Now that the weather is nice again, you might find yourself outside a lot more – going for walks, enjoying the sunshine, and watching the new flowers come into bloom. If you’re the artistic type, you may love taking pictures of all the beautiful things you see around you. If you do that and want to share your work with others, then we’ve got a list of the best websites to share your spring photos on.
We’ve picked some of the best websites for artistic photo sharing specifically, and we’ve broken down all the aspects you need to know about them, including how much they cost, their best features, and what they’re best used for. In this article, we’ll cover:
- 6 best sites and apps for sharing images
- Image sharing sites compared: cost, account type, editing features, and more
- What to look for in a quality photo sharing site
Let’s jump in with the best sites you’ll find for displaying your beautiful spring photography in new and unique ways.
6 best sites and apps for sharing images
1. Flickr
Flickr.com is one of the most popular photo storage and sharing websites and apps out there, and is used by over 122 million people in 63 countries. You can easily upload all your photos to a community of people who appreciate great photography, and has many professional photographers as members. If you want some quick advice on jumping into Flickr, check out our step-by-step tutorial on how to upload photos to Flickr (here).
Best Feature: 1000GB of free storage.
Best Used For: When you want to show your artistic photos off to as many people as possible.
2. Instagram
Instagram is one of the most popular online photo sharing apps – and for good reason. Many people love to share photos of what they see around them on Instagram, and tend to try to be a little more artsy to show them off! Instagram’s newsfeed-style layout is great, and probably very familiar to you if you’ve used other social websites.
We can help you learn how to edit your Instagram photos, if you decide you want to download it from the App Store or the Play Store.
Best Feature: Great photo filters and many users to show off to.
Best Used For: When you really care about the social aspect of photo sharing.
3. SmugMug
SmugMug.com is unique because each user gets to upload their photos and completely customize the way they appear to others, as their own individual website. You can lay your photos out in any way you want, choose how to organize them, and share the link to your site with anyone you know! Another great thing is that you have unlimited photo and video storage – with any plan.
Best Feature: The layout is 100% customizable to the user.
Best Used For: A person who needs their photos to be showcased in a certain way/a professional photographer.
4. Google Photos
Brought to you by Google, Photos is a great photo storage and editing service. A great feature of Photos is that Google will store and save all of the photos that you’ve shared or stored across your Google products such as Gmail, Google+, and more, and will auto-update across all platforms if you make changes or edits. Photos also automatically organizes your photos! All you need to do is search for what you remember about your photos, and they will appear.
Best Feature: Synchronization across all Google services and platforms.
Best Used For: When you love Google products and want your photos to be a part of that!
5. 500px
500px.com is a great photo organization service that is free to sign up for and use, and helps you share your photos with a large audience. Though it does have some paid features that you can subscribe to, 500px has one of the lowest paid subscriptions on the market! It’s also got a convenient app you can use for editing on-the-go, which you can download from the App Store or the Play Store. 500px also has great tutorials on their website to inspire you, and give you tips on how to make your photos better.
Best Feature: An awesome, easy-to-use app so you can add photos as soon as you take them.
Best Used For: When you want free (or cheap) photo storage, and want to share them with a big audience of users.
6. Wix
Wix.com is not necessarily focused on photos specifically, but it’s a great way to showcase your photography, especially if you offer photography services to other people. Wix is a drag-and-drop website builder, and it helps you customize the layout of your photography is any way you want – as well as include as much information about yourself (and what you do) as you want. It is completely customizable, and can be used for free!
We can also teach you how to use Wix with our step-by-step tutorials.
Best Feature: You can customize and lay out your photos any way you want, and connect your own personal domain if you own one.
Best Used For: When you own your own domain, or want to advertise your services.
Image sharing sites compared: cost, account type, editing features, and more
| Site | Cost | Account Type | Photo Layout Style | Editing Features |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Read More | Email sign up | Albums/newsfeed style updates | ||
 Read More | Free | Email sign up/app download | Newsfeed | |
 Read More | Email sign up | User's choice | ||
 Read More | Free (with Google Drive sign up) | Email sign up | Albums | |
 Read More | Email sign up | Albums/Gallery style | ||
 Read More | Email sign up | User's choice |
What to look for in a quality photo sharing site
Ease of use of the website
How easy a website is to use should be one of your main concerns when looking for a photo sharing site, especially if you’re the artistic type and like editing your photos. Even if a website has great photo editing features, if you can’t figure out how to use them easily, or on-the-go, then it may not be the right website for you.
What to do: Try out the free versions of the websites you’re interested in, and upload some test photos. Try editing and sorting them – and do anything else you could see yourself doing, and rank them based on how easy they are to use.
Cost to use over time
Storing and sharing your photo is great, and many of the best websites offer their basic service for free – but is the basic service enough for you? If you need to pay for more storage as time goes on, or there’s a premium feature that you absolutely need, the site could end up costing you quite a bit of money.
What to do: Review all the pricing plans for the website you’re interested in before signing up, and think about how much it may set you back as you use it over time. Keep in mind that you may run out of storage space!
Is it mobile-friendly?
If you’re the type to take photos on the go and want to share them right away, then this is a key question you need to ask before you sign up. Some websites may not even have a mobile app, and others may not offer you the full potential of the web version.
What to do: Check if the app is available on the Apple App Store or Google Play Store, and play around with the app to see which features are available, and how easy the app will be to use on the go.
How much storage space will you get?
All pricing plans for photo storage websites will let you know how much storage you get with a basic plan. However, as time goes on, you’re going to be using more and more, so you may need to upgrade. It is a fairly common tendency of photo storage websites to charge for an upgrade to storage, so make sure you think about this before signing up.
What to do: Look at how much storage space your photos are currently taking up on your desktop or mobile device, and think about how much you add each month. Then, multiply that monthly amount to account for the next few years, and see how much storage space you’ll be taking up. That way, you’ll know if you will need to upgrade in the future – before you even sign up.
Good quality of images
Even if a website offers you an unbelievable amount of storage and great editing features, if it can’t showcase your photos with great quality images, then it may not be the site for you. Though maintaining the quality of image may take up some additional storage space, it’s worth it if you are showing off artistic photos that you want others to admire.
What to do: Make sure you read about the size of images you can upload, and check out the quality of images on the website that other users have shared. Then you can get an idea about whether it will be up to your standards!
Ease of social sharing and tagging your friends
If your focus is all on sharing your photos and tagging your friends so they can see what you’ve posted, then this could greatly affect what type of website you’re going to use. Some websites focus more on the artistic aspect of photo sharing, while others focus on the social aspect – and some try to blend both concepts.
What to do: Check out the current user profiles on the website to determine what type of website it is. You can learn if photos can be tagged with other users or friends, and how much of a social aspect is involved across the site. Luckily, because most people who share great photos want them to be seen, you can view most users’ profiles without needing to sign up for the website!
Great photo editing features
There are pliantly of websites you can use for simple photo storage, and many popular social websites like Facebook allow you to share your photos – so that just isn’t enough. A great photo sharing site will have easy ways to edit your photos as you upload them, so you can make them look their absolute best before sharing with your admirers.
What to do: Read up on the available editing features before you sign up for a site, and, be sure to test out a few photos before committing to a website so you know how easy it will be to edit images, and how great they will look before you post them.
Can you order real prints of your photographs?
This may not be a concern to everyone, but sometimes you want to be able to order prints of your photos, or even customized gifts for others! Some websites offer this, and even have their own store that you can browse through and order from.
What to do: Check out the menu on the website and see if they have a store, or if there’s a way for you to order prints. Many sites might even offer you some free prints just for signing up, so be sure to compare these deals!
Knowing what you want out of the website will help you choose one, so take a look at our list of the best websites for photo sharing below so you can get your work out on the Internet right away, and share it with all of your friends.
That’s our advice on the best photo-storage and sharing websites if you have that artistic desire to share beautiful pictures of the blooming flowers around you!
