I like the ability to post directly from lightroom, and between the two, i have found smugmug to be more reliable than flickr.

I still have a vote in for zenfolio. My site is through them and for $100 a year the customer service is second to none. I also bought a domain from go daddy and jumped it to my site. So now whenever someone types my website name in it goes to my zenfolio page. It looks professional and mpix is a great service to work through for printing. Mpix will send you over a cd and a print to make sure what you are sending out is what the client will get also. Not a perfect system but it works well.

Hope this helps

I have pickpic setup on my site. They don't think they offer this on websites anymore. If you want to check it out my site is http://www.funicostudios.com

Deviant Art is another choice for artistic photos and also allows selling but the audience there strikes me as a younger crowd. The site is open for most kinds of artistic expression but you'll mostly find drawings there. Still, I've seen some of the most amazing photos there.

I have Picasa for family photos (I find it easy to share and hide photos).. I have Zenfolio for a business which has its own name and people find the pics because of the business.

But when it comes to artistic style photos that I want people to see, comment on...
It seems that flickr is the best choice, as it has the best community features which drive people seeing the pics.

Yeah, smug mug and zenfolio can protect pics better, and offer selling photos, but what good are they if no one finds the pics?

Thoughts?

Sorry of this has been beat down before!

Zenfolio has a show in selected cities in the very near future.
It might be a good way to learn more about their service and other products being showcased.
JOE

Iuse Uk based use everybodysmile

I am a new member .... 1st post ...have Nikon D200 ... have done some nice surf photos and railroad photos with it *Link Removed* big waves in Hawaii ....
and 5 different railroads in Colorado that World Wide Country tours links too ..
am only a hobbiest *Link Removed*
Just today ordered the AF-S- Nikkor 28-300 Glass ... will use it now on the D200 and wait to see what the D4 is all about ... will go to the FX format some day ...
Cheers
Doc Hemp

Check out Pixpa! at $15/mo...a professional , proofing ordering system

I have not used it personally, saw them on wikipedia....http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Career_portfolio#Online_portfolio

livebooks is pretty much the "standard" but if you want something more affordable then it sounds like Zenfolio has what you are looking for.

I briefly read through this whole thread, Since my thread was closed i was directed to this thread.

It seems that most of these comments suggest flickr for a image hosting site. What i'm looking for is a more professional website for clients.

My results i found so far is livebooks.com and Photobiz.com

Is there any other websites that offer a monthly rate for client proofing and ordering? and it being a professional portfolio website?

Whew ... there's a lot of options.

For putting stuff up that people can buy one offs from, I use Red Bubble. Free to join and I don't have to do anything to make the shots fit any templates or stuff. They also do T-shirts and calenders. People viewing the pictures never get at the decent resolutions.

Flickr is where I put all the general stuff, but I limit anything good to 800 on the longest side first. The ability to group things are good.

I've started messing around with SimpleViewer on my web site as it doesn't require any server side stuff, just static code that is run on the client - http://www.shootstart.com/gallery/1/ - so the intention is to go through my catalogue and put up some select stuff.

If I want general prints then Snapfish is what I normally use for that.

Hope that helps.

Flickr Pro
Smugmug Pro
unlimited storage on both, and i can make some cash on the side to buy more Photo stuff!!!

I use PhotoBiz but that is $15 a month but I make(or try to at least) my living off photography.

im a 2 month old nooblet to photography. I use flickr. The groups i have joined, have given me a lot of feedback, good and bad. I would just be careful of some groups. They will claim full rights of anything you submit.

I really like the zefolio site. I have my site through them it is just a really neat set up. The templates you can choose from are a little limiting but the customer service I have gotten has been very good. Plus if you want to sell your own photos then you can adjust the price to reflect the prices.

That is one thing I'm looking at. I'm also looking into a Wiki type of site as well. Basically I can see multiple sites/focus all connected. Image viewer like Zinfolio, blog/twitter, wiki type for help areas.

I do know how to go about doing that.

Do you mean buying some space on a server and setting up your own software? You can just install Wordpress on it and you have a blog :D

Thank you for all the input! It looks like I'm using my old Flicker account.

I may go with a self hosting option linked to a purchase site. Anyone trying that?

Anyone use any self hosting with blogs etc built in?

For casual sharing I use Nikon Picturetown. You get 2 GB for free and when you share you get a time sensitive download link to send to the person you are sharing with. You don't get any control over downloading - other than only sending the link to the allowed people. There is nothing stopping them from sharing the link to whomever they want. I don' t know if the premium account gives you any more control or not.

I'm a wedding and portrait photographer and use the following:

Flickr for free sharing and feedback from peers

Prophoto blog template via Wordpress for blogging images and daily posts: best way to show off your photos and tell your story behind the images. Also excellent for SEO if you want some traffic coming to your blog.

Smugmug Pro for portraits, sales and proofing.

Pictage for event hosting for access by multiple guests

Facebook Fan Page is also good for sharing low res images

Slide show pro and joomla ...

joemcdonald said:
=======================================
TaoTeJared

I am a wedding / portrait photographer
The ones that seem to be the most popular for that segment are
Pictage, Smugmug, Zenfolio. For the full feature account; Pictage is the most expensive ($100 mo), Smugmug ($150 yr) and Zenfolio ($100 yr). There are cheaper not-full features accounts. Plus there is a fee for pictures purchased by your clients (which you can sell at your own prices). Zenfolio is about 18%, I think Smugmug is similiar. Don't remember what Pictage fee is. Pictage & Smugmug have great, great, great customer service to help you with your business. Zenfolio is getting better. They are for the pro photog business person. Probably not what you would want.

For Free sharing I used Shutterfly. I would redirect my domain name to my account and people could views the pictures, and download the file, or buy prints and mugs, etc.
Good printing service.
They also have a pro account that cost, don't know what it is, and when I looked at it I wasn't happy with it. So I went with one of the top three.

All four of these provided the hosting for you as part of the fee. You just get your own domain name if you want one.

I won't go near Flickr for many reasons.

There are some sharing services that lack many of the features provided in the top three. Of course there are Gallery Software which is free, you can purchase and load on your own server. But managing a server can be a hassel.

Some have carts, some are integerated with photo labs, some you can use your own.

Here are a ton of names that you will come across if you did deep as I did.
PrintRoom, DeviantArt, Express Digital Software, Fotki, FotoGlif, Fotolog, FreePhotoGallery, ImageShack, ViewBook, Photobucket, BBse, Phanfare, PhotoBlog, Picasa, PIctureTrail, PixVillage, Fotoplayer, PicturePro, WebShots, PhotoWorks, Web Gallery Wizard, JAlbum, Coppermine Photo Gallery, DAlbum, picpic, MyPphotoAlbum, ExposureManager, Red Bubble, ifp3, ImageQuix, Instaproofs, Ktools PhotoShtore, SecondStreetMedia MyCapture, MyPhotoAlbum, NextProof, OrderPicture, Parade, PhanFare, PhotoBiz, PhotoDepository, PhotoCart, Photodex, PhotoReflect, Photoshelter, PickPic, PicturesPro, Portfoliositez, Ready Photo Site, ShowItWeb, Siteweelder,

Wikipedia has a "Comparison of photo gallery software"
CNET download has a "Photo Gallery" review
Gallery-Addons has a "Menalto Gallery & modules for Joomla and Mambo"

Hope that was a little bit helpful.
Joe

I use pbase as I like it's layout and skins. I don't much care for flicker either.

I use my own web space and installed Menalto Gallery on it. It's customisable but needs some effort at the beginning. If you're good with computers, all the better. If not, you can ask the server people to set it up for you.

It's just a simple gallery layout without any complicated stuff
Mine's here for your kind reference.

http://www.truphotos.com/gallery

TaoTeJared said:
What do you prefer to use for:
1) Photo sharing
2) Photo hosting design

I haven't seen this one anywhere or one recently. During my last move I let all of my "pro" accounts expire and I want to get back to sharing my photos and am looking for the best site to share them at. It seems that everyone bounces to the flavor of the month and I'm looking for something for a long time.

I have 3 goals:
1) General sharing
2) Control people downloading them
3) Sell one offs to friends (kids sports, framed prints, etc.)
Note: Not a full business, needs to be practically free, and easy for me and end users to use. I am fine with using a second site for this.

Sound off what to you use and like the most and dislike the most.

=======================================
TaoTeJared

I am a wedding / portrait photographer
The ones that seem to be the most popular for that segment are
Pictage, Smugmug, Zenfolio. For the full feature account; Pictage is the most expensive ($100 mo), Smugmug ($150 yr) and Zenfolio ($100 yr). There are cheaper not-full features accounts. Plus there is a fee for pictures purchased by your clients (which you can sell at your own prices). Zenfolio is about 18%, I think Smugmug is similiar. Don't remember what Pictage fee is. Pictage & Smugmug have great, great, great customer service to help you with your business. Zenfolio is getting better. They are for the pro photog business person. Probably not what you would want.

For Free sharing I used Shutterfly. I would redirect my domain name to my account and people could views the pictures, and download the file, or buy prints and mugs, etc.
Good printing service.
They also have a pro account that cost, don't know what it is, and when I looked at it I wasn't happy with it. So I went with one of the top three.

All four of these provided the hosting for you as part of the fee. You just get your own domain name if you want one.

I won't go near Flickr for many reasons.

There are some sharing services that lack many of the features provided in the top three. Of course there are Gallery Software which is free, you can purchase and load on your own server. But managing a server can be a hassel.

Some have carts, some are integerated with photo labs, some you can use your own.

Here are a ton of names that you will come across if you did deep as I did.
PrintRoom, DeviantArt, Express Digital Software, Fotki, FotoGlif, Fotolog, FreePhotoGallery, ImageShack, ViewBook, Photobucket, BBse, Phanfare, PhotoBlog, Picasa, PIctureTrail, PixVillage, Fotoplayer, PicturePro, WebShots, PhotoWorks, Web Gallery Wizard, JAlbum, Coppermine Photo Gallery, DAlbum, picpic, MyPphotoAlbum, ExposureManager, Red Bubble, ifp3, ImageQuix, Instaproofs, Ktools PhotoShtore, SecondStreetMedia MyCapture, MyPhotoAlbum, NextProof, OrderPicture, Parade, PhanFare, PhotoBiz, PhotoDepository, PhotoCart, Photodex, PhotoReflect, Photoshelter, PickPic, PicturesPro, Portfoliositez, Ready Photo Site, ShowItWeb, Siteweelder,

Wikipedia has a "Comparison of photo gallery software"
CNET download has a "Photo Gallery" review
Gallery-Addons has a "Menalto Gallery & modules for Joomla and Mambo"

Hope that was a little bit helpful.
Joe