Image hosting and storage options

[MissionMan]

I'm not a fan of the way Flickr forces you to link to external websites like Ausphoto so I switched to Smugmug. The think I like about their hosting is that you can turn it into a photography website which is pretty easy to setup. This is what I mean:

http://atholhill.smugmug.com/


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[tandeejay]

I'm not a fan of the way Flickr forces you to link to external websites like Ausphoto

How do you mean? I've never had to link to Ausphoto from Flickr.

[MissionMan]

You can't just right click on the photo and copy the photo link to Ausphoto. You have to paste in a whole set of code with the link.


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[tandeejay]

But by pasting just the link, ausphoto has to generate all the code. Copying the pre-generated code from Flickr works for me, and I get to choose what size it appears in my posts.

[MissionMan]

But by pasting just the link, ausphoto has to generate all the code. Copying the pre-generated code from Flickr works for me, and I get to choose what size it appears in my posts.

I get to choose what size it is as well without having to apply the code. Smugmug allows me to select any size I want to display.







Etc

There are about 10 different sizes to select from.

[JDuding]

If you are serious...

No. Not serious... placed a couple of smileys in that post to help show that.

Many eons ago... I would service Power PCs and graphic designers monitors and would perform calibrations (mostly on Apple monitors). Wasn't my main job... but... have done it.

As you were saying... when it comes to quality... I was over thinking it.
So when it comes to what this sites 'critiquers' are viewing the images on...
...hardware calibrating my monitor might be going an unnecessary step too far.
So I am happy to relax a bit and just rely on the brightness-contrast bar to be enough to gauge a posted images quality... and I won't be expecting others to be hardware calibrating their monitors either.

If I become a professional photographer... I will definitely get high end monitors and PCs.

As for posting best image quality for critique... I'll still post as good as I can within reason... but will scale them down more than I have been... as I wasn't considering people with slow internet or those using mobiles and tablets.

I'll still try to find a site that has the least limits... Andrews 'Dropbox' suggestion seems the pick of the litter so far.

So in short... yep... not serious.

- - - Updated - - -

...I switched to Smugmug...

drool... yes... I saw that and sussed out their system.
Looks ideal for when I want to start creating an online portfolio.
I'll have another look... but do they offer free services?
I thought I struck them from my short list due to no free accounts?

Still... a really nice setup they have.

----EDIT-----
Dude... how good does your SmugMug portfolio look... Awesome.

[farmmax]

I like Smugmug best, but it is not free. I pay them $60/year and reckon they're worth it. There is a cheaper option. I do have a free Flickr account, but only because a couple of competitions insisted the photos be uploaded to Flickr.

[JDuding]

Yeh Max... that's what I thought I had read.

Not a kings ransom to be sure... but my pics are not at a quality for me to start an online portfolio just yet.
But SmugMug will probably be the one when I do.

[Lesley Bray]

I've been with Smug Mug for nearly ten years. On occasions I look around to see if others offer more and I always decide Smug Mug has everything I need. Like farmmax, I pay $60 a year - there are no ads, I can upload original size images, they don't compress images, I am not restricted by the number of images I upload or the number of albums I make. They have a number of options for the look and feel of the site so I change it about when I feel like it. I like that I can mark on the map where I took the photo. I can flag an album public or private. From Smugmug it is simple to publish on Facebook, Google+ and other sites. Also very easy to link an image to a message on this forum. Lesley

[MissionMan]

I would like to add that one of the things I find invaluable on Smugmug is the hidden galleries and password links.

I often take photos of kids (family, friends, birthday parties) and if I distribute images, they are always hidden galleries with password protection. I'm not sure if Flickr gives this on their base models, but I think it's worth paying for the privacy.

I'm also not sure what statistical reporting Flickr provides, but Smugmug has some good reporting around image views, popularity, links (what sites have linked your images without your permission) etc.

[tandeejay]

Flickr has that available on the free account. The ability to set image privacy, and to generate a URL that you can give to those you wish to have access.

[MissionMan]

Flickr has that available on the free account. The ability to set image privacy, and to generate a URL that you can give to those you wish to have access.

I thought Flickr had that on individual photos but not on Albums.

On Smugmug, you can set up individual albums, each with a separate set of security and passwords rather than at individual photo level. You can also decide whether to expose your website/profile or leave it as an anonymous gallery. For example, if I do a kitesurfing event, I may not want people going to all my personal photos from the event photos.

This is an example of what I mean.

Here is a gallery I made private (not searchable so only available via the link) but without a link to my personal site.

https://www.smugmug.com/gallery/n-LqSrw

Here is one that is private but contains a link to my personal site. You can see the url now incorporates my name.

https://atholhill.smugmug.com/Children/Mixed/n-nPM9S/

Here is one that is public but contains a link to my personal site but you could obviously have a public one where the owner is hidden as well.

https://atholhill.smugmug.com/Across-the-Bay-2015

[tandeejay]

I thought Flickr had that on individual photos but not on Albums.

Definitely has it on Albums. I have a family album that I share with my family (most of whom don't have flickr) All I do is send them the link that provides them access.

Here is an album I made private https://www.flickr.com/gp/99216317@N08/w5cq8x

Actually, I see what you mean. The album itself isn't private of itself, the privacy is set at the image level, so anyone without the above link could view any photos in that album where I had set the privacy for public visibility, and the above link is a passport that provides visibility to everything in that album.

I can expire any of those passports I've created for access to private albums if I think the passport has been sent to the wrong person.

It does contain a link back to my public flickr site, can't see how to suppress that, but not sure I'd want to, as it only provides a link back to a site that is publicly available anyway.

[arthurking83]

Thanks Rick.
....

This is surprising.
I'm so use to working with JPG and having the file sizes blow out after editing... that I didn't even check these image sizes.
The two cockatoo pics were my first PP using RAW.
Not sure if that is why the file size was so small?

.....

What software are you using?

Also two other options for you to check out for image hosting are:

DeviantArt and Nikon's ImageSpace
Both are free(or have free account systems).
Because you have a Nikon camera body, the free ImageSpace account is larger than it otherwise would be if you didn't have Nikon camera.

I've never had an issue with DA in the ten years I've used it.
But I sometimes have linking issues with ImageSpace, only in that the transfer of the image from IS to the site you linked too can be slow. Hopefully they've fixed that.
The last option I (prefer to)use is AP's gallery space if it's just for linking to AP.

[JDuding]

Thanks Arthur. I love visiting deviantart... For the creative stuff that gets posted there, but hadn't thought of using it as a simple hosting site. Will check out their free service features. I also so Nikon's... Image hosting... I spent a bit, may as well get the most for my dollar