When starting out with photography, there are a lot of things to consider. Creating a portfolio to showcase your work should be one of the top priority. How else can your clients find and see your work.
There are a variety of providers available to help you along the way. In this article, we’ll explore the best photo hosting sites for your photography business. Consider choosing a photo hosting service that best fit your needs. Read on if you want to learn more about why you should choose a specific option over others.
What is a photo hosting service?
Web hosting services that are purpose built for photographers’ portfolios and websites are called photography website hosting. Photography website hosting services offer server space and bandwidth to support photography websites and include special features to fulfil photography website owners’ demands. Photography websites require more server storage and bandwidth than a typical blog, and they require a number of additional features such as eCommerce functionality. A photographer can find reasonably priced shared hosting services that give them a great deal of storage and bandwidth. These services are optimised for WordPress so that photographers can have a website up and running in no time. A picture is created by a large number of templates, including WordPress, that were specially designed for their needs.
What is the difference between Image Hosting and Photo-sharing?
When it comes to image hosting and photo sharing sites, many people are confused. Let’s get a clear picture of each. A photo sharing website lets you store images on your device, then share them with the outside world through Instagram, Facebook, Flickr, Google Photos, or Google Photos. You create an album, then post it to share your pictures with others. It’s different from image hosting, in that photo-sharing sites remain limited to a platform on which you’ve uploaded photos. You can’t embed photos from one platform into another image-sharing platform, or into a website or blog, since this is meant for sharing pictures only.
What to Consider When Choosing a Photo Hosting Service
When choosing a photo hosting service, there are two main factors to consider: the photo quality and the cost.
In addition to that, you should consider other aspects such as:
- Speed
- Space
- Reliability
- Scalability
- Security
Getty Images
If you’re looking for a reliable, well-known host for your images, consider Getty Images. They offer high-quality photography from some of the world’s best photographers. Getty has been around since the 1800s and is one of the most recognizable names in photography. When you upload your photo to Getty, they will provide you with a copyright release agreement that you can use to display your work offline as well. The company offers both a desktop version and an app for mobile devices, making it easy to access your photos wherever you go.
Many people choose this site because it is free to join and offers a wide range of licenses (including exclusive licenses). You just need to complete a brief application before setting up an account so that they can review any ads or content on your website or blog first if necessary. Additionally, at Getty, you can create pages and albums to organize all of your work by project or topic.
Adobe Stock
Adobe Stock is a great option if you need royalty-free photos for your business. It’s a great site to search for photos, as it offers over 100 million high-quality images in categories such as food and drink, lifestyle, fashion, and more. They also offer stock video footage with 120,000+ clips available to license.
Canvas Network
Canvas Network is a photo hosting site geared towards artists. It allows you to create an online gallery of your photography, as well as store your work on the site itself. As a result, this makes it easy to access your photos from any device that has internet connectivity.
The best part about Canvas Network is that there are no set up fees or monthly commitments. It’s simple and affordable for photographers on any budget.
When considering which photo hosting site to use, keep in mind that not all sites offer the same features. You should consider what you need the site for and whether those needs are met by the different options available before selecting one.
SmugMug
SmugMug is a great option for photographers as it provides many robust features, like unlimited storage and high-quality photo printing. The site also has a helpful community where you can find help with your photography skills.
imgix
If you’re looking for a photo hosting site that offers unlimited bandwidth, then imgix is the way to go. They also have a program called Imgix Cloud which is an easy, online service that provides automatic resizing and compression of your images so they load more quickly. Imgix Cloud also helps you find the most relevant keywords for your work so you can better target your audience when posting them on social media sites like Facebook or Instagram.
Fotolia
: A mega site for photographers
Fotolia is a site with tons of options. First off, it is a mega site for photographers. The company has numerous in-house editors who will do some of the work for you and help make your photos look their best without having to do much at all. Fotolia also offers a wide variety of images, backgrounds, and other graphics to choose from. The company also has plenty of options when it comes to licensing–they have an affordable subscription service as well as a pay-as-you-go option. They also offer deals on the number of downloads for each purchased image.
500px
500px is a free-to-use photo hosting site. This website was created for professionals and enthusiasts to share their photos with the world. 500px is one of the best choices for photographers because it has a community that can provide feedback on your work, as well as a marketplace where you can sell your pictures.
One of the best features of 500px is that you don’t need to worry about copyright infringement. In addition, this website offers high-quality photo editing tools and filters. Beyond photography, 500px also has an active community which can give feedback on design, photography, and other visual arts.
Although 500px has many perks to offer, it doesn’t offer an easy way to share your photos with friends or family members. Nor does it have an intuitive interface for mobile devices like tablets or smartphones.
Flickr
One of the best options for hosting photos is Flickr. This site is known for having a number of features that make it an ideal choice for photographers. For example, Flickr enables you to create albums and share your work with friends and family. You can also search other people’s content by adding keywords to your search query. One thing we really like about Flickr is its layout. The interface is clean and straightforward, which makes viewing photos a breeze.
Vimeo
Vimeo is a video hosting platform. It’s not as popular as YouTube, but it offers quality and features that are comparable to its competitor. You can use Vimeo if you want to host your videos in the highest quality possible, or if you need the ability to add in extra audio tracks. Vimeo also has its own social media network which means you can share your videos on platforms other than YouTube.
Conclusion
Thanks for reading our guide on the best photo hosting sites. Hopefully we were able to provide you with some useful information to help you make a decision.
We recommend comparing the different sites and reading reviews to find the one that best meets your needs.
A site with many options and an intuitive design is always preferable, but not always necessary. The most important thing is finding the right site for you.
If you need help to improve your images or enhance your post-production process, contact us for more details on our services.
