TP: Photo Sharing/Hosting Services

I wonder if this works (from webshots.com)

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pegelli wrote: Try photobucket (free and works well) or SmugMug (payed and works even better). Only problem with photobucket is that you give them the right to use any photo's you upload free of charge. SmugMug has no such "fine print"

This must be why I have several images with hundreds of mystery "views"! I started digging into the stats that photobucket provides and found that several images that I've only linked on dyxum are also viewed on mySpace...alot.

I don't know if I am very happy about that.

On one hand, I don't "make a living" with my photography - it's purely for my own enjoyment...so I'm not worried about losing income. And it's even somewhat flattering to know that my images are being viewed unsolicited (so to speak).

But, it would be nice to know exactly who is using them and what they are being used for....which they don't divulge in their stats.

Anyone else know more about this photobucket/mySpace situation?

I had used Google's Picassa for about half a year. It's a decent service/application, but since I received almost no comments, I switched to Flickr earlier today. So far I like what I see. Lots of customization features, but still quite convenient .

Talking about Flickr, are there any groups made up of Dxyum members?

Edited by Alpha2008 - 25 August 2009 at 01:04

Hi Steve,

Thanks for the bump, I was just about to write something about my small recent web project. Here we go:

Firstly, this is the result of my project: http://chuongddh.com

My Demand:
   I want more control for my pictures gallery, content... ect. This is something I don't have from flickr or facebook album.

Ok Here are the required pieces for my project:
+ A domain - I bought my chuongddh.com domain for $10.56/year from goddady.com. They may have discount; different domain extensions have different prices (domain.info is cheapest I think).
+ A host - I bought a host plan from Bluehost.com at discount $3.9 month for 24 months (regular price $7/month). They have good review and number of services.
     Note: Bluehost.com provides a free domain if you use their service. Because, I used that free domain for different purpose, I paid extra to goddady.com
+ A web application - I use free php web application Zenphoto from zenphoto.org for it. You can use any other web app like Wordpress, Jalbum...

Total cost is: about $4.9/month


The advantages are:
+ My own website with the look and feel I can control. I can add-on plug-ins, change theme. They have more plug-ins/themes than what I need at this point.
+ I can integrate my web app with the wordpress account. This requires a plug-ins.
+ From the host service, I get unlimited space, free MySQL database, free email,...They also provide pretty nice CPanel to administrate your host and content.
+ Fairly cheap.

The disadvantages are:
+ People don't know about my website unless I bring it to them. This is a plus of community of flickr or facebook.


So how difficult is it? I can say it fairly easy, I spent zero time for coding. It may be tricky a bit when I mapped the host with domain; I have to do this because I bought domain elsewhere (not required if I use Bluehost domain). However as long as I followed the instructions, things went smoothly.

Cheers,
Bun Do

Edited by quietbun - 26 June 2010 at 01:34

Quietbun has given us a nice "roll-your-own" alternative, here. Kudos, a nice-looking site, and many thanks for the write-up!

I'd like to ask a few questions, make a few comments...

quietbun wrote: ... My Demand:    I want more control for my pictures gallery, content... ect. This is something I don't have from flickr or facebook album.

Had you compared the "premium" or "pro-oriented" services? In particular, you cited flickr and facebook, which seem so be aimed for a "lowest-common-denominator" sort of site: minimal demands on the photographer setting up the site. I wonder if you found (or would have found) controls & customization at the higher-end sites to be superior...?

Also, did you look at other roll-your-own options, e.g. Coppermine, Gallery2, etc...

quietbun wrote: The advantages are: + My own website with the look and feel I can control. I can add-on plug-ins, change theme. They have more plug-ins/themes than what I need at this point. + I can integrate my web app with the wordpress account. This requires a plug-ins. + From the host service, I get unlimited space, free MySQL database, free email,...They also provide pretty nice CPanel to administrate your host and content. + Fairly cheap. The disadvantages are: + People don't know about my website unless I bring it to them. This is a plus of community of flickr or facebook.

One other advantage to the SmugMug/Zenfolio side of things: they have pre-existing relationships & special deals with various vendors and suppliers. In particular, if you plan to SELL from the site, they have e-commerce infrastructure and accounts in place. Other things include business-cards and the whole panoply of photo-products (calendars, books, greeting-cards, etc).

Another DISadvantage for the roll-your-own: if anything breaks, you have to fix it; this includes the discovery of security vulnerabilities &c.


- Steve S.

Steve, You are absolutely right. I spent some time research and found the followings:

Firstly before my project I read some reviews on pro services. And to be honest, I was back out by the fee of those services. The provider I found reasonable is Fine Art America.

Secondly, I agree with the disadvantages you listed. I set it up so if sth goes wrong I have to look for solution either contacting my host service, or fix it myself. Therefore, it's suggested to keep my data back up regularly and the process of restore and set things up is clear in site administration. I did have to restore database and set up my site again once.

Lastly, I did compare Gallery2 and Zenphoto. The reason I pic zenphoto because there are potential third party plug-in for paypal, google checkout ect. Moreover, my host service guy is also providing a free shopping cart service... However, I will have to spend time to learn about the whole business process if i want to set it up and things will be more complicated .

So my plan is to move step by step. Right now my website is just a showcase; and when it comes to selling picture, I would consider different integrations, or just making an account with Fine Are America and link it with my current site .

Edit: spelling and others.

Edited by quietbun - 30 June 2010 at 19:50

I just opened up a 500px account, and it seems to be pretty nice for sharing pictures with friends/family.

Like Quietbun, I've thought about making my own site so that I can customize the look of it to suit my needs, but have been too busy/lazy to do that. Anyone else use 500px?