Online Photo sharing.....

[Gdog]

OK, so Yahoo Photo is closing, moving to Flickr. What is everybody's opinion on their favorite photo sharing site...such as Flickr, Shutterfly, Photobucket, ect.....Need to find one to upload my pics to, one that is good for its ease of sharing on the web...
Thanks!

 

[maynard.hogg]

I've been using Flickr for two years this week.
Its non-linear approach is NOT for those looking to publish just personal albums, however.

And, people (http://flickr.com/photos/47454800@N00/303847120/) can rip off my photos (http://www.flickr.com/photos/maynard/36782512/) with impunity. I, of course, reported the violation of the Terms and Conditions in effect when I signed up, but that was just before Yahoo, bought Flickr and moved it south.

As of this month, Flickr does not entertain copyright complaints by e-mail. One has to snail-mail reams of documentation to some address in California.

 

[Gdog]

Wow....ok....sounds like Flickr is not where I want to go....Any input on any of the other sites?

 

[billwil]

Flickr has some other drawbacks as well, including the requirement in the terms and conditions that if you use even your own photo posted on another site (maybe in your blog, or even on scubaboard), you MUST make it link back to flickr. IMHO, this is a deal breaker for me...I mean, c'mon...these are my photos. I'm a subscriber to Flickr...but mostly because I subscribe to several sites because I like to really put them through their paces. On the plus side, Flickr has a great API if you are a programmer or want to use 3rd party tools to manage your flickr hosted pics. Also, flickr is really community oriented.

Right now, I would have to say my personal favorite is smugmug (http://smugmug.com). It is a little more pricey than most, and there is no free version (there is a free trial...but it expires), which is fine IMO...if you want a good hoster, pay for it...I'm okay with that. I like smugmug because it is full featured, you can do what you want with your pics, it looks nice and is functional (it makes use a a lot of AJAX---so does flickr BTW---to make working with your photos more seamless and less "web-like"). Finally, smugmug also has a great API for customization. In my mind...it pretty much has it all. It is somewhat less community oriented than some of the others...but to me, that is a plus. I just want a nice place to host my photos.

I also use fotki quite a bit (http://fotki.com). It is a solid service, and I think a very good value. It's drawbacks are that it is not as technologically advanced as smugmug or flickr (i.e. less use of AJAX, no API at all, less support for high end metadata standards like IPTC, etc.). It is also less customizable for look and feel than smugmug, but more so than flickr. fotki also has some really good deals on printing services if you care about that.

Well...those are probably my top three...and some of my opinions. These are also the three that I am currently paying for service. I've tried others in the past...but as I just said...I'm not paying for them anymore...that's gotta tell you my opinion.

Anyway...most have trials and/or free limited accounts...so my suggestion is to narrow it down, and try a couple...see what works for you.

Good luck.

Bill~

 

[DesertEagle]

I use Pbase. The graphics are much easier for my friends to navigate. The site costs $20 per year for 400+ MB. You can totally customize how each page looks.

My Pbase page is www.pbase.com/krancer

Flickr has some cool technology, but I don't care for the graphical layout. I'm not a big fan of square thumbnails, either.

 

[PermanentlyNarced]

My work computer filters out Photobucket pics and will not display them. That might be a consideration if you are wanting to share photos with others.

 

[CUunderH2O]

I've been using Smugmug for two years and have no complaints. Unlimited storage works for me. The only drawback is their latest version added more javascript so some of my friends can't view my photos at their office anymore.

 

[alcina]

I used Photobucket because I couldn't get Flickr to work and just heard so many frustrations from others using it. Photobucket worked the first time and has always worked.

I don't know about it filtering out images - I haven't had anyone I've tried to share images with tell me that is happening, so it doesn't seem to impact me.

It's easy, free and easy

Haven't tried the others so can't offer any comparisons...

You know you can also use ScubaBoard for your gallery? In fact, you can make separate galleries for different things here. SBs gallery is pretty easy and also makes it easy to paste images into forum posts (not just SB, either).

 

[maynard.hogg]

including the requirement in the terms and conditions that if you use even your own photo posted on another site (maybe in your blog, or even on scubaboard), you MUST make it link back to flickr. IMHO, this is a deal breaker for me...

Here I thought that tracebacks were standard operating procedure in the blog universe.

 

[billwil]

Here I thought that tracebacks were standard operating procedure in the blog universe.

Uhm, huh? This has nothing to do with tracebacks. This isn't content that I'm referencing from someone else that prescribes a traceback. This is a reference to a place that I am storing my own images, for a fee, that I might want to link to something else. We are talking about my content...not someone else's, and the point here is that the other "for fee" image tanks that I use do NOT have this limitation...thus the comparison in this thread.

This reminds me of an "Academy Awards" moment everytime I post an image anywhere on the net. "And I'd like to thank all of the organizations that I've paid to help me make and present this image...and provide links to their websites. First, I'd like to thank Canon for the camera, and for the lens that I used. I'd like to thank Kingston for the CF card, and Ikelite for the housing and strobe. I can't forget Flickr for hosting the image for me, and Adobe for..." You get the picture.