Let’s face it, we all love to shoot in wonderful picturesque locations with perfect light and good looking subjects. Finding these perfect locations takes time, though, and unless you have the free time to drive around just looking for them, chances are you aren’t ever going to find them.
This is especially true if you are a traveling photographer, shooting weddings or other on location work, and you physically can’t do any location scouting in person unless you head out early specifically to location scout. But there is now a new service called Scoutt, and its aim is to help you location scout from the comfort of your own home, all while looking at brilliant imagery from other great photographers.
[REWIND: The Art of Location Scouting]
Scoutt, Location Scout From Your Living Room!
Scoutt is currently in beta, but the site itself and how to use it is pretty simple. You just log in, and you are shown ‘The Map’. You then zoom into the general area where you want to location scout, and you will see little yellow pins where other photographers have uploaded an image.
This allows you to get the lay of the land, and find top quality locations without ever having to leave your house. The weak link here though is that if no one in your area uses Scoutt (which is fairly likely at this point since it is so new) then there may not be any pins for you to check out.
Some of you are no doubt wondering why you should take the time to share your locations, and Scoutt has the perfect response to that: “Sharing is how this community will be successful. The chances of you shooting at the same unique spot over and over are slim at best. You are essentially trading your used, worn-out location for someone else’s used, worn-out location. “
Think of this like crowdsourcing your location scouting. You share when you find cool locations, and others share when they find cool locations, and in the end, there is a great database of awesome locations for everyone to take advantage of when shooting in a given area.
There is a catch; Scoutt is not a free service. Currently, there is a free 30 day trial (though you do have to select a billing plan and enter your CC information before being allowed access) which allows you to check the service out and kick the tires – so to speak.
My Experience with Scoutt So Far
I recently signed up for the 30-day trial and selected the $7/mo plan option (billed by the year). I have not been charged for my yearly billing yet, so I assume that will happen after my 30 trial is over.
**Update 10/15/15: Scoutt now offers a free membership with no trial period and no need to enter any credit card information!**
Unfortunately for me, with Scoutt being so new, I am the only photographer in my state to have uploaded any pins at this point. So it has not been the most useful for me as far as scouting locations. That said, with the service being so new, this was to be expected, and as more photographers sign up and begin to use the service, this will resolve itself.
While there are no photographers in my area, there are tons of pins in areas I plan to visit in the near future, so this has been really neat to be able to see the sort of locations available before ever going there.
You can also search for locations by photographer, so if you know someone who is constantly wowing you with their locations, you can follow them on Scoutt and get some ideas of where to go for some awesome locations.
But as I alluded to above, this whole concept doesn’t work if you only use the service to find locations for yourself. You also need to be uploading and sharing locations of your own for this to be successful and truly useful to yourself and others.
The process of uploading an image is simple enough. You just click on the pin icon, and then ‘drop’ the pin on the location where you shot the image. Then you select the image you want to upload, add some tags, say if a permit was required or not, and you are good to go.
Multiple people can upload images of a specific location too, so when you are looking for a location, you can see a variety of images if the location is popular. A really nice touch, and one that keeps the map from getting overcrowded.
Final Impressions on Scoutt
Overall, I see a lot of potential in this service. According to the website, there will be a mobile app coming soon, which will make uploading and sharing locations that much easier. But the biggest hurdle for the service, in my opinion, will be getting photographers to discover and use it consistently.
The service is useless if no one uploads images and locations, and right now, there are a lot of areas where no one has uploaded anything yet. I feel like the 30-day trial is a good way to bring people in, but making them select a plan and enter a credit card before getting access is a deterrent.
**Update 10/15/15: Scoutt now offers a free membership with no trial period and no need to enter any credit card information!**
Honestly, I feel like a ‘Freemium’ model would suit a service like this better – at least while it is getting started. You need to gain users and gain them fast. Any road blocks between a potential user and using the service is a bad idea.
That said, Scoutt is off to a great start in many locations, and I can see this going far. So head on over to Scoutt.com and check it out for yourself today!
**Update** Scoutt has reached out and offered up a special 6-month free trial to SLR Lounge readers. Simple sign up, and enter the coupon code slrlounge to get a 6-month trial, rather than the usual one month. **
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