Bluebonnet


Are you still e-mailing your photos to friends and family? Why? Not only is it time consuming and outdated, it’s a little boring. There are hundreds of websites that will host those pictures for you and allow you to arrange, categorize, and update your pictures with a few clicks of a mouse, not to mention you can use it as a backup. Flickr, Bubbleshare, Fotki, are all popular photo sites that will host those precious pictures for you for free. These sites allow you to create sets or albums to categorize your pictures. You can make the photos private allowing only certain people to view them or make them public and share with everyone. There are also websites like Dropshots which allow you to not only share pictures, but video as well. If you decide you want a little more functionality then the free websites offer, alternatives like Photosite have a premium service that includes customizable photo albums, a photoblog, professional online printing service, and your own domain name (familynamephotos.com). Each of the services offers something a little different and you can take a tour or browse the site to see what each service offer and which one is the right choice for you.

I currently use Flickr. It only required a yahoo account, something which I already had. If you don’t it’s free and easy to join just click the signup button and follow the instructions or if you have a yahoo account, like me, just use your username and password to login. Soon as you are finished logging in it will ask if you want to upload photos. You can upload six pictures at a time. I usually make them public but this choice is up to you. That is all there is to getting started. Don’t be afraid to play around and find your own way, creating sets, making comments on or about your pictures. There is a lot to do on Flickr so have fun! You can visit a set of spring time pictures Barbara took HERE and see why this method is so much better then sending photos via e-mail.

EDIT: Flickr appears to be experiencing difficulties and running slow. If you can't get to it now. Check back later and try again. The other sites are working if you would like to to view them. - Thanks.