Online Image Hosting Resources
Simply put, online image hosting is where you upload your images to a image host, and from there you can access, organize, embed your images on other websites and link to your images too. Here's how it works...
Online image hosting sometimes comes with some restrictions on how many images you can upload, and what size these images can be. This is because the hosting company has its own bandwidth costs to host your pics. So if you're considering uploading heaps of large sized, full resolution photos then you might want to go with the paid options below.
Other benefits to online image hosting is that you can create online image galleries, photo blogs or slideshows to let people see your images easily. Keep an eye out for image hosts that offer simple photo editing, image resizing or the ability to add notes and details to your photos too. Generally though, you get more options and storage for the paid services. (They're usually not too pricey anyway!)
Here's an overview of some of the popular online image hosting sites:
Photobucket: Photobucket is basically a free online image host where you can share photos and videos with family and friends (they don't need an account on Photobucket to view your pics). If you're at all thinking about uploading videos, in particular HD videos up to 300MB then you'd be happy to know Photobucket now accomodates HD support. The Pro account, at $24.95 a year, offers image storage up to 25GB, high res photo uploads (4000x3000), videos up to 10 mins, statistics and no-ads on your page.
Here's what Photobucket offers...
- Slideshow and scrapbook builders
- Built in full featured photo editor
- Share photos by email and mobile phone
- Group albums so you can collaborate with friends
- A photo and gifts store to sell your own photo products
Flickr: Flickr offers two types of account. Pro and Free. The Free account lets you upload 100MB of images and month and 2 videos. The Pro account (starts at $24.95 per year) allows unlimited image and video uploads a month, plus unlimited bandwidth and storage. Add ad-free browsing and account statistics to that too. You can set your images as public or private. Private images can still be viewed by friends and family if you prefer. Flickr lets you manage ALL those digital photos you take, or even better, lets your friends/family manage them, add tags, comments and organize!
dotPhoto: dotPhoto is probably more a photo sharing site than a image host, but it'll certainly host your images if you need. As a photographer, you can sell your photo based merchandise, create a strong web photo presence, store videos and share your images with others. The benefits of dotPhoto is that they use a custom ecommerce site to sell your photos, so you can set your own prices and have the funds directly deposited into your account too. dotPhoto has a few different membership plans, starting at Free to $129.00 per year.
PictureTrail: Similar to ImageShack, PictureTrail is more inclined towards the photo sharing social networking type of thing. In other words, members still share photos online, host images and order prints, but you also get to create your own highly customizable member profile pages and interact with other members through clubs and blogs. PictureTrail also lets you create flash-based slideshows using different designs, captions, colors and speeds.
ImageShack: ImageShack are the masters of simplicity. Their mission statement is "to provide an easy to use media hosting and sharing service for everyone." What makes them different is that you can upload your images directly from ImageShack's front page, you don't have to register, you're completely in control of your own content (images), and no language barriers due to the ease-of-use of the site.
Having said that, by registering you do get to have more control over your images. For example, you can delete images, upload multiple images, resize images and just get more personalized service. You also get a profile website address on their site. For even more benefits and a better image hosting package, subscribe to ImageShack for $8 a month or $68 for 12 months.
SmugMug: The first thing that stands out at the SmugMug site is the quality and the benefits you get from using them. SmugMug costs about $39.95 to $149.95 a year and is the sort of image sharing host that you can trust for your most prized photos. SmugMug also allows you to be creative about offering photo merchandise for sale - photo books, photo cards, canvas prints, photo stickers (etc).
With no advertising, SmugMug is an impressive and serious contender for all the photo hosts out there. Add your own videos, professional slideshows, Google maps or host your own unique photo gallery. Try SmugMug free here.