Backpacker Magazine – June 2008

Share and Share Alike?: Top Five Photo Sharing Sites

Your adventure is ready for primetime. Here are 19 ways to reach the audience in your living room–or around the world. Web-based photo sites aren't all created equal. Here are our top 5.

by: Evelyn Spence, Jason Stevenson, Kris Wagner

Share Your Trip | Post Your Video | Photos 101 | Top Photo Sharing Sites

FLICKR Space 100MB Edit N Print Y Geotag Y
Pros: A strong community–you can form or join groups (like "Yosemite," with 1,400 members). Cons: Flickr limits uploads by bandwidth, not storage space on a server per se; deleting photos won't help.

KODAK GALLERY Space Unlimited Edit Y Print Y Geotag N
Pros: Prints are cheap (15 cents) and you can password-protect your pics. Cons: Prints look cheap. And the site has no community feature–only the option to share one-way.

PICASA Space 1GB Edit Y Print Y Geotag Y
Pros: You can create a portable slideshow for your website or Facebook page. Cons: The search and organizational features are limited.

SHUTTERFLY Space Unlimited Edit Y Print Y Geotag N
Pros: Super-intuitive to use. You can order photo books, cards, even tote bags. Cons: You get charged to download a high-res version of your own photo ($40 per CD).

SMUGMUG Space Unlimited Edit Y Print Y Geotag Y
Pros: Display is elegant and dynamic. Pro Users ($150/year) can create customized pages and sell images Cons: Everyone has to pay (basic membership: $40/year).

Photo Assistants Three innovative websites with bonus features.

OUTDOOREYES.COM
Share wildlife and landscape photos with other outdoor photographers.

PHOTOSHELTER.COM
Upload your images here, and they're automatically archived in two different data centers for backup security–at no charge.

PANORAMIO.COM
This community-based photo-sharing site (recently acquired by Google) geotags images onto Google Earth.

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