Photography has changed so much with the advent of digital photography and has become easily accessible to all of us. The brilliant thing about digital photography is that so much of it is free. No more paying for film to be processed, paying for re-prints to send to grandparents, buying new films. Now once you’ve bought your camera, you can take as many pictures of your kids and family as you like without having to pay another cent. You can share your photos for free too; with online picture sharing you can post all your best photos at a free picture sharing site, where your parents and family can look at pictures of your kids as often as you get around to posting them. It’s a great way of keeping families close, even if you live far away from each other, like my family with my Mum in the UK and my brother in Australia!
What you need to look for in an online picture sharing site, is one that is simple to use and secure. Older members of your family may not be comfortable around computers even nowadays, so a user-friendly interface is important, if you want Grandma to get to see your kids’ pictures regularly. Another worry some people mention is security; they don’t want strangers being able to view their pictures. Online picture sharing allows you to decide who will be able to view your pictures, either with a password, a designated e-mail address, or a specific e-mail invitation with an easy link for them click on, so is perfectly secure.
There are a multitude of ways of sharing photos online. You can just use Facebook and create albums there for your family and friends to view, which works well if they are all on Facebook too. Just remember to tick the ‘just friends’ box when you are asked who can view your pictures, otherwise they will be available to friends of friends as well.
But perhaps you have a huge number of Facebook friends, who aren’t all close family friends and you’d prefer to share your more intimate pictures just with your family. In this case joining a free online photo sharing service makes sense. You can choose exactly who you invite to view your photos. Online photo sharing is usually linked to more extended photographic services too, such as printing and photo gifts, so it has the additional advantage that if your parents want prints of their grandchildren they can easily order them at the same time as viewing the photos online. There are also plenty of options for creating photo albums with your favorite pictures, to remember special times in your family life. So when you are choosing an online photo sharing service look for one that offers a top quality printing service too.
It makes so much difference to families who live far away from each other, to be able to see photos of the kids as they grow; photos of special occasions and ordinary days just playing, keep grandparents, aunts, uncles, brothers and sisters feeling close, even if they live on the other side of the world. So keep taking loads of pictures of your kids at least every week and upload them onto a photo sharing site, so that the family ties are kept alive.
Mum and Photographer
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