Recommendations for online picture storage?

[capri0mni]

I am currently preparing to let my paid LJ account expire (LiveJournal has gradually shown more and more fail and I don't want to give them my money, anymore).

The biggest step in that, for me, is finding a replacement for my LiveJournal "Scrapbook" -- if I recall correctly, that was primary reason I got a paid account, in the first place.

Users of other sites: What do you recommend?

Flick'r?

Tumblr?

Photobucket?

Other?

All of the above?

My paid LJ account expires on February 11, but I'd like to make the switch before then, if possible.

Comments

[rob_t_firefly]

This may be of use, there are some nice tables directly comparing their various features.

[capri0mni]

Thanks for the link... *Scans it*

Hm. Most of these places seem to assume that you are actually sharing photos, and I don't even own a camera... the majority of pictures I have are hand-drawn scans.

And I save them in all sorts of formats, and some of these sites will only accept .JPGs, or such. ...

Hm. Glad I'm asking now, and not February 10th.

PS: Your icon choice amuses me...

[rob_t_firefly]

I remember a few years ago when I used to use Second Life, Flickr had instituted some rule that a certain percentage of users' uploads had to be photographic in nature, to discourage their resources being taken up by things like game screenshots. Since Second Life images are basically computer-generated art, this was causing a bit of a kerfuffle. I know some users just got a bunch of free stock images from Wikimedia and such to balance out their other stuff; I'm not sure how that issue ever panned out.

For some reason, this icon is my standard one for answering general queries. :-D

[capri0mni]

For some reason, this icon is my standard one for answering general queries. :-D

Because it's the Magic Answer Machine (to anything you want to know)!

[meloukhia]

I use Flickr and really like it, with the caveat that they've done a few sheisty things in the last few years so I'm not like 'YAY FLICKR!' The most annoying one being their determination to hide direct links to images, despite claiming all over the site that they actively encourage people to share photos offsite. (You can see what I mean if you go to this photo in my Flickr stream--if you want to grab the photo link you can't use a context menu click, you have to go to the 'share this' dropdown.)

Tumblr is really hard to navigate and fussy and I don't really like it (says the person with a Tumblr account). More to the point, you don't have the option of setting up albums/scrapbooks/etc., which might be a problem for you.

Photobucket always seems to have bandwidth farts.

[capri0mni]

I certainly like visiting Flick'r galleries -- they're clean and easy to read (says someone who has good vision; AIUI, it's a bitch of a site for adding discriptive alt texts).

And the table rob_t_firefly linked to is only certain about it accepting .Jpg formats.

[meloukhia]

Hrm, I know I've uploaded other file formats there (definitely .gifs for example). I don't have any other formats sitting around but if you email me I'd be happy to test (I can upload private so no one will see) a specific file format of concern!

[spiralsheep]

I used photobucket and flickr extensively. They each have pros and cons. If you're using older hardware/software then you might also find them differently accessible (photobucket ceased compatibility with my antique 'puter long before flickr/yahoo).

[capri0mni]

Can you still view flickr on your 'puter (That looks like the past tense, to me)? What about DeviantArt (at first glance, that looks like the one site that does assume everything is a photograph)?

[spiralsheep]

I can view various sites to various degrees. It changes as they update their code. Anything more interactive than viewing is the first set of features to go. ::shrugs::

:-)

[megaptera]

Most of those sites want the rights to your pictures. I think some of the art archives like Paperdemon.com have linking features so that you can actually embed a piece from there into another site.

[capri0mni]

re: rights. Ick. But a good caveat. But I still want to use some sort of gallery site, so I can continue to participate in naarmamo, etc.

You still at DA? Whatcha think of it?

[megaptera]

Gah, I'm sorry, I completely missed that you'd replied.

I don't use DA anymore. First I took all my art down from my old username, because I wanted it associated only with this name. Then I heard some nastiness about DA profiles -- they only let you choose male or female, and someone with no gender identity called them out on it and received a snarky response. So there's a bit of a boycott and I'm on board.

I actually bought a cheap web hosting site and a domain name. I'll be posting links here to stuff I post there.

[pebblerocker]

I'd love to have LJ's scrapbook... but don't want it enough to give them money for it. I've been using Flickr for my photographic and hand-drawn art hosting as well as for game screenshots and haven't been banned yet for uploading things other than photos. The clean layout is nice but the usability has got worse with time and I feel like I'm working uphill trying to make the site do what I want.

I used to use majhost.com, an all-subject offshoot of Brickshelf which is for hosting pictures of Lego creations! The site is simple in layout but non-intuitive to use, and my trust was shaken when their web address changed and all the links in a long photo-story were broken.

When other people link to their pictures on Imageshack I don't click; I have adblocker now but was put off by one too many soft-porn pictorial ads appearing next to the uploaded pictures. I find Photobucket's layout and appearance absolutely ghastly and was put off trying to make an account because there didn't seem to be an option "I am not from any state in America" on the form.

DeviantArt is very slow to load on my (admittedly old) computer and frequently produces errors or blanks where the pictures should be; it's suitable for uploading drawings and artistic photos but not for my game screenshots.

Overall I don't have a picture-hosting site I'm happy with so I read with interest :o)

[capri0mni]

I'm totally with you on Photobucket -- it may be okay for things like snapshots of the grandkids, but all the ads cluttering up the page make it hard to appreciate things like Naarmamo creations and more subtle things.

I may end up going with several galleries-- assuming the cost they charge is per year, rather than month, I could get paid accounts at several for the same one year cost of LJ. On the surface, DA looks like the best match in terms of the company's central mission and my own uses of images, but the unfriendliness to older computers is a major factor in the decision...

[spiralsheep]

Try a couple of free accounts first (flickr + ?) then decide if you want to pay?