One cool feature of the new gallery2 software I am using is that you can download an entire album or albums as a zip file for your own reference.
In order to do this, you first have to switch to “detail” view. You do this by clicking the “detail” link in the bottom right of the screen. Thenn, simply use the drop down option under an album (or a photo) and choose “Add to cart”. You can continue adding pictures to your cart as you like. Once you are happy with your selection, go back to your cart (the link is on the bottom of the page). On the cart page, there is a drop down of actions “Cart Actions”. Choose “Download as zip” and the entire cart will be downloaded as a zip file.
This makes it MUCH easier to save local copies of pictures without having to go into each picture, right clicking and choosing “save as”.