Refrakt delivers photography social media with some interesting differences…
… let’s take a look.
Why another social media for photographers?
Many photographers want a new approach to social media. They look for a quieter, more contemplative, gallery-like approach that enhances the experience of photography for photographers, collectors, galleries, and fans.
Photographers already have a variety of social media platforms to choose from. But many photographers increasingly find traditional social media dissatisfying. The drudgery of chasing likes, follower counts, and engagement (usually meaning hits, regardless of quality) leeches time away from creating, and degrades the joy of their photographic practice.
People want a new
social approach to photography
Enter apps like Refrakt and Foto that focus on the image, rather than dopamine-hit-driven engagement-by-numbers.
This new breed of photography-specific social media removes visible likes and corporate-owned algorithms that filter/censor what you see. Instead, they serve images chronologically, filtered by who you follow or not filtered at all. You can like images, but the images don’t display counters of likes publicly. Instead likes are private, between you and the photographer. Comments are public to encourage discussion. The priority is on quality engagement, not quantity.
I use and enjoy both Refrakt and Foto. In this article, I explain how Refrakt works and why I use it. I’ll explore Foto in another review.
What is Refrakt?
Their mission is simple:
Refrakt is an independent space to share your photography in a way that shows it best. No ads, alogorithms, or attention stealing.
It’s a more contemplative online space. You are encouraged to spend your time with intention, form new connections, and be inspired to get out and make photographs.
https://refrakt.app/about
Despite the domain name “refrakt.app”, Refrakt is a website, not an iOS or Android app. It functions perfectly on any device because it automatically adjusts how it appears based on whatever device you use and the size of your browser window.
Mobile browsers like Firefox, Chrome, and Edge allow you to save a link to your mobile device home screen, so the Refrakt icon looks like a mobile app on my phone, it just opens in a mobile browser rather than a stand-alone mobile app. I like that approach because I know the Refrakt team keep it always up to date, and I don’t have to update it via a mobile store.
Here’s how Refrakt looks on a mobile phone. There are two different view options, Compact and Comfy.
Notice that you can switch between three different types of feeds:
Posts: a chronological feed of posts, filtered either to just the photographers you follow, or everyone.
Series: you can combine your posts into series if you want to show them together, as opposed to spread out across the chronological feed. I like this option because it makes it easier to see a photographer’s work in a context they prefer.
Collectives: you can join other photographers with similar interests. This mini-community building is a great way to form friendships and networks.
Dark and light modes are available along with other settings:
Organise your uploads in the Refrakt Studio
Notice the Studio listing at the top of the configuration menu? That’s where you can edit text about your images before or after you publish them. When you upload, images stay unpublished until you publish them. You can restrict who sees them—everyone, just followers, or just yourself.
You upload images to your Studio individually or in bulk. If you’re creating a single post, you can publish immediately, but bulk posting always goes to your Studio.
Refrakt displays photos uncropped and high resolution
In common with other photography-focused socials, Refrakt doesn’t crop photos. Surprisingly, Refrakt recommends uploading large dimension JPG or PNG images with at least 2880 pixels on the longest edge. Of course, that results in multi-megabyte uploads (they limit uploads on free accounts to 15MB, and 50MB for Premium accounts). And that makes sense once you see that it ensures good quality display on all screen sizes, and enables zooming in to inspect image details without losing image quality. Collectors and other photographers will appreciate that ability to home in on image quality (sloppy Photoshopping will degrade or eliminate image value).
Image protection
Refrakt protects photographers’ work by preventing saving images directly from the browser. Image theft is a pernicious practice, unfortunately. By blocking direct saves from the browser, Refrakt eliminates one way to steal/repurpose artists’ hard work. (Yes, anyone can still screenshot, but screenshots will never approach the image quality and value of an original.) Most other photography sites and social media don’t protect photographers’ intellectual property, some even make it easy to right-click and save. Kudos to Refrakt for this small but essential detail.
Refrakt’s roadmap
Refrakt is continually improving. Check out their Changelog blog to keep up with changes and upcoming features. Some upcoming enhancements include categories, search/discovery improvements, updated series notifications, and location info added to posts’ metadata.
Premium plan
Refrakt is free to view and use. Even so, the Refrakt team want and need to monetize the platform. So they’ve announced a couple of premium plans.
The free offer is really generous and will probably suit just about any amateur photographer:
- unlimited posts
- 15MB uploads (as mentioned above)
- 30 posts per series
The very affordable “Premium” level offers:
- unlimited posts
- 50MB uploads
- 250 posts per series
- a “Premium” badge on your profile
- and additional monetisable options like subscriptions and store fronts on the roadmap
Then there’s a super premium (more expensive) Supporter option that includes all Premium features, plus early access to new features, occasional shout outs, and presumably other perks.
Conclusion
I really like Refrakt. It shows real thoughtfulness about how photographers can best show their work while also building communities. As a former (retired) IT person, I appreciate the design quality and robustness of the platform.
Refrakt is just getting started. We’ll see if it gathers enough momentum to remain viable. Right now, it offers the solid foundation of a virtual gallery, owned and run by photographers themselves.
I’m very impressed.
What do you think?
Please let me know if you have any questions or thoughts you want to share in the comments below.
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