Photobird.com - Using Photobird.com

1. How easy is it to share my photos on Photobird.com?

Very easy. All you need is less than a minute to sign up for either a monthly or yearly subscription, and you can immediately start adding photos to your own, personal online photo album. It's like building your own website -- only easier because you don't need to know HTML or any other computer language to use Photobird.com.

After you have signed up for a subscription, it only takes a few simple steps to add photos to your photo album on Photobird.com:

Click the "Add Photos" button from within your Photobird.com photo album.
Click the "Choose Photo" buttons to choose which photos you want to add.
Choose from your computer's hard drive the photos you want to add to your photo album.
It's that simple!

Take the quick tour for an overview of Photobird.com's features and benefits.

Click the photos on our Look at Pictures page to see customers' photo albums. If your photo is featured on the Look at Pictures page, you get an extra 50MB of storage for each photo. For more details, read about the Photo of the Hour.

See the screenshots showing the various features on the photo and albums pages.

Also be sure to read "How to Use Photobird.com", an article written by Photobird.com co-founder Ed Krimen that highlights the most useful, easy-to-use features.

2. How can I share my photos with others?

There are many ways, but here is one of the easiest: When you are viewing your photo album or a photo within your album, click the "Send to a Friend" button. Then, you can enter e-mail addresses and a message to send to your friends and family. A link to your photos and photo album is automatically included in the message! Be sure to include at least one link in the message so that your friends can click the link to see your photos on Photobird.com.

Also note that when people visit your photo albums, they don't need to register or login. Your photos and photo albums will display immediately.

3. Can I link directly to my photos?

Yes, and linking directly to your photos is also very easy. Photobird.com was designed specifically to make sharing and linking to your photos and photo albums easy, intuitive, and practical.

To link directly to a photo or photo album, copy the link from your web browser's address bar, and paste it into your e-mail, discussion group message, or other message that you want to send to your friends and family.

For example, let's say you have a lot of photos from your recent trip to Europe. You created a photo album and its link is similar to this one: http://www.photobird.com/ekrimen/Europe/. You can copy "http://www.photobird.com/ekrimen/Europe/" from the address bar at the top of your web browser, and paste it into your e-mail. When your friends read your message and click that link, they will see the album with all of the photos from Europe.

If you want to share only one picture, and not the entire photo album, first go to the specific picture you want to share; for example, let's say you have a great photo of St. Peter's Basilica at The Vatican and it's located at http://www.photobird.com/ekrimen/Europe/stpeters. Next, you can copy the link and paste it into your e-mail. When your friends click on that link, they will see the photo in their web browser, along with the photo's title and description. Your friends can use the "Previous" and "Next" buttons to navigate through the rest of your photo album, and use the Send to a Friend button, so they can share the photos of Europe too.

If you only want to link to the .jpg picture file (without the rest of the Photobird.com website elements around it), you can link directly to http://www.photobird.com/ekrimen/Europe/stpeters.jpg and your friends will only see the picture. You can either type in the ".jpg" yourself, or view the photo and then simply click on it.

4. Can I browse other people's photos on Photobird.com?

You can only view a subscriber's photo album if you know their Photobird.com username, their e-mail address, or if you have a link to one of their pictures or photo albums. We don't make all of the subscribers' photo albums available to everyone as a respect for subscribers' privacy.

You are welcome to browse and look at other photos available for free for viewing on Photobird.com. Some good places to look for photos are the Look at Pictures page, the Learning Center, the discussion forums, and the Photobird.com home page.

5. Can subscribers print their photos?

We plan to introduce this functionality in 2007. When you are looking at the photo you want to print, you will be able to click the "Print this Photo" button, and the photo you originally uploaded will be printed to your printer at its full resolution. You will also be able to order professional-quality prints of your photos and have them mailed to you.

Initially, only subscribers will be allowed to print their photos. In the future, we will allow subscribers to determine whether they want visitors to be able to print photos.

6. Can subscribers download their photos in the original resolutions that they were uploaded?

Yes, subscribers can download their original photos. In the Edit Album Options area, subscribers can also select the size to display their photos, including the original photo size and resolution.

7. What image file formats do you accept?

You may add photos with the following file formats: JPG, GIF, TIFF, BMP, PNG. Please let us know if there are other file formats you'd like us to accept.

8. Can other people use my photos?

Legally, you own the copyright to your photos, so only you are able to determine who can use your photos and how your photos can be used. For more information, please consult with an attorney who is familiar with copyright issues.

Technically, as with all websites, people who view your photos can download the photos with their web browsers to their computer hard drive. But only subscribers have access to the original photo file that the subscriber uploaded.

9. Do I retain the copyright on my photos?

Yes, you absolutely retain the copyright on your photos. This is described in section 2 of the Terms of Use agreement, and in more detail in section 2.4. In fact, per section 2.1.1, we require you to be the sole copyright holder in order to upload your photos. If you are not the sole copyright holder, or do not have permission from the copyright holder to upload photos, then do not upload the photos. For more information, please consult with an attorney who is familiar with copyright issues.

The Terms of Use agreement says that Photobird.com is being granted a "perpetual, non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, irrevocable, sublicensable (through multiple tiers) license" so that we may have your permission, as the copyright holder, to display your photos in your photo albums. It's basically a legal stipulation so that you can upload your photos and we can display them. For more information, please consult with an attorney who is familiar with copyright issues.

10. What is the maximum size photo I can add to my albums?

We don't have any size limits for the photos you can add to your albums, so theoretically, if you have a subscription for 500 megabytes of photo storage space, you can add a 500-megabyte photo.

11. How do I add titles and descriptions to my photos and albums?

1. Go to the photo or album.
2. Click the Login button.
3. Click the Edit Photo Options or Edit Album Options button, depending on whether you were viewing a photo or an album.
4. The page will show an area where you can add and change the title and description of that photo or album.

Only subscribers can add titles and descriptions their photos and albums.

12. How long can the titles of photos and photo albums be?

Currently, titles have an unlimited length, but as you'll see, very long descriptions don't look very good. It's best to keep them short. Also, we will probably create a reasonable limit in the future.

13. How long can the descriptions of photos and photo albums be?

Currently, descriptions have an unlimited length, but as you'll see, very long descriptions won't look very good. It's best to keep them short. Also, we will probably create a reasonable limit in the future.

14. Should I upload all of my photos to Photobird.com?

It's really your decision. If you have enough storage space in your photo albums, then sure, upload all of your photos. If you need more storage space, you may order more storage space from us. In general, we expect that most people will upload their favorite photos to Photobird.com. But who knows: that could be all of your photos!

15. What is the best way to maximize my storage space on Photobird.com?

It's generally up to you. There are many ways to maximize your storage space, but one way is to resize your photos before you upload them to Photobird.com. You can use a third-party application, such as Adobe Photoshop, to resize your photos.

The difference when resizing your photos can be significant: a photo taken directly from some digital cameras may be as large as 2 megabytes or more. At that size, you can have over 200 photos in your photo album if you have 500 megabytes of storage space. If you resize your photos down to, say, 250 kilobytes per photo before uploading them, you can have about 1600 photos in 500 megabytes of storage space, or eight times the amount of photos as compared to 2-megabyte photos. You can even resize your photos smaller. You can experiment with different sizes to meet your needs. This is only an example. If this is confusing to you, see the small reference guide two paragraphs down.

Photobird resizes your photos to a resolution of 640 pixels by 480 pixels when you add them to your album so that your photos are easier to see and faster to download from Photobird.com. We also store the original file that you upload.

Here are some approximate numbers to compare for your reference:

16. How often are my photos backed up on Photobird.com?

All data on Photobird.com are backed up daily, to protect us, the website, and the business from sudden and unexpected data loss. In the unexpected, very rare event that we might lose data, we can use the daily backup to restore the data and recover quickly.

However, please keep in mind that you must keep and maintain your own backup of your photos! The photos that you upload to Photobird.com should be the second, third, or fourth copy of photos that you have -- not your only copy of your photos.

In general, when using your computer, backing up data is very important and we cannot emphasize enough how important it is to backup your photos and computer files. We emphasize this important step not because we expect to lose your photos (we definitely don't expect to lose your photos!), but because it's a prudent practice to always maintain a current backup of your photos and other computer files; in case you accidently delete a photo, you can go to your backup to retrieve it.

Understand this: losing computer files, and having to create those files again, is extremely painful. The real pain with losing photos is that they're memories that are impossible to recreate! Please make multiple backups of your photos.

17. If I delete a photo accidentally, can you get it back for me?

No, unfortunately, we cannot retrieve or recover individual photos that you have deleted. This is exactly the reason that we strongly recommend that you maintain multiple backups of your photo collections.

18. What is a backup of a photo?

A backup of a photo is simply a copy of the photo (or its computer file, actually) that you have stored safely in case of you need to retrieve it. Some people will create (or "burn") CDs or DVDs of their photos so that they have another copy that they can use later if necessary. Some people will create two or more CDs or DVDs of their photos, and keep them in different locations just in case; for example, you might keep one DVD at home, one at work, one in your safe deposit box, etc. This is a good thing to do if you want to make sure you will always have those files and won't lose them.

For a creative twist to the "religion" of backing up data, check out the Tao of Backup.

19. What does "upload" and "download" mean?

In the context of "uploading photos to Photobird.com", upload means to send, post, or put photos from your computer's hard disk to your photo album on the Photobird.com website.

In the context of "downloading photos", download means to get photos from the website and put them on your computer's hard disk or view them in your web browser.

For more information about these and other fundamental computer terms, visit Dictionary.com.

20. Can I receive a CD or DVD of my photo albums?

Yes. There is an additional fee for creating and sending you a CD or DVD of your photos and photo albums. Please contact us for more details.

21. Do you allow "adult-oriented" content?

No, absolutely not. Be sure to read our Terms of Use agreement.

22. How can I get my photos featured as the Photobird Photo of the Hour?

View the photo from your photo album and then check the checkbox marked "Submit for Photo of the Hour". There is no limit to the number of photos that you can submit. If you want to withdraw your photo from consideration, simply uncheck the checkbox. You will be notified within approximately one business week if your photo will be featured.

If your photo is featured as the Photo of the Hour or in People, Places and Things, you receive an extra 50MB of storage for each photo. If your photo is featured in both Photo of the Hour and People, Places and Things, you receive 50MB for one photo. There is no limit to the amount of extra storage you can receive. For example, if 10 of your photos are used, then you receive an extra 500MB of storage for as long as your account remains open.

Photos are chosen for their presentation quality and they must be appropriate for the Photobird.com home page. Titles of the photos you submit must also be human-readable, such as "Beach" -- not digital camera filenames, such as "DSC0131". Generally, we look for photos that make people smile, convey positive ideas, and evoke an uplifting emotional reaction. While many individual portraits accomplish these goals, we may not use them on the home page, because the portraits represent the individual in the photograph, not Photobird.com; but we might use them in the People Places, and Things feature. We may use pictures of multiple people if it's suitable for the home page.

Please note that when your photos are displayed on the Look at Pictures page, you and your photo albums will gain increased exposure worldwide. When your photo is linked from anywhere outside your photo albums on Photobird.com, visitors who view a single photo in your album can also view your other photos and albums, if they are not hidden or password protected.

When your photos are displayed on the Look at Pictures page, Google and other search engines will index your photos and albums for searching. We can request that Google and other search engines not index your albums, so you and your photos won't appear when people search there. But, as described in the previous paragraph, visitors from around the world will still be able to see your photos. If you decide to submit your photos for Photo of the Hour, please let us know if you would like us to request that the search engines not index your photos and albums.

If you have family photos and other private photos that you want to keep hidden, while you share other photos with the world, here's a way that you can do both without sacrificing the privacy of your private photos:

1. Make an album called "family", "private", or anything you want. Just be aware that even if an album is hidden, people can still guess the name and see the album, so be creative.
2. Make the album hidden. Check the "Do not display..." checkbox in Edit Album Options.
3. Put all of your private photos in this hidden album. You can even create more albums within this album and they will all be hidden.
4. If you want extra protection on this private album, you can require that people enter a password to see the album; you can set this up in Edit Album Options.
5. Then, create all of your public albums, the ones you want the world to see, at the main, top level of your album, just like you already have.

Please let us know if you have any questions. We're happy to help.

23. How can I get my photos featured in "People, Places and Things"?

The same way as submitting photos for the Photobird Photo of the Hour: View the photo from your photo album and then check the checkbox marked "Submit for Photo of the Hour". There is no limit to the number of photos that you can submit. If you want to withdraw your photo from consideration, simply uncheck the checkbox.

We will automatically consider your submitted photo for the Photobird Photo of the Hour and for People, Places and Things.

24. Do I need to be a Photobird.com subscriber to have my photos featured as the Photobird Photo of the Hour and People, Places and Things?

Yes, you must have a valid subscription to be able to have your photos featured as the Photobird Photo of the Hour and People, Places and Things.

25. Are the forums available to everyone?

Generally yes; you do not need to be a Photobird.com subscriber to participate in the forums. In fact, we encourage everyone to participate. Please be sure to read the Terms of Use agreement for Photobird.com before you participate in the forums.

26. What do I need to do to stop receiving the Photobird.com newsletter?

Send us a message via our Contact Us page.

27. Why do you collect my e-mail address but do not display it when I post a comment?

We collect your e-mail address to help ensure that you are not posting comments anonymously. We do not display your e-mail address to help eliminate e-mail spam and to encourage you to post comments. Alternatively, instead of entering your e-mail address, you have the option to enter and display the website address of your photo albums (e.g. "http://www.photobird.com/your_username/") to share with others when you post a comment.

Updated: 8 December 2006