Panoramic photograph of Danshui Martyr's Shrine, Taiwan. Seven photos went into making this panorama, shot handheld at noon and merged in Photoshop CS5. The original is almost 10 000 pixels in width

The talk of the web the past week or so has been the launch of Google+. Numerous reports, comments and blog posts have asked the question whether it will be a Facebook killer. Others have suggested that it may even lure some Flickr users across (well, the ones who haven’t already moved everything to 500px). Still others have cautioned that it may go the way of Google Wave and prove to be a failure, although based on what I’ve seen from my friends and contacts using Google+ that is unlikely. With Wave, almost from the beginning there were complaints that it didn’t make sense or didn’t function as it should but I’ve yet to hear or read any of the same about Plus.

So how can photographers get the most out of Google Plus?

In a lot of ways that is a very open-ended question because it largely depends on what every individual photographer requires or desires from it. It will also depend on what additional features Google add to the service in the coming weeks and months. There are a few things I’ve found so far that should prove beneficial to photographers, so keep reading to find out what they are.

Custom Google Plus Name

Google traditionally uses a long string of numbers to identify different users which is probably great if you’re a robot but not so easy to remember for those of us with a human mind and brain. The good news is that there is a way to get yourself a vanity URL similar to what you are used to with Twitter or Facebook. Google Plus Nick is the site you want so you can create your custom name. As I write this, almost 75000 people have done so. A couple of days ago when I created mine there were only 20000 users. You’re going to want to act quickly with this if you want to get your name of choice. Below you can see a screenshot of the page. My custom URL is gplus.to/craigferguson.

The Google Plus Nick page

Displaying Portfolios and Photos

One neat feature of the profile section is the ability to add 5 photos at the very top of the page. This gives you a great opportunity to display any of the following

• some portfolio images
• some of your latest work
• photos from an ongoing personal project
• tearsheets
• self portraits
• anything else you desire

Google’s photo sharing service, Picasa, is about to undergo a name change as it gets fully integrated under the Google branding banner. For users of Google +, you basically have unlimited free storage. Picasa already offers 1GB of free storage and for Google + users who upload through the service, photographers up to 2048 x 2048 pixels and videos under 15 minutes will not count toward the free storage limit. Even better, if you upload photos through Google+ that are too big, they will automatically be resized to keep you under the limit. For web use photos, this basically means endless free photo storage.

I had already decided that I wouldn’t be renewing my Flickr account when it comes time to pay again as 500px offers a much better photo sharing service for work I want to display but one issue I had was what to do with my photos already on Flickr, and also where would I place photos that are uploaded for forum use or behind the scenes. The answer to this is looking more and more like Google Photos / Picasa. I used a service called Migratr to import all of my Flickr sets and photos into Picasa. It’s easy to set up and can run in the background.

One of the first things I did on Google+ was start uploading some of my portfolios. I created albums for new recently revamped travel and culture portfolios and uploaded web-sized galleries for them. I also included links to them on my website with the bio section of my Google+ profile.

My Google Plus profile page.

Circles

One of the best ways to organize Google+ is through circles. You can add different people to different circles – and multiple circles – and filter the stream so that you only see posts from a particular circle. I have set circles for photography which gives me a wonderful stream of photos from photographers all over the world, another for personal friends, one for professional contacts (photo editors and buyers) and so forth. You can manage them however you like in a way that gives you the most flexibility and provides the best ease of use.

Terms of Service – UPDATE

There’s been a lot of talk both online as a result of a couple of blog posts at other sites and in the comments here regarding the terms of service. I briefly answered one comment here about it but by far the best article dealing with it is this one by travel, landscape and humanitarian photographer Colby Brown. His post titled Google+, Social Marketing and the Changing Photo Industry addresses the concerns about the TOS and I’d suggest you read it if you want a good understanding of what it means.

Invitations

Google+ is so far open by invite only. The phenomenal initial response to it caused them to stop accepting new users but they are slowly opening it up again (or so I’ve read). In any case, I have a number of invites that I can share with readers. If invites are not open at the time, I’ll send you them as soon as Google allows me to. To get one you must do a couple of things. Invites will only be sent to the people who follow each step listed below. Comment moderation is on so don’t despair if you don’t immediately see your comment. If you want an invite this is what you must do.

1. Leave a comment mentioning why you want to join Google+
2. Include a link to your online photography portfolio. This must be from your own website or blog and not a Flickr, Facebook or other photo sharing site album. I’m offering these invites to the photography community only.
3. You must include your email address in the comment id form. It won’t be displayed publicly but it’s needed if you want me to invite you.

Comments that don’t follow the instructions above will not be in the running to receive invites.