What are photography communities?

Communities for photographers at all skill levels to share work, get critiques, and discuss gear and technique. Discord has dedicated communities for photo feedback and events, with Reddit and Facebook hosting large hobbyist communities for everything from street photography to wildlife and portraiture.

Where do most photography communities live?

Independent Platforms is the most common platform in this report (24% of 37 listings).

Are most of these communities free?

81% are free to join. The rest require payment, an application, or both.

How big is a typical photography community?

Among listings with public size data, the average is 4.3M members and the median is 33K. The median is usually the better signal for a typical group because a few large ones inflate the average.

What do these communities usually include?

Forum is the most common (68%). Others that show up often include live chat, online/offline events, and newsletter.

How does Hive Index collect this data?

Listings are submitted by community builders and researchers, reviewed for relevance, and updated with platform, feature, member, review, and traffic data where available.

Where can I see the full list?

The full directory is on Hive Index's Photography topic page, where you can filter by platform, size, features, and more.

Photography Communities Report: Stats, Platforms, Trends...

Executive Summary

We analyzed 37 photography communities listed on Hive Index to understand where people gather, what these groups offer, and which communities attract the most interest.

The big picture: photography communities are broad and fragmented, with many small groups and a few very large outliers.

Source: Hive Index community database · Updated periodically

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Communities: 37
Platforms: 10
Avg members: 4.3M
Median members: 33K

Where Photography Communities Are Hosted

Independent Platforms
9(24%)
Discord
6(16%)
Reddit
5(14%)
Skool
5(14%)
LinkedIn
4(11%)
WhatsApp
3(8%)
Facebook
2(5%)
Mighty Networks
1(3%)

Format mix

Forum / feed-based
17(46%)
Chat communities
9(24%)
Private membership
6(16%)
Other platforms
5(14%)

Forum / feed-based is most common (46%), but chat communities is also well represented (24%).

Independent Platforms leads, but Discord and Reddit also represent meaningful shares.

Audience Size & Access

Community size

Tiny
<20 members
0(0%)
Small
20-100 members
1(3%)
Medium
100-1,000 members
0(0%)
Large
1,000-10,000 members
10(27%)
Huge
10,000-100,000 members
11(30%)
Massive
100,000-1M members
6(16%)
Gigantic
1M+ members
5(14%)

4 communities have unknown member counts.

Free vs paid

The average is much higher than the median (4.3M vs 33K), which usually means a few large groups are pulling the average up.

How Photography Differs From Other Categories

Photography is more platform-diverse than typical Hive Index topics.

Metric	Photography	Hive Index average
Free to join	81%	84%
Median members	33K	25K
Average members	4.3M	668K
Paid or apply-to-join	19%	16%
Live chat	43%	41%
Discord share	16%	17%

Feature Mix

Common features appear in at least 15% of listings.

Common Features

Forum
68%
Live Chat
43%
Online/Offline Events
22%
Newsletter
19%
Paid Community
16%

Niche Features

Courses
8%
Member Perks
8%
Job Board
5%
Pairing
3%
Requires Application
3%

Forum appears on 68% of listings.

What Visitors Click

Outbound clicks / mo: 73

Platform supply vs. clicks

Platform	Communities	Share of communities	Outbound clicks	Share of clicks
Independent Platforms	9	24%	8	11%
Discord	6	16%	57	78%
Reddit	5	14%	2	3%
Skool	5	14%	2	3%
Mighty Networks	1	3%	4	5%

Share is calculated within this topic.

Discord gets 78% of clicks but only 16% of listings, so visitors click it more than you'd expect from supply alone.

Most-clicked formats

Chat communities
57(78%)
Forum / feed-based
10(14%)
Private membership
6(8%)

Most-clicked features

Live Chat
65(89%)
Online/Offline Events
33(45%)
Forum
22(30%)
Newsletter
11(15%)
Courses
6(8%)
Paid Community
6(8%)

Most-clicked size ranges

Huge
39(53%)
Large
26(36%)
Massive
4(5%)
Gigantic
4(5%)

Top-clicked listings

Photography & Filmmaking
29(40%)
Pure Imagination
12(16%)
Photography Lounge
8(11%)

Most clicks go to chat communities and forum / feed-based communities.

Trends

Founded year

2010

2020

2021

34 communities have no founding year on file.

Most listed groups were founded around 2010.

Community Quality & Ratings

Only 2 communities have ratings so far, so read this as a small sample.

4.5 average rating across 2 communities.

Rated examples

Methodology & FAQ

Methodology

This report uses communities in the Hive Index database tagged as Photography. We exclude removed or suppressed listings. Member counts, traffic, features, reviews, and ratings may vary by source and are updated periodically.

Updated periodically

FAQ

: Communities for photographers at all skill levels to share work, get critiques, and discuss gear and technique. Discord has dedicated communities for photo feedback and events, with Reddit and Facebook hosting large hobbyist communities for everything from street photography to wildlife and portraiture.
: Independent Platforms is the most common platform in this report (24% of 37 listings).
: 81% are free to join. The rest require payment, an application, or both.
: Among listings with public size data, the average is 4.3M members and the median is 33K. The median is usually the better signal for a typical group because a few large ones inflate the average.
: Forum is the most common (68%). Others that show up often include live chat, online/offline events, and newsletter.
: Listings are submitted by community builders and researchers, reviewed for relevance, and updated with platform, feature, member, review, and traffic data where available.
: The full directory is on Hive Index's Photography topic page, where you can filter by platform, size, features, and more.

Keep exploring

Browse

All Photography communities

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