What is your favourite professional photography sharing/proofing website?

[asalvani]

I was going to select Smugmug after some extensive research. Altough, I do like 500px(with some reservations). I am currently testing shootproof which is no where near good enough compared to smugmug..

What are your experiences?

Regards

 

[KmH]

I didn't use a web site. I used a viewing room adjacent to my studio.
I had sample products I could show my clients - framed and matted prints, canvas prints, standouts, framed groups, etc.
Nothing beats selling in person. Cha-Ching!

Photographers that have changed from online to in person selling at least double their average sale and with good presentation and salesmanship 4x or 6x increases in average sale value can be had.

 

[tirediron]

What Keith said. When I can't do in-person proofing, then I use my own website.

 

[pixmedic]

in person proofing is indeed the way to go whenever possible.
however, it does nothing to actually attempt to answer the OP's question.

we have shot a number of weddings that had family members out of state or out of the country
that wanted to buy prints. In this case, in person proofing, no matter how much more profitable it may be, is simply not possible. At all.

for these instances, we use smugmug pro. everything can be done right from the gallery page, and you can set pricing for all size ranges and print types. They simply choose the picture they want, pick size and printing medium, and it gets printed at their choice of several pro labs and mailed to them.

 

[D-B-J]

I'm a big fan of shootproof. Members on the forum here recommended it, and it has been super easy to use and handles all my needs--clients have loved it as well.

Jake

 

[tirediron]

...however, it does nothing to actually attempt to answer the OP's question...

I'm going to respectfully disagree with you Jason; while I know it's not an answer to the literal question, my experience is that more and more people (not just in photography) forget about the element of human contact. There are many, especially younger people to whom it does not occur to actually talk to someone, never mind a personal visit, and I think it's important to remind people getting in to the industry that (1) old methods still work; and (2) not everything has to be on-line.

 

[tirediron]

...however, it does nothing to actually attempt to answer the OP's question...

I'm going to respectfully disagree with you Jason; while I know it's not an answer to the literal question, my experience is that more and more people (not just in photography) forget about the element of human contact. There are many, especially younger people to whom it does not occur to actually talk to someone, never mind a personal visit, and I think it's important to remind people getting in to the industry that (1) old methods still work; and (2) not everything has to be on-line.

 

[D-B-J]

...however, it does nothing to actually attempt to answer the OP's question...

I'm going to respectfully disagree with you Jason; while I know it's not an answer to the literal question, my experience is that more and more people (not just in photography) forget about the element of human contact. There are many, especially younger people to whom it does not occur to actually talk to someone, never mind a personal visit, and I think it's important to remind people getting in to the industry that (1) old methods still work; and (2) not everything has to be on-line.

BUT, I'll say that I DON'T have a studio space, and have such a busy schedule that "in-person proofing" is essentially impossible. I'd love to, sure, but I just can't really make it happen.

Jake

 

[tirediron]

BUT, I'll say that I DON'T have a studio space, and have such a busy schedule that "in-person proofing" is essentially impossible. I'd love to, sure, but I just can't really make it happen.

Jake

There's always time... unlike Keith however, I prefer to do my proofing in the client's home rather than in-studio. This allows to make recommendations for specific sizes for specific locations, and using Preveal on my iPad, I can show them what almost any size and combination of images would look like in their home.

 

[D-B-J]

BUT, I'll say that I DON'T have a studio space, and have such a busy schedule that "in-person proofing" is essentially impossible. I'd love to, sure, but I just can't really make it happen.

Jake

There's always time... unlike Keith however, I prefer to do my proofing in the client's home rather than in-studio. This allows to make recommendations for specific sizes for specific locations, and using Preveal on my iPad, I can show them what almost any size and combination of images would look like in their home.

Seems like the "best" option, really.

 

[pixmedic]

...however, it does nothing to actually attempt to answer the OP's question...

I'm going to respectfully disagree with you Jason; while I know it's not an answer to the literal question, my experience is that more and more people (not just in photography) forget about the element of human contact. There are many, especially younger people to whom it does not occur to actually talk to someone, never mind a personal visit, and I think it's important to remind people getting in to the industry that (1) old methods still work; and (2) not everything has to be on-line.

oh, i dont disagree there.
my answer to this question is always the same as above.
mention how in person proofing is better (learned from personal experience, and saw how the money was better)
but offer actual online solutions as well.
Otherwise, it would seem like you are completely discounting online proofing, which, as we have also learned from personal experience, is sometimes the only solution.

 

[tirediron]

...Otherwise, it would seem like you are completely discounting online proofing, which, as we have also learned from personal experience, is sometimes the only solution.

That's why I said in my OP that I use my own 'site when I can't do in-person!

 

[IceCanAm]

Welcome to the site.

 

[Forkie]

My own website is my portfolio. The nature of the photography I'm going into doesn't really require a physical, hard-copy portfolio, it would be considered old fashioned and out-dated.

I do use Flickr and 500px, but I don't give the links out to potential clients. I use Flickr purely as a photo dump and 500px only to get attention from other 500px users.

I also have a Facebook page, Instagram, and Twitter accounts, but I use these primarily to drive people to my actual website.

For client image proofing, I use Zenfolio. I have a link on my [non-Zenfolio] website which links to a private Zenfolio gallery where clients can sign in, view their photos, add their favourites to a collection and send me that collection for editing.