Best Website for uploading and sharing Images

Hi All,

Currently I am using 'imageshack.us' for uploading my images but when it comes to sharing them, it is very difficult because the pages donot load quickly. and always it gives error.


a friend of mine recomended me facebook.com but after having a look at it, it seem very complicated for the people I will BE sharing the pics with, they are not internet/pc savy.


Do you guys know of any great website? It would be better if the picture are protected from "Save pictures as" option?


Best Regards,

TB

Taha Belushi said:

Hi All,

Currently I am using 'imageshack.us' for uploading my images but when it comes to sharing them, it is very difficult because the pages donot load quickly. and always it gives error.
a friend of mine recomended me facebook.com but after having a look at it, it seem very complicated for the people I will BE sharing the pics with, they are not internet/pc savy.
Do you guys know of any great website? It would be better if the picture are protected from "Save pictures as" option?

Click to expand...

Hi Taha,

Some questions: Do you pay for your current service? What do you want from the service? Do you want people to be able to look, look and download, buy or what?

The verb "sharing" can mean so many things, LOL!

Asher

If you are willing to pay some money for this service, try smugmug.com which I use myself.
Also worth looking into are: pbase.com or flickr.com. There are more options, possibilities are almost endless.

If you go for smugmug, you can get a discount if you use a referral code.
Many people here on OPF can provide a referral code for you, if you want to use mine it is: XB8nWgcbpplUE

Cheers,

Hi Taha,

I don't think I would bother with any free/cheap hosting system. Register a domain name, or two, then get space from a reputable host, such as Verio, and take control over your images. Even free software, such as Picasa2 (from the google site) generates usable image type web pages easily. It is possible to keep things simple, neat, low cost, if you want to, without relying on advertising sponsored hosts. Quite often the isp's have 'free' web space included in their email packages.

I do not think it would be difficult for you to do any of this.

Best wishes,

Ray

Thanks guys.


@Asher, No I dont pay for it, Its a free image loading site. Its the same web-site I use to show Images here in OPF. Yes, I only want people to look at them and it will be people I want or those who stump(sp) on it. No selling but more or less like self advertsing

There is a website belonging to a Model agency here in Dubai, www.divadubai.com and all the images hosted in their web page cannot be copied.



@Cem, I will try that site! as for flickr, I can't use that because that site is Blocked by Etisalat (The sole Comunication provider in UAE)


@Raywest, that's not a Bad idea at all, the only downsize is that I dont have so many pictures but I can change that.

Pbase/Photobucket/SmugMug

I have all three and they have their good and bad.

Photobucket - It is pretty easy. There are ads on the site. Free option or a low cost option for more features. They have the url's for linking to fora. Can password protect it for viewing. Easy to navigate but what you see is what you get - not customization. www.photobucket.com - sign in as Chatkat and guest password is LCT. I used it initially when I was looking for a place to share some photos on websites or snapshots. Lots of ads

Pbase = $23 for 500 mgs of storage. Customizable. Upload by single or multiple images. Not as easy to learn (I actually got a consulting job setting up and teaching this to a photographer) but I like this the best. Downside is that lately the photos don't link well to having the photos up on the forums. No ads. You can view my pages here: www.pbase.com/chatkat

Smugmug Pro. You can use your own domain name. People can order your photos and you set prices and they collect the money for you but pay a commission and credit card fee. Their lab. Customizable to a point. $150 per year. Great tech support. Mine is in the process of setting up. But I am thinking of using a different kind of set up that is more portrait and event related and lab linked.

I have a whole file on professional websites with templates for photographers - some link to labs and others not. Some require you to have full on web shopping carts etc.

Hope this helps.

Kathy Rappaport said:

....Smugmug Pro. .... $150 per year....

Click to expand...

Great and accurate info Kathy .
Smugmug also provides standard and power subscriptions for some $40 and $60 per year.

Cheers,

Taha Belushi said:

Thanks guys.


@Asher, No I dont pay for it, Its a free image loading site. Its the same web-site I use to show Images here in OPF. Yes, I only want people to look at them and it will be people I want or those who stump(sp) on it. No selling but more or less like self advertsing

There is a website belonging to a Model agency here in Dubai, www.divadubai.com and all the images hosted in their web page cannot be copied.

Click to expand...

Well, do you mean pictures like this can't be copied?


© divadubai.com photographer used for editorial comment!

Blottom line is, everything can be copied, even stuff "that can't be copied". On a mac it's Apple+Shift+4 which brings up a selection cursor. When you drag your selection, it appears quietly on the desktop as 1.png, 2.ping etc.

All computers have similar screen capture capability, of course.

Asher

Yes, that IS a downside

My friend, whose wedding I shot was pushing me to upload a few photos - so all the ones I worked up I put on my pbase site. She emailed me today telling me how she loved a couple and put them on her computer as a screensaver. Now, I am not selling her the photos, but, I did not give permission to copy them either! Next time I am only uploading with a huge watermark on them.

No comments <LOL>

Here is an appropriate What The Duck strip (seems like there is one of them for every occasion <grin>):

http://web.mac.com/aaronandpatty/iWeb/What%20the%20Duck/THE%20VAULT_files/slideshow.html?slideIndex=8

Watermarking is the only way to protect your images. Even disabling right-click & copy can be got around simply by doing a screengrab of the page and cropping the image afterwards.

On the subject of watermarking, can anyone suggest a decent one that preferably works through Photshop (thought that isn't essential).