Best location for online photos

[roamingstop]

I know there have been several threads in the past about where to host photos (FlickR, MocPages, Brickshelf etc) but I wanted to find out a little more about which is best for searching, cross referencing and linking for models etc...

To back up a bit: Currently all my models (including photos, LXF etc) are stored on my private webspace, and Im happy to use this for posting into EB threads. However I'm aware that others often use sites like FlickR which have automatic 'tags' for cross referencing to other creations, techniques etc. Although I rarely visit these sites directly, when I do (often after viewing a great MOC) I find the tags, and suggested links to be really useful in finding other great designs - so much so that it is easy to become overloaded.

Therefore does anyone have a a good opinion on which of the sites to use for distribution of images and MOC's? Is there a preferred site for different themes? And which has the best sectioning, as although most of my MOC's are still at the train stage, others which including buildings will be coming in the future.

Thanks

[Brickdoctor]

Brickshelf doesn't have a community, or any bells and whistles beyond photo hosting for that matter. Of the other two, flickr has better photo quality and currently a slightly more mature community. Overall, flickr is probably the best bet of the three for both hosting and viewing.

[Peppermint_M]

I find brickshelf best for just hosting images (something your webspace would provide) but Flickr has the more mature community and tagging features, the groups (of which there are thousands) provide a great platform for cross-refrencing MOCs.

I posted a little 4-wide milkfloat, tagged it up and soon had an invite to add it to a milkfloat photo group! There are groups for everything and anything. The major LEGO group also provides the best place to get someone to notice your MOC and invite it to their own specialised one.

The photo notes and comments are also more sophisticated than MOCpages.

[roamingstop]

Thanks for the tips; I went ahead on FlickR... what is the main difference between 'Sets' and 'Galleries' - and is there a way to subgroup them (not everything I post will be Lego related!)

[Peppermint_M]

A set is a collection of your related photos, so if you were to post 10 shots of one MOC, you could create a set for that MOC so someone could browse those without having to go through your photostream.

A gallery is a collection of photos by others that you like, curated to a theme. So a Car gallery would be a collection of images of cars by other photographers, without having to create a Car group first. Sort of like a way to show others you favourites with commentary on whyat and why.

[Nikola Bathory]

I recommend Photobucket.