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Tips & Techniques » Sharing Your Holiday Photos
Sharing Your Holiday Photos
by Rochelle Riservato
Posted: November 24, 2011
The Internet has made the world smaller, increasing your ability to connect with family and friends during the holiday season. Parents, grandparents, friends and relatives who live across the country can immediately be greeted by your warm, fuzzy photos and letters on one of the many photo sharing sites.
With the holidays upon us, photo sharing is a quick, easy, and affordable way to reach out to loved ones by sending cards, slideshows, online photobooks and other virtual creations - no stamps required! From a simple postcard with a brief message to an elaborate website with a pictorial and text narrative of the entire year’s events, all are made easy with your keyboard and mouse and the right site.
You don’t have to be a pro to post photos to share but the results will make you feel like a pro, due to the myriad designs, formats and easy-to-use upload apps which allow you to customize your photo sharing. The results can be highly polished pictorial displays sharing your most treasured and memorable photos.
Some photo sharing sites are more elaborate than others, with countless options to take advantage of. I’ve listed them in order for you to try, from the simplest to the more complex.
Flickr from Yahoo!
This is one of the most popular photo share sites - the 'Facebook' of photo share sites, that’s very community-oriented. It allows you to upload and share your photos and also edit and easily organize them into 'collections.' Flickr has privacy features allowing you to pick and choose who can access your photos, along with a usage license for copyright protection. You can also download a stand-alone desktop Flickr application that gives you immediate connection to your personal Flickr account, allows you to organize your photos on your hard drive and expedites upload of your photos to the site directly from your desktop.
Features:
- You can upload photos to Flickr through the web, mobile device or email.
- Photos can be shared through Facebook, Twitter, email, blogs and more.
- M.flickr.com allows you to Photostream photos with interactive 'Photo Session' to chat and browse photos in real-time; this is possible on computers, Android, iPhones, or iPads.
- Easy privacy settings allow customized sharing options.
- A multiple-backed storage system protects against photo loss – it's like having a second hard drive.
- Picnik is a partnering editing service allows tweaking of your photos for enhanced results.
- You can easily order prints, enlargements, photo books and canvas photo artwork.
- Free or Premium account options are available.
Click here to view and navigate a Flickr album.
Webshots from American Greetings
This site is a great pick if you’re looking to do more than just have a web-based photo collection. You can upload, organize and share your photo collections, as well as convert them into customized calendars, cards, mugs and more for holiday gifting.
Features:
- Easy-to-make picture shows.
- Ability to share on Facebook.
- 24-hour e-store for ordering personalized gifts and prints.
- Members can send free e-cards from egreetings.com.
- Blogs for those interested in blogging.
- Video upload available.
Cons:
- Free memberships are subjected to intrusive advertisements.
- Photos can be downloaded off site so make sure your account has the privacy option on.
- Doesn’t offer unlimited storage.
- Mac users are not supported.
Click here to view and navigate a Webshots album.
Snapfish by HP
Similar to Shutterfly, Snapfish offers unlimited photo storage and free photo sharing. It strongly focuses on the printing aspect by offering you the ability to print photos on just about anything, with hundreds of printing options to choose from.
Features:
- Strength in printing options.
- Unlimited photo storage.
- Abundance of customizable photo gift items.
Cons:
- Can only upload images in jpg format.
- No video uploads with basic upload app.
- Mac users must use iPhoto plug-in for uploading.
Picasa from Google
Picasa was one of the first sites to offer free photo-editing software to enhance your photos. Similar to Flickr, Picasa also has a downloadable desktop feature allowing you to connect to your account and organize photos on your hard drive. It also has the ability to easily choose photos from your computer to add to your web-based Picasa account.
Features:
- Picasa automatically finds all the photos on your PC and organizes them in seconds.
- Offers a free download and for your web albums offers you 1 gigabyte of free storage - enough for 4,000 wallpaper-sized photos.
- Web albums are easy to make, share and name tag.
- Easily design photo collages, create video slideshows, add photo text or view favorite photos on your desktop.
Cons:
- Only offers 1 gigabyte of storage for free.
- No video uploads.
- Requires Intel PCU for Mac usage.
Shutterfly calls itself a “social expression and personal publishing service.” Their flagship product is their award-winning photobook line, which allows photos to be compiled into professionally bound paperback or coffee table books. Even if you’re not a professional, you can design a book as if you were!
As a professional photographer capturing weddings, family portraitures and such, I use this site to provide my clients with a way see their proofs immediately. As I do my post-production editing, I post the photos to a Shutterfly website made expressly for the client. Another great option for the professional photographer is the opportunity to join an annual service that affords you a percentage of the proceeds whenever someone orders merchandise with images you’ve posted.
Shutterfly websites are not only great showcases for special family events, but also for holiday catch-ups. Shutterfly is easy to navigate, interactive, has an optional built-in blog, comment area and the capability to allow others to post their photos onto the same site.
Features:
- Free, unlimited photo storage and video uploads.
- Uploading options for PC, Mac, and Mobile-device users.
- Option to mail in a CD of photos, after utilizing software like Adobe Photoshop Elements 7 or Picasa desktop software, to be added directly to your Shutterfly account.
- 'Storytelling' assists you in creating photobooks and digital scrapbooking. You can read inspirational photography tips, design tips, profiles, articles and personal interviews.
- Options to have photos printed on a vast array of personalized gift items.
- Customization features for sharing or privacy.
Cons:
- Doesn’t have built-in photo editing like Picasa, it only has basic cropping and editing tools.
- Can be confusing to someone unfamiliar with online site-building. Numerous options require experimentation and trial and error for best results.
- Requires Mac OS 10.4 or higher.
Click here to view and navigate a Shutterfly album.
Other popular photo share sites:
Advanced photo share sites for professionals (Annual fee required):
Rochelle Riservato is a journalist & photographer who has a degree in marketing and advertising from SUNY Farmingdale. For the past three decades she’s worked for many local and national publications. She was recently the recipient of an Outstanding Journalist/Media Presenter Award from the New York State Association of Foreign Language Teachers (NYSAFLT). Her photography has been showcased at Gallery 128 in Manhattan, The D&H Canal House Museum, and several Kingston, NY galleries. She photographs weddings, actor portraits, events and family portraitures. Her artistry can be seen at www.photosbyrochelle.com and she can be contacted via email at fotoro49@gmail.com.
