I BOUGHT a digital camera recently and began to wildly shoot pictures
in order to learn all the functions on the camera. It is bringing
lots of enjoyment to me and I love the idea of seeing the photo
right away.
In order to see the pictures in their true size and to get them off my camera, I had to upload them to my hard drive. Fine, now I have a bunch of jpg files on my hard drive, encroaching on valuable space. I can't show them to my friends because the pics are on my computer!
Oh, I must mention that I lost about 40 pictures when my hard drive crashed and needed to be reformatted.
In the beginning, I was uploading the photos to my personal website. It took a lot of fiddling to get the pictures sized and anchored on my web page. In addition, it was rapidly filling the alloted webspace on the server.
I explored around and found out there was a better way..... Online photo albums!
These are sites where you can upload your digital photos or scanned prints for online storage. By storing the images on someone else's server, you free up your resources and allow others to view your albums.
In my search for albums, I found that most sites offer the same services---free online storage and free ePostcards.
Some of the sites have sweetened the pot to attract business. I've seen some places that allow you to mail in your rolls of film for developing for a fee. They will put those pictures up on the web site for you and mail back the prints or put them on a CD.
All sites will sell you prints of the images you upload. Some of them have introductory offers such as the first 50 pictures are free. Most sites sell you items where they have put your picture on it---such as coffee mugs, T-shirts, mousepads, plates, or posters. This is how they make money. Most sites allow you to upload your pictures and not make a purchase.
I think online albums are useful. Aside from saving you disk space, it allows you to share your photos with family and frinds. A lot of sites give you the option of allowing the photos to be viewed only by the people you choose. This is a nice privacy feature and anti-piracy tactic.
The following is a list of online photo sites I found on the internet. All of them have the basic storage features, so I'll only outline some of the extra services they provide.
Picture Trail picture sharing or privacy - photo gifts and digital picture printing coming soon - option to email pictures rather than uploading from owser - viewer stats on album pages - add music to albums - offers thumbnail view or slide show as options to the visitor - electronic cards
MSN Communities albums have themed pages (vacation, wedding, family, baby) - thumbnail or full-size images - message board or chat room can be added
Photoworks album is password protected - can send in rolls of film for developing - pictures processed on paper or CD - photo gifts
Your Photos public or private albums - guestbook on public albums - photo printing - photo gifts
ImageStation online public albums - digital video clip storage - photo printing - photo gifts - greeting cards by email
PhotoFun online invitations - screen savers - picture shows - online scrapbook
ClubPhoto online album with password - electronic cards - film processing - touch up tools for images
SeeMeSmile online postcards - albums - unique service to professional photographers where they can upload proofs for the clients to view
Yahoo online albums for public or private viewing - prints from digital pictures - developing of film rolls
I have been very pleased with my online photo album at Yahoo! I have a safe place for my pictures. I've been able to send a viewing invitation to my family and friends who live out of town. It's a lot easier and cheaper than getting extra prints of pictures and mailing them. You don't run the risk of having the pictures wiped off your hard drive. Seems to be for all the right reasons.
If you are the least bit curious, here is My Photo Album!
(NB - You may have to copy and paste the longer URLs to your owser)
Copyright 2001 Maureen Fleury
Maureen Fleury is a Senior Managing Editor at Suite101 and is the Contributing Editor for the topic Communication in Cyberspace Suite101
Another easy to understand book that shows you how to get
the most out of the World Wide Web and your browser of choice. If
you're looking for an excuse to spend more time online, this book
will give you plenty of opportunities. Learn effective search techniques,
utilizing bookmarks, etc.
Your Virtual Photo Album
