Group: Northampton Photography Group

Some of our members are new to Ipernity, and some are new to photo sharing sites in general, so I thought I'd give you some suggestions for using the site as a resource to improve your own photography and to connect with other photographers. If anyone needs help with any aspects of the site, feel free to contact me and I'll walk you through it.

1. Be sure to join the Northampton Photography Group!

2. Add the other members of NPG as your contacts (as either friend or acquaintance, it's up to you, but I suggest "Friend"). This way, thumbnails of their new uploads will appear on your News page.

3. Take some time to look at photos that have been uploaded by your fellow NPG members, both their assignment submissions and images in their photostreams that they may not have added to the group pool. You'll get to know each other this way, and may find that another member enjoys the same type of subjects you do (landscape, abstract, portrait, action, etc.) or uses the same camera as you.

4. Leave comments for people, telling them what you like about an image or asking a question about a technique. If someone leaves a comment on your photos, try to respond if it's appropriate and you're comfortable doing so. We can learn an enormous amount from each other if we engage in conversation.

5. Explore other groups. There are hundreds of groups that you can join and add photos to. Look for groups that interest you -- by location, camera type, technique, theme, etc. This is a great way to "meet" other Ipernity users beyond NPG, and the best way to have your work seen by a broader audience. If you like someone's work, add them as a contact. This isn't the same magnitude as friending someone on Facebook -- contacts are just people whose work you like and want to see more of.

6. Make a routine of logging in regularly. The top and left navigation bars will help you move around in the site. For example, my routine is first to click on News (next to You! on the top nav bar). I then quickly go down each item in the left "In a flash" nav bar -- Your space (where you'll see new comments that other people have left you), Following your comments (replies to a comment you left on someone else's photo), Your contacts (new photos from people you've added as family, friend or acquaintance), and Your groups (new photos or discussions in any group you've joined).

7. There are a lot of other features that you might want to explore -- albums, articles (a place for you to write blog posts), maps, etc. -- but I'll leave it to you to work out to what degree you want to use those things.