BHPC Mini-WorkshopOnline Portfolio and Image Hosting Sites

April 30th, 2013 By: Kaleb Zook1

Options

There seems to be two options when it comes to online photo galleries. Paid or free. Both choices

have pros and cons. I will provide you with a list of the more popular choices (both paid and free). I will also include a few links with good reviews of

others to allow you to research which site will work the best for you.

2

flickr

Flickr, one of the most popular photo sharing sites on the web, is one of the most community oriented photo sharing sites available. If community is what you’re looking for, Flickr is the top choice. It’s essentially the Facebook of photo sharing sites.

Not only is Flickr’s community aspects fantastic, it also has some of the best features and most affordable pricing in comparison to most other options.

Price: Free / Pro: $25 per year Storage: Free: 200 MB per month, Pro: Unlimited Max Image Size: 20MB Accepted File Types: .jpg, .gif, .png, .tiff Video Uploads: Yes Max Video Length: 90 seconds HD Video: Yes

www.flickr.com

3

SmugMug

For professionals, it doesn’t get much better than SmugMug. Although more expensive than most other options, you’ll certainly get your money’s worth with the features and flexibility available. SmugMug also has somewhat of a community, but nothing to the degree of Flickr. SmugMug’s strong points are in it’s features for those more serious about photography.

Price: Standard: $39.95 / Power: $59.95 / Pro: $149.95 Storage: Ulimited Max Image Size: Standard and Power: 12 MB, Pro: 24MB Accepted File Types: .jpg, .gif, .png Video Uploads: Yes Max Video Length: 10 minutes HD Video: Yes

www.smugmug.com

4

Picasa Web Albums

Picasa Web Albums, offered by Google, is a simple and clean way to store and share you photos with integration with other Google apps such as Gmail and Google Maps. You won’t get the flexibility of a site like SmugMug but the features offered will be plenty for most people.Picasa uses Google Storage, which is shared among your Google based accounts—a nice feature. Google Storage is also very affordable with options scaling all the way up to 16TB!

Price: Free / $5+ per year (Google Storage) Storage: Free: 1GB, Paid: 20GB+ Max Image Size: 20MB Accepted File Types: .jpg, .gif, .png, .bmp Video Uploads: Yes Max Video Length: 1GB Size, no length specified HD Video: No

www.picasaweb.google.com

5

Phanfare

Phanfare is a popular site among many photography enthusiasts, boasting top notch features such as RAW support with up to 100MB image size uploads and HD video up to 20 minutes in length. With a free 14 day trial you’ll be able to get a feel for the site before committing to pay. Phanfare pricing is very competitive and while not the cheapest, it is certainly very affordable for the features and options available.

Price: Premium: $49.99 / Pro: $99.99 Storage: Unlimited Max Image Size: 20MB Accepted File Types: .jpg, .gif, .psd, .tiff and RAW images Video Uploads: Yes Max Video Length: Premium: 10 min, Pro: 20 min HD Video: Yes

www.phanfare.com

6

Zenfolio

Another favorite among photography enthusiasts, Zenfolio offers great features for the price, including Google Analytics integration, support for all color spaces and great options for selling your photos. Unfortunately Zenfolio doesn’t offer video upload capabilities but it wouldn’t surprise me if it was added in the near future. Zenfolio is definitely a strong competitor for professional photographers.

Price: Basic: $25 / Unlimited: $50 / Premium: $100 Storage: Basic: 2GB + 1GB for every year, Unlimited and Premium: Unlimited Max Image Size: 24MB Accepted File Types: .jpg, .gif, .png, .tiff Video Uploads: No

www.zenfolio.com

7

Photobucket

Photobucket is a very popular choice for quick and easy photo sharing but definitely won’t be popular with those using DSLRs or other large image cameras. Even the Pro account is limited to 2MB photo sizes. Photobucket shines when it comes to fast sharing, printing photos and integration with other social media platforms like Facebook and MySpace.

Price: Free / Pro: $24.95 per year Storage: Free: 500MB, Pro: Unlimited Max Image Size: Free: 1MB, Pro: 2MB Accepted File Types: .jpg, .gif, .png Video Uploads: Yes Max Video Length: 10 minutes HD Video: Yes

www.photobucket.com

8

Shutterfly

Shutterfly is a very popular photo sharing and printing site offering free unlimited photo storage and sharing. Their main avenue of profit appears to be in the extensive printing options they offer from photo books and cards to stationary, prints and posters. If you’d like to get your photos printed on something or in a particular way, Shutterfly might be one of the best places to try first.

Price: Free Storage: Unlimited Max Image Size: Unlimited, 10MB recommended Accepted File Types: .jpg Video Uploads: No

www.shutterfly.com

9

Snapfish

Snapfish, by HP, follows suite with Shutterfly, offering unlimited photo storage and sharing for free and focusing on the printing aspect. At Snapfish you’re able to print your photos on just about anything. There are literally hundreds (maybe thousands) of printing options to choose from, so if you want to get your photos printed, Snapfish is a site to check out.

Price: Free Storage: Unlimited Max Image Size: Unknown Accepted File Types: .jpg Video Uploads: No

www.snapfish.com

10

Site reviews

http://photo-sharing-services-review.toptenreviews.com/

http://howto.cnet.com/8301-11310_39-57462902-285/comparing-the-best-ways-to-store-your-photos-online/

http://glazemoo.blogspot.com/2011/03/flickr-alternative-image-hosting-and.html

Here are a few web sites that ranked online gallery sites. Good info to review before deciding for

yourself.

11

Sometimes you want more control and the ability to sell your images. This is where the paid sites really

shine. They will have less advertising associated with them. Paid sites generally offer the user more options. Some can be customized by the user. The more you want a custom site the more $$$ in most

cases.

Free sites are a great choice for storing your images online and having the ability to share with friends

and family. They do however have more advertising associated with the sites. This can get to be

bothersome at times, but hey its free.

12

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions on web galleries or if you need some help or advice on

setting one up.

kzook@rushmore.comKaleb

13