[Lapwing2011]

I've been taking pics with my Canon for a few months now and it would be nice to share some of them with people I know.

I've put one or two up on here, but many of my pics aren't bird pics so i just wondered what other sites people used and found worked well - eg it would be good to have a site where a slideshow is possible, and also people can move from one picture to the next with one click.

Flickr is obviously a candidate, but i just wondered if anyone else had suggestions, also in terms of copyright etc are any sites good for if you're lucky enough to have someone wanting to buy the pic? (i'm not saying mine are good enough for that yet but would be useful to know).

Many thanks in advance for any info...

LW

[Overread]

Flickr is about the most popular in terms of features and terms and conditions of use. Many of the image hosts like photobucket can be rather tricky with their TC and there is a lot of rights grabbing sneaky stuff in there.

Flickr gives you a reasonable bit free, 1000pixels on the longest side as the largest presented size, some limits on how much you can upload (volume) per month and only shows the most recent 200 shots.
However they always store the original uploaded size and all shots you upload (unless you delete them). Further any links remain valid even after the shots no longer appear in your gallery.

This is all because their service is really geared up for a paid client, the costs are very small per year (less than most magazine subscriptions) and unlock access to full size uploads; unlimited upload space for stills and limited for video; access to all uploaded photos; expanded sets (you can have more of them - helps for organising).

I've been using it the last few years and never worried about the small fee for the service and features.


Socially wise there is a totally optional interest group aspect, a great great many are competition/award based which is mostly passing around awards to each other (mostly on a feel good basis - there are one or two that take it more seriously, but most don't). However in addition there are also some very good critique and gear focused groups on the site so it can be a very good resource in itself (though you do have to search the groups to find the best ones).

[Andy Bright]

Originally Posted by Lapwing2011

I've been taking pics with my Canon for a few months now and it would be nice to share some of them with people I know.

I've put one or two up on here, but many of my pics aren't bird pics so i just wondered what other sites people used and found worked well - eg it would be good to have a site where a slideshow is possible, and also people can move from one picture to the next with one click.


LW

Don't forget our sister site for all non-bird photos
http://www.worldphotographyforum.com/

Best regards,
Andy

[Lapwing2011]

Thanks both

Overread - i agree that paying a small amount would be worthwhile - I was thinking of photobucket pro as this site recommends it:

http://photo-sharing-services-review...om-review.html

but not if you think there's rights issues

Flickr does look good but the thing that annoys me is that to join you have to set up a Yahoo e-mail account - i already have a long-standing hotmail plus my own domain-related mail which i use for work etc - so i really don't want to set up yet another e-mail account unless i can pretty much just ignore it once it's set up

how much does flickr depend on on using the Yahoo account?

PS thanks Andy for the link to the worldwide forum - i've signed up now, though may still go for an additional service

[tjsimonsen]

I started using Pbase at a time when Flickr was still developing and I wasn't impressed by the site [Flickr] at that time (it way better now though).

Pbase, too, has improved over the past few years - in particular when it comes to speed. It costs a bit (roughly US$25/year for 1000MB - I use only a fraction of that).

You can see my site here: http://www.pbase.com/tjsimonsen/all_galleries

Thomas

[Jaff]

Well everything you've describes sounds like having your own website and that means you have to pay for it, many seem to use Zenfolio for a host and are happy with it.

[Overread]

Lapwing - I don't think I've ever checked the yahoo email account that comes with flickr. Honestly about the only message I think it sends to you is just before your paid account is about to expire as a reminder, and that message is also sent as a flickr mail (accessed like private messages in a forum) through flickr as well as a banner popup on your page (you can close the banner and it disappears on its own after viewing so its not a problem).

Actually truth be told I forgot all about the email account ever existing.

[speckled wood]

I have a Flickr account and a a picasa web albums account, the picasa one is much cheaper but you will get few views or comments there, Flickr is very active and also very controlable and if anyone is causing you problems or you are uneasy about them its easy to block them and deny them access to your pics. As to the email as said above theres not need to bother about it once you have got your Flickr account running, although I do use the yahoo email as my main account and (unlike AOL) it appears to be almost spam free.

[Lapwing2011]

Thanks for all those comments, good to know yahoo e-mail isn't a problem.

Thomas, pbase looks really nice, will def consider

Jaff, I'll look into Zenfolio too, though I already maintain a site for my 'day job', so I'm a little wary of too much extra cost at this stage

Thanks again all, and happy to get more views if anyone's got any further thoughts

LW

[seaspirit]

Originally Posted by Jaff

Well everything you've describes sounds like having your own website and that means you have to pay for it, many seem to use Zenfolio for a host and are happy with it.

The main drawback of using your own website is the limited traffic and attention, at least in the beginning.
If you want an audience for your images, even with your own site in place, having a presence on one of the estabilshed image hosters can't be beat, also when it comes to promoting your own site.
The "problem" with most of those sites is that you will hardly get any "critique" and usable feedback, unless you manage to find one of those flickr groups that declared this their sole purpose.

As far as costs are concerned:
-the free flickr version works for me, both volume and size wise
-as far as right grabs are concerned flickr is relatively tame -nothing that strikes me as being fishy-, and uploading images in web suitable resolution further limits possible unauthorized use.
-the art of flickr is to find the best lists/groups in which your images will appear, with no shortage to choose from.
-I have my own website (http://www.dunlin.ca shameless self advertisement at this point ), with a package that gives me unlimited server space and traffic volume, and this is the biggest part, the option to add additional domains for whatever the domain registration costs are. Currently it costs me ~$120 per year and an extra domain would add another $20 per year.
-creating your own web galleries is very simple, Lightroom for example has a designated module to generate html and/or flash galleries without knowing anything about website programming. I use lightroom generated flash galleries on my own site.

Cheers

Ulli

[Jaff]

Once was enough Ulli.

Yes what you say is spot on and when I get my own website I'll be sure to 'spread the word', you haven't made yours as part of your signature though, missed a trick there!

Yet I disagree on one point, one thing I think you DO get from having your own website is honest feedback, particularly if you have a guestbook. I really want a space to share my images freed from the cliquey element of community based websites. Yes it is good to look at others photos and praise the ones that deserve it... and I do love the spirit of comradery you get from it too but it can snowball into a time consuming nightmare. And having your own space on the web means you can easily have somewhere to refer people you meet in everyday life away from the online world out there in the real world (yes it's not just a myth it actually exists! ), I know many friends who have had business cards done for them and their websites and I will probs do the same when I finally get mine up and running.

I thought Flickr would serve as my homepage needs but having been on it for a while now I know that to not be the case. Nothing beats having a little corner of the web to truly call your own and I will be become part of it when I have solved a couple of other problems I currently have.

[Roy C]

Although I still have a Flickr account my main site for posting nowadays is 500px, there are some superb photographers on there and the way the site works means that for really nice shots you can get thousands of views (and votes).
If you want honest critique then sites like Birdphotographers.net and WildPhotoForum are good but be warned these are not sites for you if all you want is praise for your shots!!!! BTW both these sites have sections for beginners where the critique is gentle but honest.

I also have my own web site (hosted by my ISP and included in my package) which gets around 8000-10000 visits a month.

[Archie Opteryx]

Didn't find Flikr to my taste and found that blogging was a half decent idea, but just ended up with loads of 'likes'. When I finished the blog, quite clinically and by removing most of the content, I still got some muppet clicking the 'like' button again. I got the impression that a lot of people trawl the net 'liking' stuff and the whole thing is a little disingenuous. So I moved to a website of my own on a free host. It's not perfect, but I'm much happier with it.

And I haven't even mentioned it

However, feel free to click on the link blah blah blah...

[MeanGene]

I have both a FlickR and 500px page, and prefer the 500px. Although FlickR just upgraded, many say it was because of 500px competition. There seems to be a lot less of the "I'll vote for your pic if you vote for mine" on 500px.
The bird pics on my page are mostly captive, from the Carolina Raptor Center's twice annual Photographer's Day.

http://500px.com/MeanGene

[Zackiedawg]

I've been happy for years with PBase as well - I like the clean, professional looking interface in the presentation of the galleries, I get very good traffic, and there's less of that 'social media' aspect to it (like Flickr) that doesn't appeal to me personally. Uploads are easy, organization is easy, visitors can slideshow, or move pic to pic, you can keep photos private if desired, EXIF can be made visible right under the photo, and the photos can be viewed in small, medium, large, or original sizes, set by the viewer. Also no problems linking photos from Pbase to message boards and such, other than this one. My site at PBase for reference:

www.pbase.com/zackiedawg

I started out with them years ago and mostly just got views from direct linked photos, but my views increased over the years where I'm now getting a good 40,000-50,000 views per month, and have gotten a steady stream of solicitation and sales from it (I don't actively market my photos, but make some side-income from sales or publication requests).

[RyanEustace]

One thing i have noticed with 500px is that alot of photos i see are heavily photo shopped, i mean they look great for it in some cases, but alot of the time it is a clear Photoshop without it being stated. Whereas flickr takes it to the opposite end of the spectrum with alot of the photos just being a series of 5-6 images where the user obviously just held his finger on the shutter and felt the need to upload 6 images of near the same thing. But these are just my observations :)

Ryan

[Archie Opteryx]

Has anyone used photium btw?

[Roy C]

Originally Posted by RyanEustace

One thing i have noticed with 500px is that alot of photos i see are heavily photo shopped, i mean they look great for it in some cases, but alot of the time it is a clear Photoshop without it being stated. Whereas flickr takes it to the opposite end of the spectrum with alot of the photos just being a series of 5-6 images where the user obviously just held his finger on the shutter and felt the need to upload 6 images of near the same thing. But these are just my observations :)

Ryan

Very hard to generalise like this on these sites I would say as no one person can hope to view more than a very tiny portion of the images uploaded - on Flickr for instance there are 20 million uploads per day so even if you spent all day looking at the pics you would not even see 1% of them. It is similar with 500px, not sure how many uploads on there but I would have though at least a million per day!.
What I like about both sites is that you can choose exactly who you follow and/or which subjects you want to view (flickR by groups and 500px by category).
Of course there are good bad and indifferent shots posted all the time like any other sites but with any one person only ever seeing a very small proportion it is up to them which ones they view/follow. On both sites there are some excellent photographers, it is just a case of finding them! who knows Ryan there may even be some folks out there up to your high expectation if you look hard enough

As previously stated if you are looking for sites with good critique by some very good photographers then the likes of FlickR and 500px is not for you, there are other sites out there that cater for this.

[RyanEustace]

Maybe its just the few friends i have on 500px who like all the photo shopped images and so show up on my feed :)

Im sure there are plenty of photographers out there that live up to my expectations, and im sure I've found some of them, i'll keep searching for the rest... , its just nice to see a photo that breaks away from the trend which with so many people taking photos these days is increasingly hard.

To be honest i don't really upload photos anymore, sick of people just saying 'great shot', on reflection that may seem big headed but thats not how its meant, honest...

Ryan

[Roy C]

Originally Posted by RyanEustace

To be honest i don't really upload photos anymore, sick of people just saying 'great shot', on reflection that may seem big headed but thats not how its meant, honest...

Ryan

No need to stop uploading because you do not like the comments Ryan, on Flickr there is an option to disable comments So you can take advantage of the free storage without ever receiving comments!

BTW if you read the OP's first post he says "I've been taking pics with my Canon for a few months now and it would be nice to share some of them with people I know" in this case I would say that Flickr is idea as there are options to mark people as friends (as opposed to contacts) and then only let your friends see your pic's.You can even disable your friends from commenting if you wish.

Like I keep saying if you want good honest comments from very able photographers there are sites out there that will accommodate you. I can assure you that you never get 'great shot' type comments on these sites unless it is a truly great shot (never had a genuine 'great shot' myself as I am under no illusion as to my very limited ability )

pp: If you want to see some very good shots on 500px just have a look at the editors choice - you can filter by category. It is also worth looking at the front page of the 'Popular' section, again filtering by category if you want.

[RyanEustace]

What are the sites you use for honest comments roy?

[Roy C]

Originally Posted by RyanEustace

What are the sites you use for honest comments roy?

Here are a few Ryan:
birdphotographers.net (eager to learn section is a good starting point)

wildphotoforum (make sure you are in the critique section)

uk.naturephotographers