The Bottom Line
Flickr is one of the most popular photo storage and sharing sites around, and there's a good reason for that. It's free and easy to use, and it features various methods for sorting, categorizing and tagging images. The interface is attractive, and it's fun to browse. People can comment and rate pictures, and you can make all or just some photos private or only viewable by friends and family. Flickr is easily one of the best photo storage and sharing sites available. If nothing else, Flickr is useful as a private gallery to backup images off-site from your hard drive.
Pros
- Free and easy to use
- Options for securing your Flickr photos
- Great tagging and organizing system
- Can be incorporated into personal blogs and Web sites
- Can use Creative Commons copyright licenses with photos
Cons
- Easy for visitors to steal public photos
- Must pay small fee or unlimited storage
Description
- Attractive interface featuring thumbnails and the ability to move around to images with the same tags, sets or groups.
- Various upload methods, including by the Web, email and mobile phone.
- Can make photos into prints, calling cards, photo-books, slideshow-DVDs and postage stamps.
Guide Review - Flickr
Flickr could be considered the gold standard when it comes to photo storage and sharing. A trend setter in the world of photo sharing, this site's robust features range from extensive organization capabilities to image-specific privacy settings to the ability to incorporate images into other Web sites. In testing, I have found it easy to both view others' photos and to upload your own photos.
The Price of Flickr
The price tag is a wonderful aspect as well. Users get up to 100 MB of image upload monthly for free. A pro account allows for unlimited photo storage at a bargain rate of $24.95. If you simply compare it to several online backup sites (most with far fewer features specific to images), those can run $10 monthly and still have upload limits.
