Online Photo Storage
Derek Smith • 20 December 2019
Online photo storage - As many readers will know I strongly recommend storing photos safely online, storing photos in this way has many advantages:
1) Your precious photos and memories are stored away from home negating the risk of losing any images by fire, flood, theft, or computer failure.
2) Your photos can be viewed on various devices, mobile phones, tablets, laptops, and desktop computers.
3) Your photos can be "tagged" for easy search, or organised into Albums, Folders, or Galleries.
4) Ability to share photos with friends, family, or others.
Of course, as with any technology, there are disadvantages:
1) There is an annual, or monthly charge for the service.
2) You may lose control over your images.
3) Your images could be hacked or suffer from internet issues.
In no particular order, these are some of the options available:
Microsoft 365
Not strictly a photo sharing site, but at £5.99 a month the 1TB of OneDrive storage is good value, and the complete Office suite is available for use. The OneDrive app works on portable devices, in Windows 10 the OneDrive is fully integrated into the file system.
iCloud
Apples take on cloud photo storage, can be free up to limited storage levels. It can be difficult to access from Windows, or Android devices, and locks the user into the Apple ecosystem, otherwise if you own an Apple device very useful.
Amazon Prime
A bit of a surprise this one, free postage on ordered Amazon items, a selection of films, and box sets to watch, plus Amazon photos, unlimited full size searchable photo storage, with apps for Android, Apple iOS, and can be used on the desktop at £7.99 a month, what’s not to like.
Google Photos
I wouldn’t recommend this one, not for serious photographers, it’s baked into Android mobile phones, and tablets. Free to use up to 5Gb, then a paid subscription to Google Drive, it’s intrusive, and Google repeatedly offers different “intelligent” filters for your photos.
Flickr Pro
A paid for photo storage and sharing service. Fast fully searchable, it works seamlessly on the Apple Mac to automatically upload photos, apps available for Apple iOS, and Android. Flickr can be used privately or to share by joining groups of camera models, lenses, or categories with other photographers, secure data, and no advertisements on the Pro version. I like the Info panel with all the EXIF details shown. Currently on 25% discount for new customers coupon code 25in2019 or link below to give the gift of 25% off Flickr Pro now.
https://www.flickr.com/account/upgrade/pro?coupon=25in2019
SmugMug
1) Your precious photos and memories are stored away from home negating the risk of losing any images by fire, flood, theft, or computer failure.
2) Your photos can be viewed on various devices, mobile phones, tablets, laptops, and desktop computers.
3) Your photos can be "tagged" for easy search, or organised into Albums, Folders, or Galleries.
4) Ability to share photos with friends, family, or others.
Of course, as with any technology, there are disadvantages:
1) There is an annual, or monthly charge for the service.
2) You may lose control over your images.
3) Your images could be hacked or suffer from internet issues.
In no particular order, these are some of the options available:
Microsoft 365
Not strictly a photo sharing site, but at £5.99 a month the 1TB of OneDrive storage is good value, and the complete Office suite is available for use. The OneDrive app works on portable devices, in Windows 10 the OneDrive is fully integrated into the file system.
iCloud
Apples take on cloud photo storage, can be free up to limited storage levels. It can be difficult to access from Windows, or Android devices, and locks the user into the Apple ecosystem, otherwise if you own an Apple device very useful.
Amazon Prime
A bit of a surprise this one, free postage on ordered Amazon items, a selection of films, and box sets to watch, plus Amazon photos, unlimited full size searchable photo storage, with apps for Android, Apple iOS, and can be used on the desktop at £7.99 a month, what’s not to like.
Google Photos
I wouldn’t recommend this one, not for serious photographers, it’s baked into Android mobile phones, and tablets. Free to use up to 5Gb, then a paid subscription to Google Drive, it’s intrusive, and Google repeatedly offers different “intelligent” filters for your photos.
Flickr Pro
A paid for photo storage and sharing service. Fast fully searchable, it works seamlessly on the Apple Mac to automatically upload photos, apps available for Apple iOS, and Android. Flickr can be used privately or to share by joining groups of camera models, lenses, or categories with other photographers, secure data, and no advertisements on the Pro version. I like the Info panel with all the EXIF details shown. Currently on 25% discount for new customers coupon code 25in2019 or link below to give the gift of 25% off Flickr Pro now.
https://www.flickr.com/account/upgrade/pro?coupon=25in2019
SmugMug
My personal favourite, fully configurable, with folders, and galleries, I find it better to manually upload my best edited photos into folders, and galleries as required. The mobile device apps work very well, and the annual subscription is around £50 per year. Photos can be manually tagged and searched.
Happy Christmas to all our readers.
Louth Photographic Society
Yesterday evening the 17th April 2026 was the opening night for the Louth Photographic Society’s 70 Year Celebration Exhibition at the Louth Museum. The Mayor of Louth, Darren Hobson attended and was very impressed with the exhibition, who by the way is interested in photography. Some relatives of previous members, who are no longer with us, also came along. Julie Gough (Milli) and Bob Maddams represented the Museum. From the club we had 10 members, some with their partners. In all 20 people attended. A buffet and drinks were provided by the club which were prepared by Harry and his wife Karen for the night. Graham Harrison the President of the club gave the opening speech followed by Chris Birchmore, who was the member who first put the idea together. Members mingled, discussed the photographs and generally had a good time. Many thanks for all who attended and made it a night to remember.
Two female models were booked for our "Studio Night", which was held last night, and members were able to practice photographing the models in various poses, on the portrait set, or the fashion set. Our models Ginny, and Dina were very different in character, and appearance, but both were excellent models, and they posed easily in front of the cameras. The portrait set was lit with a flash speed light in a soft box, the fashion set was lit with constant LED lighting, the models changed outfits, and sets during the break. Both models are pictured here on the fashion set, Ginny in the red top, and large Doc Martin boots, and Dina in a softer fashion outfit. Members seemed to enjoy the evening, and for some glamour photography was outside their comfort zone, but it does give the opportunity to try something different.
It was a disappointing afternoon for Louth during Sunday's Fosters Challenge. One by one our submitted prints were dismissed, Graham Harrison's "Hairy Shield Bug", was too dark, "Trusthorpe Outfall" by Tony Gaskins had wind turbines on the horizon, and Tony's other print "Dawn Light Outfall Hornsea" was dismissed as the outfall was too close to the bottom of the frame. "Rudbeckia" by Harry Kerman fell as the judge felt that the third flower in the background was unnecessary. "Morning Sun Whitby" by Dave Turner was dismissed as the rising sun "caught his eye". Oh well, there's always next year. The winning print was a stunning portrait, "Maria" from Scunthorpe, which I felt had vibes of the Vogue magazine.
Good Morning All We had a really good week away last week in the Peak District, the good weather helped and we visited many places including Salford Quays and climbed to the top of Kinder Scout and Mam Tor. Last week at the club it looks like you were treated to some excellent coastal photography from member Tony Gaskins, Tony does a lot of long exposure photography producing stunning photographs. There is a report on our blog page with photographs from the evening. This week, Wednesday 15th April, is Derek's studio evening where we are invited to come along with our cameras, there is a £5 charge on the night to help pay towards the two models. The following week is a print competition, with the categories of "Circles" and "Open", you can send Dave Turner a list of your entries and bring your prints in next week. Today is the Foster Challenge at Nettleham village Hall, 1.30pm for 2pm, Louth has entered the competition as usual so it would be good to see a few members attending. Regards Graham
Our speaker last night was our very own member Tony Gaskins, who gave an excellent presentation "Coast 3" with some stunning visual images. Tony specialises in capturing long exposure coastal scenes, he related how beginning several years ago with a long exposure view of Whitby Pier he got the "bug" for long exposure photography. Much of his photography takes place along the Lincolnshire, and Yorkshire east coast, often arising in the early hours to catch a sunrise. Weather conditions dictate a lot of how the final image looks, and the long exposure style often creates a sense of calmness, and serenity, with pastel coloured skies, and milky seas. When the weather turns wild, the long exposure image presents a very dramatic scene with foreboding clouds. He recently travelled to Lewis & Harris island in the Outer Hebrides and took many images there, sometimes at sunny white sand beaches, and at other times moody bleak images as the weather closed in. Tony's technique requires a lot of patience, often spending hours at a location, with the camera mounted on a study tripod, and the ND filters on the camera permitting an exposure time of several minutes. Many thanks Tony for a very informative talk, well presented, and with some beautiful imagery.
Good Morning All Last week at the club we held a Local Nature and Open PDI competition, members Dave Turner and Steve Chapman kindly offered to judge the competition, thank you to you both, it was a good night and the entries were of a high standard giving you both quite a task. The results are on our website, but the two winners on the night were, Local Nature Tony Gaskins and Open Harry Kerman. This week, Wednesday 8th April, Tony Gaskins, one of our members is showing us Coast 3, a PDI presentation. Tony is an excellent photographer and spends many hours photographing our coastline. Aprils Print competition, Circles and Open is fast approaching, you can send your titles to Dave Turner when your ready and bring your prints in the week before the competition. Regards Graham
It was no April fools, when we held our PDI (Projected Digital Image) competition last night. The images submitted into this competition were off the highest quality. Dave Turner judged the Open category, which I think is always one of the hardest categories to judge, pitting landscapes, against nature, and still life, but Dave did a magnificent job, offering well founded critique of the images submitted. After the break, Steve Chapman judged the Local Nature category, (nature images taken within a 25 mile radius of St. James' church, Louth) Steve "held back" 10 out of the 18 submitted images, and gave those 10 images very careful consideration until he finally arrived at the 3 highest placed images. Steve commented that the submitted images were indeed of high quality, and he took his time to evaluate the submitted images and offered useful critique on each one. The competition made for a very interesting evening, and all members deserve praise for the quality of the submitted images. The website Competition page has been updated with the full results, and the top three images from each category. On this post is 1st placed Sedge Warbler, Cleethorpes by Tony Gaskins, in the Local Nature category, and 1st placed Hudson Bay Wolf, (Lincoln Zoo) by Harry Kerman, in the Open category.
Good Morning, All, Last week at the club member Chris Birchmore gave a presentation on MPP cameras which included some of Chris's collection of cameras and prints taken. There is a report on the evening on our blog page. Thank you Chris for an interesting evening. This week, Wednesday 1st April, we are holding a local and open PDI competition the local subject being nature, please if you haven't already, send your entries to Harry before midnight tonight. Members Steve Chapman and Dave Turner have volunteered to judge. Also on the Wednesday 1st April our Louth Photographic Society 70th anniversary exhibition will be open to view at the Louth Museum. Regards Graham
Chris Birchmore gave an informative, and interesting talk and demonstration of his medium format film cameras. at the beginning of the evening Chris gave a potted history of the origins of the MPP cameras he was showing us. The cameras take a 5 x 4" film stock, and looking at the cameras it seems incredible that photographers in the recent past could take excellent photographs with these. The MPP cameras were often used by the British Armed Forcies during the Second World War, and throughout the 1950s, and 60s, and some of these medium format were still being manufactured in the 1970s. The prints that Chris showed taken with these cameras were of excellent quality, with an amazing depth of field. Many thanks Chris for a fascinating evening.
Good Morning All Last week at the club we held a committee meeting, which was very productive, we made the final arrangements for the exhibition, charity night, and studio evening as well as other items on the agenda. We are holding an Exhibition opening night at Louth Museum on Friday 17th April celebrating 70 years of Louth Photographic Society. There will be a small buffet and cold drinks available, if any member would like to donate a bottle of wine to the occasion please hand it to Harry at one of our club nights. This week, Wednesday 25th March, member Chris Birchmore will be giving us a presentation. The following week is a local competition, with the categoriess of "Local Nature" (up to 25 miles radius from St James church) and "Open" (unlimited mileage) please send your entries to Harry before midnight, Sunday 29th March. Members Steve Chapman will judge the Nature category, and Dave Turner the Open category. Regards Graham
