Photographers want easy ways to show off their work in online galleries. Clients want user-friendly systems to check out photos from their event or portrait session. Everyone wants prints from professional labs delivered in a timely manner. There are variety of ways to go about reaching these goals, but one increasingly-common scenario is for a photographer (either a pro or a serious hobbyist) to use an online gallery and image delivery system such as SmugMug or Photoshelter.
Both sites offer the ability for photographers to create customized galleries that can mirror a photographer’s look/feel/branding of their existing website. Both sites partner with processing labs for print and product orders. Both sites offer some form of electronic image delivery.
And, to the benefit of all, both sites are currently going through growth periods.
SmugMug has recently added several new features for their Pro accounts, including shipping coupons, thank-you prints and stickers, and improved analytics. Photoshelter is teasing members with some news about significant upgrades coming later this week. I’ll review those changes once they happen; I’m glad to see each company is currently innovating in this space.
Do you use a hosted gallery system? What do you like? What do you wish could be improved?
