Even in the 21st century, friends and relatives promise to share their photos after a special event-but rarely follow through. Why? Because despite recent advances in photo sharing technology, it's a pain in the backside.

The time-honored method of sending out pictures is via e-mail attachments. But this approach limits the number of snapshots you can send and creates organizational hassles for the recipients. The Internet's leading photo hosting services-Flickr and PicasaWeb-offer ways take your snapshots to the Web, but popularity isn't always the same as superiority. If you're tired of watching your best pictures languish in an online gulag, it's time for you to move beyond the basics of photo sharing.