Blog.Photobucket.com

Get Photobucket on MTV! We need YOUR vote!

So you may remember that we ran an "MTV Movie Spoof" contest on Photobucket, in collaboration with MTV? One Photobucket nominee gets to go to the MTV Movie Awards, and potentially win all sorts of cool kudos, prizes, and stuff. 

Well, we got a nominee, and they did a spoof called "I Am Little." And now it's time TO VOTE!

The amateur auteur whose spoof collects the most votes on MTV will attend the awards and walk away with an MTV Movie Awards Golden Popcorn trophy of their very own!

We absolutely want that winner to be from Photobucket. Don't you?

So please help out this great movie director in the making, and vote.

Click here and scroll down to see the movie "I Am Little" movie on MTV's page. This is what it looks like on the page:

Best of luck Zan. We love you!

Try out Group Albums on Photobucket Today

We're pretty excited about this new feature we're launching today: Group Albums.

We've all seen this: multiple people at an event. Lots of cameras. You never get to see all the videos and photos everyone takes. How do you get together and share in one place?

For groups, teams, parties, graduations, weddings -- anytime people get together -- get the person in charge (there's always at least one!) to set up a Group Album on Photobucket.

Share Photos and Videos in One Album

The Group Album moderator (the person who started the Group Album) can invite you all to upload your photos and videos to that album. The moderator can choose to approve your submissions before they go live (or not), and can also choose to password protect the Group Album (or not). It's up to you.

Add a "Vanity" URL for Your Album

And for that final personal touch, add a vanity URL, such as http://photobucket.com/smithfamilyreunion. Put the URL on your party invites or on your wedding table placesettings!

It's all there on Photobucket today, and it's all free! Have fun!

Get Started

To set up your own group album, go here:  http://photobucket.com/groupalbums.

We Will Feature Your Group Album

And if you're ready proud of your album, click on the "Feature This Group Album" on the page at http://photobucket.com/groupalbums, and we'll review it. If it's cool, we'll add it to the Group Album Home page.

Contribute To Our Featured Albums

We have a new community Group Albums that we've got going to kick the party off. Visit these and add your own stuff! We can't wait to see what you've got!

Baseball fans -- go to http://photobucket.com/baseballfans

Tattoo lovers -- go to http://photobucket.com/tattoofans

Skaters? -- go to http://photobucket.com/skateboardfans

Show us your beautiful wedding -- go to http://photobucket.com/weddings

Graduating this year? -- Let's all get together at http://photobucket.com/2008graduation

Fans of the hip new Denver nightspot The Beta Nightclub? -- go to http://photobucket.com/betanightclub

MTV Movie Contest Deadline Extended!

You now have until May 19th to get your MTV Movie Spoof into our cool MTV contest. You could win a chance to appear on MTV! How could you turn this opportunity down?

MTV has extended the deadline to give us all a bit more time to hone our video editing and director skills.

To visit the contest and read all about it, go here: http://photobucket.com/mtv

To read the past blog article about the contest, go here: http://blog.photobucket.com/blog/2008/04/got-a-video-cam.html

Good luck! We really want a Photobucket user to win this contest, so get going!

See more than 27 ugly dresses on Photobucket!

We're having a super fun time looking at all your ugliest dresses in one of our contests. Keep them coming. They're a hoot! Here's a small selection below.

Want to see some more? Visit other contest entries.

Got something uglier? Then enter your own!

Then visit our 27 Dresses contest, and show us for gosh sakes!

 

Got a video camera and a few friends? Get spoofing!

Check out some of the entries in the MTV Movie Spoof contest.  Have fun this weekend! Get your cameras out and spoof your favorite movie! You could end up on MTV.

To enter the contest, go here: http://photobucket.com/contest/mtv/

Take a look at this one. I know you can do just as well (if not better)!

 

Here are some important instructions, because this is a big time contest. Sigh.

1. You can only spoof the movies listed here.

2. Your movie spoof should be no longer than three minutes in length.

3. You have to use the music MTV has provided. Videos with any other music soundtrack will be automatically disqualified. Sorry. Click here to get the music. They're giving you five tracks for free, or you can purchase more if you want.

4. Ready to roll? Click here to go to the contest.

To read more details about the contest, go here: http://blog.photobucket.com/blog/2008/04/mtv-wants-to-se.html.

Photobucket is a Webware 100 winner

We love it when we win stuff. Photobucket was chosen as one of the 100 best Web 2.0 applications, chosen by Webware readers and Internet users across the globe. Over 1.9 million votes were cast. Thanks to everyone who gave us the nod. We really appreciate it!

Photobucket API opens new applications

Photobucket API powers NEW applications for self-expression
World's Leading Web Site for Photos and Videos  Opens Up to Software Developers

Initial Developers Including Adobe, AOL, FotoFlexer, Intercasting, RockYou, Slide and Snapvine Create New Ways to Illustrate Users’ Lives

PALO ALTO, Calif., April 22, 2008 – Photobucket (http://www.photobucket.com), the world's leading standalone photo and video-sharing site, today announced the broad release of the site’s application programming interface (API), which will empower Web developers around the world to build new applications based on Photobucket’s popular digital media sharing technology. The API and supporting materials will be available starting today from the new developer section on the Photobucket site (http://developer.photobucket.com).

The release of the Photobucket API enables developers to give users access to their photos and videos from places beyond Photobucket.com, including other Web sites, Web applications, desktop applications, browser plug-ins, mobile phones, home-entertainment systems, digital photo frames and cameras.

“We are excited to invite a world of talented developers to extend our photo and video platform and tap into the tremendous creativity and passion of our users,” said Alex Welch, president, Photobucket. “Photobucket pioneered the ability for people to link and share photos and videos -- whether on blogs, social networks or auction sites -- and the broad release of our API makes it possible to create entirely new media experiences on the Web and on devices of all kinds.”

Developers can use the API to create applications that will enable users to:

•    Securely log into Photobucket accounts
•    Create, edit and access albums
•    Upload new content to their albums (photos, images and videos)
•    Share content from albums via email
•    Search through publicly available content on Photobucket
•    Access and update metadata (titles, descriptions, tags, etc.)

Photobucket offers creative possibilities for developers of every kind – whether for personal or commercial pursuits. For anyone looking to get started immediately, Photobucket provides a non-commercial API option with open registration. For developers with an approved business plan for their application, Photobucket offers a commercial API opportunity with unlimited traffic and bandwidth. Developers can register for either option at the Photobucket developer site launched today.   

Initial developers, including Adobe, AOL, FotoFlexer, Intercasting, RockYou, Slide and Snapvine, will join Photobucket at its booth this week at the Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco to demonstrate a wide variety of applications they have created using Photobucket’s API.

Many more applications are featured in an Application Gallery launched today on the Photobucket Web site, including offerings from Blurb, Eye-Fi, Flektor and TiVo Inc. In addition to being a showcase for developers’ products, the Application Gallery makes it easy for Photobucket users to find and download applications and discover devices that support the API. Users can bookmark and share their favorite applications on their Photobucket profile, allowing other Photobucket users to try them out as well. To view the Photobucket Application Gallery, visit: http://gallery.photobucket.com.

For downloads and additional information, visit: http://developer.photobucket.com.

Announcing the 2008 MTV Movie Awards on Photobucket

A very exciting contest launches today on Photobucket, with our friends from MTV. It's the 2008 MTV Movie Spoof Contest.

Think you're ready for your 15 minutes of fame? Bring your inner movie director out, and show the world how well you can "spoof" your favorite movies by submitting original movie shots parodying scenes from the movies listed below.

Just ONE finalist from Photobucket will move to the final round on MTV -- and that's where voting will take place.

The deadline for submissions is May 11th, 2008.

The creators of the finalist video will be flown to LA to attend the 2008 MTV Movie Awards, and a chance to accept the coveted Golden Popcorn at the live ceremony from the Gibson Amphiteather in Universal City on June 1, 2008.

Here are some important instructions, because this is a big time contest. Sigh.

1. You can only spoof the movies listed below.

2. Your movie spoof should be no longer than three minutes in length.

3. You have to use the music MTV has provided. Videos with any other music soundtrack will be automatically disqualified. Sorry. Click here to get the music. They're giving you five tracks for free, or you can purchase more if you want.

4. Ready to roll? Click here to go to the contest.

 

Pick your movies

Here's a list of the movies MTV wants you to pick from.

Comedies

• Knocked UP
• Evan Almighty
• Hairspray
• Superbad
• Juno
• Leatherheads

Action/Thrillers

• Disturbia
• Transformers
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
• The Bourne Ultimatum
• Beowulf
• Cloverfield
• Jumper
• 10,000 BC
• I Am Legend

Horror

• 28 Weeks Later
• Sweeney Todd
• The Eye
• The Ruins

Drama

• Into the Wild
• No Country for Old Men

Romance

• Across the Universe
• Fools Gold
• Enchanted

We're looking forward to seeing what you come up with! Go Photobucket!

You have until May 11th, 2008 to enter the contest. Then voting takes place on MTV's site until May 26th, 2008. Winners are announced live on MTV on June 1, 2008.

New today: upgraded combined photo and video uploader on Photobucket

Thanks to all your feedback, we’re upgrading the way you upload photos and videos to Photobucket today.

This upgrade radically simplifies uploading to Photobucket.  It allows you to upload both photos and videos at the same time, and presents options for choosing and selecting media from different locations.

Here’s a quick summary of the improvements:

• You can upload photos and videos at the same time in the same upload session
• You can shift- or ctrl- select multiple files and upload them all at once
• You can upload up to 50 photos and/or videos at once
• You can upload photos from your mobile phone directly into your album
• You can upload photos or videos by emailing them to a unique email address associated with your album.

Naturally, we’re keeping the "old" way of uploading, because we know that some people just like it that way or are 'change averse'!

The size and limits of photos and videos that you can upload does not change.

• Free users can upload up to 1GB of files (images/videos) to their account (up to around 10,000 files).
• Pro users can upload up to 5GB of files (images/videos) to their account (up to around 50,000 files).

Photobucket free users can upload images and have them appear automatically in the following sizes:

• tiny (100x75)
• small (160x120)
• medium (320x480)
• large (640x480)
• 15" screen (800x600)
• 17" screen (1024x768)
• original size, with a 1MB file size limit
  
• videos maximum of 5 min length and 100MB size

Photobucket Pro users can upload images in all the sizes above, and in addition:

• 19" screen (1280x960)
• 21" screen (1600x1200)
• 22" screen (2048x1536)
• 23" screen (2240x1680)
• original size, with a 2MB file size limit
  
• original size, with a 5MB file size limit
  
• videos maximum of 10 minutes in length and 100MB size

File format support does not change either. All users can upload in all the standard file formats (JPG, JPEG, BMP, GIF, PNG) and all standard video formats (3g2, 3gp, 3gp2, 3gpp, 3p, asf, avi, divx,  dv, dvx, flv, gif, moov, mov, mp4, mpeg4, mpg4, mpe, mpeg, mpg, qt,  wmv,  xvid, rm). Pro users can in addition upload SWF (Flash) files.

You can choose to upload from your computer, a Web URL, from your mobile phone or from your email.

When you upload from your computer, you can pre-choose the size your image will end up. Or you can leave it in its original size, with a limit file size of 1MB (free users) or 5MB (Pro users):

When you upload from a Web URL, you just enter the URL of the image.

If you want to upload images from your mobile phone, use the unique email address associated with your Photobucket album to email from your phone to your album. When you click on this option, your unique email address is revealed:

You can also send an image direct from your email account to Photobucket. Just attach the image/photo/video to the email and send to your unique email address:

And finally, we always welcome feedback. Please contact us at pbfeedback@photobucket.com.

Launching today: integrated image editing on Photobucket

It's the number one feature you've asked for. And now it's here: full editing right inside your Photobucket album.

You can crop, rotate, and flip images. You can remove blemishes, smooth out wrinkles, add fun shapes, play with color effects, or add your face to a celebrity, gorilla, or astronaut. And much more besides.

Your original photo will always be safe. You can choose to save a new copy or overwrite your original.

Click here to take a look at a slideshow of some samples.

How do you edit your images?

Click on an image in your album, to zoom into "full view." You'll see a new "edit image" pull down menu above the image.

What can you do?

Lots of ideas here: Click here to take a look at a slideshow of some samples. And here's a couple below.

In the image below, apply Pop Art (in the Effects tab). Then add a frame by selecting Antique Frame in the Borders tool (located in the Decorate tab). Lastly, add some Text with a background using the Text tool (in the Decorate tab).

In the image below, use Smart Recolor (located in the Geek tab) to recolor the hair blue. Play the embedded help video to learn about this tool. Then, apply Photo Corners (in the Borders tool, located in the Decorate tab).