Free Online Photo Storage and Backup

Where Can I Store My Photos Online?

The answer depends largely on what you want to do with your photos once you've uploaded them to the Web. Some online backup services, such as Mozy, have added photo sharing as an afterthought. But they are primarily data vaults, lacking the editing, organizing, and sharing features of pure-play photo sharing sites.

Flickr, Photobucket, Shutterfly, Picasa, Webshots, SmugMug, and other photo sharing sites have a host of features that make photo sharing easy, fun, and sociable. Here are some of the options to look for in an online photo storage service.

Storage space is an important criterion, as well as how long photos can be kept on the site. Most photo storage services give you just a bit of free storage and may delete old photos after a few months. To get more space and permanent storage, you can buy a premium account for $20 to $50 per year. Free space can come with limits on how many photos you can upload per month or a monthly bandwidth cap, or both.

Photos may be resized after they are uploaded to conserve storage space and make them fit the site's standard display modes. If you like high-resolution photos, make sure the photo sharing service you choose supports them. SmugMug is one that accepts the high-res shots you want to stash in the cloud.

Uploading, Editing, Tagging, and Sharing Your Photos

Ease of uploading photos varies from one service to another. The ability to upload photos in batches is critical. Uploading photos directly from camera phones is a handy feature. Some photo sharing services have apps that will upload a photo from your phone with one click, while others force you to send an email with a file attachment.

Photo editing tools may be provided. Sure, you can use an independent photo editing program, but the editing tools provided by photo sharing services integrate their uploading, tagging, and organizing features. Some toolkits can be downloaded to run on your desktop, speeding up editing and adding tags, album names, etc. Editing photos online (after they have been uploaded) is another option. Picasa is one that has a nice set of editing tools, both online and offline.

Annotating photos with comments and tags adds context to them and helps make photos easier to find, for you and for people who visit your albums. Sharing photos is more fun when other people have the ability comment on your photos, turning a photo album into a miniature forum.

If you want to print your photos, Shutterfly is well integrated with services that allow you to order prints, create photo books, cards, stationery, calendars and other photo gifts.

Integration with social networks is an important part of photo sharing services. Look for buttons that enable you to share photos on Twitter, Facebook, and your other favorite social sites. Flickr excels at making it easy to share your photos on a variety of social media sites.

Too much sharing can be a dangerous thing. You should be able to set up public and private albums, and even password-protected access to albums or specific photos. An "invite" feature lets you send emails or text messages to selected contacts inviting them to come see your latest photo via a URL included with the invitation.

I should mention that there has been some chatter recently about Google Plus and Picasa. Some are claiming that Google's terms of service allow Google to steal the rights to any photos you upload. This article Should Photographers Worry about Google Plus? goes into detail on that question, and should put your mind at ease if you are concerned.

Do you have something to say about online photo storage, backup or sharing? Post your comment or question below...