Sharing Photos Online
3. Pick a Site
By now, you should have a rough idea of the type of site you want to start with. Now you need to narrow down the thousands of options to a specific site. Below are two tables comparing a few sites in each of the main solution types. (Note: These sites are fiercely competitive so the information here, while accurate at the time of publication, is likely to change and should only be used as a guide for comparison purposes.)This table compares how well some specific sites support various uses.
| Option | Photo Album | Double prints | Slide show | Art Show | Gallery | Illustration | Hobbyist |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Photo Printing |
|||||||
| Costco | X | X | X | X | |||
| Snapfish | X | X | X | X | |||
| Walgreens | X | X | X | ||||
| WinkFlash | X | X | X | X | X | X | |
| Photo Sharing | |||||||
| dotPhoto | X | X | X | X | X | ||
| Photagious | X | X | X | X | X | ||
| PhotoBucket | X | X | X | X | X | ||
| SmugMug | X | X | X | X | X | X | |
| Photo Community | |||||||
| Flickr | X | X | X | X | X | ||
| pBase | X | X | X | X | X | ||
| Photosig | X | ||||||
| Blog | |||||||
| .Mac | X | X | X | X | X | X | |
| Fotolog | X | X | |||||
| Picasa/ Blogger | X | X | X | X | X | X | |
| Social Networking | |||||||
| Buzznet | X | X | X | X | X | ||
| X | X | X | |||||
| MySpace | X | X | X | X | |||
| Website | |||||||
| Menalto Gallery | X | X | X | X | X | X | |
| WordPress.com | X | X | X | ||||
This second table includes comparison of a few key features and restrictions as well as cost. For setup complexity and upload effort keep in mind that similar services will vary greatly. There will also be specific restrictions not covered here, so read their terms and rates carefully before committing.
| Option | Cost | Setup | Uploading | Storage | Upload Limit | Comments | Privacy controls |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Photo Printing |
|||||||
| Costco | Free+ |
Easy | Easy | unlimited | unlimited | X | |
| Snapfish | Free+ | Easy | Easy | unlimited | unlimited | private only | |
| Walgreens | Free+ | Easy | Easy | unlimited | unlimited | X | X |
| WinkFlash | Free | Easy | Easy | unlimited | unlimited | X | X |
| Photo Sharing | |||||||
| dotPhoto | Free* | Easy | Easy | unclear | unclear | X | X |
| Photagious | $47.40/yr | Easy | Easy | unlimited | unlimited | X | X |
| PhotoBucket | Free* | Easy | Easy | 1gb | 25gb/mo | X | |
| SmugMug | $39.95/yr* | Easy | Easy | unlimited | unlimited | X | X |
| Photo Community | |||||||
| Flickr | Free* | Medium | Medium | 200pics | 100mb/mo | X | X |
| pBase | $23/yr* | Medium | Medium | 500mb | unlimited | X | |
| Photosig | Free* | Easy | Medium | unlimited | 1pic/72hrs | X | |
| Blog | |||||||
| .Mac^ | $99/yr* | Medium | Medium | 10 gb | 200gb/mo | X | X |
| Fotolog | Free* | Easy | Easy | 1 picture | 1pic/day | X | |
| Picasa/ Blogger | Free | Easy | Easy | 1 gb | unlimited | X | X |
| Social Networking | |||||||
| Buzznet | Free* | Easy | Easy | unlimited | 300pics/mo | X | X |
| Free | Easy | Easy | unlimited | unlimited | X | X | |
| MySpace | Free | Easy | Easy | unlimited | 5 mb/pic | X | X |
| Website | |||||||
| Menalto Gallery | Free | Complex | Medium | varies | varies | X | X |
| WordPress.com | Free* | Complex | Medium | 3gb | varies | X | X |
+ has periodic purchase requirement
^ Note: Apple is currently changing .Mac to MobileMe – some terms may change
Here are a few more things to keep in mind when picking a site. How easy or difficult will it be for people to access (do they need special logins, do images load slowly)? Will I ever lose my photos (what happens if my account does not stay active)? What happens if I exceed the maximum storage (will photos automatically be deleted or just disappear from view)? Can I control the quality of image available to strangers (but allow some people to print from high resolution)?
Summary
It should be really easy for us to look at the information we found about online photo sites and recommend WinkFlash to almost everyone- how can you beat a free, unlimited site that supports almost every use and offers almost every feature? And yet, we have very specific uses for our online photos, so instead we use a combination of Flickr and Menalto Gallery. And while there isn’t much risk in trying a free site out to see if you like it, it can be really disappointing to put hours and hours into arranging and captioning, only to decide the site doesn’t quite do what you would like. That’s why it just makes sense to put some thought into your needs before picking a method and site for putting your photos online.Resources
- Toptenreviews.com has two very useful reviews, one comparing the more common photo printing sites and another for photo sharing sites.
- Finding pricing for some of these sites was a real challenge. For some it’s in About Us, some bury it in a FAQ on the Help page, and others put it right into those unreadable service agreements. The .Mac service pricing was quite tricky to find. Flickr pricing details are also quite deeply buried in the FAQ which you can’t even reach from the homepage.
- PhotoLightning is a well liked software for managing photos and can be used like Picasa to post photos to Blogger and other sites.
- The DMOZ Open Directory Project has a relatively current list of dozens of photosharing sites if you still haven’t found one that suits you.
This article was written on Tuesday, July 1st, 2008 and is filed under Mastering Skills.
For more articles about: share photos (1), Photography (6), photo sharing sites (1)
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on July 28, 2008 at 12:13 am Jim Grau wrote:
Okay, then. I think Flickr meets my needs, but am a bit confused about my ability to upload photos as far as the number and the amount of GB’s I can use in any one month or time period. If I want to upload pics of all of my trips and then maybe scan hundreds of our family photos -starting way back in the 1800’s to the present- is this a good way to go? I can scan the old photos and group them by sides of the family (with captions of who they are.) Would this work with the “unlimited” feature of Flickr? I would refer family and close friends to the Flickr site that I now have. As I understand it, I could upload an unlimited amount pics in albums as I choose and just pay the annual fee. Am I right or am I off base? Is there a better way to go? Thanks!
on August 23, 2008 at 8:08 pm BeeZed wrote:
If you are already on Flickr and willing to pay the small annual fee, it looks like it would be the easiest solution for you. We have a friend who keeps one Flickr account just for old family albums exactly as you describe. You can keep unlimited sets (like albums) and have unlimited uploads and storage if you upgrade your account. Each set can have unlimited pictures within it as well.
you do that here: (Three months free at the moment)
Flickr upgrade
the sales pitch is here:
Flickr Benefits
All your current stuff will still be there. (Even old stuff that might have disappeared if you put too many pics in your free account will be there.)
And one more thing- if there are things you want only the family to see, you can set albums or images with their comments to private and send out guest passes so only family can see them without having to sign up at all.
Have fun setting them up!