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SmugMug - a great photo hosting website
In the members only webinar in August 2009 we learned about the ability to extract photos from your video footage. Member Daniel Cohen shared with us this process using PC software (this detailed process is available for Members in the Webinar Archives in the Premium Area of this website - click here to access)
Daniel also shared how he uploaded these digital images onto his galleries at the SmugMug website. After learning of this photo hosting website, I created my own account and within a short time created several small galleries of my own. I like this website so much I wanted to share it with others. There are, as you may know, many photo hosting websites on the internet today... here are the reasons I have chosen to use SmugMug and am recommending them to my friends and colleagues.
2. There are no ads on the site - just photos (and now videos) 3. I look at a lot of websites, always with an eye on marketing and appearance. I think that the SmugMug experience is one of the most impressive in it's class. You can customize your color/screen layout 4. I really like the user interface: once you are in a gallery, you can click on the style button to view the gallery in the layout you prefer (they layout that the gallery host sets is the default - titled 'SmugMug' at the top of the list). The way I have my galleries arranged, if you click on the present image (at right) it is presented in a larger screen preview. Then you have options at top of the frame to change the size of that image - from small to 3X large (with 'O' representing the Original image size). There is also a very slick looking slide show function that you can launch from any gallery as well as while viewing any image. 5. There is no pressure for your friends to buy prints - though they have that option, in any gallery on SmugMug click on the 'Buy' button at top right and you will be presented with the options, from digital prints to merchandise like photo sweatshirts and photo mugs. You can also dis-able this function (shopping cart) in the control panel for each gallery if you wish). 6. I like who they are -- being a small business person myself I dig around sometimes to learn about different companies. Click on their about us page here and read about them and what they value (I like it!) http://www.smugmug.com/aboutus/about.mg Click here to read more about a comparison between SmugMug & other websites * SmugMug has 3 different levels of service with a 14-day trial account. This trial is fully functioning! If you choose to establish an account, enter my email address in the log-in page. You will then receive a $5 credit off the membership price (if you decide to stay and open an account). I have opened an account at the Standard level which is $39.95/year. They have two levels about this with additional features and the ability to host video at two different quality levels (using H.264 compression). You can read more about their different membership levels here. |
