by Kirsten G
(originally published in Currents October 2003)

The Internet is a wonderful tool for staying in touch when living far away from home. Whether it is being able to read the headlines in your old local newspaper every day, ordering English books from Amazon.de, or just emailing friends and family, the Web gives us more immediate access to familiar things than ever before. But there is one opportunity area on the Internet that many people may not have explored yet – posting photos using online photo albums. Here is a step by step explanation of how to do it.

Step 1: Digitize Your Photos

Of course, the only way to share photos online is to make them digital. The easiest way to do this is if you have a digital camera, then all you have to do is download your photos directly from your camera. However, even if you are still using a camera with film (as I do), it is not that hard to digitize your photos. One way is to order a Photo CD when you bring your film in to be developed. Most processors now offer these CDs for a small extra charge (usually EUR 4-5). The other option is to manually scan your photos at home. Good quality scanners are available for less than EUR 100 (and many can double as copiers). Scanning photos yourself ensures that you only put the effort and money (and hard drive space for saving) into digitizing the photos that are good enough to share.

Step 2: Find a Photo Sharing Site

Most photo sharing sites are affiliated with film developers in one way or another. They offer good deals on film developing and related products (such as photo mugs, calendars, frames, etc.), but most of the sites in English only offer these services for U.S. addresses (making the deals not very relevant for us expats). Still, by offering these products, the sites are able to offer their online photo albums for free. Here are some of the most popular websites (in alphabetical order):

Club Photo (www.clubphoto.com): Club Photo’s free membership allows you to create public photo albums (that can be password protected) as well as download photos to your color PalmPilot (a hand-held electronic note pad). People who view your album can also sign a guestbook. The only information you are required to provide for registration is your name and email address.

Fotki (www.fotki.com): As a free Fotki member, you can create photo albums that can be public, private or password protected. The only information you are required to provide for registration is a screen name and your email address.

Ofoto (www.ofoto.com): Ofoto is a site run by Kodak. As a free member, you can store photos and share photo albums online, add photo borders and effects and edit your photos. You can also download their OfotoNow software to make uploading easier and create personal screensavers and slideshows. The only information you are required to provide for registration is your first name and email address.

StoryAlbums (www.storyalbums.com): StoryAlbums allows you to create collaborative albums for free; thus, you can add photos to your album, and you and others can add comments to tell the “whole” story. You can also control who has access to the albums and in what capacity. You are required to provide your name, email address and city or country in order to register for the site. StoryAlbums is one of the only sites that does not provide film processing as well (and thus does not hound you to buy prints or other merchandise on every page).

Webshots (www.webshots.com): As a free Webshots member, you can create and share up to 10 online albums with 24 photos each. You can also download their Webshots software to create personalized screensavers and wallpaper. The only information you are required to provide for registration is your first name, email address and birth date.

Step 3: Upload and Share Your Photos

Once you have chosen a site, you need to upload your photos. Many of the sites let you upload photos one at a time with no additional software, or you can download the site’s proprietary software for free which will allow you to upload multiple photos at one time. The amount of time it takes for uploading depends on your Internet connection speed and the size of the photo you are uploading (the higher the resolution, the longer the upload will take). Once uploaded, you can organize the photos and add comments. Once that is complete, you are ready to share! Some of the sites let you send email invitations to family and friends straight from the site; if not, you can send out an email on your own with a link to the website.

That’s it! In just a few simple steps, you can begin to share your photos with friends and family around the world. So the next time you are online, check out one of the sites above and start sharing. When you start getting emails back from family and friends complimenting you on your photos, you will be glad you did!