----------- Anyone use / try Smugmug photo hosting site?

[thatsright]

I'm finally getting off my ass and putting my pics online. I asked here about a month ago, but did not get much time to do anything since then.

Thinking of going with smugmug. I'd probably go with the Pro account. But at $150 a year, jeesh. Is it a upfront fee, or spread out over 12 months?

How is the speed? What about the selection of themes to pick from. Good or so, so?

 

[tfinch2]

Why are you going to go with the pro account?

 

[Jawo]

If you are just starting out, why not try Coppermine or Album? Both can be hosted free on Dartworths free site!

/This is what I'm doing!

 

[hjo3]

$150/year? Yikes. Just get some cheap hosting and install Plogger, Gallery, or somesuch web app. You could probably do this for 20% that cost.

 

[thatsright]

Originally posted by: hjo3
$150/year? Yikes. Just get some cheap hosting and install Plogger, Gallery, or somesuch web app. You could probably do this for 20% that cost.

I have never used plogger, gallery, etc programs. Yes, I know this is not the cheapest way to go.....but I want to get everything up by tomorrow night.

As for the pro account, I want to sell my prints, I don't want people copying them by right clicking (though if someone really wants pics they will steal them from you).

I'm not surprised by the reply to this threat. ATF is a very do it yourself place. I thought about building my own site, but I feel it would be too steep of a learning curve...

 

[tfinch2]

Originally posted by: hjo3
$150/year? Yikes. Just get some cheap hosting and install Plogger, Gallery, or somesuch web app. You could probably do this for 20% that cost.

$150/year is a good price for what the professional account offers, but it's designed for professionals who want to sell their photos with a reputable company.

 

[thatsright]

Originally posted by: tfinch2

Originally posted by: hjo3
$150/year? Yikes. Just get some cheap hosting and install Plogger, Gallery, or somesuch web app. You could probably do this for 20% that cost.

$150/year is a good price for what the professional account offers, but it's designed for professionals who want to sell their photos with a reputable company.

I regularly get paid for my work, so I think that would qualify. I know I could get a good, rudimentary site together by myself, but I really need a lot of the smugmug pro account extras.

Though, my head was/is ready to explode once I read they prefer pictures in sRGB color mode. Most of mine are Adobe RGB 1998 or CMYK

 

[RossMAN]

Originally posted by: thatsright

Originally posted by: hjo3
$150/year? Yikes. Just get some cheap hosting and install Plogger, Gallery, or somesuch web app. You could probably do this for 20% that cost.

I have never used plogger, gallery, etc programs. Yes, I know this is not the cheapest way to go.....but I want to get everything up by tomorrow night.

As for the pro account, I want to sell my prints, I don't want people copying them by right clicking (though if someone really wants pics they will steal them from you).

I'm not surprised by the reply to this threat. ATF is a very do it yourself place. I thought about building my own site, but I feel it would be too steep of a learning curve...

You're right to a point, AT'ers are very "pro-build it yourself".

However I can guarantee if you follow my advice you will have your own domain + web hosting + custom email + image gallery installed by tomorrow night. If you're ready right now we can probably have it up and running within 2 hours. Best of all you'll be able to do it all by yourself

Do you have AIM, GoogleTalk, Yahoo! IM or Skype?

 

[dartworth]

Roger that RossMAN!!!

 

[tfinch2]

Originally posted by: RossMAN

Originally posted by: thatsright

Originally posted by: hjo3
$150/year? Yikes. Just get some cheap hosting and install Plogger, Gallery, or somesuch web app. You could probably do this for 20% that cost.

I have never used plogger, gallery, etc programs. Yes, I know this is not the cheapest way to go.....but I want to get everything up by tomorrow night.

As for the pro account, I want to sell my prints, I don't want people copying them by right clicking (though if someone really wants pics they will steal them from you).

I'm not surprised by the reply to this threat. ATF is a very do it yourself place. I thought about building my own site, but I feel it would be too steep of a learning curve...

You're right to a point, AT'ers are very "pro-build it yourself".

However I can guarantee if you follow my advice you will have your own domain + web hosting + custom email + image gallery installed by tomorrow night. If you're ready right now we can probably have it up and running within 2 hours. Best of all you'll be able to do it all by yourself

Do you have AIM, GoogleTalk, Yahoo! IM or Skype?

What gallery and shopping cart integrate well together?

 

[RossMAN]

Originally posted by: tfinch2

Originally posted by: RossMAN

Originally posted by: thatsright

Originally posted by: hjo3
$150/year? Yikes. Just get some cheap hosting and install Plogger, Gallery, or somesuch web app. You could probably do this for 20% that cost.

I have never used plogger, gallery, etc programs. Yes, I know this is not the cheapest way to go.....but I want to get everything up by tomorrow night.

As for the pro account, I want to sell my prints, I don't want people copying them by right clicking (though if someone really wants pics they will steal them from you).

I'm not surprised by the reply to this threat. ATF is a very do it yourself place. I thought about building my own site, but I feel it would be too steep of a learning curve...

You're right to a point, AT'ers are very "pro-build it yourself".

However I can guarantee if you follow my advice you will have your own domain + web hosting + custom email + image gallery installed by tomorrow night. If you're ready right now we can probably have it up and running within 2 hours. Best of all you'll be able to do it all by yourself

Do you have AIM, GoogleTalk, Yahoo! IM or Skype?

What gallery and shopping cart integrate well together?

I'm not sure.

If the OP is looking for an out of the box professional solution then smugmug's pro account is the way to go.

If he just needs image gallery hosting and maybe osCommerce shopping cart then do it yourself is cheaper and more flexible.

 

[S Freud]

OP,

Follow RossMAN's advice, he has been nothing but helpful in starting up my site. Its true what he says, you can have your site up in no time if you listen to him, get on skype, Ventrilo or something and talk with him.

 

[thatsright]

ROSSMAN:

Do you have AIM, or yahoo messenger? PM me with your sign on name.

Perhaps you can change my mind. Do you have a photo website for yourself, or something similar?

In any event, I am going to buy my domain name now.

 

[RossMAN]

Originally posted by: thatsright
ROSSMAN:

Do you have AIM, or yahoo messenger? PM me with your sign on name.

Perhaps you can change my mind. Do you have a photo website for yourself, or something similar?

In any event, I am going to buy my domain name now.

YGPM with my Yahoo! IM. I gotta wash my hands (pizza FTW) and I'll be on in a few minutes.

One of the best image galleries I have seen is http://www.infinitemile.com/gallery which is owned by two AT'ers.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

I use smugmug and I really like it (check sig). I don?t have a pro account, but considering that the pro account is even better than my standard account, you should be very happy with it, provided you can fund the yearly expense.

Here?s what a smugmug pro account can look like: http://www.moonriverphotography.com/

Smugmug has a lot of features that may be difficult or time consuming to DIY.

Pros:

Very fast loading, I?ve never had any downtime.

Bandwidth and storage are virtually unlimited. My standard bandwidth is limited to 1 PETAbyte.

Admin control panel has many, many settings, including password locking galleries, making galleries invisible, and not offering full res photos for download. Certain customizations can be done via drag and drop, such as arranging photos in a gallery.

Visitors can leave comments and rate your photos.

There?s a program called sendtosmugmug that you can install. Within Windows you can just right click a photo or group of photos, select Send to Smugmug in the dropdown menu, select the gallery or create a gallery to send them to, and the photos can be conveniently uploaded.

Cons:

The automatically generated picture sizes are too small, even the ?large? sizes. The large sizes have a maximum width of about 800px. I sometimes have huge panos that are 30,000 x 3,000, which means the ?large? size is only about 80px by height. This means the only way for visitors to see a somewhat detailed photo of the pano is to download the HUGE original file.

Does not preserve original file names. If the file name is mountain.jpg, smugmug changes it to something like 34237583.jpg

Does not generate a list of links to a group of photos. Say I want to post ten photos. I need the links to all ten photos. Instead of having a feature where I can generate the below list of links to conveniently copy and paste somewhere, I have to manually click each photo, click another link to get to the .jpg address, and then copy the individual addresses.

www.fuzzy...4356464564.jpg
www.fuzzy...4356464565.jpg
.
.
.
.
www.fuzzy...4356464561.jpg
www.fuzzy...4356464562.jpg


Note that all the above are for a standard account. The pro account may be different.

 

[RossMAN]

Originally posted by: fuzzybabybunny
I use smugmug and I really like it (check sig). I don?t have a pro account, but considering that the pro account is even better than my standard account, you should be very happy with it, provided you can fund the yearly expense.

Here?s what a smugmug pro account can look like: http://www.moonriverphotography.com/

That looks awesome. Nice.

 

[olds]

I have been using RossMAN for a couple of years now. He is very knowledgeable and lives up to his word.
He has been hosting accounts for me and just helped a friend of mine who bought the $150 package from godaddy, set up his own site. He is also helping me set up my own reseller account.
I'd let RossMAN help you out and see how you like it.

 

[Gooberlx2]

Another advantage to build-it-your-self is that you can on-the-fly watermark your images so if someone does right-click-save-as (or manage their way around any protection) they'll be getting a watermarked image.

 

[tfinch2]

Originally posted by: Gooberlx2
Another advantage to build-it-your-self is that you can on-the-fly watermark your images so if someone does right-click-save-as (or manage their way around any protection) they'll be getting a watermarked image.

Smugmug has this built in as well...

 

[RudeBoie]

I'm looking into Smugmug right now as well. That's awesome about the watermark, not so awesome about the things fuzzybabybunny mentioned. But Smugmug is supposed to be fantastic.

Quick questions, which I'm looking for in the Smugmug support section as well.

Is it easy to batch upload if you're Linux?

Also, do Smugmug or Flickr- I know they both let you store the original images that you upload, but to get them back do you have to redownload them all (I imagine my 6+ gig gallery) or can you just order them for $15 (fair price to me) if you need the backups.

Any other thoughts or comments on photo sharing sites welcome!

I'm basically looking for:

A nice looking gallery to be a complement to my blog/personal site.

If there are any integration features with Movable Type that's a plus as well. (I know there is a Flickr/MT plugin)

 

[Slickone]

I'm looking for something simply with batch upload, auto play slideshow, but the ability to only make that gallery viewable to visitors, and not any other galleries. Also if possible, the slideshow pics are small/med by default, but the ability to download a larger size of each one.

What's my best bet for this?

 

[RudeBoie]

Check out this comparison link: http://photo-sharing-services-review.toptenreviews.com/

I think most places can do slideshows, although there is a site that specializes in slideshows.

 

[tami]

http://www.photocritique.us/2006/09/28/...-photography-through-the-online-world/
^ discusses flickr, smugmug, zenfolio, coppermine, gallery, etc.... take your pick


smugmug is preferred by most pros that i know. if you're a nikon user, join nikoncafe.com and ask them what they think, or just search for posts about smugmug.

 

[thatsright]

Here it IS!!

Paint By Pixels

After talking about this for 2 months, I had to just DO IT. Get it Done........ (Say it just like Jerry Seinfeld) Now this is definitely a BETA version. Just something to get this going. I have one gallery so far, but uploaded 200 more pics in a locked gallery. This is very basic and will be polished up significantly in the next few days. Thanks to everyone who gave me pointers, RossMAN especially.

Thanks for all the help. Let me know what you think of the pics!

 

[blurredvision]

So you decided to go with Smugmug . Not a bad choice overall, as creating your own gallery and whatnot can be a bit much for the beginner. I enjoy my Smugmug account, but haven't uploaded anything to it in quite some time.

It looks like you know your way around a camera, though. I'll look forward to seeing more of your pics.