Flickr? ModelMayhem? Photobucket? Picasa?

If you are a photographer, be it beginner, amateur or more experience, you would have heard of photo-sharing websites and places that are key to have your portfolio.


As a photographer, the key to getting work or recognition is simple - people have to see your stuff. For this, you don't have to invest millions of pounds (or dollars, or euros...) in a huge billboard in the centre of the busiest town of where you stay to have one of our images viewed. You can simply share them online and have them viewable on the web to any and everyone.


"Oh I know, I need a website or blog." Wrong! As much as these two are great and a good reference point for people to see your stuff, they are not an obligation. Plus, they can cost quite a bit for someone who is not getting much work yet or simply starting out.


Flickr has so far been photographers' favourite photo-sharing website. It bears a worldwide community of photographers and photography enthusiasts, sharing and commenting on each other's images. You can also join groups and hold discussions, share tips, learn a few things and even go on photo-walks with fellow photographers.


Socialtimes.com listed the Top 5 Photo-sharing sites but I'm only going to mention 4 and add a 5th of my own. I recommend at least one to all photographers. For those that already have websites and blogs, it enhances your web presence as well as the quantity of your work available for the public to see so do not overlook these.

No.1 = Flickr. Surprise surprise! Everyone knows Flickr and thus everyone's on it. "Flickr, with 36 million members and a staggering 3.5 billion photos, is an immense social network. It’s full of friendship data. People comment, join groups, declare friends, click on favorite photos, and limit viewing to certain friends and family."Source (http://www.businessweek.com/)

No.2 = Zooomr. Zooomr is sort of like Flickr but it is also great to use on its own. A major plus for this one is that it has no download limit for free users. So, if you thought you needed a blog or site or multiple paid accounts - Zooomr is at your rescue!




No.3 = Picasa Web Albums. I personally don't use this much. Though, if you have a lot of mobile devices, you may find that it's always in the top 5 or 10 of applications related to photography for you to download. Also, if you're a windows and HP user, you'll find that it's somehow already installed on your computer or comes alongside a software update for your HP printer. Does this make it recommendable? Not particularly, but it definitely makes it popular with search engines etc. It's by the almighty Google itself! Picasa is also great as it helps in organising your images into albums and sub folders somewhat smoother than a few other such sites.

No. 4 = Photobucket . Photobucket is cool and not very sophisticated. Personally, I find the layout a little too simple but it's great with google and other internet sources. The limit is generous and you can easily have a photobucket account alongside any other photo-sharing account.

No. 5 = ModelMayhem Now, as much as I know MM is not your typical photo-sharing site, it's a great place to build a profile and upload a brief portfolio. The best thing about it is that it links you to models, makeup artists, stylists and basically people with whom you can do trade or commercial work. You can also view other photographers' portfolios for inspiration. Here's a previous post I wrote about ModelMayhem http://idrawwithlight.blogspot.com/2010/05/model-mayhem.html