Any photographer knows the importance of having online proofing and image gallery for their clients. After all, we live in a society where “instant satisfaction” reigns supreme. Your clients want easy access to their session photographs as quickly as possible — and why wouldn’t they? Thankfully, there are plenty of online photo proofing sites that allow them to do so.
First, though, you need to get set up with a professional photo gallery site. Doing so will not only make your clients happy, but it’ll streamline your workflow, provide secure storage for your photographs and, in some cases, even help you sell more prints and products.
PASS
Cost: Free
PASS is a free mobile app that lots of photographers have begun using. Their motto is “shoot & share,” and they place a heavy emphasis on booking more clients through word-of-mouth-via-PASS. “PASS is designed for the way your clients view and share their photos: socially and on their mobile devices,” the site says. The app allows you to upload, manage and share photographs from your session in minutes. The idea is that, once your client gets a notification that their photos are up, they’ll share their photographs with everyone they know both in person and on social media. This, in turn, is free advertisement for you. We recommend using PASS as a supplementary proofing site — a bonus for your clients and for you!
ShootProof
Cost: Free to $30/mo
ShootProof allows professional photographers to share, sell, deliver and print photographs from their sessions. It comes with controlled sharing and download options and allows you to have your pictures printed with any lab. Additionally, you’ll be able to brand your site with colors, a logo or a watermark. We love that clients can get digital downloads right on the spot (saving you time and money in the long run) and that clients can access their photos on all electronic devices. Not to mention, you get to keep 100% of the profits, as they don’t collect commission. Prices range from free (hosting only 100 photos) to $30 per month (hosting 15k+ photos).
PixieSet
Cost: Free to $40/mo
Pixieset combines social savviness with streamlined convenience. To begin, their platform allows you to create client-dedicated galleries that are as beautiful to look at as they are easy to use. They also give your clients the option to share their photographs from any device, which means word-of-mouth advertisement for you. Additionally, Pixieset allows your clients to download digital photographs from their session (at cost; your profit), or they can buy prints and products directly from the gallery. Pricing ranges from free (3GB of storage) to $40 per month (1000GB of storage).
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Note: Photo tips are answers to questions asked on our Facebook page. If you would like to submit a question, please click here to submit your question. We will then post them on our Facebook page and let our fans respond to the question. We will then transfer the question over to our blog so we can keep them in an organized way for others to see.
Question from Alison: “i was wondering if there is a site that is free that you could post your photos on for your clients to look at to order from? i usually hand out a cd with all pictures and they get back to me with what they want but i feel like i could be making a lot more maybe selling the cd if they end up wanting to buy pictures themselves rather from me. i dont have a lot of clients so thats why i was hoping i could find a site that i could post pictures for others to view for free or maybe just a small fee. thanks again!”
Victoria: Shootproof!! http://shpr.ws/4L
Elisha: Weebly.com is free or you can upgrade to the pro for locked pages.
Jen: I do a private viewing album on our facebook page for clients as well as on our website.
Chelsea: Shootproof is an amazing (and free) site like that and I’ve been more than happy with them 🙂
Morgan: Shootproof
Melissa: I recommend Shootproof too! I started out with the free account & just recently changed to a $10 a month plan. I like that I can change according to what I need.
Amanda: Zenfolio – not free but you can save a percentage using this code AXQ-EY1-128 www.zenfolio.comthey have a free trial and I strongly suggest you try. I love my zenfolio account. I pay only 50 a year for unlimited uploading. I put all of my client galleries on there. They tell me which images they want ect. Galleries can be passworded and you can create multiple categories ect. Another benefit is if anything happens you can redownload the images from the back office. I always upload the high res originals incase something happens to my computer. Than I always have access to the galleries if needed.
Suz: Smugmug
Melanie: Zenfolio all the way. You can see my site here: http://spiffypix.com. Not free but you can just get a basic account which I think is $30 a year.
Jen: I have been wondering this same thing! I just created an account with shootproof and it looks easy to use!
Heather: I signed up with instaproof yesterday and I love it. It’s free, password protected, and clients can order right from the site if they want to!
Hollie: Following
Alisa: Following
Michele: Following
Michelle: I use and like http://www.wix.com/They’re FREE as well, private password protect galleries, customize any way you like and upgrade later. No need to know or understand coding. Love that! =)
Alison: thank you everyone i will def look in to these! i love this site! Lol
Leslee: Following too!
Renee: Following!
Angie: Shootproof is amazing. http://shpr.ws/9u
Denise: Shoot proof is awesome and they take credit card payments. It’s only ten bucks s month to host 1500 photos.
Heather: Michelle b Watson. How do you do password protected galleries on wix?
Tammy: Smugmug
Christina: Sign up for zenfolio. Great site!
Barbara: *following…
Alison: Phillips Photography by: Michelle B. Watson I generated my website from wix, can you also post pictures on there that are password protected so each of your clients can view the pictures to order them? Like the each have there own password to view just their pictures? I heard people were saying that when other people say wix.com they dont think professional. Is there another website building page that I can have my own web address for rather thenhttp://allysteph14.wix.com/alisonphotography. on wix you can have your own web address but you have to pay. I was also wondering if there is another sight that I can make a website for free with my own web address. LOL sorry for just babbling on, i just hope i make sense
Sonya: Ive even stopped sending them a link to the gallery as even that I feel hinders a sale,I get them back in for a viewing with all the decision makers,I give them the total experience,good quality italian espresso,organic teas,nibblies,fine chocolates,i burn a soy candle and i play them a slideshow to music,I get them excited about seeing their photos before I play the slideshow=sale on emotion
Tara: Following 🙂
Christy: Instaproof. I had an acct with Shootproof but had numerous issues with them, namely $100 min before getting paid, among other issues. Cancelled that as soon as I could. You can also use jalbum or Picassa to create a web gallery and upload on your own site.
Christy: PS – I gave up online proofing for in person sales only because of low sales. They spend more when you can help guide them in the process, otherwise too many choices is overwhelming and they just don’t order at all. I post online if the want only after the initial order.
Jaye: I second Instaproof. Never tried Shootproof but the free version wouldn’t meet my needs. Also like PP said, I do in-person ordering as much as possible now instead of online. But when in-person isn’t possible (I capture a lot of destination weddings where I live nowhere near my clients) I love Instaproof.
Julie: following too
Sophie: Following.
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