It has been a long time coming but the newly redesigned Fstoppers.com has finally become a reality! The biggest change coming to the website is an active community run by YOU - our readers. Today marks the first public release of the new site design and hopefully you are as excited to become a part of this community as we are!
So what exactly is the Fstoppers Community? Back when Lee and I first came up with the idea of Fstoppers, we wanted to create a community of photographers, videographers, and creative professionals that both inspired and educated our readers. Little did we know that 4 years later, Fstoppers wouldn't just be a tiny little blip on the internet but instead, it would become one of the largest photography based websites in the world! Even though we have made it a priority to feature as many artists on here as possible, one thing was still missing: the active voice of our readers. Below are a few of the highlights being implemented in the new website launching in the next week.
Fstoppers Home Page
No one likes it when their favorite website completely changes the layout and makes it impossible to navigate. With the new Fstoppers home page, we wanted to keep the articles front and center just as they always have. You can still follow your favorite Fstoppers Writers, scroll through the week's news stories, and find the latest inspiring posts just as you always have. We even kept the rotating Top Stories banner so you can easily find the top trending posts on Fstoppers.com. With our new cloud servers, Fstoppers should load faster than ever and handle even more traffic at peak hours. Sorry Jean Claude Van Damm, no more kicks to the face!
The Fstopppers Store
Over the last 3 years, Lee and I have personally produced 4 full length digital tutorials that are for sale in the Fstoppers Store. These acclaimed tutorials from the likes of Peter Hurley and Mike Kelley have played a big part in allowing us to hire on our staff of FS writers as well as continue to push Fstoppers.com into the community it has become. It has been extremely rewarding hearing the success stories of photographers young and old as they venture into new fields such as wedding photography or headshot photography. With the new Fstoppers Store, we have vowed to continue tracking down the top photographers in their field and produce extended tutorials that everyone can benefit from.
The Fstoppers Community
The most exciting new feature of the Fstoppers redesign is by far the Fstoppers Community. For the first time, Fstoppers readers can register for an account and create their own portfolio directly on the site! Once a member of the community, you will be able to leave comments on articles, write messages on other photographers' portfolios, ask questions about specific images, and even network through our private messaging system.
If you are needing a dose of inspiration, you can browse the community photos by Most Popular, Newest, or Top Rated. If you love the work of a particular photographer, click their profile and follow them for updates to their portfolio. You can also build custom lists to group photos you find interesting and want to revisit.
Rate the Community Photos
When I first started posting my photographs online, I often found it tough to get a real gauge on how others perceived my work. With the new community rating system, you can browse images and give them a rating based on their aesthetic value. All voting is anonymous unless you vote a photograph 4 stars or higher. Voting trolls beware; if you rate an image completely opposite of the general community average, your karma score will be impacted negatively.
Building Karma
Speaking of Karma, everything you do on Fstoppers will result in your overall Karma Score. Some of the actions that affect Karma are commenting on articles, up and down voting other user's comments, rating community photos, building a portfolio, building lists, and just being overall active in the community.
Karma points will play a large role in future features of the site, and ranking high in Karma will place your portfolio in front of 100,000s of photographers both on the Community Page as well as directly on the Fstoppers.com home page! Karma points are extremely fluid so if you constantly troll users and images, remain inactive on the community, or do other negative actions, your overall score will diminish. Our hope is that the most active readers of Fstoppers will not only be recognized for their involvement in the community but will also get a boost in self promotion for their own personal work.
We have been working on the new Fstoppers website and Community for the last 12 months, and we are so excited to finally see this latest addition come to live. Our hope is you our readers will not simply be passive spectators but rather you will become active participants in this amazing photography community. The images and portfolios already on the community are simply amazing and I'm glad to finally be able to put a face and name with the unbelievable talent we have met over the last 4 years! Cheers and thanks for making this website and community the greatest personal achievement of my life!
![[Update] The Stolen Scream - One Year Later](https://cdn.fstoppers.com/styles/small-16-9/s3/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/fs-scream-year1.jpg)
Basically it's Facebook and 500px in to one
And there's nothing wrong with that :)
Agreed, an excuse to leave Facebook for a more professional social media sounds very appealing to me.
yep! I like the new fstoppers as well!
ya,,, sometimes change isn't as good as it seems...
The site is the exact same with an added community feature. I think you'll survive the transition :)
And sometimes it is. The new design is better, much better.
Honestly, I am very excited about this. Facebook has gotten very boring. I love the idea of a photography biased social media site. Kinda like just a few years ago. Does anyone remember Forums? this is basically it with a blog mixed in. I can't wait to see how this turns out.
John, I am excited to see how the new site will turn out too. So far, I'm liking all the photos that users have been uploading to the beta site. We want people to end up spending hours and hours on the site.
Facebook... are you kidding us? What a joke, you give up your soul for some server space. Fstoppers now becomes Sheeple with Cameras.
It's way cooler than Facebook. How much content gets lost on FB?
I believe he's trying to make a political point about facebook, albeit a tactless one. There are many of us who want nothing to do with FB. It would be appreciated if FB involvement isn't a requirement when the features leave beta.
Our community has nothing to do with Facebook. Unless you mean the beta test group; it will be live in a week or so.
I believe his Karma score just got much lower... =)
"Karma points..."
So everybody say only nice things..........or else.
That's entertainment!
Nah, you would have huge amounts of karma even with your snark comments. We hope you jump on board Black!
I already spend too much time on Fstoppers...joined the beta. Now I have no hope. But seriously, I love it. Exactly the kind of 500px should be but just quite isn't. So awesome.
It's a pretty ambitious and cool attempt. I think the karma scores are interesting. While it is always good to keep the trolls away I think the karma scores are going to create a bit of a circle-jerk of the same folks getting big hits and publicity. I'd like to see some real no-names showcase their work and how they did it even if it is grass-roots with crummy gear. I can relate more to those guys than some of the other folks showcased from time-to-time.
Well we do have the top rated images as well as karma, so the top commenters and most active profiles are not necessarily the highest ranked photos
Amen, Amen, Sounds really awesome. #happyface
I'll join the test group when I get home from work. I don't understand how people are knocking something they haven't even seen. The idea of being able to interact with other people on here is appealing. As it stands we can only interact as comments on articles about something that was chosen for us to see as readers. Interaction is how we all learn and I don't think there is anyone who knows everything.
Sooooo, this will be like fred miranda without all the snobby "pros". Karma points would suit FM well...
I believe the new site will be the shit. :D Excuse my French. :P
You deserve my most sincere congratulations. The new site will flow nicely. Thank you.
My first impression is that it's pretty slick. Good job!
Lee and Patrick you guys did a top job and I love your site.. I'm just reading on other peoples articles and looking at photos ATM till I get better lenes for better photos :) It was you 2 that got me excited in photography and slowly building up my gear :)
Nice work on creating a social hub instead of just a blog!
My first comment.
Guys, huge progress :) It will be the best photography website!
Congratulations on the new launch you guys, it's kicking!
Maybe I'm missing it, but how do you upload more than 10 photos?
10 images is the limit while we test the servers and analyze the costs. We hope to allow more than 10 down the road.
I'm excited for this redesign, I'm glad it happened! Having meaningful and proactive discussion on the topics often posted here will hopefully lead to cultivating more of a rapport with readers making better content in the future!
I like it! I have a few photog friends in my area, but now I feel like I can reach more like-minded photographer/filmmakers and discuss issues that we are all interested in. I hate all the anonymity on the internet. I feel it is a breeding ground for hate, this seems like a much more visuals-friendly community. Good job FS!
I love the redesign and new features. Hats off for Patrick, Lee and all the fstoppers contributors. You make the most interesting website in my internet life. thanks
A HUGE improvent to the original site!
Thanks, I agree....I'm finally really really happy with the design and functionality. This is just the beginning though; more to come soon!
Small remark to your new design: I couldn't go back and forth posts without being logged in. This might draw away new users.
How i can disable the Community Average voting for mine works (photos) .... i do not like if someone give me a mark ...so i think it will be nice if i can turn this one feature off.
Thanks
I am pumped up on this new update. Congrats to Fstoppers on this huge accomplishment.
Just stumbled across the site today, and love it.