The following post is by MPFJ staff writer, Shondell of Call Me What You Want, Even Cheap. She blogs about her recent car loan and mortgage pay off and a whole bunch more. Check out her blog right here.
The invention of the digital camera completely changed the face of photography.
Online photo storage providers have revolutionized the way photos can be stored and shared. There are several good reasons to save and store your photos on online photo storage and printing sites. Perhaps the most important is that storing photos on your computer’s hard drive is a bad idea because hard disks have the habit of crashing at the most inopportune of moments. Other reasons include zero risk of data loss, more quickly and easily accessible, and easier to organize.
There are many photo storage and printing providers with attractive offers and incentives. Here is a comparison of some of the most popular ones.
Snapfish:
Snapfish is a web-based photo storage and printing service owned by Hewlett-Packard. It allows members to upload photos for free and gives unlimited storage space. While most Snapfish features are free, you will be charged per-image fee if you want to download an original or high resolution copy of your own uploaded image. Membership is free of charge.
Members can share individual photos, photo albums, animated snapshows, Group Rooms and other Snapfish products via email, link URL and social media sites like Facebook and MySpace. You will need a Snapfish account to view or share photos.
The minimum rate of Snapfish is $0.09 for a standard sized (4 x 6 inches) photo.
Flickr:
Flickr is a web-based photo and video sharing site created by Ludicorp in 2004 and owned by Yahoo since 2005. Flickr is not just a photo sharing service, it is also an online community used by everyone including bloggers and photo researchers.
Flickr offers three types of membership: Free, Ad Free and Doublr.
- The Free account comes with one terabyte of storage space limited to 200 MB per photo and 1 GB per video.
- The Ad Free account comes with the same storage but free of advertisements for an annual fee.
- The Doublr account comes with twice the storage space of the Free account but a higher annual fee than the Ad Free account. The service offers several innovative ways to upload and share photos.
Picassa:
Picassa is a web-based photo organizer and photo viewer with an integrated photo-sharing website where you can organize, edit and share your digital photos. Created by Lifescape in 2002, it was purchased by Google in 2004.
Picassa allows anyone with a Google account to upload and share up to 1 GB of photos for free. Allowed dimensions for the photos are 2048 x 2048 pixels for Google+ users and 800 x 800 for other users. Images exceeding these dimensions are automatically resized. The service offers several ways to import, track and organize photos, and also offers several basic photo editing functions.
Shutterfly:
Shutterfly is a web-based image publishing service that allows you to build perfect photo books. In 2013, 80 percent of its customers were reported to be women. It allows users to create personalized photo gifts, such as photo books, mugs, bags, stationary cards and blankets.
Shutterfly offers simple ways, called paths, to build photo books, which you can share on Facebook and and also publish them as PDF files on your website. The service charges its users $29.99 per standard photo book.
The minimum rate on Shutterfy is $0.15 for a standard sized (4 x 6 inches) photo and $29.99 for a standard photo book.
SmugMug:
SmugMug is a paid web-based photo sharing and image hosting service that allows its users to upload digital photos and videos. Launched in 2002, the service offers a range of tools to facilitate both amateur and professional photographers to sell their digital and printed photos.
SmugMug offers four types of accounts to its users, each having a different subset of features. Users can charge people for downloading their digital and printed photos and set the prices themselves. It also allows users to sell merchandise.
The minimum rate on SmugMug is $0.19 for a standard sized (4 x 6 inches) photo.
MPix:
MPix is a web-based photo sharing and printing service that allows users to create and order professional quality photos, customized cards, custom wall art and stationeries. Owned by Miller’s Professional Imaging, it is arguably the best photo sharing site there is for professional photographers as well as amateurs.
MPix provides prints in three different types of photo papers: Kodak E-Surface, True B/W and Metallic paper. For those who need, luster coating, mounting, framing, key chains, canvas mount and wall clings are also available.
The minimum rate on MPix is $0.29 for a standard size (4 x 6 inches) photo.
How about you all? What photosharing websites do you use or which is your favorite?
Share your experiences by commenting below!
***Photo by Sam
