Whats Best free online Photo sharing website? Anything with Preview window?

[westsidesurfing]

<p>Any advice on the best free online photo sharing website would be appreciated.<br>

What I need to do is this, - upload 1000 surfing photos (large Jpegs). Then I need several people to be able to look through surfing pics conveniently, to choose the photos of them. they need the capability of downloading selected photos of them. since trying to look through a thousand small thumbnails of surfing photos would NOT be very easy for surfing photos, im hoping to find something where they can quickly click through the thumbnails and see a larger image of the thumbnail selected (like preview window) or something.<br>

Thanks in advanced to anyone who can direct me to something that can help me out.</p>

[gulfbeach47]

<p><a href="../photodb/user?user_id=5680000">Brad </a><br>

I have been very happy with Smugmug for 3 years now. They offer various options for viewing. I prefer the thumbnails that you are talking about although none of my galleries have more then 500 pix. You can look over all the thumbnails and then click on any for larger view and can also view as slides show. Customers can order prints, original images or merchandise. Smugmug takes care of all the paperwork and hassles and you get a check after X amount of sales. You can make a very nicde website with their tools. Mine is very basic. I'm very slow at getting around to making it fancy. I just want a site where my customers can find their pix easy and be able to order with a minimum of steps. Feel free to check out my website. If you go with them mention my name. http://www.johnhillphotography.com/</p>

 

[westsidesurfing]

<p>Do you know if these sites require the people im sharing with to sign up for an account with them? That is not ideal for my situation. And do these sites share the photos in a way where they are going to send spam emails to them offering to sell them services etc.<br>

thanks</p>

[Matt Laur]

<p>Brad: are you just looking to <em>show</em> them the images, or are you also looking for some third party to handle print orders, paid high-res files downloads, etc?<br /><br />If you don't mind a little roll-your-own, you can use something like the (free!) jAlbum software to generate galleries. It will handle all sorts of thumbnailing schemes, including allowing the visitor to see a parade of the images as a slideshow, etc. You can also skin jalbum with a shopping cart system, like fotoplayer.<br /><br />Solutions like that require only very simple web hosting... the kind you can buy for about the cost of a pizza every month.<br /><br />Otherwise, I don't think that "free" is going to do what you want. Something with a modest price tag (like smugmug) is a more likely fit.</p>

[westsidesurfing]

<p>Matt: I dont need print orders or paid downloads. Just need people to be able to download (free) multiple 3 or 4 mb jpegs. Not paid just download at this point. I'd like people to be able to view the thumbnails w/ a larger preview when they click on thumbnail, and download photos that they choose. I'll check out the smug mug site</p>

[gulfbeach47]

<p>Click on my Hurricane Ike Surfing & Kite Surfing gallery. (Not great surfing but I was taking some pix for local newspaper and shot a few extras).<br>

Once you click on it, go to Slideshow in upper right corner. Viewer can control the slide show slow, medium, fast or pause. Hit escape to get out of slide show. If you plan on ever doing it for money, I imagine your going to need something other then a free site. With Smugmug you name your price for prints or downloads and Smugmug gets their small percentage. There is an annual fee if you are going to sell your work. Click BUY on one of my photos (you will not be charged) and it will show you a sample of what a customer sees when ordering. Mine has options of Prints, Merchandise or Downloads. Note that this also gives you a back-up storage place to keep all your images. You can download them later if you lose them on your computer.<br /> </p>

[westsidesurfing]

<p>thanks john and matt. Im doing a 14 day trial for smug mug. It seams a lot of people who use smug mug sell their photography to random people they dont know who do online searches and find their work. I never thought of that. I will eventually sell my surf photos, but to probably only surfers in the photos. I'll be curious to see if buying and downloading online is something that would interest them. I was planning on just burning photos to a dvd on my laptop at the beach. I'd be curious to hear more thoughts out there from you photographers who have experience in this. thanks again</p>

[gulfbeach47]

<p>Brad<br>

Get business cards and hand them out to the surfers as they come out of the water. Surfers love to see pix of themselves just like other athletes. I even thought of making a cheapo sign that advertises my info to stick on the beach by me when I am shooting but have not gone that far yet. If your work is good enough, check with local surf/skate shops will add your link if you get serious about it.</p>