It probably wouldn't have made any difference to have done this earlier, but I have been considering using Smugmug's Pro service for putting my photos out on the internet.  In the past, the Pro service was around $150 a year.  I went there again today to check some things as I'm just about prepared to "pull the trigger" on going "public."  Now, they are up to $300 a year, and with us facing some doctor and hospital bills for Jo's health issue, I just can't make myself spend that extra money, just to see my photos out in public.

I currently have an account with Photobucket and it works fine for sharing the occasional photo on the various forums that I frequent and with friends.  However, while I once thought it was secure so that someone could NOT do a mouse "right-click" and "save as" to "steal" the photo, I have discovered that it is not entirely secure.  (I won't divulge what can be done to steal photos on Photobucket as that might affect others.)  There are some of my better photos that I'd like to show, but if I can't keep them secure, it won't likely be done.  I used to have a few on Photobucket, but after finding the "avenue" with which someone can use the mouse clicks method to get them, I've taken the better ones off.

So, knowing that any "free" photo hosting site is still likely to have a way of "losing" one's photos, do any of you know of a good hosting site that is not so expensive but that can be used to "market" my photos without fear of having them stolen?  (I may very well have to go ahead with Smugmug because I am not a "HTML" guy that can create my own website without some "tools" from the hosting company, and it looks like Smugmug has the tools for a novice to create a site for his photos.)

Just to comment on the "stolen" issue, a photographer was once contacted by a friend and congratulated for having a winning photo in a photo contest.  Since the photographer hadn't entered the contest, they went to looking, and sure enough, someone had stolen his photo and entered it into the contest.  The photographer contacted the photo contest officials and informed them that the "winning photo" had been stolen and the entrant was profiting from someone else's work.  After proving to them that the photo was indeed his, the photo contest company then had to go to the "winner" and demand their prize money back.  Needless to say, the thief's name is now mud in the photography world, especially with those companies that do contests.

Thanks for any help or suggestions that anyone can provide.  It would probably help if I wasn't such a cheapskate.  However, I am "slowly" working on a book that will include a bunch of my photos along with commentary.  I doubt that the book will profit me much, but who knows.  Jo has been "nagging and nagging" for me to write something in which I can show my photos.

Terry