restrictions on obscene material and libelous remarks. As with photo albums, you can make your blog public or private.
A photoblog gives you more choice than a photo album site and allows you to customize your template. You will have more control over the placement of your pictures on the blog, for example. You can add links to your favorite sites on each page, include a small biography, and more.
People often wonder why Internet-related names (such as blog) are so odd. The reason is simple. These names are preferred because they are unique, and unique terms can be easily found and identified by search engines. For example, go into Google and search for “photoblogs.” You will see that thousands of these photographic journals are listed.
Many photoblog photographers post their images full-size and then add some text. Blogs tend to continue down the screen, and a viewer often has to scroll down to see the bottom pictures. This happens because when a new blog entry is added, the previous entry slides down to make way for the new one.
When a blog page gets to be a certain size, the pages are archived according to month. Viewers can access these archives, but they won't be on the same page as the current entry. You can add thumbnails of past entries and recall previous photos as needed and as your photoblog grows.
A photoblog allows you to have more control and create a more personal look than an online album does — and at virtually no cost.
To customize a photoblog, you will need to have a basic knowledge of HTML so that you can link your thumbnails to your previous entries and perform other functions. Depending on availability, you may be able to pick a unique URL such as
To see examples of photoblogs go to: Photoblogs.org. You may like the look and feel of some blogs better than others. Notice which free service provides the blog you like best, and then sign up with the provider.
Photoblogs Versus Photo Albums
Photoblogs are usually put together more carefully than album sites. For example, the photographer usually does not put up every picture taken during a session but instead edits down the photos to show only the best ones.
A photoblog is a very good place for a budding photography artist to begin his Internet presence, because it will teach him the basic discipline of Web page creation and design. Later if he decides he wants to have a full Web site, he can move (known as “publish”) the photoblog over to his Web site and make it part of his own Web site. This means that the photoblog allows you to grow as your photographic and Web site skills improve.
