Online photo album

[eeeee]

I'll like to create an online photo album to share with my friends and families, one that is easy to upload and offers privacy (open to only people I know).

Can anyone recommend a good site that offers the above? (Besides friendster..)

[sierra2469alpha]

eeeeee (did I get the right number?) -

OK, having had some of our photos stolen from Facebook etc., we now use myphotoalbumn.com . It's free (unless you want some extras), and people can print your photos if you allow them. They wrap all your photos behind some Java technology which means people cannot steal them. The thing we really like is that you can set up your own access lists - for example, we have a "public" signing, a "friends" signin, etc. We can lock down what people can or cannot do - eg. print, etc.

The other thing we really like is that friends don't have to sign in and provide their email address etc. We just give them, say "friends" and the passowrd, and bingo, they are in. That alone made us go with them.

If you want to see it in action, PM us and we'll give you access to ours so you can see how it works.

After years of research, it's really the best.

Oh, the pay options only really include things like an RSS feed - not really worth it but we bought it for a year (19.95 USD).

HTH, Mr.P and Ms. C

[pakjohn]

Snapfish.com and photobucket.com both offer pretty good free online storage. I use both for temporary storage of images I post in forums.

I use a pay account at flicker for my permanent media that I share with family and friends. It gives me more storage and better management tools for my photos and albums. At 24 USD per year I think it's a decent enough value.

[eeeee]

Great tips, thanks!

Sierra: I had tried to register with myphotoalbum but it came up with a message:

We do not accept signups from your location.

Same for facebook..what's happening?

[sierra2469alpha]

eeeee - you're kidding? I'd email them - that sounds like a glitch. Ms. C and I registered with them when we moved here, so that does seem awfully wierd. That it's also happening with Facebook is cause for concern. Have you tried clearing all your cookies and trying again? If you need a hand PM me and I'll take you through the process. Cheers, Mr. P

[Strong Eagle]

eeeee,

Another option is to set up your own domain name and ISP, then use any one of a number of very nice, free photo gallery packages. I dunno, I just don't like putting my stuff on someone else's public server, even if it is just photos.

They wrap all your photos behind some Java technology which means people cannot steal them.

S2469A - This is sort of correct. What these websites do is execute a bit of Javascript on the web page that disables the mouse right click and 'save as'. But, this is extremely easy to override if you want the photo... just turn off Javascript in your browser.

They could also implement some sort of flash technology to convert your image to flash before displaying it but even then there are plenty of bits of software about that let me get around this limitation as well.

[ngkahhui]

u can try picasa web album!

just check it out ..

it is awesome

[pakjohn]

SE I tried flickr with Java disabled and couldn't get past it. Once permissions is set to "invite only" for pro membership it sets the file name of every picture you right click on to "spaceball"

I'd be interested in your opinion of how hard it is to get past this? The only reason I ask is because I see so many people storing commericial images and stock photography on flickr and the images aren't watermarked, they just sit behind Flickr file protection.

[durain]

can you not use print screen? will it work?

[sierra2469alpha]

...But, this is extremely easy to override if you want the photo... just turn off Javascript in your browser...

True, but mpa won't allow access to full size images - all someone can do is right click and save a thumbnail version which turns out to be pretty crappy in resolution. The main point is to protect photos from being reproduced either on websites or, in my case, magazines. The access to full size and their own download function can be enabled/disabled and applied to albums, sub-albums.

One of the things I particularly like about mpa is that you can have generic logins for your albums. For example, I could set up a user called "eeeee" and give her access again at the album, sub-album level, or a generic login say "friends" who can only see certain albums. This functionality is even neater in that people don't have to register on the mpa site (ie. not another userid/pw combo they have to register) - all they need is the URL and the generic (or personal) u/n password you give them.

But you are correct, I should have been clearer.

[sierra2469alpha]

can you not use print screen? will it work?

Durain - with mpa, yes, then you can image edit, but as I said it only shows the thumbnail/non-full size image. Someone can pay for the full size image, if they want. In other words, it does solve the problem of having photos stolen and used on other sites or in magazines.

Cheers, P

By copy Pakjohn - didn't know that - thanks!

[sierra2469alpha]

eeeee - had a look through mpa...thius link shows the list of banned countries:

http://support.myphotoalbum.com/ics/sup ... eptID=5559

Singapore sure ain't on it! Maybe you were choosing one of these countries?

Not sure if that helps...Mr. P

[Strong Eagle]

S2469A - Yes, you are correct on that point... about downloading the larger, non watermarked images... and the better image albums support restricted access via logins and access lists.

[sierra2469alpha]

SE - yeh probably one of the better ones out there. Still some room for improvement, though!!

[dawgbyte]

SE I tried flickr with Java disabled and couldn't get past it. Once permissions is set to "invite only" for pro membership it sets the file name of every picture you right click on to "spaceball"

I'd be interested in your opinion of how hard it is to get past this? The only reason I ask is because I see so many people storing commericial images and stock photography on flickr and the images aren't watermarked, they just sit behind Flickr file protection.

The "spaceball" trick is just a transparent gif file overlay on the actual image so when you right-click and save, you are saving the gif file. But as what durain mentioned, the photo can still be downloaded by screen capture. Some software like snagit can even auto-scroll vertically if the photo is longer than the screen. Or if you are very free, I think you can also view the source code and get the filename.jpg from there.

I also do not watermark my photos (not that it is commercial or professional level). I feel watermark gets in the way of the impact of the photo and "sometimes" I add a small copyright at the lower edge and thats about it. If people really want to steal the image, they will find a way regardless of any protection.