That big rock took me awhile too
nsfw
wle
Since nobody has posted a howto for Google yet, here’s one if anyone is interested.
If you want to use google photos, I’m going to assume it’s because you already use it and know how to upload photos to google. I’m not going to cover that.
So, if you want to use google photos as a free image hosting service, here’s how I do it.
Here’s a photo I took with my phone just to see if you would be able to see Jupiter and Venus on a phonetograph. It’s already on google photos:
Click on the share icon (the left-most on the upper right).
Than click the “Create Link” button (looks like two links in a chain).
That shares your photo so anyone can access and gives you a link (URL) that you can share. Don’t use that link directly on BLF.
Copy that link, and open it in another tab in your browser. That takes you to an album page showing the image you just shared. Click on the image. Then on that page, right click on the image and select “Copy Image Location” or whatever your browser says that’s simlar:
Now, you finally have a URL that is suitable for use on BLF. I use the Simple Post Editor, so I just click on the “Image” icon, and then paste the URL into the “Image URL” field, and the “(OPTIONAL) Link to URL” field in case folks don’t like the relative width I choose.
If you want to make sure you did it correctly, log out of google (or use a different browser where you’re not logged in to google), and view your post. If it works when you’re not logged in to google, it should work for everyone.
If you’re sharing a whole lot of photos, you can create a new album then share/create a link to the album. Then you only have to do that step once. After you open the shared link, you can just click on each photo in the album, and get individual URLs for each photo without having to share each photo from google.
Yes
corsair!
p51! 
“Now that Photobucket no longer offers free image hotlinking we need a new guide.”
What am I missing and/or don’t understand? I use Photobucket and choose the direct link. Seems to work, but I did just read a post, from someone in Australia, who said they couldn’t see my images. What hosting site is the most reliable?
I have learned that choosing 100% when linking a picture allows it to fit well with the device used to view the site.
Imgur.
one thing about imgur is, it is sometimes blocked by firewalls [say at work].
\
wle
Never heard of that…
Why would a workplace block a source of billions of images…
That’s like blocking half of google 
Motorola!
Maybe because it is a workplace, and the work done there does not need images posted to forums to be visible 
They didn’t block facebook though or youtube or google images,… so…
What kind of workplace do you work at that requires no internet research or general use…?
Because imgur is used for a lot more than just posting images to forums fyi.
motorola, told you
they don;t block internet, just certain sites
including imgur
but facebook or youtube are allowed
doesn’t; really make sense
wle
1. a bank where accessing outside websites could cause security concerns
2. a wireless phone company; ditto above
3. plus the customer service people in both the above are there to service customers needs which can all be met with the company intranets, except for access to a few websites like UPS & FedEx shipping records.
Used for different testing.
Deleted the old post.
It’s a shame Flickr has instituted a 1000 image limit for their free accounts, after being acquired by SmugMug.
Agreed. But I just wanted something free to see how this works for using a photo site with BLF.
A shame Amazon free cloud won’t work with a direct link (or so I’m told).
A test from youtube
I don’t seem to be able to find a way to set the size of a video to column width. Such as using “width:90%” when posting a photo image.
I can only see using the pixel width.
If this is possible, let me know the magic words.
Thanks,
Jeff
Testing width.
Using this:
video:- YouTube width:600
Next Line video using: FT 001 - YouTube width:400
If you watch this turn the VOLUME DOWN first.
Trying width % video:FT 001 - YouTube width:90%
Gets me 90 pixels
I just let it use the default size. It seems to work fine. I also include the bare link next to video because some people prefer to open the video in a new screen or app. This allows you to change the size, quality, etc… 