Please help me send my photos from my phone to "The World Wide Web" without F**kbook

September 29, 2011 11:07 AM

Easiest way to get photos from my phone to the web that is NOT F**kbook?

I can easily send photos from my phone to Facebook, but I don't want all my "friends" to see all these photos. [I have a way to send photos from my computer to the web via an ftp program but...never mind, it's too hard to explain -- well actually it's the server of a bbs I"ve been on since 1990 called ECHO (echonyc.com) -- but that's sort of irrelevant at this point -- but I cannot figure out how to send photos to that server via my phone. That's the issue. Phone --> Web]

SO..What service can I use to send photos to a website where all I have to do is have an e-mail address to send the photos to (same thing as Facebook has) and then I just tell my selected audience the url?

I thought Blogger would be a good thing. I set up a mobile account but it didn't recognize it (after sending me several texts saying that it did recognize it, but then telling me that it couldn't find my mobile blog blah blah blah) so I gave up.

Somebody told me about jux.com but I kept going round and round on their website reading about how wonderful they are, but I didn't want to join without access to SPECIFIC directions about how to send from my mobile phone (which is an LG chocolate touch -- not really a smartphone << important point!) which I couldn't find. Same with tumblr.

If you have a FREE service like one of these to recommend, could you tell me HOW to set up things so I can take a picture with my phone and immediately tell it to send it to -- "the web" -- via e-mail with a little caption I can write on my phone??

I have to say that, as much as I despise Facebook, they make this easy to do (i.e., even I was able to find and follow their directions pretty easily). Please don't tell me to select certain Facebook friends as my audience. The problem is that many of the people I really like who "get" me and my photos and captions are Facebook refuseniks, and I love and respect them for that!

Thank you.

posted by DMelanogaster to computers & internet (44 answers total)

Ugh, I meant F***book. Too impulsive today.
posted by DMelanogaster at 11:07 AM on September 29, 2011

Flickr.

Flickr Help.

Here's how to upload by email.
posted by spinifex23 at 11:10 AM on September 29, 2011 [3 favorites]

Flickr does this, as does Twitpic if you use Twitter. Those are the only ones I've used.
posted by cabingirl at 11:11 AM on September 29, 2011

I haven't really played with it, but I think Google+ uploads pictures automatically, presumably accessible from picasa.
posted by Big_B at 11:11 AM on September 29, 2011 [1 favorite]

I use Dropbox for this kind of stuff. I upload it to a folder, it can be public or not, and I can edit it on my computer.
posted by milkrate at 11:15 AM on September 29, 2011

Picasa is pretty easy to share with via a smartphone.
posted by Horselover Phattie at 11:15 AM on September 29, 2011 [1 favorite]

I email photos from my phone to flickr. I also have an app (iphone, but there may be an Android version) that also lets me upload to flickr, but I can set who can see it, I can add tags, add them to certain sets, etc.
posted by rtha at 11:15 AM on September 29, 2011

Flickr, Google+ (via Picasa), and Dropbox all do what you're trying to do, and better than Facebook.
posted by The World Famous at 11:16 AM on September 29, 2011

Yeah, my Android phone is set to automatically upload photos and videos I take with it to G+ (and by default Picasa), Flickr, and whatever else I choose. They queue up in an 'uploaded files' folder until I select them to share. This just Sort of Worked when I turned my phone on and logged into my respective accounts—it's pretty great.
posted by carsonb at 11:17 AM on September 29, 2011 [1 favorite]

You can also do this with Tumblr but email uploads seem to take a while to show up. I use Flickr mostly.
posted by bonobothegreat at 11:18 AM on September 29, 2011

I don't have an Android phone. I don't have a very smart phone, just a phone of low-average intelligence. I don't have "apps" on my phone. What I can do is type in an e-mail address and tell my phone to send a picture via e-mail to that address and I can write a caption under the phone. Therefore I will now try Flickr.

I actually have Dropbox but I can't imagine how to use that from my phone. (I use it with my iPad all the time. iPad1 = No Camera = not a mobile option)

Thanks. I just hope I can find INSTRUCTIONS for this on Flickr. This is what I"m not able to do yet - find instructions. I will return to tell my tale. Thank you.
posted by DMelanogaster at 11:22 AM on September 29, 2011

You can use Twitgoo like that, but then you'll also need a Twitter account. Twitgoo gives you a unique email address.
posted by Horselover Phattie at 11:25 AM on September 29, 2011

Flickr Uploading by email

I think you need to be logged in, and it'll show you your dedicated address right on that page. Email away!
posted by carsonb at 11:26 AM on September 29, 2011

Instructions:

1. Create a Flickr account.
2. Go to here.
3. Profit!
posted by Rock Steady at 11:27 AM on September 29, 2011 [1 favorite]

Sign up to Flickr.

Go to the help (same as the second link in Spinifex's post.

The second paragraph, right at the top, covers exactly what you need to do.

Once you've signed up, visiting this link (also in spinifex's post) will provide all the information you could possibly ask for.
posted by Magnakai at 11:27 AM on September 29, 2011 [1 favorite]

And if you want to use Dropbox, you could use this third-party service (untested by me, but apparently good) or this PHP script if you have your own file server.
posted by Magnakai at 11:30 AM on September 29, 2011

Well I went to flickr and saw that I already have a "photostream" with one picture on it. God knows how that happened. Well actually, my niece posted a photo to Facebook awhile back and I guess I was offered the option to save it to flickr or yahoo or whatever it is so I did. The picture is actually quite amusing, if you want to take a look:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/24584163@N08/

Anyway, so yes I see it's offering me an e-mail address to post my pictures to. SO -- I just posted a picture to that e-mail address, and it is NOT showing up on my "photostream." Why? o lord, Why??

Is it going somewhere else? is there some sort of "Blog" I"m supposed to have? I'm confused! Why didn't my picture go to my photostream? I swear I did what it told me to do. Your continued assistance MUCH appreciated.
posted by DMelanogaster at 11:45 AM on September 29, 2011

That's not going to be an instant type of process, I think. Give it a few-ten minutes.
posted by carsonb at 11:50 AM on September 29, 2011

It worked!!!!!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/drosophilamelanogaster/6195451669/in/photostream
posted by DMelanogaster at 12:00 PM on September 29, 2011 [2 favorites]

Alternatively: Get Bitpim for a/your computer, as LG chocolate touch works with Bitpim. Download images through Bitpim, repost anywhere online via your computer.
posted by filthy light thief at 1:03 PM on September 29, 2011

Posterous does this quite well (you sign up, they tell you an email address, you email content to it and it gets posted)
posted by misterbrandt at 1:04 PM on September 29, 2011

Why all the flickr love? Yuck. Dying medium imo.

For easy upload and lots of sharing options with an interface that doesn't take 100 bazillion years to load, photobucket.

If you possibly, possibly can, Picasa. Not 100% sure about the email-to option, but I know photobucket does this.

But seriously, anything but Flickr. Gah.
posted by TomMelee at 1:07 PM on September 29, 2011

I use photobucket for this.
posted by insectosaurus at 1:07 PM on September 29, 2011

are you trying to share these pictures or just upload them?

if you're just wanting them from your phone to your computer, email them to yourself. you can even set up a gmail account just for phone pictures.
posted by nadawi at 1:49 PM on September 29, 2011

Seconding Posterous. Just email your photos to them and they appear on your photoblog...
posted by pwb503 at 2:27 PM on September 29, 2011

But seriously, anything but Flickr. Gah.

Any real reason why? I know Yahoo aren't in the healthiest place, but Flickr seems to be as valid a photo hosting place as ever. Why is Picasa a much better option?
posted by Magnakai at 3:13 PM on September 29, 2011 [1 favorite]

Yeah -- WHY?
posted by DMelanogaster at 3:52 PM on September 29, 2011

You can definitely email to picasa, I use this with the funky If This Then That to automatically upload pictures I post in facebook to picasa for my friends/family who hate facebook.
posted by Admira at 6:03 PM on September 29, 2011

From a purely speed-driven standpoing, Flickr is slow. Flickr is great for people who need digital rights management of their content, but for everyone else it's a pain. Feature wise, Flickr doesn't offer the flexibility of, say, photobucket. Flickr's got great groups you can join and the option to download files in 10 gazillion resolutions, but it's CLUNKY. Also, good luck providing a hotlink to a specific picture. Flickr wants to load its GD flash every time it loads a picture, and it just luuuuuuuuurves its stupid lightbox.

Picasa isn't a better option for everyone---but it's a great option for MOST. The PC software Picasa is really pretty good, and the sync-to-web functions are BADASS. It's in the cloud? Great, it's on your PC. It's on your PC, want it in the cloud? There it is. Geotagging? Done. Facial recognition? Done. Multi-tagging? Done. Want a whole bunch of nifty privacy options? Cool. Visible to nobody? Done. Visible to anyone with an obfuscated link? Done. Visible to everyone? Done. Visible only to specific email addresses? Done. Want to batch tag an armada of pics? Easy. Want to batch shrink and mail? Done. Want pretty good color correction? Done.

Flickr gives you a lightbox.

Flickr is, imo, for professional people who, as I said, need DRM.

Also, you get 5 free Gb of storage w/ unlimited monthly bandwidth and 20Gb more is $5/year that if necessary you can spread around to your other google accounts. I'm especially jaded w/ an Android phone, but I was rocking Picasa long before that. I use photobucket for ebay/craigslist and Picasa for literally everything else. I store gigs of work-related pics there shared with one set of people and pics of my son in another shared with others and pics of whatever shared with nobody.
posted by TomMelee at 6:33 PM on September 29, 2011

Just to be clear, most of what TomMelee is saying about Flickr is not accurate. There is no flash loaded when a photo is displayed (except in the old slideshow, which is actually quite difficult to even find now). Feature for feature Flickr also does everything you've listed about Picasa except facial recognition, and then some. Out of curiosity, TomMelee, are you using a modern web browser (meaning not a Microsoft product)? If you're using a modern web browser Flickr is actually pretty snappy.

FWIW, I upload to Flickr from my phone via email all the time and it works great. You can also add tags to photos via email and manage privacy by adding +private (or other variations) to your secret email address. I'm not sure if Picasa does privacy via email or tagging.
posted by pkingdesign at 12:18 AM on September 30, 2011

I don't want to derail this too much, but I find most of those to be true about Flickr as well. Geotagging, multi-tagging, privacy options, sharing etc. I find it to be pretty snappy as well. There is no facial recognition, or any instant cloud duplication, as far as I know, though there is plenty of software to make it very easy to upload to Flickr. Lightroom, for instance, has good Flickr integration. There is even a Picasa to Flickr button available. I actually have Flash disabled on my laptop, and I haven't a request from it within Flickr since they got rid of the Flash-based organiser a few years ago. And I like the lightbox! You can easily flick through entire sets.

Note that I haven't used Picasaweb much since it launched. I was unimpressed with what I saw then, but Google are pretty good at web apps, so I expect it to have improved immeasurably.
posted by Magnakai at 4:42 AM on September 30, 2011

Ok, fair enough, I haven't used it since it drove me crazy a few years ago. I know that if I'm browsing shared photos and I'm comparing load times for, say, imagur/photobucket/and flickr, flickr is always the loser.

And yea, I'm using Chrome.

It appears that there are multiple ways to link to photos as well, it must be that all the ones I see pop up make the damn flash or whatever lightbox pop up, but that it's not always the case.

I also use a chrome extension called "hover zoom" most of the time.
posted by TomMelee at 8:21 AM on September 30, 2011

I use Flickr on my iPad all the time. The only Flash issue I have had is when I've done a tag search and want to see a slide show of results, rather than a regular thumbnail view. It's not a feature I think I would use very often. Everything else is Flash free as far as I can tell.
posted by bonobothegreat at 10:11 AM on September 30, 2011

Here's a follow-up question, sort of:

Now that I can get my photos from my phone to Flickr etc., I want better photos. So now I carry my regular digital camera around with me. But here's the thing: Instead of waiting until I get home and can put the camera's SD card into my computer, get out the photos, and e-mail them to wherever, I would like to take pictures with the camera using the phone's mini-SD card, so that I can then transfer the card into my phone and then e-mail the photos, BUT...

I can't. Because, here's the thing: I take the photo with my camera, it gets onto the mini-SD card, I can see the photos on the camera when I hit "review", fine, great. BUT THEN when I transfer the mini-SD card to the phone, I cannot see those photos when I go to "My Photos."

I am assuming that the camera is saving the pictures in a different format or file system or something?

Does anyone have any thoughts about this?
posted by DMelanogaster at 5:13 PM on October 19, 2011

oh, and just in case this is confusing, let me say that I have a mini-SD card adapter that I stick the mini-SD card into and then I stick that whole now-regular-SD-sized card into the camera.

(camera takes big SD card; phone takes mini-SD card)
posted by DMelanogaster at 5:14 PM on October 19, 2011

you can skip the moving the pictures from camera to the phone with an eye-fi card.

when you move the photos to your computer, what file extension are they? they might be in a raw image format. some cameras let you change them on the camera, some let you set the format taken as jpg. what kind of camera are you using?
posted by nadawi at 5:20 PM on October 19, 2011

The photos you put into the phone on the miniSD card aren't automatically added to your usual 'My Photos' folder, they'll be under whatever it is your phone calls the removable miniSD storage card. So if you have a file browser, open it up and navigate up until you can see where the miniSD card is, then you should be able to see the photo files.

Which are going to probably be very large compared to your phone cam pics, and will take proportionally longer to upload into email. Just so you know.
posted by carsonb at 5:33 PM on October 19, 2011

ok -- On the mini-SD card the pictures are in the DCIM folder (as opposed to, for example, "my_flix") and the suffix is JPG. I can't figure out where to find them when I put the card back into the phone. The phone is an LG Chocolate Touch. The camera is a Kodak V570 Dual Lens.

Thank you for sticking with me on this! I don't see anything on the phone in My Settings, Memory, etc., where I can locate the photo files.
posted by DMelanogaster at 11:14 AM on October 20, 2011

Do you have anything that shows you the phone's file system, on the phone? You want to see if you can see that DCIM folder, maybe in your photo gallery? Look for something like a drop-down menu where it says 'My Pictures', where you can select another location to look for photos.
posted by carsonb at 11:17 AM on October 20, 2011

Tragically, "My Pictures" only has my photos in it. I wonder who I could ask about this from LG or something. I really can't find any way to see the other files.
posted by DMelanogaster at 11:43 AM on October 20, 2011

go into a verizon store (or alltel, or whoever your phone company is) - ask them. it'll be easier than trying to figure it out online/over the phone. it looks like the LG chocolate uses "dolby mobile" which makes troubleshooting this issue a little harder.

on my windows mobile and droid phones, i was able to install a 3rd party file manager software that made all of this a lot easier. not sure if that's an option for you.
posted by nadawi at 2:40 PM on October 20, 2011 [1 favorite]

Download Everything. Make sure it's indexing the sd card. In the search bar, type *.jpg. If that doesn't work to find them, try *.jpeg.

So I googled, and it looks like you need BitPim. Here's a forum post. Here's another, although my interwebs seem to have leaky plumbing tonight and I can't get the page to load.
posted by TomMelee at 3:37 PM on October 20, 2011

Oh, I'm terribly sorry. I fail at reading. I would wager a guess that the capacity or speed of the card is beyond that of phone, unless you've used this self-same card before.

It could also be a formatting issue, some older "semi-smart" phones did their own thing with file formats. I wish I could be more help, but with the previously mentioned leaky interwebs I'm barely able to load this page.
posted by TomMelee at 3:42 PM on October 20, 2011

Thank you. I have no idea how to download anything onto the phone. That BitPim thing - I read about it, it sounds scary (they keep saying the phone could turn into a brick if you're not careful)

Maybe this just isn't going to happen!
posted by DMelanogaster at 4:07 PM on October 20, 2011