How to and Where to host pictures.

[Lunal_Tic]

In this thread I will list some places to host pictures off-site. Hopefully I'll also have a chance to put in some basic "How-to" instructions as well. Right now, however, my familiarity is mainly with ImageShack, so I will stick to this for the time being.

Currently EDCF allows uploading of your pictures. As we grow, it is quite likely we will have to suspend this feature. We have already had to enlarge the upload capacity used by the forum software, and EDCF has only been active for a short time. In anticipation of this event, I would recommend getting used to hosting your pictures with a hosting service like those listed below. Using these services will also allow you to link to the same picture on several forums or even send links to friends rather than having to upload or email the same picture over and over again.


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Here are some hosting sites:
ImageShack
ImageShack FAQs


Photobucket
photobucket FAQs
photobucket Tutorials


dotphoto
dotphoto's Terms of service


Flickr
Flickr product tour


Picasa
Picasa product tour


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Quick'n dirty tutorials:

ImageShack
The ImageShack site offers the ability to post thumbnails of your photos that link back to the larger-size original. This feature decreases the bandwidth use for sites and allows pages to load faster. It also has the added benefit of always being smaller than the recommended picture size for this forum, 640x480pxl, even though you might have uploaded a larger picture to Image Shack. This option is very helpful with photo-heavy posts and detail photos for which 640x480 just isn't big enough.

One thing about ImageShack, once you sign up they send a confirmation email with a link that you must use to to get to your pictures. If you use multiple computers then I would strongly recommend forwarding it to yourself and archiving it in case you get locked out later. Once you have logged on the first time using this link you can put that address in your favorites. Mind you this was how it worked as of my sign up a few years ago. Perhaps a more recent applicant could post an update.

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Please understand that no service is perfect. There will always be a bug or two or features/add-ins that are annoying. Many sites have pop-up, which is how they receive their funding; remember most of these sites are free. Find the service that works for you, and try several.

This will be another work-in-progress thread. Please post any ideas or tips that you might have found, and we'll try to incorporate them, as applicable, into this first post.

Thanks for your help with this.

EDCF Staff

[bruner]

I use imageshack and it has been working rather well for me.

I especially like the fact that I can post thumbnail images (which load faster than full size images).* The thumbnail image can be clicked on to view the full size picture.

I've had a few evenings when imageshack was down or not working properly, but overall I am happy with them.

Here's an example of a thumbnai (click to view full size image)l...


Uploading pictures is fairly easy and adding a thumbnail, or link, or the actual full size image in a post is just a matter of cutting and pasting some code. They make it relatively simple, just give it a try, and if you need help, I would be happy to help.

Dan

[erckgillis]

I like the dotphoto.com

The albulms, web links and the built-in tools for slides, videos and editing etc.

Free accounts with no limits, Video for a small fee (but I use Youtube).

Excellent quality without resizing, free slides shows and public/private viewing by members/guest.

includes tags, captions and bulk uploads.

check it out

http://erckgillis.dotphoto.com

[greenLED]

Thank you for adding that link erckgillis.

Two other that haven't been mentioned in the OP are flickr and Picasa's online service (neither of which I've used), so can't give details

[luigi]

Picasa is very nice I use it to share some albums and works very nicely.
But I don't know if you can create a thumbnail to a picasa hosted image to post here.

Luigi

Thank you for adding that link erckgillis.

Two other that haven't been mentioned in the OP are flickr and Picasa's online service (neither of which I've used), so can't give details

[greenLED]

OP updated with new links and minor edits.

Picasa is very nice I use it to share some albums and works very nicely.
But I don't know if you can create a thumbnail to a picasa hosted image to post here.

I'll have to try it sometime. I really like the thumbnails because it speeds up loading times when I'm on dial-up.

It'd be great if people who use these other services could chime in with a short tutorial, pro's, con's, etc.

[normshapiro]

I've just posted a couple of photos using the sizes called for. They show up very small. How do I post larger images (like those by Esthan just before my post on Bags) and still meet forum guidelines? I'm using Photoshop for my photos.

[Lunal_Tic]

Did you upload them or link to a hosting site? If the former then the forum software resizes them to thumbnails that expand when you click on them. If the latter then you just need to use 640x480 sized pix and post a link to them. Don't use the thumbnail link if you what them to show in your post at full size. Be aware that posting a lot of full sized pix will slow loading speeds for people so for those posts use thumbnails.

-LT

[gadgetjunky]

I use Imagevenue and fototime. Imagevenue is free, but no easy way to manage pictures once they are uploaded. Fototime is like $30 a year and allows online albums and hot linking.

[normshapiro]

Thanks for giving me the maximum size. There is no Photo size only file size (128KB) given when you hit the attachment button. Maybe you can add the photo size and resolution setting.