A picture is worth about 5.26x this post

A few months ago I got a sweet new camera that 1) fits in my shirt pocket; 2) takes pictures with a few hundred gigapixels per square inch; and 3) has a 2-GB memory card that holds about 2000 images. This last bit is the most problematic, because I now tend to shadow the boys like a demented paparazzo until all the pictures are of Robert's palm.

I've posted about pictures before, but I've come to the conclusion that putting up a few of them on this web site now and then won't bring about the End of Days. The problem is choosing which platform to use.

Flickr seems to be the predominant one among the bloggerati, although I remember hearing bad things about it. I wish I could provide more clarity about this, but I remember reading about its interface, or copyright issues, or deleting photos, or how it was somehow way too easy for some cave-dwelling guttersnipe to right-click on your picture and do unpleasant things to it. I've also seen Picasa and PhotoBucket bandied about.

Have you heard bad stuff about Flickr? Or did I imagine it? And if you were to choose a new picture platform, which would it be?

Comments

[Raquita]

I use flickr and don't think its any more difficult or easy for people to snatch your photos than anywhere else, I've blocked people who have favorite'd not only my kid, but my female relatives with questionable streams - and I've allowed people to favorite what i thought were really good artistic photos of my kid. I think at least with flickr you kinda know whats goin on- now some SUPER good photogs have had their photos snatched and used in news papers and the like, but if your that good - you need to set up your own site - thats just my opinion.

[Oana]

I found one of my photos on another blog a little while ago. It was my own fault however, for not choosing the proper Creative Commons license for my photos. I've changed the settings and haven't had problems since.

[Emily]

I use flickr and luuuurrrrrrve it. One caveat though - with your hundreds of gigapixels per square inch, you will probably find that the free flickr account isn't much use to you. I pay for the "pro" account, and can't manage to use up the allowance for uploads no matter how hard I try.

[lawschoolmom]

I used Flickr for a bit and it's ok. I definitely WOULD NOT use Picasa, though. It seems to have some issues already. Blogger tells me it has "all of your photos." Yeah, it has about 10% of my photos. I'm not impressed.

[Samantha Jo Campen]

My husband and I each have a Flickr account and love them. Haven't had any problems. Plus it's another great way to connect with people--all the commenting is fun!

Can't wait to see what you choose!

[Daniel G]

Hi.

I use flickr too, but only to interact with other photographers there. I know some people that use flickr for blogs and it seems very good. The pictures are protected, you can do this in flickr, but i think the best choice is to have your own domain. You will never be 100% protected when posting pictures on the web. Every post in my blog has a picture, someday, someone will right-click on them.

Good Luck.

Daniel
dad of a girl, from Brazil.

[robin]

I have been using Flickr for a couple years and I really like it. My son was born in November '06 and after some discussion with my husband we decided we are okay with posting photos of him using Flickr.

You may have heard complaints about Flickr and copyright, because Flickr encourages use of Creative Commons licenses instead of standard copyright. CC licenses allow people to take and use your photos, under various restrictions (you set the restrictions). E.g., I post most of my photos under an attribution license, which means people can use them anywhere else as long as they credit me. But my baby's pictures are copyrighted (er, that is, they will be in about 5 minutes). But you can use regular copyright if you want.

Of course unscrupulous people don't care if you have CC or copyright or whatever, they'll just take what they want!

[Frankenstein]

Flickr's good, but if you're going to want to display multiple pictures at a time, Tabblo's better. Compare http://www.tabblo.com/studio/stories/view/241609/ with http://www.flickr.com/photos/frankenstein/sets/72157600058958642/ for example.

[Sheryl]

I use Photobucket, but I don't recommend it. I just started using it because it was free, and suggested when I first was looking for somewhere to save pictures I wanted to use in my blog. It isn't difficult or anything, and it meets my kid-free, digital-camera-free needs, but it is kind of...basic.

[Mrs. Davis]

I've been using Flickr for a year now, and I love it. Works well with blogging, and it's easy to make photos public/private.

[21stCenturyMom]

I use photobucket for pictures I post on my blog because it is easy to use the

In addition to Flickr, Shutterfly and Snapfish are also okay for creating an album and/or slide show and have the advantage that your family can order prints. I think people like Flickr because they can put a widget in the sidebar of their blog really easily.

Yahoo also has a photo storage and sharing function. Picasa is dog as far as I'm concerned - I don't like it at all.

[Mr. Big Dubya]

I'm using Zooomr - last summer(?) they had a deal that if you posted a picture on your blog that was uploaded to their site and then linked back to them, you would get a pro membership for life (unlimited uploads, unlimited storage). It's worked really well for me. They're about thisclose to adding a lot more enhancements in their Mark III stage. I like it and have no problems.

[Jamie]

I maintain a Flickr photostream where I keep what I feel are the best of my photos, but for the weekly parenting updates on my blog I just keep the pictures there. It's easier to browse them and much easier to control how they look on the site since I can make the thumbnails any size I want.

[shula]

The trouble I have with flickr is that the hotlinks often refuse to download when i'm looking at other people's stuff.

Drives me crazy.

I never have that problem with photobucket.

And the images are harder to swipe.

[sgazzetti]

Flickr is extremely feature-rich, and very easy to use. I also love the community aspect of it. As for privacy concerns/stalker creepiness, you can set the uploader's default to "private" and no one but you will ever see your pictures.

There's also Coppermine, which you install in your database. It allows you to host your photos directly in your server. Much less user-friendly, but secure.

I've been using both for about two years now, and can heartily recommend Flickr, as long as you're aware of what your privacy and copyright settings options are.

[LizRM]

Just adding another voice to the chorus of Flickr lovers. I haven't had any trouble and I have found it wonderfully easy to use.

I'd also echo the advice to buy a pro membership.

liz

[Tom N.]

I must be the odd one out, or too old* or something, but I prefer to have more control over my photos. I use Gallery (gallery.sourceforge.net) to maintain an archive of my photos. I can do with them as I please, and know that I can easily output the entire gallery to put on a CD or archive on my hard disk. People can add comments, etc. and it integrates nicely with some blog software (I use WordPress).

I also don't have to worry about some company disappearing (although I will admit that is less likely now that photo sites like Flickr have been bought by giant sites like Yahoo).

*In my case, "too old" is "35 years old and just not hip enough to use these newfangled sites, dagnabbit."

[Melis]

Flickr kicks my connection's ass. Anytime I try to view someone's pictures, it locks up my browser and if it doesn't, it takes an eternity to load.

I use Photobucket because 1)I'm cheap and it was free and 2)I'm html and ftp incompetant and the site does the work for me.

[kyran]

i don't have a recommendation (I use flickr for public photos; kodak gallery to share the rest between close friends and family), more of a testimony. my ibook leaped to its death off the top of our piano last christmas, and in the aftermath i discoverd at least one saving grace about the compulsion to post my life online: all the good photographs were online somewhere.

also, I don't have to feel guilty about not scrapbooking.

k.

[Michelle D.]

Like TomN, I principally use Gallery, though I use Flickr, too. I often upload some of the same content to both sites, but anything I am going to use in my online journal usually is hosted on my own domain. Likewise the photos of my professional work (I'm a custom dressmaker).

I mostly use flickr for posting photos of local cycling events and stuff my goofy friends and I have been up to. My personal pictures, and artsy-phartsy stuff that is interesting solely to myself ends up on my gallery site.

Flickr is totally easy to use...Gallery was kind of a rathole to install, though now that it is up and running, I find the uploading interface to be more user friendly than Flickr's basic form, though the Flickr uploader is super-convenient.

I like Gallery's nested albums better than Flickr's sets and groups, but each has its advantages.

So yeah, I use both, but I would say Flickr will probably treat you right.

[M&Co.]

I use Flickr too. Probably because I'm too lazy to figure some of the other options out. I did max out the free uploads and decided I needed to pony up the $29.95 or whatever to get a pro account. I figure when my computer crashes, at least I won't lose the 100,000 pictures of my kids that I couldn't live without.

My burning question is: What kind of camera did you get? I've got a pretty nice Kodak one but it's heavy and I don't like to carry it around in my purse and I've been looking at some less expensive, lighter ones lately.

[the patriarch]

You can right-click on any image and save it, doesn't matter what platform it's on, as long as you can bring it up on your browser. The good thing about Flickr are the privacy settings, which you can set for individual pictures and/or your whole photo stream. Also, 30 bucks a year for 2 gigs a month, which is more than you'll ever need.

Go with Flickr, my son. And say hi to Eden for me.

[Mom101]

I have no issues with hosting photos on photo bucket and uploading to my blog. If you want to keep them all in one easy access spot though, flick'rs your place.

[Amber]

If you want to keep the photos a little more close to the breast I would recommend Snapfish. No one can look at the albums unless 1. they have an account and 2. you invite them to do so. Plus Snapfish has a lot of other cool features like being able to have the pictures put on things like mouse pads, t-shirts, coffee mugs, calendars, etc.

[Heavy]

I'd highly recommend SimpleViewer if you're interested in hosting your own gallery. It's a very simple set of dynamic scripts that turn a folder containing pictures into an album.

Security isn't fancy (i.e. no licensing, permissions etc.) but the script does pull your images into a .fla movie so right clicking isn't available. A creep would have to take a screen capture to get a copy.

See it in action here: SimpleViewer