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Author Topic: Best Photo Storing Sites  (Read 1948 times)

Michael Erlewine

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Best Photo Storing Sites
« on: October 29, 2018, 01:32:02 pm »

I am considering putting a lot of my images online, with a couple of things in mind:

(1) Store them full-sized, etc.
(2) Show them in smaller size
(3) If possible, sell them in digital form to be printed and sent by other vendors. Or, better yet, have the storage site sell the image and print and send it to a customer.

Free or subscriptions sites are fine. Need unlimited storage and the ability to take large .TIF files, etc.

Any of you folks have any suggestions about this, please?
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Michael Erlewine

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Re: Best Photo Storing Sites
« Reply #1 on: November 01, 2018, 12:43:31 pm »

I was asking around various forums for suggestions about image-hosting sites that were worth considering. Well, I answered my own question by going out and seeing what photo sites are there. The perfect one for me, so far, is something called Smugmug.com. Perhaps they are smug because they just bought Flickr. It’s not a free site, but it is very reasonable for what it offers.

For one, you get unlimited uploads. As a software engineer who had built and overseen many enterprise-level websites built, I am impressed at how functional and well-built this site is – very well thought out.

It deals mostly with JPG or GIF, but also include lossless .PNG, which not too distant from the TIF in which I store my finished photos. There are limits on the size, but they are good enough (150 megabytes in size and 210 megapixels). I am busy putting up some of my photo collection (or at least the start of it).

They have a number of finished templates that you can just adapt to your material and I choose one. Functionally, this is a very well-made system, with great tools for putting things online. I have never seen any better, IMO.

My site took about a day to put together, not including preparing files to upload. But with hundreds of thousands of images, it took me a week or two just to massage out some 40,000 images that I am considering. From these, I will pick a few thousand to post on the site as I find time.

They offer four plans and monthly subscriptions for $3, $5, $14, and $29 if billed annually. The two more expensive plans include a shopping cart complete with about every way to monetize images I could imagine. They offer fulfillment automatically through several major print-shops, a cradle-to-the-grave experience. Having built many shopping cart systems over the years, this one is really well made. 

I am just starting to populate my site, but I have some 500 or so images up. Those of you interest in this sort of thing can check out what I’ve done here:

https://MichaelErlewine.smugmug.com
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Joe Towner

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Re: Best Photo Storing Sites
« Reply #2 on: November 01, 2018, 12:55:05 pm »

How big are the full size images 50mp/100mp/???  Viewing them at 100% may be the biggest issue, as I haven't seen a photo site that allows for the zoom and pan features on large images - ala Gigapan.com.  As to TIFF, you're going to have a hard time finding a mass market site that isn't going to convert the image to jpeg on their end.
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Michael Erlewine

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Re: Best Photo Storing Sites
« Reply #3 on: November 01, 2018, 01:19:02 pm »

How big are the full size images 50mp/100mp/???  Viewing them at 100% may be the biggest issue, as I haven't seen a photo site that allows for the zoom and pan features on large images - ala Gigapan.com.  As to TIFF, you're going to have a hard time finding a mass market site that isn't going to convert the image to jpeg on their end.

I gave the limits: 150 megabytes in size and 210 megapixels

I also contacted the site folks and in images are input in PNG, they are NOT converted to JPG online.  They don't have a micro-zoom, but  you can display the images in several sizes or view it full-screen which on my 30" monitor fill up a good portion.
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rdonson

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Re: Best Photo Storing Sites
« Reply #5 on: November 01, 2018, 01:53:20 pm »

https://www.theverge.com/2018/11/1/18051950/flickr-1000-photo-limit-free-accounts-changes-pro-subscription-smugmug?fbclid=IwAR3oV0pe3R3Bx2whLbP5_eSAj5xgeGKYuSzX7aav25l3N6kqeFNHXcGlxLo

Seems reasonable to me.  I'd rather pay to use a good product with good support than hunt down freebies who may disappear.  I always recall the maxim, "if the product is free, you're the product". 

Yes, I'm a happy SmugMug customer and I also use Flickr from time to time. 
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Ron

jrsforums

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Re: Best Photo Storing Sites
« Reply #6 on: November 01, 2018, 02:32:25 pm »

Years ago, I had tried Smugug, but was frustrated by the lack of ability to have multiple tiered folders.  I found that Zenfolio allowed as many tiers as desired and a bit more flexibility in modifying the UI.  I believe, in most other respects, they are quite similar, though I have not check on this.
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Joe Towner

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Re: Best Photo Storing Sites
« Reply #7 on: November 01, 2018, 06:17:41 pm »

I gave the limits: 150 megabytes in size and 210 megapixels

I also contacted the site folks and in images are input in PNG, they are NOT converted to JPG online.  They don't have a micro-zoom, but  you can display the images in several sizes or view it full-screen which on my 30" monitor fill up a good portion.

Yea, my post was at the same time as yours, so it was without your resolution post being referenced.  The 150mb/210mp are the Smugmug limits, my question was more for your requirements.
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Michael Erlewine

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Re: Best Photo Storing Sites
« Reply #8 on: November 01, 2018, 06:38:20 pm »

Yea, my post was at the same time as yours, so it was without your resolution post being referenced.  The 150mb/210mp are the Smugmug limits, my question was more for your requirements.

well, I am using the Nikon D810, D850, and Z7, so that gives you an idea of size for me.
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Peter McLennan

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Re: Best Photo Storing Sites
« Reply #9 on: November 01, 2018, 09:51:02 pm »

Images look superb, Michael.  The site is easy to use and fast to load.
The spider sitting in its web is just astounding.  Congratulations on your skills and patience.
I have a significant case of WantBumps after viewing some of your setups.
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saiguy

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Re: Best Photo Storing Sites
« Reply #10 on: November 02, 2018, 09:18:52 am »

I use SmugMug from within LR Publishing Services. My files are TIFF. SmugMug uses the jpeg previews. My size is about 16MB. I upload Full Size.

When I download an image from SM, I get about 2.5MB file, 72ppi in sRGB. I am reporting this from memory so don't take it to the bank. Just download one and look at what you get.

Never have ordered a print through them so can't comment about that. Also never knew you can have a banner photo at the top of galleries.
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