louisgray.com - Latest Comments in louisgray.com: The Gray Family Upgrades from Flickr to SmugMug

Re: louisgray.com: The Gray Family Upgrades from Flickr to SmugMug

AramZS — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 15:04:34 -0000

Yea, it seems like a pretty nice site, but I can't see myself ever paying for a service like that. Right now, all my photos go into Adobe's Photoshop Express, great on-site editing and decent storage. It even lets you sign in and edit photos from a whole bunch of other services within the Photoshop Express interface, including Facebook, Flickr, and Photobucket. Photoshop Express is a great service, a little heavy on the RAM, but a fantastic good looking service with great built-in photo editing tools. If they get that to output a photostream the same way SmugMug or Flickr does, the service could really take off.

Re: louisgray.com: The Gray Family Upgrades from Flickr to SmugMug

tamar — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 12:18:13 -0000

Hrm, I think that SmugMug is great if you're into the professional photography side of things, but Louis, you're a huge social media guy. I'm not sure I agree with the switch. Personally, I've paid for 3 years of Flickr so far and I'm not converting to SmugMug unless I go into professional photography.

Re: louisgray.com: The Gray Family Upgrades from Flickr to SmugMug

David Nicault — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 05:16:34 -0000

Hello, I think it is a very interesting move. Did you try / compare with Picasaweb?
Thanks

Re: louisgray.com: The Gray Family Upgrades from Flickr to SmugMug

Guest — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 03:50:32 -0000

I don't think the space-eating RAW format is suitable for internet use... yet.

I only use JPG format (for the pictures, obviously, and others for the short videos).

What I do is export the pics in JPG format from my camera to my PC.

Then I do the basic treatments (remove red eyes, crop, straighten, brighten, whatever) locally.

Then re-shrink a little more at 90% JPG compression to have smaller files.

And THEN, I upload to Flickr.

As you seem to have more "professional" needs, perhaps you would need a "Flickr super pro" account... but that doesn't exist yet.

Re: louisgray.com: The Gray Family Upgrades from Flickr to SmugMug

Jesse Stay — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 03:13:03 -0000

ppmartin can I upload in RAW format to Flickr and retain the RAW format? That was my deciding factor for smugmug, unless Flickr does that and I'm unaware.

Re: louisgray.com: The Gray Family Upgrades from Flickr to SmugMug

Jesse Stay — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 03:10:54 -0000

I use both currently - I use Flickr for the social aspect, and SmugMug to archive the photos. As SmugMug gets bigger I imagine I can probably use it for the social aspect as well. http://jessestay.smugmug.com

Re: louisgray.com: The Gray Family Upgrades from Flickr to SmugMug

Guest — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 01:43:58 -0000

Many thanks for the informative post, but ...

The pro account on Flickr cost less than $25/y, and most of my family and friends upgraded a long time ago.

With the pro account, you have no limit in the number of pictures, high res, many levels of albums and sub-albums, great flexibility in terms of managing private / non private / for friends and family only, you can edit the pictures, either basic (rotation, for instance) or more complex via Picnik (connects easily with Flickr).

And you have a large community.

And I don't see how a service can remain free - and free of advertising - over the long term.

So my pics will stay on Flickr for now ;)

PS: I must admit that your albums on SmugMug do look good, though...

Re: louisgray.com: The Gray Family Upgrades from Flickr to SmugMug

Thom Allen — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 00:05:01 -0000

Photos are about presentation, visual beauty, and SmugMug definitely wins in this category. I do like the album perspective you get vs. Flickr, where it seems like a dumping ground for photos. There really isn't any presentation capabilities.

I think each has its own place, and people will use what works for them. But I am very impressed with what I see at SumgMug.

Re: louisgray.com: The Gray Family Upgrades from Flickr to SmugMug

Andy DeSoto — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 23:54:06 -0000

I've been using Smugmug for a loooong time (before Leo Laporte started up with it, back when it was a competitor to PBase, which I'm not sure exists any longer). I love the service but they have yet to convince me the price I pay per year is worth it.

I actually converted from Smugmug to Flickr, myself, because Flickr has one huge thing Smugmug does not: integration into everything Web 2.0 + community.

Let me know what you think after a few months. If you want a place to beautifully archive your personal photos, Smugmug's great.

(Rebuilding mine right now, but: http://photos.andydesoto.com.)

Re: louisgray.com: The Gray Family Upgrades from Flickr to SmugMug

J.D. — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 23:43:12 -0000

I migrated to Smugmug when Yahoo insisted everyone HAD to have a yahoo email account to use Flickr. I love Smugmug and I and my extended family are all very happy campers for all the reasons you listed above. I had paid accounts with both and Smugmug wins for me hands down.

http://jdan57.smugmug.com/

Re: louisgray.com: The Gray Family Upgrades from Flickr to SmugMug

Ballpoint Wren — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 23:11:57 -0000

Oh, I am such a sucker for babies. I looked at every picture. Such sweetness! And those techie onesies are too cute!

Bring on the daddy blogging.

Re: louisgray.com: The Gray Family Upgrades from Flickr to SmugMug

jnbammer — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 22:59:35 -0000

Looks really cool Louis. I just bought Photoshop Elements for editing, and I use Flickr for sharing. Not sure I'll make the jump, but it does sound interesting. Good looking family shots too!

Re: louisgray.com: The Gray Family Upgrades from Flickr to SmugMug

Louis Gray — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 22:59:14 -0000

Zoli, that's definitely why I called out the fact I was using the free version a few times in the update. Paid vs. Free usually wins, but I've heard a lot of good things, and so far, SmugMug is as advertised.

Re: louisgray.com: The Gray Family Upgrades from Flickr to SmugMug

Zoli Erdos — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 22:52:33 -0000

Louis,

I heard a lot of praise of Smugmug, so you've probably made the right choice, but let;s be real: since it's a for-pay site, you can't really compare it to a free Flickr account, only a Pro one.