ViewBugReviews 249

This site is a great way to connect with others passionate about photography. However, it's main goal is "traffic". The more people interact with the site the better. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that.

I've chosen not to make any monthly payments for the "PRO" or "Premium" status as those will get you to enter every contest instead of a few dozen. If you treat the site as another branch into a community of people that LOVE photography it is 5 stars. It's very addicting an satisfying to get feedback and give feedback.

If you treat the site as a way to further your photography business and exposure you will have to work very hard at building a base of fans to get your photos up to the top tier awards and possibly winning. Every contest will have 10's of 1,000's of entries and members are allowed to repost their best shots over and over for each new contest. Contests are the way to lure people in as a source of income. As long as you don't fall prey to ego on your photography skills thinking you have a chance of winning you'll have much more meaningful interactions in creating your own contests and connecting with others.

I don't plan to spend a dime on Viewbug memberships and have been enjoying the site despite that decision.

There are a lot of photo contests to chose from even for free members and some of the prizes are pretty cool. I have a friend who is an amazing photographer and he won a Canon camera body last month so he was very happy about it. I'm not a profassional photographer but I'm also not in this community to win prizes really. I enjoy sharing my photos with the community and am getting a lot of constructive feedback from my followers. As a result, I've learned a lot since I've joined to viewbug. The website is user-friendly and very helpful for amateur photographers like myself.

Having been a freelance photographer for over 3 decades and experiencing a lot, this is just another website where one can post snaps. The flurry of badges, contests and activities don't yield much at the non-paying level, so if you are interested in spending hundreds of dollars/year in hopes of winning a speed light, then have at it. My time is worth more than that. Also, one cannot enter 90% of the contests void of having a paid membership, which is messed up.

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.

Started off very good with all the hype of badges, peer awards etc, but the main aim was to enter and get somewhere in some of these competitions. I managed to get to the final bit but never quite enough to get the top 50, I worked out that you need a lot of mates to get your shot up there and your photo is never judged by the judges unless your right up there, I know this because if a judge can view ******* entries in a day or 2 then you know they are not looking at them all. I approve of fairness in the spirit of a competition, and be judged on your effort, its no good paying for membership if you are not in a fair competition in the first place, got fed up with it after a while after making a lot of effort in all aspects and getting no where, I have had huge success with the same photos in other competitions in a "judge"vote and direct comps, so i know my photos are of some quality. Will not be renewing because there is no feed back from judges, and when asked to be a curator and help others, well last time i looked i paid YOU a membership not you pay me to run your own site, sorry chaps, great site if you want to play at it, but for those who wish to see rewards for effort, more work needed.

Update: I have since been contacted by View bug, fair play to the people who are customer service, however i stand by the fact, as a pro membership, its a lot of money to spend when you dont know if your shot has hit the judges table, Its a shame when someone enters a photo and its a really good technical shot, lots of effort but they know so few people who do not benefit from tactical voting, so their shot never makes above the top 10%, which if the judges reviewed ALL shots entered this would not matter, but i am sure they dont. Great site for those that like to FB in photo land and network, but for those wishing to progress in the comp not quite there yet.

Viewbug is an amazing site and user-friendly; you can import your photos from Facebook, Instagram, and Flickr easily. I was wondering if they'd have an app soon and was told by their customer service rep that the app is coming out this year which will be very convenient for us all. I can't wait. Oh, their customer service was very responsive and polite btw. Great place to meet others and discuss photography. I've been a member for over 8 months now and love it!

With all the reviews stating that this website is untrue and biased towards certain members it raises a huge amount of doubt in my mind. I have been a member of this website for 2 weeks now and it seems that their only goal for me is to buy a membership spend more than $100. I have submitted photos and it seems like fun but I cannot find anyone that has actually won a prize from this website. There are many red flags telling me that this website is misleading and untrustworthy. People are going out of their way to inform fellow photographers that this website is a TRAP. After reading all the reviews, finding a Facebook page dedicated to informing people that this website is a scam, and reading countless reviews about this website deceiving people and not replying to them via email, it is safe to say that this website is not worth its while and I would highly recommend a cautious approach to it. I would not share my images with this website and I will no longer be a part of this website. It is more likely a SCAM than not.

I was a member of Viewbug for some time and it's a great place to see some awesome photos. The prizes for competitions are very good as well and I can see how people are enticed to enter. But if you view the entries, 99% of them are ultra-professional - staged, magazine-like entries from stock catalogues etc which are unlikely to be beaten by a photo that an average member would post. It has put me and many friends off entering as these photos always win.
The judging is also flawed, same winners and same type of photos. Very false and not a true reflection of the average audience who enter photo competitions. Good if you want to look at nice photos from a stock website/catalogue though!

While there are other photography sharing sites, I dont think any of them have quite got the feel of ViewBug. If you haven't visited yet, go take a look - even if you aren't a photographer yourself, there's so much great quality work to see here.

I have been on for almost a year, have about 187,00o points from all the "badges" you earn, I maintained top 10% of all the photographers for the year. My biggest complaint is the winners of the contests, whoever reviews the work is asleep at the wheel. I have been a commercial photographer for 40+ years and made a great living at it so I know good images when I see them and they seem to always pick the images that are over processed or soft and out of focus. I will be leaving soon.

Viewbug is an amazing site and it's free to join for photographers at any level. I've recently created an account and am still learning something new everyday. I personally love joining Contests and chatting with people in the community about photography. Everyone is very helpful and I've received a couple constructive feedback from some members already, plus I was just told by one of the members that I can create my own challenges You have the option to link your Facebook and Twitter accounts with your Viewbug account and share your photos with your friends and family. The site is very well designed and easy to navigate round as a user or a visitor.

They will not stop sending you emails even when you ask them to! I was told to vote on friends photo for a contest and now they won't leave me alone! I have asked them to unsubscribe me so many times! They never do! I get two three emails a day I don't won't nothing to do with them! They won't stop! So please don't give them your email or you will regret it if you do! No phone number to call them! Just email which I have sent many maybe it will get through to them! Don't make the same mistake I did unless you want them to bug you!

I've been a member for about 2 years now and thought it was time to write a good review to show my appreciation for all the hard work that ViewBug do.

I upgraded my account to Pro shortly after I joined the site to get the additional perks and I'm now addicted to it. ViewBug keeps coming up with new cool stuff and it never gets old. I enjoy teaching to other photographers and learning from them. I won a free Pro membership from one of the contests last year and hoping to win a bigger prize next time. I'm also in touch with a couple of winners who received their prizes and have been on the site for a while. I've learned a lot from the contests within this last 2 years and have tried different subjects and techniques since then. I highly recommend ViewBug.com if you love sharing your photos and meet fellow photographers.

I joined, but thankfully only the free version. I thought the contests were a great idea, until I noticed the same images placing high time after time, many of them winning contests. There is obviously no filter on resubmitting images that have won a contest, which for me is disappointing. It brings the contests down to the point where the winning pool can keep winning, and new images don't have a great chance to win. Like other reviewers here have said, there are also no filters on the kinds of images making it into contests. I thought about getting a paid membership, but I think I am going to pass as I can always join a club to get feedback if I want it.