Photo Sharing Frequently Asked Questions

By Leanne Tremblay

What is photo sharing?

Photo sharing is the ability to upload your digital photos to an online service for storage, backup, and access on the web.

Photo sharing accounts can be public, so that anyone on the web can view your pictures, or private, so that only people you specify can view them.

How much does photo sharing cost?

Most photo sharing sites have at least one type of free account. Some sites offer additional or advanced services for a monthly or annual fee.

Here's a quick overview:

Shutterfly: free

Smugmug: free, or $59.95/year (Power User)

Flickr: free or $24.95/year (Pro)

Photobucket: free, or $25/year (Pro)

Is it hard to upload photos?

Uploading photos is simple. There are several methods. Photo sharing sites offer some or all of these:

• Using the upload button on the web site.
• From an installed browser plugin--just click the icon in your browser tool bar to conveniently start the upload process.
• From photo organization software that runs on your computer—the software as has built in "hooks" to the photo sharing service you're using. Shutterfly Studio is free to download and makes uploading and ordering from Shutterfly easy and quick.
• By emailing your photos to a special email address. Flickr lets you email photos to your account from your phone or computer.
• Through 35mm film or CDs that you send in the mail. They upload the photos for you (a good option if you have thousands of pictures.

How long does it take to upload photos?

Upload time depends on the speed of your Internet connection. A good benchmark is  one minute per 400k image file on a high speed ( ISDN or Cable) internet connection.

Remember that high resolution images can easily be 2MB or more (about 3-4 minutes per picture).

Here are some estimated upload times for 400k images at other connection speeds:

• 56k: 4-6 minutes
• ISDN/DSL/Cable: one minute
• T1: 20 seconds

Are my photos secure?

Yes. All photo sharing services have way for you to set the privacy settings on your account.

You decide who can see your photos, who can comment on them, who can download them, or even who can add to your collection/gallery.

Smugmug calls their privacy  settings SmugIsland, where you can create your own photo galleries for only you and those to whom you give persmission.

Will my images ever be deleted?

Images are not deleted from your account. However, if you account remains in active for a period of months, it may be removed. Check the terms of service carefully. Photo sharing sites also have policies against hosting threatening, pornographic, or profane material.

For Flickr accounts, you may only be able to see the most recent 200 photos added. By upgrading your account to a paid membership, you have access to all your photos.

How large can my images be?

For free accounts, the recommended image size is less than 10MB. Some Pro accounts (like Smugmug) let you upload larger images.

How do I access my photos?

Photo sharing services have different methods for accessing your photos. For example, to show your photos to certain people, like family and friends, you can email them them a personal web site address with your photo gallery or collection.

Shutterfly provides you with two photo collections, each with a personalized web address. As the owner of the Collection, you have control over whether or not visitors can add content to your collection.

If you want access to your photos for posting in different places online, Photobucket has built-in tools for adding photos to social networking sites like Facebook, Myspace, and Friendster.

Flickr lets you set up your own photo blog, with your own web address, you can also make a Flickr badge for your web site showing the most recently added photos.

Do I need photo organizer software?

You don't need a separate photo organizer software for your Mac or PC. The online tools provided by the photo sharing service are all you need.

However, one of the advantages with using a photo organizer on your PC is that you have built in links to the online service for quick and easy uploading, ordering prints and photo products, and so on.

How many photos can I upload?

Most photo sharing sites give you storage space for unlimited photos. However, you may be restricted in the number of MB you can upload per month (Flickr allows you 100MB/month with the free account). Photobucket also lets you store video and audio clips.