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Photo sharing sites-What do you like?

Omega Man

Fortis Fortuna Adiuvat
Staff member
I know a lot of the members have them. SmugMug and Photobucket seem to among the most popular. I was wondering what the pros and cons were, why you like the site you are using and the ease of use. It looks like most of the sites have a "pro" version which gets rid of the ads.
What do the photography wizzes here at MOA think? Gary
 
I am one of the SmugMug Pro users and have been for a few years. The Pro is a bit pricey by some standards, but I feel it really offers me versatility in presentation and use. I have been quite pleased with the print quality from the labs used by SmugMug as well as the huge variety of products available. There are many templates available for displaying images on your site. SmugMug also interfaces nicely with my version of Photoshop (Elements 8). As for image sharing, works well for me. See www.smitchellphotography.com .....Me!
One of the other real nice sites out there is Zenfolio.com One of my friends use them with much success. See www.galloimagesonline.com/ Mark if a friend of mine down in Ohio.
Oh, by the way....I don't consider myself of whiz at this photo stuff, but I do like it:).
 
I've used zenfolio for the last 7 years. They have a range of prices and their pro accounts dont have any advertising or host service branding whatsoever--plus they dont spam you (or spam the people you send to look at your photos).

Like all the others, zenfolio offers a free trial account, and a low-priced account that has limited storage and carries zenfolio branding. I think the accounts with unlimited storage and freedom to use your own domain name start at $50/yr. The completely unbranded pro accounts ($100/yr and up) are oriented toward professional photographers, with a lot of flexibility for creating your own products and setting pricing, etc. Zenfolio allows great flexibility in how you design the site and the look and feel of your galleries (here's a page with samples). Zenfolio also allows music uploads (to accompany slideshows), PDF files, and video. No limits on the size of your photos also. . .beware of this on some of the free and low-priced services, which may resize your photos automatically when you upload and will not tell you.

I havent done a side-by-side comparison lately but for pro and serious amateur photographers, I believe zenfolio is a still great choice, especially if you care about and are willing to spend some time on the aesthetics of your site.
 
Nice stuff Scott. I do like the SmugMug site and the way it's presented. When I go to ADV I have the page display set to that "smooth clarity" that I see at your site. It seems to make the pictures more enjoyable. Basic SmugMug it at $40.00/yr and Photobucket pro at $24.95/year. I don't mind paying to avoid the commercials/ads. ADV has just recently stopped allowing attachments and now all pictures have to be linked due to server slow-down. Here at MOA it's 1 picture per post so some type of hosting service is becoming more of a necessity.
Mark's site is quite well also. Thanks, Gary
 
I really like Photobucket for many of the same reasons. They have improved so much over time.

I started with a free account and that worked well but when I reached their limit I decided Pro was the way to go.


Voni
sMiling
 
http://imageshack.us is what I use. I am a casual user, i.e. use it once in a blue moon to post something on a forum. It is free. I looked at a few other sites in the past and found this to be most user friendly one that gave me what I needed. They do give you a little text ad as part of the link you copy and paste, but being text you can just edit it out.
 
great idea for a thread!

i've had a free Photobucket account forever (it seems) and have a boatload of pix stored there. i typically use it for storage and uploading to websites, tho maybe i should look around, as i am getting more & more into photography and would like to avoid having folks copping my pix for use without my permission, or putting their name on pix i took.

i like the Photobucket site, i stay perpetually logged in on my PC. all i have to do is type phot- and the address pops up, i click on it and take off. i have no idea what their limit is, as i haven't gotten near it, in all my years of use there. i don't mind the ads, i just roll right past them for the most part- tho sometimes the audio can drive me nuts, i will admit.

i never have used Photobucket for creating prints. if i need to do that, i'll put the pix on a thumb drive, or disc- or email them to a local camera shop for printing. from what i've heard, Photobucket will handle any type of video, too- converting them to a universal file type?
tho i haven't gone down that road yet, too far.

i've uploaded pix directly to places before tho it seems that then file size counts, so haven't gotten into that yet, other than uploading on-the-go to Facebook, another place i have pix posted, for my friends to view- tho i am not really a Facebook person- i don't "hang out" there at all.
 
I thought I'd give this a bump and see if anyone else has a comment. Perhaps ease of use, amount of ads, when people visit do they see more ads than pictures? Perhaps the only real reason to have one is so forum posting is easier, when you signed up did it end up being better and more useful than expected...... OM
 
SmugMug is the place I trust to store my images.

NO ads, no gimmicks, just 100% professional image hosting service that gives you the power to share, sell, post, edit, print or flaunt your work in a customizable, creative environment.
I need to be able to have different security, or sharing prefs for different images or projects, SmugMug gives me exactly that plus so much more.
The support is 5 star also so what's not to like? :D

I sure wouldn't be paying for any hosting site that had ANY ads on my page after I paid for the service to start with, but that's just me.
 
Don't you guys use an ad blocker in your browser? I'd give up the Internet if I couldnt use one.
 
Don't you guys use an ad blocker in your browser? I'd give up the Internet if I couldnt use one.
The regular Photobucket and, for instance Fotoki, always have ads running in the background when I have looked. Not pop-ups, just the commercial side-bar crap.
 
Remember here that Google, for example, is an advertising agency. It is not an 'information service'. Advertising is what they make money from. They use the information they gather--from your searches, email content, etc.--to profile their users and target their advertising selectively.

My point is that you should expect to get ads on free services, including the 'free' versions of photo hosting sites. The real questions are: 'do you care about having a few ads?', 'do you get plastered not just with ads ON the pages you are showing, but SPAM email and ads AFTERWARDS?', and then, 'how cheap are you, really?' All the better free services offer fee-based versions with less (or no) ads or branding.

I think 'which service is best' depends on your answer to those questions, and also what you are planning to use the service for.
 
The regular Photobucket and, for instance Fotoki, always have ads running in the background when I have looked. Not pop-ups, just the commercial side-bar crap.

I see very ads with adblocker browser plug-ins, so I have no idea if sites have ads or not.
 
The owner is an ##s. No way would he get any of my money.

Interesting personal opinion.

While I don't know him personally, the fact is though that his company's service is top notch, and gives me exactly what I need for photo hosting.
He also uses SmugMug's success to finance ADVrider.com for hundreds of thousands of riders to use for free and without ads.
There's no other bike forum with as many active members like ADV you can use for free without restriction or ads. He's done quite a bit for the motorcycle community and I'm happy to pay him for Smugmug. Heck, here on MOA we pay, and still gets ads plus our personal info hacked off the servers....
He's does things right plus with good taste, and is OK by me. :usa







Remember here that Google, for example, is an advertising agency. It is not an 'information service'. Advertising is what they make money from. They use the information they gather--from your searches, email content, etc.--to profile their users and target their advertising selectively.

My point is that you should expect to get ads on free services, including the 'free' versions of photo hosting sites. The real questions are: 'do you care about having a few ads?', 'do you get plastered not just with ads ON the pages you are showing, but SPAM email and ads AFTERWARDS?', and then, 'how cheap are you, really?' All the better free services offer fee-based versions with less (or no) ads or branding.

I think 'which service is best' depends on your answer to those questions, and also what you are planning to use the service for.



Very nice post dwyandell, I agree completely. ;)
 
Smugmug

Absolutely professionally done great service through messaging and email, and great printing services. I went through several of the "free" services and while serviceable I like the no ad no bs approach of SmuMug. I have the upgraded account. One thing I like is you can just send a link to someone if you want to show off some photos and every gallery can be public or private. Nice look to the custom page you make for your pictures. Thge guy supports ADVRIDER for free, so good on him. I like it.

I have recommended the site to others. All who sign up like it. Works well on MACS also.
 
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