It’s been nearly 15 years since consumer-priced digital cameras were introduced to the market, and they’ve come a long way. At first, your friends could impress you with a 1-megapixel digital camera that was bulky and chewed through batteries like no tomorrow. These days, most of us have a better camera in our cell phone.

Cameras are everywhere now, and to some degree, we’ve all become photographers. It’s become commonplace to document our lives in photos: what we eat and wear, the products we use, the places we go, the people we see. Taking pictures is fun, of course, but half of that fun is sharing the pictures with your friends, family, and completely strangers on the internet. Right?

So, you need a place to do that. Just about everyone these days has online photo albums on Facebook, Flickr, or Instagram. But, what if you’re a professional photographer (or aspiring to become one) and you want to share your photos?

There are a lot of things to think about as you shop for a site to show off your work.

Instant Photo Portfolio

One of the biggest benefits of photo sharing sites is that they act as an instant online portfolio. Using a photo sharing website creates an instant portfolio for a photographer in any stage of her career, and they are easy to share with prospective clients. Many sites allow you to use templates to customize your landing page, keep photos in separate albums, and add notes or comments to explain each shot.

Because so many of these customizable options are pre-loaded, you can set up an online photo gallery in just a few minutes – far quicker than it takes to design a custom website to showcase your shots.

Easy to Use

Most photo sharing websites offer fancy features to make the user experience smooth and simple, and they’re constantly improving. Almost all of the major sites feature user-friendly upload tools, batch file naming, multiple photo albums, and simple edits like size and brightness.

You can also easily categorize and tag photos, which makes it easy to collect and organize your photos no matter how many you have. Major photo sharing sites also make it a snap to share albums via e-mail, or embed them in your website.

Cost Effective

In terms of bang for your buck, photo sharing sites come out looking pretty good. Many sites allow users to upload a certain amount of data without a fee, and offer inexpensive upgrades to larger storage spaces. This can make photo sharing sites very appealing to amateur photographers on a budget.

Exposure

No, not that kind of exposure! Because of their built-in searches and high placement in search engine rankings, photo sharing sites can bring more people to your photos without much effort on your part. If you’ve named and tagged your photos appropriately, they’ll likely see more traffic on a photo sharing site than they would on your custom domain. Photographers can gain even further exposure by allowing people to use their photos under a variety of Creative Commons licenses. Flickr is one of the best examples of this in action, as they allow photographers to designate which license under which a photo can be shared, and photos on Flickr can be researched by license type, making it easy for blog editors to find the types of photos they want. At minimum, Creative Commons licenses require the user to give you attribution, and most people link back to your Flickr album as well. This increases your reach further, as your photos are seen by new audiences.

Make connections

Another great byproduct of photo sharing sites is that they make it easy to connect with other photographers. Many sites have groups or public albums you can post to that are designated by region or city, by subject matter, and by professional niche. Photographers can easily check out the work of their peers, and network with other professionals. These kinds of connections can easily lead to learning new techniques, as well as opportunities for employment.

Potential Income

Many photo sharing sites, like SmugMug.com, allow site visitors to purchase prints and other photo-printed gifts directly through the site. While SmugMug isn’t free to use, they claim that your account will pay for itself due to the photo sales. What’s more, they offer customizable themed photo galleries and an ad-free environment, making them ideal for serious photographers.

Control and Ownership

Instagram, which was purchased by Facebook in late 2012, got into some trouble when they released a confusing policy change that claimed they had the right to sell users’ photos without notifying or compensating the photographer. The Instagram user community was in an uproar in the weeks following the announcement, and Instagram later rescinded the change. Not surprisingly, many Instagram users deleted their accounts and refuse to publish their photos on the platform in the future.

So, a word to the wise, check the policies thoroughly before agreeing and uploading your content. Pay close attention to policy update notices, and decide how much control you want or need to have over your content before you invest your time in setting up your online photo galleries.

In the quest for a photo sharing site that meets your needs and your style, you may be feeling a bit overwhelmed given all the options. Fortunately, you can help yourself by first answering these questions, so you know what kind of criteria you’re looking for in a photo sharing site.

1. How much storage space do I need? How much will I need in 6 months? A year?
2. Does my prospective photo site allow me to retain ownership of my photos? (Most do.)
3. Do I need a site that allows me to post “adult” content? (ie, boudoir photography, or nudes)
4. Is it important to you that your photo sharing site be geared toward professional photographers?
5. Do you want the ability to embed your photo sharing albums into your personal or business website?