Online Photo Sharing

[RadioNate]

This topic comes up now and then on the Community Board and the usual suspects are often thrown out. Flickr, photo bucket, etc.

I currently use Apple's old Mobile Me gallery to share photos. I like that it offers full resolution downloads, the ability to download the entire gallery in one file, password protection for each gallery and one click integration with Aperture.

However, the service is being discontinued in June.

I need to migrate my existing galleries as well as find a new sharing site.

Zenfolio and SmugMug both have plug-ins for Aperture. Flickr is integrated. I do already have a Flickr account, which I'm not thrilled with.

I'm obviously willing to pay for a service if it suits my needs. I don't sell photos. While I'm not opposed to that - I don't want to deal with the tax issues of the business end. Not that I would make a lot of money.

I though asking a more professional group may have some better suggestions than the masses. Bonus points if it can also handle video uploads and sharing. I really don't want to use YouTube or Vimeo.

 

[handicap18]

I have a Pro Account with smugmug and am VERY happy with it. I have sold pictures from it, but haven't "cashed in" yet. They automatically send it out to you when your profit reaches $500. Anything over $600 a year they will send out a tax form for you to pay taxes on when you file your taxes.

What I like most with smugmug is their privacy and security. They go out of their way to make sure people that don't want their photos found can do exactly that. You can make the gallery private, unsearchable, watermark it, right click protect it and put a password on it.

I do like that I can set my own prices and they have recently made it even easier. Back in March I did a photo shoot for the Massachusetts Down Syndrome Congress. We did a "Coverize Me" shoot. I took pictures of individuals with DS at the conference, then put that picture on a magazine cover. The magazine cover template was set for 8x10 and we wanted to sell the photo's for $10. So I was able to adjust the gallery to ONLY offer the 8x10 print size. Based on the cost of shipping I was able to adjust the cost of the print to a specific amount so that with shipping it came to $10. I made about $3 on each print. I think my profit from the prints from that shoot is about $85. (yes I could have charged a lot more for something like that, but I did the shoot itself on a volunteer basis {as I do for all events I do for the MDSC} and we wanted as many individuals as possible to be able to buy a "Magazine Cover" of themselves. I don't think as many people would have bought one at $25, though I did think a lot more would buy than actually did.)

Anyway, I love my smugmug account. I've had it for about 5 years now.

 

[coloneldebugger]

I seem to recall the other threads on this subject being much in favor of smugmug.com I'm smugmug user and find the site to be exactly what I need. I find it to be better than flickr.


They have a 14 day trial which should give you a good feel it they will meet your needs. I don't think they will disappoint.

 

[littlekidagain]

I tried both Smugmug and Zenfolio a few years ago. I ended up with Zenfolio. I have been very happy with Zen. I felt it was cleaner looking. Both are very similar. I come down to preference.

 

[photo_chick]

I've used Smugmug for several years. Been really happy with it.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I like SmugMug as well.

 

[Nik's Mom]

I've used smugmug for years too. I love their privacy settings.

 

[RadioNate]

Setting up a SmugMug trial right now. Thanks everyone!

 

[lisapeteres]

I use Google Picasa and Pinterest for online image sharing. I'm a new member here, so I cannot put links in my posts, but check those sites, they are easy to use and integrate to social platforms.

Lisa