calliwa Loc: Avon, IN

I belong to a camera group which has a monthly topic for shooting and we then view everyone's work for comments and mild critiquing. We have been using email for sharing and it has shown to be a cumbersome, unreliable method. I am looking for a sharing website that would allow for this. I have checked out Facebook, Shutterfly, Photobucket, Picasa Web Albums, and Flickr. I find Flickr to be the best for our purposes, but in the Groups portion of the site that I have created, there is no option to have separate folders or albums that we could use for each monthly submission. In order to use Flickr, we will have to delete each previous month's work. Is there a site similar to Flickr that would allow for the monthly separations within a private group? Thanks in advance for any helpful commentary.

big-guy Loc: Peterborough Ontario Canada

Our club uses Dropbox (free service with 2 Gb) with a folder for each individual that is shared with the coordinator. He then shows all the photos at month end. Our members who also wish to share other photos with the group can share a link to any Dropbox folder and then all those invited can view the photos.

It has worked very well for us... although there "can" be a learning curve for some that wish to make mountains out of mole hills. :roll:

If you are the co-ordinator I suggest getting your account setup first and then invite all members so you get extra space free as you're the one storing everyone's photos. http://www.dropbox.com

Armadillo Loc: Ventura, CA

calliwa,

Yes, it is called FaceBook. You, as the administrator set up a private account and group. You, or an assistant admin. create a Photo Album for each month. You notify each member of the private group of the new month album. All members can upload their own images to the folder, and all members can comment on the photos within the folder.

I have been a member of such a private group for a long time, it works.

After you have created the private group you will need to notify the club members and each of them will have to apply for membership (ask you to join the group).

Each club member will need to be a regular member in FaceBook to make the membership and activities work smoothly. The club members do not have to be active in their personal FB account, just a registered account.

Michael G

St3v3M Loc: 35,000 feet

Picasa Web Albums/Google+ allows you to make as many folders as you like.

calliwa Loc: Avon, IN

I have opened an account, created a file, and uploaded a couple of photo files. When I click on a photo to view it, I see no options to make a comment or critique while viewing the photo. Am I missing something, or is that option not available?

big-guy Loc: Peterborough Ontario Canada

That feature is not currently available although it would be nice. :-( Our club just uses email to converse about the photos. That said, all members use a group email that auto forwards to each of their email addresses so they only have to post to one email address to reach everyone.

mdorn Loc: Portland, OR

365project.org

Don't know much about it, but it feels like Facebook for photographers...

BHC Loc: Strawberry Valley, JF, USA

Per http://www.facebook.com/legal/terms BOLDFACE IS MINE

"For content that is covered by intellectual property rights, like photos and videos (IP content), you specifically give us the following permission, subject to your privacy and application settings: you grant us a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, worldwide license to use any IP content that you post on or in connection with Facebook (IP License). This IP License ends when you delete your IP content or your account unless your content has been shared with others, and they have not deleted it."

ygelman Loc: new -- North of Poughkeepsie!

Right! I've stopped posting to Facebook. Note that if someone has already copied your photo, you no longer have rights to it. . . gone, even if you remove the photo or end your account.

Armadillo Loc: Ventura, CA

Mogul,

I do not doubt your quote, or the reason for bringing it to our attention. I think the basic idea is true all across the Web (WWW), Facebook.com simply put it all into plain English to protect themselves from lawsuits.

We cannot protect our own images, or content, from being stolen and used on the Web. Not even here on UHH.

Today, it is far too easy to copy web content and re-use it on another web site. We can employ some anti-piracy coding to remove the copy and paste techniques, the right click button, and bright red bold do not copy notifications on web pages.

These are all overcome with small programs that can copy regions on the monitor screen and save the content to another file name. The best we can do, as original owners of the imagery, is to make it as difficult as possible to re-print the images. We can do this by saving the image, for web publication, in the smallest physical size usable, and at the lowest resolution for internet projection.

Facebook and UHH do this to all image files we upload for general viewing, they both have options to display the original image file in its natural resolution and size.

The simple truth is: If you are really seriously concerned about content theft off the internet, don't post.

Michael G

mdorn Loc: Portland, OR

Nonsense.

ygelman Loc: new -- North of Poughkeepsie!

Please read the end of Mogul's quoted text. . . and explain your brief comment.

mdorn Loc: Portland, OR

I agree. Just wanted to add...

Regardless what resolution you upload to Facebook, it will automatically scale it down to 2048px (max height or width), unless it's already below this. Moreover, all your EXIF will be stripped.

mdorn Loc: Portland, OR

It's the part of the quote that is not highlighted:

"This IP License ends when you delete your IP content or your account unless your content has been shared with others, and they have not deleted it."

First, it is Facebook that you are giving permission to use your photos as they see fit, not all its members. You don't LOSE your rights to any of your photos. If a FB member steals your photo on Facebook, and it ends up in a People magazine, then you have a legal right to it.

When you delete your photo, your agreement with FB ends. However, if you have opted to allow others to "share" your photo through the permissions you set, then FB may continue to use your photo.

In a nutshell, you still own your photos. Giving someone "non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free" permission to USE your photos is not the same as giving them EXCLUSIVE rights to them. You can still sell your photo to People magazine.

Armadillo Loc: Ventura, CA

:thumbup: :thumbup: