I feel like online galleries are the more accepted way to do things these days – is that correct?
I don’t entire feel qualified to answer this, so I’ll let @jamesstaddon give a more official answer :), but from my limited experience, I’d say, yes. These days, it just makes things easy for you and easy for your client. Plus, you could theoretically have the option for them to order prints through you if you have an online gallery, whereas thumb drives don’t quite give that option. 🙂
I’m so glad that you guys brought up Pixieset. I was just considering that and was going to ask if anyone had any experience with it
Well, that’s perfect timing, then! 🙂 As I mentioned before, the free account only allows storage up to 3G, so you do have to be careful and conscious of that. I’m getting close to my space limit, so I need to decide what to do!
Other similar websites you could check into:
– Smugmug (I have an acquaintance who uses this site)
– Passgallery.com I know a few photographers who use this site. Passgallery looks like they have some pretty sweet free deals, but as my dad would say, “the big print giveth, and the small print taketh away”…I haven’t done much research into the “small print” of their plans. If their plans are as good as they look, I may just consider switching over once I run out of space if I want to stay with a free option. 🙂 Haven’t really researched my options yet though.
– Zenfolio
Let me know if you’d like more info on any of those, or if you have any info on them to offer! I’d be happy to ask photographers I know who use them for their feedback, too.
And, to answer your questions about Pixieset!
can you do private galleries that the client accesses with a code or something?
Yes you can. When you set up a gallery, there are all sorts of privacy options. You can…
– Toggle on/off “homepage visibility”
– Choose an “auto-expiry date” which causes the collection to be hidden after that date
– Select sharing options
– Generate a “collection password” which requires guests to enter a password to view a collection (I don’t do this. In my opinion, I achieve the same idea by toggling on/off homepage visibility)
– Give “client exclusive access” which allows you to set up your Collection with additional features for your clients like being able to view Hidden Sets, or mark images as Private. I haven’t used this as of yet.
– And more.
Most of the time, I’ll leave homepage visiblity on for portfolio purposes, but do not allow sharing options, that way only my client can really have access to the photos. There’s an auto-generated password I send the client to download their photos.
Occasionally I’ll toggle off homepage visibility, for various photography projects or things I just don’t care to have in my portfolio.
How does the client download their pictures?
You can allow them to download the entire gallery or download individual photos. I usually give them the ability to do either/or. They have to enter the password, and then they can download! You can have advanced options, like restricting the downloads to only email addresses you specify, or limiting the number of total gallery downloads. I don’t do those things. And you can select what resolution they can download, up to 3600px on the free account.
I’m presuming that you don’t have to have a buy option – the client can download their pictures for free?
Correct. I include the digital photos in my photo session price, so folks download their photos for free. If you wanted, you could set it up that they pay for the digital downloads or order prints through you. On the free account, pixieset would take a commission (15%, from what I see).