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Enthusiasts and pros

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Online photo sharing for enthusiasts and pros

By Eamon Hickey and Aimee Baldridge
(June 15, 2005; updated October 6, 2005)
 

Advanced photographers need a site that will give them advanced controls over how their images are displayed and who has access to them. In addition to those sophisticated controls, many of these enthusiast-oriented sites (and mainstream sites that offer advanced features for a fee) provide forums and other means for serious photographers to exchange and discuss their work. We rated the sites on how easy and efficient they made the process of uploading and managing photos and how pleasant and intuitive we think the viewer experience will be for people who look at your photos.

Web site Storage space & fees Uploading/management interface

Viewer experience rating
File types supported

External link to photo or full-resolution download permitted?
Special features
Club Photo
Club Photo

 Traditional print/share service with broad selection of print sizes and gifts.
• Free; premium memberships available, unlimited storage • Upload/manage: good
• Viewer experience: 7
• JPG
• External linking and full-res downloads with paid membership
• Public galleries; photo downloading to Palm OS devices; album viewing on cell phone via Pictavision; uploading from Photoshop via plug-in
Dot Photo Pro
Dot Photo Pro

 Print/share site oriented toward pros who want to present photos to clients for print sales.
• Free; $1.99 extra for video; premium memberships available; unlimited • Upload/manage: good
• Viewer experience: 6
• Fast; wide selection of album layouts; average picture size and quality
• JPG, BMP, TIF, GIF, WAV, MP3, MPG, AVI, WMV, 3G2, MOV, QT
• External links to eBay only; full-res downloads at user-selectable prices
• Video sharing; Pictavision cell phone photo software; slide-show creation with music and text
fotki.com
fotki.com

 Advanced sharing and community features, plus competitively priced prints.
• 10 MB free; unlimited space for $50-per-year premium membership • Upload/manage: excellent
• Viewer experience: 9
• Fast; advanced display features; good picture quality up to full-res
• JPG, TIF, PNG, PSD, BMP, GIF
• External linking and full-res downloads permitted
• Peer-to-peer sharing, photoblogging, public galleries, contests, and other community features; e-mail in-box; EXIF info display
funtigo.com
funtigo.com

 Unusual page-layout features give shared albums magazinelike presentation options.
• Free 21-day trial; $24.95 per year after that; 1,500 photos • Upload/manage: excellent
• Viewer experience: 8
• Average picture quality but exceeds typical album views with precise picture and clip art placement, text boxes and balloons, more
• JPG, GIF, BMP
• External linking and full-res visitor download permitted
• Upload from camera phone
ImageEvent
ImageEvent

 Emphasis on sharing and high-quality online viewing; supports dozens of file formats.
• 1,500 images of up to 10MB each, $24.95 per year
• 100MB file-size support available for one-time $34.95 fee
• Upload/manage: excellent
• Viewer experience: 9
• Fast; advanced display features; good picture quality and size up to full-res
• JPG, BMP, GIF, PNG, PSD, TIF, AVI, MPG, WMV, ASF, MOV, RAW, SWF, Office files
• External linking and full-res download permitted
• EXIF data display; public galleries; document file storage
PBase
PBase

 Sharing-only site offers flexible, high-quality picture and gallery display.
• 200MB; $23 per year
• 600MB; $60 per year
• Upload/manage: excellent
• Viewer experience: 9
• Fast; advanced display features; excellent pic quality up to full-res
• JPG, GIF, PNG, ZIP, TAR
• External linking and full-res download permitted
• Public galleries; EXIF data display; customizable cascading style sheets; forums
Phanfare
Phanfare

 Print/share site with elegant Flash-based display and automated photo uploading.
• $6.95 per month, $54.95 per year; unlimited • Upload/manage: outstanding
• Viewer experience: 9
• Automatic background photo uploading makes this site stand out; advanced display features; excellent picture quality up to full-res
• JPG, GIF, BMP, TIF, PSD, PNG, AVI, MPG, MOV, WMV
• External linking and full-res downloads permitted
• Domain-
name forwarding; RSS feeds; will provide DVD of all photos at full resolution if you cancel service
PhotoSite
PhotoSite

 Desktop client software designs and uploads sophisticated albums.
• 150 photos for free; Plus and Deluxe accounts available for $4.99 and $7.99 per month and $39.99 and $69.99 per year, respectively • Upload/manage: excellent
• Viewer experience: 9
• Fast; advanced display features; good pic quality and size
• JPG
• External linking permitted but no full-res visitor download
• Domain-
name forwarding; album viewing on cell phone and PDA; photoblogging
Picturetrail
Picturetrail

 Standard print/share with advanced display features but rudimentary print controls.
• Free; $19.99 per year for 500 pictures with image hosting • Upload/manage: good
• Viewer experience: 7
• Fast; advanced display features; average pic quality and size
• JPG, TIF, BMP, PNG, GIF
• External linking permitted but no full-res download
• Add music and voice captions to albums; camera phone downloads
Pixagogo
Pixagogo

 Emphasis on high-quality online sharing. Site viewable in French- and Dutch-language versions.
• $5 per month, $50 per year; unlimited • Upload/manage: excellent
• Viewer experience: 9
• Fast; advanced display features; good pic quality and size up to full-res
• JPG, GIF, BMP, PNG, EMF
• External linking and full-res download permitted
• EXIF info display; public galleries; RSS feeds
Printroom.com
Printroom.com

 Standard print/share site geared toward serious and professional shooters.
• 200MB; free
• 300MB and pro features; $99
• Upload/manage: good
• Viewer experience: 7
• Fast; basic display features; average pic quality and size (album owner can view full-res)
• JPG
• No external linking or full-res visitor download permitted
• DVD archiving; custom storefronts with pro account and $50 fee; watermarking; custom promotional material for pro photographers available
Shutterfly
Shutterfly

 Clean, polished standard print/share site that works well and offers both consumer and pro features.
• Free album sharing; first two Collections (with personalized URL) free; unlimited • Upload/manage: excellent
• Viewer experience: 6
• Fast; basic display features; average pic size and quality
• JPG
• No external linking or full-res download
• Upload from camera phone
Smugmug
Smugmug

 Oddly off-putting name belies high-quality sharing site with advanced printing features.
• Free 7-day trial; Standard account $29.95 per year, Power account $49.95 per year, Pro account $99.95 per year; unlimited • Upload/manage: excellent
• Viewer experience: 9
• Fast; advanced display features; good pic quality and size up to full-res
• JPG, TIF, GIF, BMP, PSD, MPEG-1
• External linking and full-res download permitted
• Domain-
name forwarding; forums and public galleries; upload from camera phone; IPTC keyword searching; RSS and Atom feeds, "APIs, hacks & tricks" section for tech-savvy users
Worldisround
Worldisround

 Sharing-only site aimed at travel junkies who post text/photo articles.
• 50MB for free, 100MB for $29.95, additional storage space available • Upload/manage: good
• Viewer experience: 7
• Fast; advanced display features; good pic quality and size up to full-res
• JPG, TIF, GIF, PNG
• External linking and full-res download permitted
• Encourages explanatory text to make albums into articles; community features with travel photo emphasis


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