Photoblogging
Photoblogging is simply adding images to a blog. It is one of the quickest and easiest ways of publishing photographs on the internet.
There are various levels of sophistication. At the most basic level photos are just inserted in blog posts, which can be surprisingly effective. Other forms of presentation usually involve specialised add-ons ('plug-ins') to display images.
We have created an example photoblog to demonstrate some of these features.
As with photo galleries there are two ways of setting up your own photoblog. There is the hosted approach, where everything is set up for you ready to go as soon as you sign up, or you can set the software up yourself. The balance is between convenience and functionality.
Hosted blogs
Plenty of choice here. Wordpress.com is one of the most popular, as is Blogger. Both offer a basic reliable blogging service for free. Others, and there are many, include Photoblog, Fotolog, LiveJournal, Bravenet and Weebly. Again, all of these offer free blogs, but there may be chargeable extras.
Blogging software
Hosted blogs often have built-in limitations. For example you are unable to add plug-ins to blogs hosted at Wordpress.com, so it may be more appropriate to install and use your own choice of software configured the way you want it. Most internet hosting companies can accommodate most blogging software, and many offer installation scripts for the most popular blogging software. Typically, Just Host Me, which runs this site, offers scripts to install b2evolution, Nucleus and Wordpress, as well as Drupal, Geekog, Joomla, Mamba, etc. which have a blogging component.
Again plenty of choice when it comes to blogging software, each with their own functionality and aesthetics. Here are some of the players:
For most applications Wordpress is worth looking at first. It has a significant market share and has rich functionality and a wide range of themes available. The Wordpress Codex article on photoblogs and galleries gives a good if slightly dated overview of the more popular resources. Moveable Type is also a serious candidate worth considering.
Content management systems can also manage a photoblogging application. For some of the pros and cons, see Drupal v Wordpress.
Example Photoblogs
Here are some inspirational photoblogs: