SHARING YOUR PHOTOS

If an image is captured and no one but the Photographer sees it, has it really been enjoyed?" Clearly, a much less complicated question, it's answerable by simply stating, "Not nearly as much." The sharing of an image is, after all, the reason you capture it in the first place, isn't it?
Among the many wonders of the Internet is the fairly recent development of photo-sharing Web sites. These sites are set up as online communities where people can "drop off' their images for all of the world (or may be just for mom and dad) to see. What's really terrific about these photo-sharing sites is the scale of the transaction - people will pass their photos around as always, but now, instead of just in the living room or at the water cooler at the office, you can pass 'em around the world.
And think about the cost associated with the old methods of sharing images. Because you don't have to spend time searching through shoe boxes for negatives, stopping at the store, dropping off the order, stopping at the store again, picking up the order, returning the negative to its (junk drawer) file, buying envelopes, buying note paper, buying postage stamps, and going to the post office before getting on with life, the whole-cost pricing of each shared picture is greatly reduced.
There are a bunch of photo-sharing communities on the Internet, following sites that appear at the top of most lists are: SmugMug, Flickr, Picasa Web Albums, Photobucket
One real attractive aspect of most sites, is the fact they don't cost a Rupee.
Sharing with Adobe's www.activeshare.com
Photo-manipulation software giant Adobe has emerged in the Web photo-sharing game as well. With its setup, the user is asked to download the site's easy-to-use ActiveShare software. A nice feature of this Adobe software is the fact it does away with the sometimes cumbersome step of importing photos into the computer by providing the user a one-click process to getting images from a digital camera or scanner. Click on the appropriate icon and the images are downloaded instantly.
Once the images are on your desktop, ActiveShare provides some very basic photo-editing capabilities along with some intuitive image organization and electronic photo album features. A real nice touch is the option to preview your work after completion. A terrific built-in search engine allows users to search for images currently residing on their hard drive that might be last-minute additions to their newly created electronic album. (Many of the Adobe photo album templates are more attractive than most of the sharing sites we've visited.)
The software automatically communicates with the site and your images are ready to roll. With one click, your images are automatically uploaded to the eCircles portion of the ActiveShare Web site.
The main emphasis with ActiveShare.com is clearly family. The site isn't set up for photo sharing between strangers, as many of the other sites are. Adobe is pushing photo sharing between family and friends as its eCircles section encourages family members to gather and share comments on the posted images. Bold graphics and brief, breezy text guide members through the steps needed to complete the process. Once you're finished adding any last minute captions or enhancements, it's time to alert the gang that your album is ready for sharing. The eCircles e-mail setup allows you to send out the entire album right from the site or have your recipients come visit your Circle at the ActiveShare site.
Flickr

Flickr was originally conceived in 2002 as a video game-screenshot sharing web site, but it quickly blossomed into a full-fledged photo sharing site with a bustling community. The now Yahoo-owned site offers free accounts with limitations placed on photo uploads and other features, while the $25/year Pro account promises unlimited uploads, storage, and sets. Flickr, like many of the others, also recently added video sharing to their repertoire.
Picasa Web Albums
Picasa Web Albums are the online counterpart to Google's popular, Windows- and Linux-only desktop photo organization software, Picasa. Despite its late entry to the photo sharing game in mid-2006, Picasa Web Album's seamless integration with Picasa and Google accounts quickly gained the service a large following. A free account with Picasa Web Albums gives you 1GB of free storage space, and you can buy extra storage that's shared with your Gmail account for anywhere between $20/year for 10GB to $500/year for 400GB.
SmugMug
SmugMug is a premium photo sharing web site with an emphasis on professional photography. That's not to say that the site's not also perfect for the weekend photographer, as its attractive and user-friendly interface is tempting for any level of photog. The biggest hurdle for new SmugMug users is that the site has no free account (though there is a 14-day free trial), and the minimum price for an account is $40/year. However, SmugMug users—many of whom are former Flickr die-hards (there's even an import tool called Smugglr

)—seem very pleased with their choice.

Each one of the sites is fun and ease of use. There's really no reason not to start sharing your digitized masterpieces today