The Five Best Websites for Image Hosting
Taking photos and uploading them to the Internet has never been easier. The best sites for storing these photos back them up, make them easy to share, showcase them in beautiful galleries, and offer tons of space and editing tools. This week we take a look at the top five image hosting sites based on your nominations.
Earlier this week, we asked you on which image hosting websites you share your photos with the world, whether you download them from your smartphone, painstakingly create galleries for your camera shots, or do something else. You have answered with many nominees, but we only have room for the top five. Here they are, in no particular order:
Google+ Photos
Aside from Google+ as a social network, one thing is for sure: the service is great for posting, managing, organizing, and even sharing photos. Google+ Photos gives you tons of tools and options to manage your photos , whether you download them all automatically from your Android or iOS device, or manually upload them in batches from your computer or camera. Google+ Photos gives you the ability to automatically back up and store your photos from multiple sources, link them to your Google account, edit them with amazingly reliable web-based image editing tools, apply filters and edit them from any device or simply let Google automatically correct and improve colors for you thanks to their “auto awesome” process that can actually enhance your photos. Other times, Auto Awesome turns your shots into animated GIFs that capture multiple moments at once, or simply makes your photos more interesting to view and share. Google+ Photos also automatically organizes your photos by “moment” or “event,” like vacation or trip, and automatically creates date-based galleries for you so you can easily share photos in groups or one at a time. It even automatically stitches panoramas for you.
Google+ Photos was a popular contender in the nominations round, mainly because it makes your photos look so good, automatic uploading makes backing up and uploading your photos a process you don’t have to think about, and viewing and sharing your photos from any device. simple. Best of all, it’s free – and as long as you upload standard sized photos, you get unlimited storage for them . There are caveats , though , and ultimately your storage space is shared with Google Drive, so if you’re looking to upload full-resolution or RAW photos, Full HD videos, or other high-quality features, you may eventually need to pony up for space. on Google Drive to keep everything convenient. Regardless, many of you have praised Google+ Photos for making your photos a beautiful home, even if you don’t use Google+. Others praised it for its convenience and photo editing capabilities. Some of you noted that it can be difficult to share photos with people who are not on Google+, others noted that you have found ways to make it work. Read more in the nomination thread here .
Flickr
Flickr used to be the only big name people thought of when it came to storing and sharing photos online, and while it’s still one of the main destinations for photographers and photography enthusiasts, it remains controversial whether or not it really keeps up with the times. … Changes and updates to Flickr since the Yahoo purchase have sparked controversy, to say the least. Several changes have redesigned the site’s layout, made galleries more responsive and attractive, and updated mobile apps so you can download and edit on the go, and view photos of friends and groups at any time. However, other changes, such as knocking a confusing transition with free and “professional” accounts on accounts with ad-supported / no ads / with more memory a few years ago, even more confused water, although now the picture is much clearer. Flickr is still a great place to host your photos with a huge community of photographers, the ability to make your photos public or private at any time, multiple licensing options (including Creative Commons and other options that allow you to sell your photos if you select) and groups virtually all possible interests (for example, our Flickr group to elect workers’ desks and selected workspaces !) Since then, Flickr has steadily improved their offers , while maintaining a third-party community spirit that has made it popular . Flickr is still free (you just need a Yahoo account) for an ad-supported account with 1TB storage (limited to 200MB / photos and 1GB / video, max duration is 3 minutes). “Pro” is the ad-free Flickr account option that gives you unlimited downloads (with the same restrictions as the free account) for $ 25 per year. “Doublr” was an account type that gave users 2TB of storage and did not require ads, but Flickr quietly ruled out that possibility a year ago .
Many of you have pointed out on your nominations thread that you still love Flickr, despite the fact that it has gone through several major changes that have disabled its old guard, and others of you have shared your stories of how you used and loved Flickr. but have since moved for one reason or another. Many of you have noticed that every design and interface update on the site made it even more difficult to use: functions that were previously available in one click are now buried in three or four clicks. Some of you pointed out that Flickr’s previous focus on communities and groups was limited to large galleries, huge photos, and not so much comments or discussions. Despite this, Flickr is also very fond of the topic of nominations: many of you say you have no reason to move anywhere, others explain that Flickr is still the site of choice for photographers wanting to share their work, and much more. Read more in the nomination thread here .
Cup
Smugmug has been around for a long time, and while other photo hosting sites have come and gone or stopped, it has never stopped updating, improving and providing its users with more features, clearer, modern designs and the tools they need to showcase their photos. while at the same time fostering a sense of community among users. These days Smugmug is not so much a Flickr-like site like “show off your photos so people can comment here” (as it used to be), but rather a place for hobbyists and professional photographers and companies who can build rich websites. with photos, where they can showcase their work, share their photos with anyone who wants to see them, customize the design of their photo site according to their tastes and much more. There are tons of designs to choose from and you can customize all of them using Smugmug’s built-in tools, or if you’re comfortable, you can go and customize the layouts yourself. Smugmug also gives photographers full control over licensing, download options, watermarks, and more. Your photos and videos are always uploaded in full resolution. Smugmug is an all-premium service with rates ranging from $ 40 to $ 300 per year depending on storage requirements, required customization options, whether you plan to sell your photos or open an online store, etc. You can read the details of all Smugmug’s plans here .
In your nominations thread, those of you who have supported Smugmug praised him for the recent (over the past 18 months) changes that many of you say have given the site a much more modern look, with an emphasis on individual user photos. pages and personalization, not a one-size-fits-all approach. Now you can use Smugmug with your own domain name if you want, create your own photo gallery or just post your photos online using some of their beautiful templates. Others of you have praised Smugmug for providing you with simple tools to get prints, books, postcards, and posters with photos so you can take great photos and then blow them up and print them easily, frame them, send them as gifts. and much more without a ton of hassle. Read more in the nomination thread here .
Imgur
While Imgur is designed for fast, one-time image sharing and targets viral images, memes, and GIFs directly (not to mention its tight integration with Reddit), it is still arguably one of the most popular image posting sites on the internet. partly because it’s just that easy to download anything and share it with the world. If you sign up for an account, you can save and manage all images you uploaded, re-share or manage comments on them, and if you are an Imgur Pro subscriber ($ 24 per year) you can view without ads, get analytics on uploaded images and galleries, you get more options for the images you share and you can upload as many photos as you want (free users are limited to 225 images). Likewise, Imgur Image Compression is notorious among real photographers – free users will have any image larger than 5MB compressed to that size. Pro users get a break: only images larger than 10MB are compressed (and even then only up to 10MB). Imgur also has mobile apps that make it easy to view and track your own images, an open API for developers to (and many) plug into third-party apps and tools, and more. It’s not an image hosting site in the classic sense, with beautiful galleries and a focus on photo rights, credits, licensing and presentation, but it’s fast, easy to use, and has a huge user base.
Those of you who have nominated Imgur have highlighted this fact. Many of you pointed out that the service integrates with other sites you use frequently (including Reddit) and that the ability to quickly download anything for easy sharing, whether you have an account or not, and whether whether you want to keep track of the image, or just bookmark it for later use (like a reaction-to-reaction GIF or something), making it perfect for what it does best. Plus, many of you noted that its simple design allows you to focus on the image or GIF in question and discuss it in the comments, without a bunch of screen clutter, boxes and widgets or other tools. Some of you didn’t like it because of the terrible image compression, which is also justified. Read more in the nomination thread here .
500 pixels
500px is a social network for photographers, not to mention a space for photographers of all types – both amateur and professional – where they can share their work, get to know each other, follow each other and learn from each other. While other sites are generally considered to be a place where anyone can upload and share some or all of their photos, the constant 500px mantra is that the web is a place to share your best work, showcase your photos, and chat with others. people. who has the same eye for photography or a passion for the visual arts. At the same time, however, 500px has seen an influx of users from the old guard of Flickr who appreciated the more streamlined design of the site in the face of unpopular changes on Flickr (although the sites are very similar in some respects now.) Users there have their own profiles with their own galleries and photos. who proudly display under their names can follow other photographers, and photographers gain control over the licensing and use of their photos – they have the option to license them for free or sell them however they see fit. The 500px mobile apps give users the ability to chat with their friends and fellow photographers on the road, and view their favorite groups or the site’s most popular photos at any time. Even if you don’t use 500px for your photos, this is one of our favorite and most underrated sources of desktop wallpaper , not to mention a great photo browser and slideshow maker for your iPad or Android .
Those of you who nominated 500px specifically noted that this is something of a “professional” Flickr: more photos from people who care about photography or are interested in photography, and fewer occasional uploads from organizations or companies and brands cluttering up searches. or community groups. The site may be smaller, but you named it a live image user interface and search tools that make it easy to find inspiration at any time. Plus, you praised its community-centricity, where community voices help separate really good photos from bad things, ads, and clutter. Read more in the nomination thread here .
Now that you’ve seen the top five, it’s time to put them up for a general vote to determine the Lifehacker community favorite:
This week’s honorable mention goes to Amazon Prime Photos , which launched late last year . Some of you noted that you’ve played with it, and while it’s a very new product and still a bit rough, it’s a great option if you’re an Amazon Prime member, and the fact that it syncs easily as well. and automatically backs up photos from your phone or computer to Amazon cloud drive, which makes it attractive to many. Some of you said it was incredible even though it is new and you do have a lot of room and opportunity for your membership. Read more in the nomination thread here .
Also worth highlighting is Dropbox , which didn’t really get the nominations it deserves, but we thought it was important to mention it anyway. We talked about how powerful Dropbox can be when it comes to managing your photos, and while it may not be as reliable as some of the options above, automatic backups and great sharing tools make it a great place to store and sharing your photos. photos with beautiful galleries and many access control and sharing functions. We’re surprised he didn’t gain traction in the round of nominations, but we’re happy to give him an endorsement here.
Finally, for those interested in hosting their own photo galleries on their own web space, Chevereto is an open source project that has climbed multiple nominations for an easy-to-use, easy-to-install photo gallery package. which you can use to upload and manage your own photos. Best of all, it can work as an interface for accessing photos elsewhere, like Amazon S3. It supports multiple languages, is easy to set up, and has great sharing capabilities – if you’re tired of the heavy and difficult to manage galleries of the past, think about it. Read more in the nomination thread here .
Do you have anything to say about one of the applicants? Want to substantiate your personal favorite even if it wasn’t on the list? Remember, the Top 5 is based on your most popular nominations from the Call for Applicants thread earlier this week . Don’t just complain about the top 5, let us know which option you like best and justify it in the discussions below.