15 Best Photo Sharing Sites for Professionals

There are thousands of ways you can share photos online. Most people will begin with email, although there are size limits, so you certainly have limitations. Some photo sharing sites don’t cater to professionals, only offering a limited set of tools for quick editing and sharing. Others fall short when it comes to storage online.

We don’t want to overwhelm you with dozens of photo sharing sites, so we have carefully selected the top photo sharing sites online. They are all aimed at professionals or can be used in a manner that permits you to build a professional gallery of your work online or have prints made from within the web interface.

1. Flickr

By far, Flickr is one of the most popular photo sharing sites on the web. Although it was purchased by Yahoo, it remains the best site for professionals to showcase their work online. Free accounts are given 100MB of monthly photo uploads (10MB per photo), up to two video uploads, but there are size limits on your photos.

Pro accounts are relatively affordable, offering the ability to upload unlimited photos and video (500MB per video), as well as unlimited storage and bandwidth. High-resolution photos will become available, as well as ad-free viewing.

More than 4 billion images are currently hosted with Flickr. Another reason why many professionals choose this service is due to how images can be licensed through Creative Commons.

2. SmugMug

SmugMug isn’t free, but provides excellent service for their members. Users can create online albums, using large sizes, and choose from their provided themes. With unlimited storage and no ads or spam, the site realizes that free models don’t work, even with the limited features other services offer.

Currently, plans range from $39.95 to $149.95 per year, depending on how much customization you want, the size of your photos, and whether you want to upload HD content. The higher-tier accounts also allow you to sell digital prints within their site.

The company is family-owned and has been in operating for more than five years with no debt.

3. Picasa

Owned by Google, Picasa is a service that works between your desktop and the web. Shoot a picture, put it in Picasa (basic editing only), then instantly upload it to the web interface. All users have 1GB of storage online, with unlimited bandwidth, which is great for blogs. 20GB of storage is just $5 per year, but there aren’t really online editing features, so it is questionable whether you want to purchase this package compared to Flickr or other services.

Despite the fact that Picasa is quite limited, the interaction between the desktop client and web interface make it easier to use, and pricing is more affordable for people who have up to 200GB of files than the mid-range plans offered by other services.

4. Photoshop Online

I’ll admit that Photoshop.com may not be your clear-cut solution for sharing photos, but you are provided with 2GB (more than most of the other services), and you can quickly share them with other sites like Facebook, Flickr, Photobucket, Picasa, and others.

One of the main concerns is that there aren’t any upgrade paths, so you’ll have to deal with the 2GB limit and other restrictions as you grow your library.

5. Photobucket

Nearing nine billion photos, many associate Photobucket with MySpace, as it was the primary hosting site and has been in operation for more than six years. The site allows you to quickly place photos within forums, websites, and as direct links. Folder management is somewhat complicated, but certainly easier than some other sites.

Pro accounts are the same price as Flickr’s – $24.95 per year, but you are “limited” to 25GB of storage. No ads and stats are also included within the package. Free accounts have 500MB of storage, with a maximum of 1MB images. You can only service 10GB/month through the site, so it might not be best for people with highly trafficked sites, but more for people who want to quickly share a photo.

6. Mobile Me

Apple didn’t create Mobile Me specifically for photo sharing, but there is support built in to host 20GB of files (any combination of files) securely online for one low price. There aren’t really many restrictions, and the interface is easy to use, even for your visitors. Upgrading is more expensive – an additional 20 or 40GB run for $49.00 and $99.00 per year.

For professional photographers, they can create their own sites to showcase content, and in the end, prices and the time saved will equal out some of the cheaper plans. No photo editing is included, but that is to be expected, as they already developed iPhoto.

7. Zooomr

This site offers unlimited storage and uploading to the site, although there are certainly some limitations. Flickr has become known for the ability to comment and see who viewed your photos. However, with Zooomr, you have to pay for this functionality.

For professionals, you can license your photos and users can then search for photos with the appropriate tags. Additionally, the site has been localized in sixteen locales, meaning it can be accessed in a fully translated format across many countries.

8. ImageShack

ImageShack has been a household name for more than six years now, due to the fact that no registration is required. However, you are limited to 5MB images and 300MB per hour per image – 60 views of a 5MB image.

Subscription accounts begin at $8 per month or $68/year. These accounts have unlimited bandwidth, faster download speed, double the image resolution, and better customer support.

9. Zenfolio

While this post wasn’t meant to be a review of sites that let you create portfolios online, Zenfolio allows you to upload, organize, present, protect, and print/sell your photos.

Pricing is similar to the other sites, at $25 to $100 per year, depending on how much storage you need and the size of your pictures (up to 24MB apiece). New features are planned for future releases of the online software, and these will provide more value to all accounts. Professional accounts can sell their work online.

10. PhotoShelter

Serious about selling your photography online? PhotoShelter makes it easy to do this, with killer photography websites, workflow and e-commerce solutions, and the ability to create instant portfolios online. People looking for your photos will be able to find them using the tagging system.

Pricing is Free to $50/month, depending on how much flexibility you want. The free accounts and next-level account have $50 one-time setup fees. You will also be paying for storage and bandwidth for exports as you increase in plans.

11. Photoswarm

Sharing photos with Photoswarm is easy. Despite the fact that this company is newer, they offer free trials and they make it easy to create an online portfolio with a professional look.

Plans range from free with a limit of 300 photos, to a “light” plan for $59/year and unlimited storage, to a pro account for $99/year, providing your own unique site, a package that’s ideal for serious photographers. Pro account holders can sell their images through PayPal.

12. Webshots

Traditionally serving as a backgrounds and screenshots provider, Webshots has branched out, now providing the ability to host and share your photos on their site.

Members with free accounts can upload up to 1,000 photos plus 100 per month and 100 videos plus 10 per month. Premium members have five times these limits, but also have tracking features and no ads. This premium account is $19.99/year.

13. TinyPic

Although TinyPic is owned by Photobucket, it can still be used without an account and is easier for sharing images up to 1600 pixels in any format (JPEG, PNG, GIF, and TIFF). Videos less than 500MB and 15 minutes in length can also be shared through the site.

14. Amazon S3

Serious about getting your images out to your customers? Amazon allows you to do this in a cost-effective manner. Starting at $0.15 per GB of storage and $0.17 per GB of transfer, this can be more affordable for people storing and sharing their photos with others. It is included because it can be easily integrated with your blog for use as a CDN.

In addition, you are provided simple links for sharing files, and these can be included within your online galleries, reducing bandwidth costs if you are using an under-powered server.

15. Fotki

To get the main point out, Fotki is a great service for sharing photos, but it might not be ideal for all professionals. It is aimed at individuals, like those who want to print family photos and share photos through this manner.

Owners of free accounts have a space limit of 100MB (extremely low according to today’s standards) with a 50MB increase each month. There are unlimited/premium accounts available for $27-per year with a 3-year subscription.

Conclusion

We hope you enjoyed this post and hope that you found a photo hosting and sharing site that you can use in your filed. Please feel free to share your favorite site, or what you think of those listed above.

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