WEB CULTURE
Uploading photos of the big day is worth the effort
By Eric Griffith
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All you have to do is order a few dozen copies of everything the wedding photographer takes, pick out the best ones, stuff them in envelopes, dig out addresses and lug it all to the post office ... after the honeymoon, of course. Or whenever things settle down, which generally means sometime after your firstborn starts college.
There's an easier way. It's called the Web.
Hiring a photographer
If you're going to take your photos to the Net, you need to think about more than whether your amateur photographer cousin can follow the bride down the aisle without tripping on the train of her gown.
When hiring a photographer, consider one who's handy with a digital camera. You can search listings of photographers at WedNet ( www.wednet.com ) or Wedding and Portrait Photographers International ( www.eventphotographers.com ). Some photographers will post photo advanced proofs—photos you use to determine what prints you'll order—online so you can pick those you'd like to have for prints later. Some may even burn a CD with images on it for you.
Keep in mind that copyright law gives professional photographers the rights to any pictures they take. That's why most keep the negatives and you just keep purchasing expensive new prints through them.
If you have a digital camera, give it to a trusted guest at the reception to supplement traditional photos. Other guests should use disposable cameras that you leave on the reception tables, with a note to return them.
When the big day arrives, enjoy yourself as your significant other finally becomes your spouse. Don't worry about the pictures. But don't leave for the honeymoon without your point-and-shoot.
Setting up your online album
Now that you're back from the beach (or cruise or mountain climbing in the Andes) and relaxed, it's time to share your happy memories. Here's where the real fun begins.
Before you can post your wedding photos, you need to decide where you'll put them. One simple and free route is to use photo sharing communities like Zing ( www.zing.com ), PhotoPoint ( www.photopoint.com ) or Picturetrail ( www.picturetrail.com ), which let you post your photos for free for anyone to see. Some provide cool extras such as letting visitors turn photos into gifts like mugs and T-shirts (for a price, of course). Many also let you password-protect your photos, so only friends and family with the password can view your images.
If you don't mind spending the money, you can pay for someone to post your pics. Our-Album.net ( www.our-album.net ) specializes in this. Send them your prints, and they'll scan and post them to a password-protected, personalized Web address your friends can access. The downside? For $149, you get only 15 images, and they stay online for only three months.
For more control of your pictures, consider using the space provided by your Internet service provider. Along with Web access, most give you between 2 and 5 MB on their servers to post files, more than enough for most wedding albums. Your ISP can provide instructions on how to upload photos to Web pages you've made. If you want to pay for it, you could even register a domain name for your wedding site.
Once you know where your album is going to live, it's time to get the digitized pictures. Get your disposable cameras and film developed, and as you drop them off, most film processors will let you order digital images using a service like AOL's You've Got Pictures (pictures.aol.com or Keyword: Pictures) or PhotoWorks ( www.photoworks.com ).
When building your album Web pages, photos of the ceremony and reception are key, but don't neglect to include scans of the extras, such as the wedding invitation, the program and readings from the ceremony. Anything you can represent digitally will be interesting. If it won't offend anyone, you could even post pictures of your more unique wedding gifts, such as that charming ceramic pitcher shaped like a rooster.
Next up, the baby pictures.