Online Albums

Flickr (for the photo enthusiast)
Flickr is the largest photo sharing community today, popularizing two online image innovations: tags and notes. “Tagging” allows you to link your pictures to a set of words, sort of like creating a search engine for anyone’s photos. This was readily apparent during the terrorist attack on London’s subway system: the rest of the world first saw it through the lenses of London witnesses who quickly uploaded the pictures they took with their mobile phone cameras. Flickr-logged people tag-searched “London” or “attack” and saw what was happening unfold ahead of the news networks. The “Notes” tool on the site allows users to leave pop-up notes directly on the image, creating an added layer of storytelling. A simple landscape picture of a white sand beach can now be immortalized with a note on the shore declaring, “Had my first kiss here.”

Hello (for private screenings)
Consider it basically the opposite of Flickr: Instead of wide open, cross continental sharing and coverage, Hello emphasizes one-on-one intimacy and privacy. Since photo sharing is fixed to one or two people as opposed to anyone with an Internet connection, there is minimal lag time. Hello takes advantage of this by integrating its own instant messaging function, making it possible to chat and send photos in real time.

Smugmug (for the pro)
Smugmug carries over a lot of the basic features found on Flickr and sets itself apart by offering a so-called “Pro Zone”, focusing on the unique needs of the professional photographer. Enrolled users can customize the design template/theme and layout of the page, making it possible to create a more individualized, gallery-like online exhibit. Taking it one step further, the people behind Smugmug also make it possible for a user to convert the page into an online photography store by accepting and managing online transactions, printing availability and handling the logistics of shipping. Smugmug will even help with marketing research, sending detailed reports of which photos were most viewed, profits earned per size of each photo and sales.

Photobucket (for the blogger)
This site is essentially a useful photo storage tool for the more tech-savvy user (which you are if you’re familiar with HTML code) who can create multimedia sites or blogs with basic images, slide show presentations, and streaming videos. Photobucket owes its success to its role as a key service integrated with , a social networking site frequently referred to as this generation’s MTV.

Snapfish and York Photo (for the good old photo album)
If you want to have your digital photographs printed, Snapfish (owned by Hewlett Packard) and York Photo provide the services that will get the most color-bursting bang for your buck. These two services are highly rated for price, quality, and range of products that you can print the photos on – shirts, toys, bags, mugs, and underwear.