Something has changed re: Web Albums full integration into Google+ Photos. Like I mentioned above I have been putting albums I share on Flickr instead of Web Albums for about a year now. Before tita's post I was going to put an album onto Web Albums and clicked on the "Web Albums" button in the upper right corner of the Picasa screen. Instead of opening up into my Web Album pages it instead wanted me to log into Google+.

Necessary background: I've had a gmail account since beta which is the same account that is linked to Web Albums and Google Drive. I have a separate account linked to You Tube (although they know it is me.) During their multi-year push to make all things Google+ they kept trying to get me to merge everything into one glorious Google+ account under my real name - even though I knew that was actually what was happening behind the smoke and mirrors anyway I would always skip the requests for the grand merge.

Getting back to that Web Albums click from Picasa - it opened up IE (which is not my default browser) and wanted me to sign in to Google+. I put in my gmail/web albums/drive name and PW and it took me to a Google+ profile page. Even though the information was correct there was no way to navigate away from that page. Hmm... how was I going to get to Web Albums?

It's not easy - click on the little upper-right corner app grid in gmail; click More; click Even more from Google; scroll down and click on Picasa - nope that let's you download Picasa. OK... Let's pop over to Google Drive... good - right there is a Google Photos button, click... "Stay Tuned! Your photos are coming soon."

At this point I was wondering if I was ever going to see my Web Albums again. I Googled "web albums google" and the first hit is picasaweb.google.com. Click that and finally get to https://picasaweb.google.com/home which is my Web Albums. I'm sure a combiniation of cookies and a stored password got me directly in. (I also uploaded a new album, just to make sure it was still live.)

While spending way too much time just trying to get back into my Web Albums I came across the "Share from Picasa Web Albums" web page with instructions for sharing with non-Google+ persons. Frankly, given the trouble I had getting into my Web Albums, I'm really wondering if a shared album recipient that has no Google accounts at all would easily see the shared album.

The only people I have shared with in the past at least have gmail accounts so I can't do a meaningful test.

I know Google claims that they reversed their "everyone has to join Google+ to use certain services" stance and claim they are de-emphasizing Google+. But it sure hasn't felt like it too me.

St3v3M: Have you recently shared any Web Albums or photos with people who have no Google Accounts?

Because I have some kitchen duties to attend to shortly I will spare you my thoughts on Google for now.

I've used Picasa since before Google bought it. For years used Web Albums to easily share photos with family. However, this final merge of Web Albums into Google+ Photos with its ugly interface and forced inscription into Google+ is the last straw.

Many months ago I started using Yahoo's Flickr which allows 1TB of free space. It has a drag-and-drop upload interface, but I usually use Picasa to select the desired files, put them in a Picasa album, export the album to a local temporary folder and then upload the temporary folder to Flickr.

After uploading you do have to manually place the uploaded photos into a new Flickr album. It is certainly not the elegantly integrated album uploading from Picasa to Web Albums, but it works.

You can send links to individual photos or entire albums to people who will not be required to join anything.

One important thing to be aware of is that Flickr defaults to making all uploaded photos public. If that bothers you be sure to edit the security permissions of the photos and or new albums you create on Flickr.

I use http://www.owens-originals.com If you plan on doing a lot of team pictures I would suggest their "softees" wrinkle reduced backdrops. They also print custom backdrops any size, using your own image. You could take a shot at a game of the court with people in the stands as an example.
Some shoots I don't use a background, but use the court as my background. To get the basket in the shot you will need to lower the camera, & use a wide open aperture in order to blur out the background a bit. I would also suggest a printing company that does picture day printing ( memory mates,sports tickets,trading cards,magazine covers etc. http://www.centurycolor.com/contact/about.html You will have so much fun on this shoot. I built my business on youth sports clubs. You will need more than just a camera and flash as far as equipment.