Emailing Photos and Videos is SO LAST DECADE! - Learn and Use Photo Sharing Sites!

[SJ]

Today I received an email with 31 pictures attached to it. I could see about 1/2 the pictures, because even though I was reading it off a 20MBPS fiber optic internet connection, it was just too much for the email program to format in a meaningful way. The pictures that I could see were hard to view because I could not zoom in and out without launching a different application. Tomorrow, I will probably get another email with 10 pictures attached and somebody will email me a 5MB video file that they downloaded from YouTube - rather than just sending the link.

It's an idea whose time has come - last decade - to start submitting our photos to photo sharing sites and emailing the link instead of forcing our friends, relatives, neighbors, and associates to wade through our photos in a cumbersome format - email.

I'll use the example of Picasaweb ( https://picasaweb.google.com ) because I have used it for many years and it is free. The desktop application "Picasa" is also free and works on PC and Mac platforms. It recognizes any kinds of camera imports, and helps you organize your pictures - and lets you upload to a web album with 1 click - or even "auto synchronize" with the web album (which can be private if you like) which is good not only for sharing, but also for storing a copy in case your hard drive crashes that has all the pictures you ever took of your three children for that last 17 years (ask Diana Votaw).

The same, of course, applies to video. Vimeo, Youtube, all of these have free options which make it easy to share video rather than emailing those huge files. It also ensures that more people will be able to see it since the video player is built into the web browser.

So if you are still emailing out piles of pictures and not using a photo sharing source, take the time to learn about it. It will only take you a few minutes, and there are great payoffs. You can also include captions, etc, in these system that further add to your photos.

Once in one of these photo sharing sources you can link directly to the photos from SuperCub.Org, Facebook, or wherever you would like.

Thanks for listening! My inbox thanks you too!

sj

[Brenda K]

Heyyyy, I only emailed 29 pics! I do use Vimeo, but still use email as an option too. When I send them on the smallest size setting, I guess it's not necessarily being received that way? My bad.

You didn't miss much in the second half of the photos. They were just those pudding wrestling shots of the fly girls.


Seriously though, good info Steve. Thanks!

[SJ]

You just happened to be the person of the day that did it. Your photos can be much greater appreciated if you add that extra step!

sj

[spinner2]

I've used dropbox.com with good success. It too is a freebie and simple.

[SteveE]

Blah, blah, blah....Unfortunately,,, these sites have me blocked......

[Phillip Elgin]

Brenda, Please just send me the photo's of the pudding wrestling

[irishfield]

Pass the cheese please...

[OLDCROWE]

Find me a photo/video share site that is truely secure (sorry but vimeo, picasa and youtube won't pass security the test of the firewall at my office) and I'll use it.

[OLDCROWE]

Blah, blah, blah....Unfortunately,,, these sites have me blocked......

I thought Linda told you not to post "those pictures"

Actually it is more likely that the security settings on your PC won't allow you to go there...

[SJ]

Kirby,

So you are saying email is secure? Not...

sj

[OLDCROWE]

Kirby,

So you are saying email is secure? Not...

sj

NOPE... and I don't even think of emailing anything sensitive and besides our system prevents that too.

Oh and by the way neither does my system let this site load Flash player (sure get tired of that warning)...

[SJ]

I'm specifically talking about pictures that people would otherwise be emailing around, not pictures of people's birth certificates - president or not.

sj

[Pokette]

Hey, I now have three digital copies of all my pictures back to the 70's, and the slides/negatives I scanned in that were my dads... two are on drives that are NOT plugged in. I will not lose all my pictures!!! Video's I only have two copies of.....

[Steve Pierce]

Good thread SJ. I really like Picasa and have used it since you introduced it to me several years ago.

[180Marty]

My sister uses kodak gallery and that seems to work pretty well. With my high speed internet, I get my own website that I can put pictures on for free. My computer friend says lots of people could have their own website but don't know it.

[aktango58]

last decade????

What decade was that cub you are flying in??? Try last CENTURY!

[sharp]

pBase is a good site and passes the company firewall. It's not free, but is cheap. Seems to be well supported from my novice perspective. Great for backup of pics if nothing else.

Sharp

[5 Rivers]

Get a MAC!

[nesincg]

Ha. A friend sent me 4 pictures via snail mail a few days ago. You thought email was old school.

Chris

[SJ]

Get a MAC!

I get just about as many emailed pictures from Mac users as PC users. All the photo sites are cross platform now and Picasa works great on the mac. Some folks can't afford an airplane AND and overly priced computer and are stuck with PCs...

[jprax]

44 years old, digital photographer, can fly an airplane, can program the TV, not smart enough to figure out how to post a picture to Supercub.org.....

[LoriF]

Oh, Phillip, why I am I SO NOT surprised.

[LoriF]

Oh, Phillip, why I am I SO NOT surprised.

Brenda, Please just send me the photo's of the pudding wrestling

[SJ]

44 years old, digital photographer, can fly an airplane, can program the TV, not smart enough to figure out how to post a picture to Supercub.org.....

Joe, did you watch the self help video on the subject in the HELP ME menu?

sj

[LoriF]

ah, well there's hope for me 'cause I can do all those things - except fly an airplane

Joe, did you watch the self help video on the subject in the HELP ME menu?

sj

[FdxLou]

Oh, Phillip, why I am I SO NOT surprised.

Exactly!!

[kevin]

Today, I tried to add a couple of photos to my Picasa album on my work computer. My method of adding them is to add the photos to a file I have in "My Computer". This will automatically update my Picasa album. When I added the photos to the album in "My Computer" my Picasa album asked me if I wanted to install the update which I did. Now, when I log into my Picasa album, the album is empty. Do I need to install all my photos from my computer to my Picasa album again? Has anyone experienced this before? I can access my Picasa album at home too. Unfortunately, my computer at home went T.U. on me. Is it possible that my computer at home could have accidentaly erased my Picasa album? Please Help!!!!!!

[SpainCub]

If you think about it, there is going to be a generation that most likely will not have a pictorial past at all... Why? Think of all those folks that have their images on their HD... Most likely now a laptop... It's to eventually fail, or get stolen... All those images will be lost.... And if you are on a free cloud account, what if they loose your images? For me, I have tree copies of the data, and sorry Steve, I print my images and print books that I send to family now and then.... It's like receiving the calendar it gives the all that joy when the open the envelope....

[Tim]

I don't understand Picasa albums, are the pictures in Picasa just on my computer or are they on the web somewhere?

[Pokette]

My used Mac pro cost less than a pc and performs way way way WAY Better

[kevin]

I don't understand Picasa albums, are the pictures in Picasa just on my computer or are they on the web somewhere?

Tim, How Picasa works is that you can take your pictures that are in you hard drive(found in the "My Pictures" section of your computer) and download them to another program. This Picasa program sets up a desktop icon so you can have a photo album. You can then send this album via a link to your family and friends to view. This link is also called a web album. Technically, I believe you are transfering your pictures to an album on the internet.

This has always worked for me. I went for a period of inactivity on my album and finally added a couple of photos of my -12 project. When I opened my album at work, it was gone. I had to build it all over again. I forgot how to build the album and had to find my way around the Picasa site to do it. I learned that there are "files", "folders", and "albums". for example, if you have a picture in your folder that you don't want, you can delete it. The problem is that it will delete it from your "My Pictures" section in your computer too. I had to go back to the recycle bin on my desk top to retrieve that specific picture. You have to be careful about that or you could permanatly lose the photo. I like the fact that I can send people a buch of pictures with just a link so I don't bog their system down. I don't like the fact that there are no instructions to navigate around Picasa, there is only a help button that you can access like in your email. Why my albums were gone I don't know. I was hoping SJ might have had some insight on this. I thought it might have had something to do with my home computer which is T.U. but the Picasa album should be there since it is all online. I think there are good and bad. I've been told that there are other programs like Picasa that are available. I hope someone else here has some info about this so they can share so this doesn't happen to me again.

[Tim]

Thanks Kevin. I saw that web album thing, but couldn't get it figured out. I'll take my laptop to a flyin someday and get an expert to walk me through it.