About one-third of digital camera users in the UK are not backing up their photographs, reveals research.

But at the same time, the survey of 2,227 consumers revealed 89% of those quizzed now own a digital camera or camera-phone.

And just under half are taking more than 10 snaps each month.

Information security company Symantec, who commissioned the poll, said there was a huge potential cache of digital images that could be lost.

Lee Sharrocks, consumer sales director of Symantec UK, said: "Digital photography has continued to grow rapidly in both popularity and volume, and with many people now taking more than 400 photos a year, we appear to have some budding photographers in the UK.

"Unfortunately it only takes one computer virus or accident to critically damage a PC, with the possible result of losing stored data forever."

Online albums

The survey also found that people are changing the ways they view their snaps.

The traditional photo album may be in demise; about seven out of 10 are printing less than a quarter of their images, while 30% said that they did not print out any hard-copies.

Photographers are increasingly turning to the internet to upload their pictures.

The report found 17% were backing their pictures up online on sites such as Flickr and Photobucket, which enable people to save and share their images with fellow net users.

Nearly 40% said they used e-mail to send their pictures to friends.

John Long, from the Digital Imaging Group of the Royal Photographic Society, said the digital camera and the internet had changed the face of photography.

"People don't print their pictures any more - they put them on their computer or on a CD. Technology has moved on and lots of people would now prefer to look at their pictures one at a time on a TV or computer screen."

He added that he was not surprised that more people were taking more photos with their digital camera.

BACKING UP YOUR SNAPS
Experts recommend keeping a second copy of images
They could be stored on a second hard-drive
CDs and DVDs can also hold pictures
Other media, such as MP3 players can store snaps
Online albums are also becoming increasingly popular
The traditional album is another option
"It's so easy now. In the past, every time you put a colour negative film in and pressed the button, it was costing you money.

"With a digital camera you can take as many pictures as you like - most memory cards will take perhaps 200 pictures - so when you get back home you can delete the ones that are no good."

But, he said, this didn't necessarily mean the standard of photography was improving.

Another report by research company IDC has revealed US shipments of digital cameras grew by 17% in the last quarter, totalling 6.3 million units.