Sharing your Photos

So you've pulled your digital photos off your camera and onto your PC. You've carefully edited out your spots, ex-girlfriends or ex-boyfriends and fashion mistakes. Now what are you going to do.....stick on that way and cry as you watch your life in freeze-frame? Wipe away those tears; digital photography is instant, and that means photos aren't just about memories anymore. They're about the here and now.

A digital photograph isn't tied to it's physical media like a print.....it's just a bundle of data that resides on your camera's memory card or hard drive, which means you can do an incredible amount with it. The easiest was to share pictures is to sit friends in front of your PC-software such as Photoshop Album on the PC or iPhoto on the Mac will allow you to create slide shows with music. But your TV screen is likely to be bigger than your monitor, and it's a more natural place to share photos. Many digicams now come with a video out socket to allow you to connect them direct to a television, and products such as SanDisk's Digital Photo Viewer allow you to view your images directly from a memory card.

But it's the internet that has really changed the way you can share pictures. It's simple to send emails or instant messages with photo attachments, but some websites such as Kodak Easy Share Gallery offer more even more - including the ability to order prints of other people's pictures. Which means you don't have to pay for duplicates. Isn't sharing great?


THE BEST PHOTO SITE ON THE WEB:

Kodak Easy Share Gallery - (http://www.kodakgallery.com/) creating a website requires money and effort. So you're better off relying on a service like Kodakgallery.....just upload your pictures to the free galleries, invite your friends to view them and order prints to be delivered by post. Or t-shirts, mugshot mugs, stickers, etc.,etc.! And if you get in a retro mood, you can even post your rolls of film for Kodakgallery to develop, scan and upload!




Shutterfly - (http://www.shutterfly.com/) similar to KodakGallery, Shutterfly makes it easy to post and share photos for free, offers simple photo editing tools, and sells printing services you can use to create a variety of gift items and prints. Shutterfly has an intuitive interface, and their specialized printing options enable you to turn your pictures into greeting cards, bound photo albums, personalized calendars, coffee mugs, t-shirts, or tote bags.


Flickr - (http://www.flickr.com/) Flickr is one of the most sophisticated online photo sites, offering a wide range of services, including the ability to manage lots and lots of pictures in multiple personal albums. You also get more advanced options for adding captions and other text to your online album.
On your blog, you may appreciate Flickr's features that make it easy to add photos to a blog or online journal. You can even search through photos from other Flickr users and add their photos to your albums. (Sharing is optional; you can keep your own albums private or make any or all of your images viewable by anyone who uses the site.)