For the active stock photographer, placing your images on a Web-based on-line photo gallery can be a showcase for your stock photography. In some cases, it can also be an opportunity to make new photobuyer contacts and sales. The photo albums, or “malls” as they are sometimes called, range from companies that provide film printing service, to high profile sites that attract professional photobuyers.

If you are just starting out you can sign up with a free site to test the process. These sites usually limit entries to three or four dozen images. You also have to put up with boundless advertising accompanying your page. You need to be aware that professional photobuyers rarely frequent these kinds of sites.

Some on-line photo sites don’t permit extensive keywording. This would limit the ability of a photo researcher searching this site to target in on a specific image that needs to be described in several specific words. Be sure to choose a site that allows extensive captioning (photo descriptions) for each picture. You’ll find Portfolios.com does this, but it’s expensive: $599 per year. It does not carry any advertising.

We have listed a few dozen current gallery sites that we have discovered over the past year. We’ve listed them all, but be prepared that some of them may already be out of business by now. Which brings up a second caution note for when you choose a free site. Research the stability of the site carefully, the way you need to do when choosing an Internet Service Provider. If the site is not in business in a year from now, you’ll have an uphill task to transfer the increasing numbers of your images to another site.

And finally, the site may be free and well-designed, but if it’s getting few visitors, it would not be the site for you if you’re planning on selling your stock photography. You can check whether a site gets lots of visitors, by using the (free) software, www.alexa.com, to see the ranking that Alexa gives the site.