Keep your photos online for all to see
PhotoSite - Share photos and create online photo albums for free - includes photo software
Digital Camera's have taken the world of electronics by storm. Consumers have quickly adopted this relatively new technology. The idea of having a photo lab in your own home is appealing to a great many photo enthusiasts. Even Grandma and Grandpa America have taken to digital photos in both the taking and the receiving.
With the increase in resolution of cameras quickly moving from the early days of 1 Mega pixel cameras to more than 8 Mega pixels, the file size of the average picture has grown considerably. Some E-mail services limit bandwidth and file sizes. Download times can reach into the hours on a dial up connection.
The solution, for many is off site photo hosting. This isn't a new concept. Kodak has been offering this since they first started making digital disks for consumers to take home. The idea is simple. Download your photos to a website, setup how you'd like them to be laid out, and send the address to your friends and relatives. No more clogged e-mail boxes. No more attachments that for security reasons should never be opened anyway. Those interested can visit the site at their leisure, download the pictures they like, and in most cases print them out for their own albums.
There are numerous services available both as pay sites and free. The terms of use are different with each of them: limiting bandwidth, storage space, unique webpage layout, personalized web addresses, and a host of other services.
Homestead, the point and click website hosting company has ventured into photo hosting with their new site, photosite.com. A free service that is simple to use and offers speedy uploads. They provide custom URL's, flexible album creation, privacy controls and camera photo connectivity. There are also thousands of styles to choose from when selecting album layout, frame and color schemes to allow for endless personalization. There is a simple editing tool function built in for cropping, brightening, or to tint and correct redeye. Add captions to the photos with customizable fonts and best of all Photosite claims upload speeds 10X faster than e-mail. And did I mention it is free.
Eventually, the free basic service will move to $4.99 a month after the trial period. As a Homestead customer I under a trial period but it isn't clear how long this will last. Still, I recommend checking this one out at least for the free period to see if this is actually for you.
There is a pay version for professionals and power users allowing for unlimited photos, ad-free web pages, and a personal domain call photosite deluxe. This service is $7.99/Month or $69.99/Year.
