How To Upload Pictures to SmugMug:

1. Take lots of pictures.
2. Take more pictures!
3. Pick your best pictures.
4. Upload to SmugMug.

This article is about the fourth step using your computer and a web browser.

SmugMug is a popular photo sharing site. Although not as popular as Flickr, I prefer how SmugMug presents images and allows more customization than Flickr. You have control over most aspects of how your site looks including colors and layouts. My SmugMug site is here.
Unlike Flickr, SmugMug is not free. There are three tiers of membership available. Standard is the entry level which will allow to choose custom themes for your site. This level is $39.95US/year. Next is the Power level which allows custom java and css scripting. This level also allows video. This level is $59.95US/year. The top level is Pro which is set up for photographers who want to sell their images. All levels are ad free and all levels have unlimited uploads, unlimited traffic, password protected galleries and private galleries. There's more information available on the SmugMug feature page. If you sign up for an account, use coupon code jkcwNbWZ4bi3M to save $5.00US.
If you want to try out SmugMug, there is a 14 day free trial.

So the first thing to do is get a SmugMug account. Visit www.smugmug.com and look for the "Try It" button.

(Images in this article are hosted on SmugMug. Click here to visit galery. Click on the image to see the full size version.)

Once you're set up, you'll be taken to your "home" page. Now you can upload. Uploading is easy using the web based uploader. Just select the the pictures you want and upload away.

Click "Add Photos > New Gallery" on you home page.

Enter the name for your gallery. Under catagory, pick a topic from the drop down menu.

Once your gallery is created, you will see the web upload tool. SmugMug allows the user to select entire folders for uploading. So if your 12 of 12 images are in one place, simply choose the folder.

Hint: When selecting pictures, hold down the "Shift" key to select a range of pictures, or "Control" (Windows) "Command" (Macintosh) to select multiple pictures.

Navagte to your images.

Once your images are selected, you will see them listed in the uploader. Click upload.

Once the upload is done click on "Return to your gallery" This will take you to your galley page where you'll be able to add descriptions and tags. Click on Tools > Customize Gallery.

On this page you can enter a description for the set. You can also enter tags for the set. There are other settings on this page. Play with them and have fun.

When done click on "Tools > Caption/Ketword"

The next page you see will add descriptions to your pictures and add tags. Thumbnails of the images are shown with blank fields for description and tags. You can now enter a description of each photo. You can also "tag" your photos at this stage. Tagging will allow your picture to be found using word specific searches. Example, if you have a picture of a car, adding a "car" tag will show you picture when someone looks for pictures of cars. For this project, some of the recommended tags are: "Geocaching" and "12 of 12." When tagging, separate single word tags with a space. To group multiple words as a tag, enclose them in quotes ("). When you are done, click "Preview" then "Save"

And that's it! Congratulations! You've just uploaded you first 12 of 12 photo set! Now that you can see your images online, it's time to get that address for the set. To do that, go to your galery page.

Once on the galerys home page, just copy/paste the URL to the Geocaching 12 of 12 form, Chad Darnell's blog, the Podcacher Forum, your blog, forum, Twitter, Facebook, e-mail, or any other method you wish to let the world know about your 12 of 12 set.