Sharing Your Photos (On The Web)

Reader asks for recommendations on photo sharing websites

Q: Can you tell me where is the best place for me to post my photography? I want the images to be available in high quality, and I want to be able to choose who can see them and who can’t. Thank you. ~ R.M.

A: R.M.,
Online photo sharing is a great way to keep far-off family and friends up-to-date with your latest adventures. (And it avoids the headaches of trying to send images by email!)

I am going to have to say that, in all likelihood, the answer to which of the dozens and dozens (and dozens) of photo-sharing websites (services, really) will be “best” for you will be subjective — my “best” may not be your “best” and visa versa — and you may have to experiment with several before settling on your final choice.

You say you want to post “high-quality” images: generally, that means large file sizes; and so, you may probably want to consider the amount of storage the service offers.. and/or consider (at some point) paying for a “premium membership” (which gives you more space).

As far as I know (photo sharing with friends and family is not something I personally do) all the sites allow you to qualify who has permissions to see the image (or “album” or “gallery” of images).

If you already have a Yahoo! account, you’re already halfway to accessing the Internet’s most popular photo sharing site — Flickr (where folks who have made their images viewable and usable by everyone have been the source of many of my Sunday Beauty images).
Flickr claims to be the best site (but.. they all do). It is free, (for a certain number of uploads per month) as well as offering “premium”.

If you already have a Google account, you might first try Picasa.

Those are the two “big players”. But also worth looking at are:

• Shutterfly
• Photobucket
• SmugMug
• And Kodak’s Gallery

Since I haven’t really narrowed things down for you (sorry), I am going to give you a link to a reputable “comparison & review”, which may help:

“The last couple of years have seen an explosion in the number of these photo-sharing and photo-printing sites, which means that print prices have dropped, and the range of services offered has expanded. Whether you have a handful of vacation shots or you’re a serious photographer with a big image archive, there are plenty of sites that can make printing and sharing a pleasure. We tried out more than 40 of them to give you a snapshot of your options.“

	Online photo sharing for snapshot photographers
	Online photo sharing for enthusiasts and pros

Perhaps readers who use such services will chime in with their experiences/recommendation (please?), and so you may want to check back here in a little while…

Copyright 2007-2011 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.

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