What+is+Photo+Sharing?

Photo sharing communities were introduced to satisfy a need for users to be able to upload digital pictures to the Internet for several reasons:

1. Publishing or printing photos from 4x6's to poster sized prints on various media. This could include photo paper, matte paper, canvas, self adhesive, magnetic, framed and mounted, business cards, mugs, hats, various clothing, etc... 2. Sharing with family members and friends. 3. To build a photoblog of images to be submitted to other photographers for critique and to share creative ideas.

Since their introduction in the mid to late 90's, photo sharing sites have continued to evolve. As digital photography grew, so did the need for a professional way to produce prints (a commercial comes to mind - "Where are the pictures?"). Amateur and professional photographers needed a way to get past the inconsistent home printer and back to a photographic print from their digital files. The sites started as a way to upload these digital files and store them online to be reproduced. Branching out, several sites opened the doors to sharing photos to other users either through the original site or through posting to other social networks like Xanga or MySpace. The companies figured out that there was a lot of money to be made from family members wishing to have that great shot at cousin Jim's wedding. The current trend for photo sharing is a combination of the past (upload and share with family and friends) as well as a way to build an online photoblog. These sites also offer a way to tag photos with keywords to aid in searching for shared photos of certain topics or varieties. They also allow geotagging where users can select the location photos were taken to share different photos of landmarks and locations around the world.