Specialized Photography

For the budding photographer yet to showcase their talents and abilities, it's best to choose hosting sites by comparing them for their features and drawbacks. There are many leading photography hosting sites that are widely popular among its users, and several have already shown great promise with additional plug-ins and applications designed for ease of use. Of course, the "right hosting site" is greatly dependent on your needs and requirements. Learning photography makes one want to explore and utilize one or more of the many options available.

PhotoBlogs

If you're a blogger-photographer who wants to share your stories, WordPress is the right venue for you since it can host many images through a blog interface. Share your thoughts, stories, and your stream of photos in a blog-like fashion. Other photography enthusiasts can comment on your posts as soon as you publish them.

Facebook

As a leading social networking site, Facebook has introduced its new timeline layout where you can upload a cover photo on your heading, and photo albums can be organized with tagging features, so friends and other contacts can view them within minutes after uploading. Sharing your favorite photos has been made easier through drag and drop album organization and enlarged photos on each timeline page. And because the number of users of Facebook is very large, it is also a great place to show off or advertise your photography services, if you offer them.

Photobucket

Snap happy people are known to have regular Photobucket accounts. To engage its photography community, regular competitions and cool prizes are made available by its administrators and from major sponsors. Photobucket is one of the leading image sharing sites which features top categories with unique perspectives for hobbyist and professionals. Group albums is a feature where members can upload images and videos in a safe and secure method. Photos have direct links which is easier for non-members to view your photographs without the need to create an account. Unlike other social networking platforms, photos can't be viewed once a user is logged out or if they do not have an account with the site.

Flicker

Flicker offers unlimited photo hosting, so you may wish to upload as many as you want in your account. However, it does not have many advanced features. It does have options for creating prints and personalizing them. It is a simple site which is made to be very easy to use. Its help and support system is reliable according to many regular users.

Picasa

A special feature for Picasa is that modifications, effects and other treatments can be made on your favorite photos and saved simultaneously as Picasa saves the original file for you. So if there are changes or effects you are unhappy about, the original photo is always there. Choose from posterized effect, charcoal, oil paints and more. Picasa enables you to play around and tickle your creative side.

Zen Folio

Zen Folio is a special photography hosting platform where you can upload and organize your photos in albums within your own site. It is particularly user friendly and fun to use. However, it lacks a special photo book application where you can print or publish your photos directly from your albums. This means you have to design a layout for your photos manually through a separate program.

Slick Pic

Slick Pic is making a name in the photo hosting roster because its editors are online and are ready to provide assistance for photo enhancement. As a plus, it offers unlimited photo and video sharing. You can create professional photo galleries in less than hour. Its privacy options are reputedly unequaled, that's what you get for paid service although you have the option to start for free.

Conclusion

Deciding on which photo sharing site best suites your needs, now that you have an overview on the top image hosting sites, still may not be an easy task. But have fun exploring! Plus in order to get noticed as a photography enthusiast, it's not really the site that matters but the creativity and perspective in your images.