Online photo sharing

I've been sifting through the numerous posts on this subject but haven't come to a consensus. I just got my first dslr and I'd like to start posting my photos online soI can get comments from friends. I'll likely look at Smugmug or something similar down the road but initially, I'd like a free site such as Flickr. Does anyone have any suggestions or cautions about this or other sites?

Cheers.

I started out with much the same outlook as you have expressed, and initially only checked out the free sites as a way of getting my feet wet, as it were. I quickly realised that the various constraints and/or lack of features wasn't going to make me happy for long. I tried flickr, Zenfolio and a couple of others. Then I looked at pbase, but didn't quite like it, and I wanted the option to sell my pictures as prints & products, so I moved on to Smugmug, where I have kept my pictures for the last 5 years. I find it comfortable, feature-rich, I can sell my pictures, the gallery themes look wonderful, and I love the referral program, which has basically given me my galleries for free for the last 4 years !

They have a risk-free trial period, so you can see if it works for you.

Good Luck with your search!
--
BigDog Ken Griffith

http://kengriffith.smugmug.com/

Sunny Westchester, NY

I would not recommend starting with a free site and then changing later. The whole point of photo sharing is to get your images on the web and share the links to great looking photos. As such, you really don't want to put a bunch of photos in one place, send out a bunch of links and then abandon that site and switch to another and start over. You may as well just decide which site you'd really like to be at and start there.

I, myself, have my photos in two separate accounts on Smugmug (one for family, one for community photography I do). I wanted no ads, beautiful and large photo display, customizability, unlimited storage, unlimited bandwidth, great online support, solid ongoing business that will be around for a long while and a reasonable yearly fee. The only place I could find that a few years ago was Smugmug and I've not been disappointed.
--
John
Gallery: http://jfriend.smugmug.com
Popular: http://jfriend.smugmug.com/popular
Portfolio: http://jfriend.smugmug.com/portfolio