I have been using 500px sending the gallery link and then they need to let me know which images they want prints of. My account has expired and I need to decide if I renew or go with a service they choose the images, size etc. and order. Trying to keep it on a low budget at this point in time.
I have used Google+ to let people look at pictures. I don't often do work for others but those odd times I have I have found it easy to use plus you can put low res pics up for them just to view.
@danette@tealgarciaphotography Shootproof was one of the ones I have been considering, and Pixieset and cloudspot seems to be similar It appears that you get more GB for the money if I understand it right.
Couple questions:
Am I able to have a client look at the photo, choose which they like, they order and use their credit card but do I have the option to actually send in the order? I am wondering about print requirements from the printer and in that case I may want to combine orders. Do I have the option to view the order that is placed and deliver them to the client myself - I like to see the prints. In some cases I will have several clients looking at the same photos and each may want to order something different - for example when shooting a play, or performance - so can different people place orders from the same prints? Am I able to turn off the download feature for some clients and allow the downloads for others?
Ok so the main reason I use Cloudspot is that you can fully brand it. Between you and the client there is no third-party branding. Your business name, your logo, etc.
Yes, clients can look at photos and mark it as a "favorite". And yes, this can be tracked separately per client - or more specifically, per email address. When someone viewing the gallery wants to mark a photo as a favorite, they are required to enter their email address to track it. On your side of things, you can see all the photos marked as favorites by each email address. (I use this workflow for one of my clients to indicate which photos they want in an album). No, you can't send in the order yourself - the ordering is essentially direct between client/lab, Cloudspot processes the payment and does electronic deposit into your bank account. (They don't take any percentage). I used to preview prints but ended up finding it wasn't worth my time. Now I just tell clients if they don't like how a print comes out, just contact me and I'll work with them to resolve it. Yes, different people can place orders from the same prints. As far as controlling download ability, that's a little more complicated. It's usually turned on for the gallery or not. I'd have to try it, but you might be able to make two virtual galleries, one that allows downloads and one that does and then attempt to control who gets which gallery link. Personally, my business model is that I deliver digital images...in other words, I allow downloads of any/all images in a gallery by anyone. They can get them printed themselves anywhere they want, or they can order prints from the gallery. Honestly, I don't get a lot of print orders. People mostly want them for Facebook, or their business website, etc. So, my photography fees include a modest "copyright fee" per image and that allows the client (and anyone else they give access to the gallery) the ability to download all the images and I just stay out of the print & album business altogether if I can help it. If the client presses for album or print, I suggest third-party options that I trust (i.e. have used myself) they can find online and use, and my last resort if they continue to press (and I only have one client that does) is that yes, I do it myself, but using the same services I just recommended to them. Hope that info helps.
@dbj_365 thank you for this information - very helpful - so they are able to pay for digital images through this site and you control the price for those digital images?
@myhrhelper No. To be honest I haven't found a good hosting site that does that. But the real reason is, landing on a flat per-image copyright fee isn't practical. It depends on the job. For headshots or family photography, I'll be delivering few images - usually a committed minimum number, often a fairly low count. But for an event, I could be delivering hundreds of images. For 10 family portraits the "copyright fee" might be $50, and might also be $50 for two hours of an event with 100 images delivered.
When quoting the client I say that it is a one-time copyright fee which lets them or people they choose to download the images as many times as they want and use them however they want. Corporate headshots are used often in a variety of ways (profiles for social media, marketing materials, websites, etc) so it makes sense for them to see a substantial copyright fee. For corporate headshots I've charged as much as a $25+ copyright fee per image (again, listed on the quote & invoice as a lump sum, not per image). But for events (including wedding), most of the images won't make it past a Facebook album. A few might appear in some kind of marketing effort (or in the case of a wedding, a print album). A $25+ per image copyright fee wouldn't be appropriate for this volume or photo usage. So I end up averaging closer to $1 per image and over the last several years I seem to be averaging around 60 photos delivered per hour of event shooting.
Bottom line, representing a copyright fee as a per image download price in a gallery would be really complex so I have avoided. This probably sounds complex and confusing but I don't really ever get questioned on it by clients because I try to present it to them as simply as possible. It allows me to have a simple pricing structure, and also to avoid competing in a space with so many direct consumer options (i.e. printing & albums). I have a base rate that covers the first two hours of any photography (headshots, family, event, newborn, etc), then I have an add-on retouching rate (for headshots/portraits/newborn etc), and finally the add-on copyright fee where I merely explain my services are to deliver full resolution digital images for which they will own the full copyright and can post online anytime/anywhere, use in any materials anytime/anywhere, for any purpose, etc. I just have to be smart in anticipating what the usage will/could be and charge appropriately.
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Couple questions:
Am I able to have a client look at the photo, choose which they like, they order and use their credit card but do I have the option to actually send in the order? I am wondering about print requirements from the printer and in that case I may want to combine orders. Do I have the option to view the order that is placed and deliver them to the client myself - I like to see the prints. In some cases I will have several clients looking at the same photos and each may want to order something different - for example when shooting a play, or performance - so can different people place orders from the same prints? Am I able to turn off the download feature for some clients and allow the downloads for others?
@dbj_365
Ok so the main reason I use Cloudspot is that you can fully brand it. Between you and the client there is no third-party branding. Your business name, your logo, etc.
Yes, clients can look at photos and mark it as a "favorite". And yes, this can be tracked separately per client - or more specifically, per email address. When someone viewing the gallery wants to mark a photo as a favorite, they are required to enter their email address to track it. On your side of things, you can see all the photos marked as favorites by each email address. (I use this workflow for one of my clients to indicate which photos they want in an album). No, you can't send in the order yourself - the ordering is essentially direct between client/lab, Cloudspot processes the payment and does electronic deposit into your bank account. (They don't take any percentage). I used to preview prints but ended up finding it wasn't worth my time. Now I just tell clients if they don't like how a print comes out, just contact me and I'll work with them to resolve it. Yes, different people can place orders from the same prints. As far as controlling download ability, that's a little more complicated. It's usually turned on for the gallery or not. I'd have to try it, but you might be able to make two virtual galleries, one that allows downloads and one that does and then attempt to control who gets which gallery link. Personally, my business model is that I deliver digital images...in other words, I allow downloads of any/all images in a gallery by anyone. They can get them printed themselves anywhere they want, or they can order prints from the gallery. Honestly, I don't get a lot of print orders. People mostly want them for Facebook, or their business website, etc. So, my photography fees include a modest "copyright fee" per image and that allows the client (and anyone else they give access to the gallery) the ability to download all the images and I just stay out of the print & album business altogether if I can help it. If the client presses for album or print, I suggest third-party options that I trust (i.e. have used myself) they can find online and use, and my last resort if they continue to press (and I only have one client that does) is that yes, I do it myself, but using the same services I just recommended to them. Hope that info helps.
When quoting the client I say that it is a one-time copyright fee which lets them or people they choose to download the images as many times as they want and use them however they want. Corporate headshots are used often in a variety of ways (profiles for social media, marketing materials, websites, etc) so it makes sense for them to see a substantial copyright fee. For corporate headshots I've charged as much as a $25+ copyright fee per image (again, listed on the quote & invoice as a lump sum, not per image). But for events (including wedding), most of the images won't make it past a Facebook album. A few might appear in some kind of marketing effort (or in the case of a wedding, a print album). A $25+ per image copyright fee wouldn't be appropriate for this volume or photo usage. So I end up averaging closer to $1 per image and over the last several years I seem to be averaging around 60 photos delivered per hour of event shooting.
Bottom line, representing a copyright fee as a per image download price in a gallery would be really complex so I have avoided. This probably sounds complex and confusing but I don't really ever get questioned on it by clients because I try to present it to them as simply as possible. It allows me to have a simple pricing structure, and also to avoid competing in a space with so many direct consumer options (i.e. printing & albums). I have a base rate that covers the first two hours of any photography (headshots, family, event, newborn, etc), then I have an add-on retouching rate (for headshots/portraits/newborn etc), and finally the add-on copyright fee where I merely explain my services are to deliver full resolution digital images for which they will own the full copyright and can post online anytime/anywhere, use in any materials anytime/anywhere, for any purpose, etc. I just have to be smart in anticipating what the usage will/could be and charge appropriately.
I think this is going to work well for my needs.
Thank you for your help