On-line Photo Sharing Recommendations

I am currently using iPhoto (Apple) and uploading images to Snapfish. I would like to switch to different service. I do not mind paying a fee if it is reasonable.

Can anyone recommend a decent on-line photo sharing services? The things I am looking for are:

1. Excellent privacy, and security and no spamming.

2. My friends to be able to download hi-res versions of the photos without having to buy anything.

3. Images that I uploaded are not sampled down.

4. Mac friendly

Thanks.

P.S. -- I have thought about maybe hosting a photo gallery myself but it is probably too involved and too many password/privacy/security issues. Unless of course there is software out there that can properly address these issues.

Photo

Have tried a mobile me acount?

Flickr

Smug Smug

Picasa

Doing a simple google search I found this blog.

CameraMike said:

Flickr

Smug Smug

Picasa

Doing a simple google search I found this blog.

Click to expand...

Not a single one of your suggestions meets the criteria set forth by the OP.

MobileMe is an excellent suggestion, fear7950 hit the nail on the head IMHO.

You can sign up for a free 60-day trial to see for yourself, then buy the discounted package off an Amazon reseller, essentially getting 14 months for less than $6/month.

No? Oh well.

chas_m said:

Not a single one of your suggestions meets the criteria set forth by the OP.

MobileMe is an excellent suggestion, fear7950 hit the nail on the head IMHO.

You can sign up for a free 60-day trial to see for yourself, then buy the discounted package off an Amazon reseller, essentially getting 14 months for less than $6/month.

Click to expand...

I know flickr allows for privacy options, allows for people to view the image in the original size, and to download them at the size. The pictures you upload are as is, they are not edited for lowered in quality, and it is extremely easy to upload photos on to flickr, all you have to do is select what photos to upload either via iPhoto or on the web.

gagnerants said:

I know flickr allows for privacy options, allows for people to view the image in the original size, and to download them at the size. The pictures you upload are as is, they are not edited for lowered in quality, and it is extremely easy to upload photos on to flickr, all you have to do is select what photos to upload either via iPhoto or on the web.

Click to expand...

Only true with a Flickr Pro account - which costs.

i've had a flickr pro account for 3 years now. and in august, when it expires for the third time, i'll probably buy a 2 year subscription. i love flickr. i even have the app on my phone. so i can view friends photos as well as my own, from anywhere.

I have just started using my MobileMe account for photo sharing, and it seems to be working great so far. Definitely nails the "mac-friendly" requirement, especially since my photos live in Aperture 3.

I love that I can view photo galleries easily on my iPhone, without using any memory on the phone.

Thanks for the feedback.

I thought about MobileMe but I was hoping for something a little less expensive. Although getting 60-day trial is not bad either. I may still change my mind.

Do my friends need to sign up for a MobileMe account?

How does this work if I would like my friends to download the hi-res image files from MobileMe?

Can upload and share videos with MobileMe?

I was looking at the obvious like Picasa and Flickr.

I also came across Mejuba. Has anyone used them yet? They offer unlimited storage (videos and pictures) and it's free. No monthly quotas or limits. Sounds too good to be true.

PixelMage said:

I am currently using iPhoto (Apple) and uploading images to Snapfish. I would like to switch to different service. I do not mind paying a fee if it is reasonable.

Can anyone recommend a decent on-line photo sharing services? The things I am looking for are:

1. Excellent privacy, and security and no spamming.

2. My friends to be able to download hi-res versions of the photos without having to buy anything.

3. Images that I uploaded are not sampled down.

4. Mac friendly

Thanks.

P.S. -- I have thought about maybe hosting a photo gallery myself but it is probably too involved and too many password/privacy/security issues. Unless of course there is software out there that can properly address these issues.

Click to expand...

chas_m said:

Not a single one of your suggestions meets the criteria set forth by the OP.

MobileMe is an excellent suggestion, fear7950 hit the nail on the head IMHO.

You can sign up for a free 60-day trial to see for yourself, then buy the discounted package off an Amazon reseller, essentially getting 14 months for less than $6/month.

Click to expand...

1. Flickr can do 2/3 of this one. No online sharing site of photos has true security. If a photo is viewable to the general public, it can be stolen.

2. Flickr can do this. It allows images up to 20 MB and will easily support a 21mp JPG.

3. Flickr will only resize the images to fit a smaller size if selected, not the original size selection.

4. I use OS X pretty much exclusively for editing images. The Flickr uploader has always worked fine for me.

Seems like Flickr realistically meets all of the OP's criteria since true security with images can't realistically be acheived.

Sawday said:

Only true with a Flickr Pro account - which costs.

Click to expand...

OP said he doesn't care and it's only about $25 a year.

P.S. And Smugmug meet the same criteria as well. I use both extensively, I know.

Do my friends need to sign up for a MobileMe account?

How does this work if I would like my friends to download the hi-res image files from MobileMe?

Click to expand...

No account required for friends, you just send them a link.

When you publish a Gallery, you can specify if you want friends to be able to download high-res or just "optimized" images.

You can share videos too via MobileMe gallery, but I haven't yet tried that myself.

fear7950 said:

Have tried a mobile me acount?

Click to expand...

+1 for MobileMe. I've had one since I got my first Mac, back when it was still called .Mac. It's a great service, works really well, and has loads of other features that make it 110% worth the money.

Picasa also fits the OP criteria. I tested it last night and I downloaded a full res image with it's geo coding intact and ALL it's metadata. Even the stuff that I put on it. Copyright Credits, Contact info, keywording, camera data, etc.

I put in an unlisted album that's not publicly viewable. So that's a bit of security there. Can't be found if it can't be searched.

I use flickr a lot and agree with Village Idiot that it realistically meets the OPs criteria and true image security can not be achieved so I don't make full res images public. Nothings guaranteed.

What about DropBox? It will give you 2BG of free space to put photos online and it'll sync between all your computers. There's also a Shared folder that you can use to let your friends see the pictures.

todd51 said:

What about DropBox? It will give you 2BG of free space to put photos online and it'll sync between all your computers. There's also a Shared folder that you can use to let your friends see the pictures.

Click to expand...

+1 Dropbox

Or will Skitch suit the OP's criteria ??

TM

you are aware that on flickr, you can set different photos to have different privacy levels. you can set it so that every image you have is completely private, meaning only you can see it while logged in, or you can set it to where only your contacts can see the image. but i suppose even then you never know. if you truly want safety, don't put them online.

The Drop Box 2GB free account is way to small for hi-res image. And to buy a 50GB account is way to costly compare to an actual on-line photo sharing account.

So what are the primary pros and cons between Flickr and Picasa. They seem so similar.

I use flickr a lot and agree with Village Idiot that it realistically meets the OPs criteria and true image security can not be achieved so I don't make full res images public. Nothings guaranteed.

Click to expand...

Is it fair to say MobileMe is also vulnerable for the same reasons?

Let us say I use Flickr. The albums I would like to post would not be open to the public. There are only six individual people involved. No one else. So how would I normally share images with these people and minimize exposure to the rest of the Internet community?

Are there separate passwords?

The same single web link e-mailed to all six people.

Would labeling the albums and images in a "cryptic" manner help?

sorry it is difficult to see. on flickr, you get contacts. its the nature of the website. when you get random people adding you as contacts, typically you add them. when you add them, you do so as "friend". your close friends you only want to see specific photos, organize them as "family". then, when you upload specific photos you ONLY want those select few people to be able to view, you can see that you can set a photo to be only visible by family. ****, you can hide photos from everyone. i have a few on my flickr that i use for avatars and signature pictures.


but i also have two free photobucket accounts for random "junk". like the screen shot i just posted. haha.

Thanks for the screen shot.

Do I have to apply my privacy settings to each photo one at a time or can I select more than one and do it in batches?

What about albums? It is possible to create different ones with Flickr. Would I be able to apply privacy setting to an album?

In the screen shot. The setting "Who can add notes, tags, and people?". What does the "people" part refer to?