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Photo Sharing Sites

With thousands of photos cluttering up space on personal computers, how do we choose from the available photo sharing sites on the web? The following options enable you to upload, organize, store, showcase and share digital photographs easily.

Best Photo Sharing Websites

Photo sharing websites are not just for professional photographers. Photo sharing online is for everyone who would like to keep in touch through pictures.

Here are a few of the best photo sharing sites available:

Photo Sharing Sites 1: Flickr

Yahoo-owned Flickr is a very popular online photo sharing site that boasts simplicity, flexibility, impressive features and a bustling community.

Flickr's two main goals are to help people make their content available to the people who matter to them and to enable new ways of organizing photos and video. Part of the solution is to make the process of organizing images collaborative. In Flickr, you can give your friends, family, and other contacts permission to organize your stuff - not just to add comments, but also notes and tags.

Flickr offers basic free accounts with limitations placed on photo uploads and other features, while the $25/year Pro account promises unlimited uploads and storage.

Standout Features:

* Simple but powerful editing tools
* Geotag photos and videos on maps
* Versatile sharing tools.

Photo Sharing Sites 2: Smugmug

SmugMug is a premium photo sharing web site featuring unlimited photos and storage, easy uploads and sharing. Though the emphasis may be on professional photography, the site is also perfect for the casual photographer.

SmugMug lets you create beautiful online albums that you can personalize with a click. You can choose fun built-in themes for events like birthday parties or Halloween, or sophisticated ones for professional photography. Unlimited storage means never worrying about which parts of your life to share. Smugmug allows you to order film–quality prints and gifts mailed directly to your home. Alternatively, you can access your original photos for printing on your home printer. The service provides links to your friends and family on your home page and and they're not required to enter an email address or create an account to view your images.

SmugMug has no free account option, but you're sure to be pleasantly surprised with their features if you choose to make use of their free trial. You can also browse the site and photographs prior to purchasing an account.

Stand-out Features

* Attractive and user-friendly interface
* Unlimited photos
* No ads or spam
* Family owned operation with great online service and support through a FAQs page, tutorials, user forum and an email address to contact customer service.

Photo Sharing Sites 3: Photobucket

Photobucket has been a favorite among internet users looking to quickly host an image and share it online at sites like eBay and MySpace or on blogs and message boards. While that's still true, Photobucket has added several features to keep users coming back to the site for managing their own photo albums and videos.

Standout Features:

* Integration with MySpace, Facebook, iGoogle, Blogger, etc.
* 1GB (10,000 photos) of space with free account
* Flexible uploading
* Advanced mobile options.

Photo Sharing Sites 4: Picasa Web Albums

Picasa Web Albums are the online counterpart to Google's popular, Windows- and Linux-only desktop photo organization software, Picasa. Despite its late entry to the photo sharing game in mid-2006, Picasa Web Album's seamless integration with Picasa and Google accounts quickly gained the service a large following.

A free account with Picasa Web Albums gives you 1GB of free storage space. You can buy extra storage that's shared with your Gmail account for anywhere between $20/year for 10GB to $500/year for 400GB.

Stand-out Features:

* Easy to Use.

Photo Sharing Sites 5: Build your own Website

If you're willing to roll up your sleeves, building your own photography website is wonderfully fulfilling. It may seem like a lot more work compared to the other options, but hosting your photos on a personal site means you've got total control. There are also some great free, open-source options available that are robust on features and makes site building a snap.

My personal recommendation and the host I'm using for this website is Site Build It! Their online education system and support have been invaluable to a non-techie like me.

* Benefits of Photo Sharing Web Sites

(From Photo Sharing Sites back to Basic Photography Tips Home)

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