Which Professional Image Hosting Sites Do You Like?

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<p>Hi, <br>

I was hoping get people's thoughts on they publish their photographs online. <br>

There seem to be several contenders but in searching haven't found a good comprehensive comparison of them. <br>

Some that look good to me are:</p>

<p>smugmug http://smugmug.com/<br>

zenfolio http://zenfolio.com/<br>

maybe photobucket http://photobucket.com/<br>

I am not so much interested in the free ones line pisca or flickr, but one that can be used professionally or semiprofessionally. On the other hand until I really get going, I can't justify more than a couple hundred dollars a year on the service. However, since both zenfolio and smugmug have a pro plan that's under two hundreds a year, I think I am in the right ballpark. <br>

I was just hoping to get impressions of these two services and perhaps some others that I am unaware of. <br>

Thanks in advance. </p>

</p>

<p>Not sure about the others but Smugmug encurages/allows modifications to your site to make it more 'you' or more professional or what ever. like adding things like your own navigation for example.</p>

<p>I host my <a href="http://www.djkennedy.com">site</a> at SM and love it. They also have <a href="http://www.dgrin.com">www.dgrin.com</a> , a forum from SM for their users needing help. I pay for the top tier which allows me to use my own URL. I do NOT sell my photos through my site but that option is there for you to utilize.</p>

<p>The basic right out of the box non modified sites might not be up your ally but you can change the look/feel easily.</p>

<p>SM allows you I think a 14 day trial? Any questions you might have you can ask in the dgrin forums. Lots of helpful ppl there. Questions about adding modifications (say a nice nav bar), coding problems, general questions on SM - whatever, they can be asked there.</p>

<p>I did however, and this is common, found it difficult at times in the past (and I think they maybe have addressed this issue) hard to set up gallerys and sub gallerys. If you get past that you can set up a really decent site.</p>

<p>I have not tried the others so I can not offer any comment on those companies.</p>

<p>I set up on Zenfolio:</p>

<p>http://www.harrington.zenfolio.com/</p>

<p>I chose the premium service ($100.00 /yr). I did it mostly to facilitate the sale of prints.</p>

<p>It was just a few weeks ago that io set it up.</p>

<p>I do wish users could customize pages with more text to help bring in search engine traffic.</p>

<p>Why not try a pro lab's site like Miller's or H&H? This way they will make the prints and ship them directly to your customer too. It's so easy and worth it....-Aimee</p>

<p>I'm a happy SmugMug user, with the Pro account so I have full customization of my gallery and have styled it to match the rest of my website and blog. I've never had a client complain about any of their prints or products.</p>

<p>So far I like the look and feel (and price) of Zenfolio a bit better than SM. I didn't like SM use of the screen real estate. They seem to have some built in assumptions about screen size. However, SM seemingly has the ability to provide individual clients logins which I'd like once I had some clients. I really don't want to make anything about clients visible to website visitors. However, I don't think Zenfolio offers that. It has a ability make galleries private but the thumbnail of the gallery is still there. The Zenfolio customer support tries to be helpful and is prompt. Like SM they also have a users' forum too, which I haven't tried yet. Does anyone have experience SM direct customer support? <br>

I looked at Miller and they seem far behind on the whole look and feel issue. I could not H & H hosting options but I did manage to find their site (I think). (Warning Googling for H & H Photo produced some unexpected results.) For printing I plan to offer the canned options provided by service provider (for regular ole prints) and also custom options which I'd oversee myself from a local printer. The ability to specify print services is provided by Zenfolio and I assume SM as well. <br>

Still wondering if there are other options out there as well. Thanks for the comments so far. </p>

<p>Here is my <a href="http://rossmurphy.zenfolio.com/">Zenfolio</a> I am looking at switching to SM myself, I like how some of the sites are set up, but may require a little html knowledge, the choices are pretty limited on Zenfolio.<br /> Ross</p>

<p>PS<br>

I like this <a href="http://florisvanbreugel.smugmug.com/ ">guys</a> smugmug site</p>

<p>I was on Zenfolio (the pro level). I switch to SmugMug recently. The image quality is better vs. Zen, IMO, and photos display much larger. Also, the tech support is outstanding, with answers often within two hours or less, and that goes a long way with me. The site (at the pro level) is very customiziable, and at other levels too. Two photo processing labs are partnered the Smug. a consumer-level lab for less-expensive prints, and Bay Photo, for high-end developing. Order fullfillment is direct form the lab - easy! You can try them free for 30 days.</p>

<p>Interesting, I'll have to check out he image quality issue. I haven't noticed that yet but wasn't particularly looking. <br>

I do like how Zenfolio using available screen real estate while SM has a lot of empty borders. That's my big concern with SM right now actually. I will have to look at the more carefully though. </p>

<p>I have recently set up account on zenfolio, as well. <a href="http://joannakapicaphotography.zenfolio.com/ ">http://joannakapicaphotography.zenfolio.com/ </a> So far I like it. I do fine art photography and needed site with all e-commerce set up. <br /> I have also used MPix to print in the past (that's who zenfolio is using for prints) and liked their quality. They also can ship your order directly to customer- if needed.<br>

So far I am satisfied.</p>

<p>Try redbubble.It is free and they will take your uploads and make card, matted prints, laminated prints and framed prints, but the larger of these requires a really high resolution image. I bought one of my partners (a card with envelope) for about $6 and it is first class. RB took about $2.50.</p>

<p>I use several local and national labs and don't want to be tied to any one of them for every online sale that I make.<br>

I use Simplephoto.com. Sometimes I feel like a one-man-studio operation even though I have several shooters. I've been very impressed with their support. The phone support is so good that I usually just call if I need something done. They allow me to customize my store front so that it looks like you are not leaving my site to browse image galleries. If I need something changed they have helped me by doing it. I'll check the site the next day and wow, they got to my issue. And then its on to the next shoot or customer or baby or location or bridal retouch or... you get the point!<br>

They have different pricing plans from click and pay to unlimited posting.</p>

<p>Oh yeah, I just experimented with this for the first time: real b&w prints on rc paper from digital files. Really impressive. I thought that that was lost with my own lab during huricane Katrina which ripped the roof off of my lab. Ruined a nearly brand-new Wyng-Lynch model 5 c-41 film processor that would be as useful to me now as a lead balloon!</p>

 

<p>I have use Livebook since January of 2009 and i love it. Right now I am on Student Basis so it is only $90 a year. <a href="http://www.livebooks.com/">www.livebooks.com/</a> is the best and it is easy to use. I rather pay than have to deal with all the html codes. Hope this helps!</p>

<p>Pictage is great for wedding photographers...but on the upper end of pricing. Shape 5, which is a Joomla site developer, has some templates where you can setup your own photo site...but then you'll have to manage the backend/printing piece. EventPictures is a good one as well. Inexpensive to sign up, low wholesale product prices and commissions and includes a website.</p>

<p>Hey I've used both Smugmug and Zenfolio</p>

<p>I think it really comes down to how good you are with various web tools (HTML, CSS, Java etc) as well as how much effort you want to put in.<br>

Smugmug<br>

- Bit more expensive ($140 pro vs $100 at Zen) however both have unlimited options for ~$30 <br>

- Option to completely redesign the site with your own programming (you could do it yourself or hire someone)<br>

- Ability to set the price you want your photos sold at, however only available at the Pro level<br>

- Ability to host video - might be useful if using for friends/family<br>

- Pretty established community and very good integration with iphone </p>

<p>Zenfolio<br>

- No video ability<br>

- Slightly cheaper @ the pro level<br>

- Easy to use themes, you can have a reasonably professsional site up and running in minutes (though in fairness Smugmug has themes too)<br>

- Very sleek interface that is easy to use. I found smugmug a bit more "cluttered" however I could still use it without a huge amount of hassle<br>

- Have had some "downtime" recently, but this is just a temporary glitch and this company is still very solid</p>

<p>BTW People on the net have reported storing thousands, and thousands of pics, with one guy claiming to have stored 80 gigs. A lot of the unlimited sites are in actual fact limited, they just have invisible limits that I guess most people will not encounter. While these guys might be a bit more expensive then say Flickr, you never have to worry about losing your pictures or getting an email saying you are using an unfair amount of resources. So for my money either site is worth spending a bit of cash on.<br>

You can receive $5 off any account currently with the following codes:<br>

$5 over at Smugmug:<br>

MjmiE0xAHBhwQ<br>

$5 off for Zenfolio<br>

9MS-YYH-CBP</p>