Online galleries smugmug, flickr etc.

[oldgreygary]

Hello,

I was just wondering about anyone's experiences with online galleries. How your prepare images, security, uploading etc. Looking to get a basic overview of how you do this. Thanks

Cheers for now

Gary

[Fit]

I justed started with Smugmug this past month and love it. Very easy to set up, modify, share.

I did little comparing but I really like Smug.

[rpcrowe]

I enjoy using smugmug. It is very wasy to set up and to modify the looks of the pages. It is also very easy and fast to upload images. Slow and complicated uploads were problems with some other hosting sites that I previously used.

This is my homepage on smugmug:

http://rpcrowe.smugmug.com/

I am sure that I don't get the full use out of smugmug but, for what I use it, it is excellent! I like that I can easily choose a picture and place it on this forum as well as other forums. Size doesn't seem to make any difference. I just click on "share", "get a link" and then select the image which I want to share... A drop down table appears and I select "Embedable Links" and then have a choice if I want to place the image on a blog or on a forum.

I then select small:


Medium:


Or large:


I also like the capability of denoting a gallery as "Unlisted" which wll not allow general visitors to acess the gallery. However, I can provide the URL to a selected person or group which will allow viewing of the gallery. This portrait gallery is not available to general visitors to my smugmug site but, I can provide access like I have done in this case:

http://rpcrowe.smugmug.com/Portraits...320241&k=7kTXJ

The smugmug seems to have excellent customer service. One day, my galleries showed up but I could not see any of the images contained in the galleries. I contacted smugmug help by email and I received an answer shortly after. It appears that the was nothing wrong with the smugmug site but, that the trouble was due to a glitch in my Internet Explorer. I accessed smugmug using Mozilla and there were no problems.

[vladimir]

Richard and Chris,
Which version (level?) of smugmug are you using?
I see they have "Basic", "Power" and "Pro".
Any reasons to consider non-Basic option, in your opinion?

[cichlid]

I think this is a great question. It is something that I too have been thinking about doing.
In terms of security of the images, I am under the understanding that uploading a low resolution file would be the best bet no?

Erik

[Geoff F]

There have been a number of questions about this recently in the Community Lounge Forum like this one for example.

flicker.... or what else?

I use P base which is simple enough for even me to understand but does a good display job with most of the features which Richard mentioned. Easy to link from there to other sites, like CinC.

There is a small charge; which I think is around £15 a year, but you don't get bothered by adverts or other problems.

As an example here are my galleries http://www.pbase.com/crustacean

[rpcrowe]

I had to look to see what version smugmug that I was using. I use the power version. It seems to have a few more bells and whistles over the basic and costs only about USD $1.70 more a month than the basic package (when paid annually). I don't know why I selected the Power level but, I do remember that there was a reason. Here is an explanation of capabilities of the various levels:

http://www.smugmug.com/photos/photo-sharing-features/

[Fit]

I have the "basic" version, Vladimir. Don't need video and am not selling anything so just wanted the basic capacity.

[TonyCooper]

You asked: Which version (level?) of smugmug are you using?
I see they have "Basic", "Power" and "Pro".
Any reasons to consider non-Basic option, in your opinion?



I use the Basic version of SmugMug and disable "print purchases".

It is only the Pro version that allows you set prices and make a profit
if someone purchases your image. If you don't have the "print purchases"
disabled on Basic and Power, people can purchase your images but you
are not compensated for the purchase.

I use SmugMug primarily as a host for my photographs in order to send
people links to my photographs or galleries. If I want to submit an image
to one of the CIC forums, or to a DGrin forum, I put it up at SmugMug
and link to that. There are other options for this, but I like SmugMug.

I recently joined a camera club that provides free use to Zenfolio. which
seems to be similar to SmugMug, but I've been using SmugMug for years
and have not tried Zenfolio for this purpose.

[dje]

I use PBase (on Colin's recommendation) and find it good. It does what I want - ie

It stores images in galleries that can be viewed publicly or privately (if you choose).

It takes virtually whatever size image you want and doesn't re-code the jpeg down in size with heavier compression.

It allows you to link from an external site (such as CiC) to any of your photos.

Dave

[Maritimer1]

Chiming in for a low budget option. I have a Flickr pro account (unlimited storage). It’s only about $25 a year. I put my photos in sets, but as you can see, most are hockey! (Don’t be alarmed by the first photo on the page, though. It’s part of my last maternity shoot )

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mhencher/

The slideshow feature is great. After each home game, this is the type of link that is sent to the players and parents so they can view the night’s shots.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mhenche...7628889138865/

There is also an option to hide selected work from the general public. I used that once with photos of a young girl that I had taken for her mom.

I also like being able to search Flickr. Sometimes I want to see what types of photos are being taken with my camera and a particular lens. Sharing is extremely easy. Just select “share” and copy and paste the link. There are options for connecting to Facebook and Twitter, but I’m not really into that. You can also select to email the file. It’s all pretty easy, has that unlimited storage and is CHEAP A free account is also an option if you are happy storing only a limited number of files each month.

That said, there are thoughts of going to SmugMug in my mind to see if I can sell some of my landscapes. Time will tell.

Edited to add: Richard, those portraits are great! I am going to reread the part about how you used the flash.

[wilgk]

I too am a smugmugger, quite a new 1 in fact, I have the middle sized helping 'power' and it's fine for me.
Drop on over & leave a comment if you wish...
http://www.kbwilsonimages.com

[oldgreygary]

Incredible, so many great galleries and images to look at! It certainly has given me inspiration to go out and take more images and get a gallery up and running!

Cheers for now

Gary

[The Blue Boy]

Gary,

Hi mate. I, like Myra, use flickr but it really depends on what you want.

http://500px.com/ is becoming very popular with professional photographers that I know personally. The main reason is the quality of the reproduced image is stunning and there are various apps for the ipad, iphone etc, so they can carry there portfolios around. I think it has analytics linked to Google as well.

If you want to share with family and friends and join a few groups, get a few contacts (and make some friends) flickr is a great choice. The link to my page is below.

I like the look of smugbase and Pmug, but I've started with flickr and learnt all of the little subtleties. This is one of my favorites, flickriver. This link shows my most interesting photos according to stats, veiws, comments and faves.

The first picture shows me and a friend (who has now sadly passed away) who I met through the site (along with many others) as "flickrmeets" are held all over the world.

Your first 200 pics are free, however there is an upload limit each month.

You could add me as your contact.

That's probably put you off! :P

[rpcrowe]

Myra, your hockey shots are great. I have read several postings asking about shooting at ice hockey games. You might post how you are set up for those great shots!

[jeeperman]

I am also a Smugger. I have only been so for about 2 1/2 months. I do however use Pro. I am quite impressed with everything thus far. I will never make a living from it however if things continue as they have....my membership is paid for, and my kit gets a little cheaper once in a while I love being able to order and send prints to family and friends as gifts, birthdays and Christmas made easy.

[Colin Southern]

Another happy Pbase user

[IanCD]

I also use SmugMug, Power level.
Reason I chose Power is partly also an answer to Erik's question about security: you have the option in Power to disable 'right-click save' downloads by others on a gallery by gallery basis, so you don't have to restrict yourself to low res images in particular galleries.
There's also customization and video, but it was the security I went with this for.

You also have the option (with all levels, I think) to set whether individual galleries are visible to others, to Google, etc and can protect galleries with a password, e.g. for events that you might only want to share pictures of with family and friends.

Ian

[Maritimer1]

Gary, you've got me thinking again these companies, so I spent a couple of hours looking through sites and faqs last night.I hope you don’t mind if I ask a few questions about the Self Fullfillment Option (finding your own lab close to home and looking after the printing end of things yourself) that SmugMug offers. Mods, please move this to a separate thread if I am infringing.

Being outside of the US, the shipping prices for photographs are very expensive, and we don’t seem to have the equivalent type company here in Canada. So, my questions are:

(1) Do the other companies offer this option of finding your own print lab for out of country members?

(2) Is it difficult to set up the Self Fullfillment option? How does it work? Would the photographer place low res files online, SmugMug or whoever notifies the photog of a sale, collects the money and then the photog sends the actual file to be printed to their lab of choice? If that's the way it works, it doesn't seem so bad.

(3) If Self Fullfillment is selected, does it apply to all products offered? Can you work both ways? For example, could SmugMug or whoever still fill orders for books and ship those? (Knowing that full res photos would have to be in place, I guess.)

Thank you!

Myra

[rpcrowe]

I too am a smugmugger, quite a new 1 in fact, I have the middle sized helping 'power' and it's fine for me.
Drop on over & leave a comment if you wish...
http://www.kbwilsonimages.com

Kay... Your sports images are really nice!