where to display portfolio on web

<p>Hi there. I am a avid amateur who is just starting to display some photos in my local gallery and at some restaurants in town. I have had a couple people ask me where on the web they could go to see my photos. As I started to look around at places to put them none seemed perfect and was looking for suggestions. My primary wishes are..<br>

Not too expensive- I know I am not going to get rich doing this but would rather spend my money on gear than a web site.<br>

Protection- I don't want people to be able to just down load any of my images (Photo net doesn't block this right?)<br>

Decent quality- I want my photos to look their best. Free places like Picassa seem to not always make the photos shine<br>

Not to complicated to set up- I really would rather spend time doing other stuff than building my own site from scratch.<br>

Lastly in a perfect world it would be great to allow others to buy prints (at a slight profit for me) of things like photos of my sons little league games etc. I Know it seems like mostly pro and more expensive sites allow this but maybe I missed a place.</p>

<p>Thanks for any suggestions. Brian</p>

 

<p>Consider <a href="http://ExposureManager.com">ExposureManager.com</a> US$6.95/month, or $64.95/year for an art account. They host the gallery part of my web presence. <a href="http://gallery.DanBeauvais.com">gallery.DanBeauvais.com</a></p>

<p>I looked at a lot of different online options and found Smugmug to be the best available. They really have a great UI and many parameters are able to be set including security, etc. They have a good rate too. If you want to be able to profit on print sales, you need to buy the Pro account. I have been a subscriber for many years and it's been a very good experience for me.<br>

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

<p> </p>

<p>Regardless of which provider you choose or approach you take, be sure to dismiss the notion of people not being able to save copies of the images you post. If they can see it, they can save a copy of it by one means or another. If you're worried about the consequences, you need to watermark the images, or only show them at low enough resolution to prevent anything like a decent print from being made without further interaction with you.</p>

<p>Check out www.zenfolio.com<br>

Many different levels of membership all the way up to being able to sell print off the web.<br>

There's also pBase (many friends have left due to problems) & Smugmug.<br>

I checked these out & went with Zenfolio. Most will allow you to test them out for a few weeks before you either join or leave. I like the easy upload & way to customize on Zenfolio.<br>

Good luck</p>

<blockquote>

<p>I don't want people to be able to just down load any of my images (Photo net doesn't block this right?)</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Nobody can block this, regardless of what they say. If you don't want people to be able to download images, don't post them. On the other hand, plenty of photographers, including quite famous ones, have put their images online.</p>

<p>Thanks for all the rapid responses. I enjoyed looking at your shots of the outer banks Dan. I spent some time there a dozen years ago and it brought back some great memories. <br>

I realize there is always ways around blocking downloads it just seems like some sites at least try to block casual copying while others allow you to just right click and save. Thanks again</p>

<blockquote>

<p><em>"... it just seems like some sites at least try to block casual copying"</em></p>

</blockquote>

<p>And such "protection" is completely worthless, and you're fooling yourself if you think it will block even "casual copying".</p>

<p>At this point in time ANYTHING that is displayed on a public web page can be copied by anyone. The best you can do is watermark your images if you do upload them, and upload at a low enough resolution so that the best anyone could print would be a 4x6.</p>

<p>photo.net does not employ any "download blocking" because it doesn't work, and presumably because they don't want to give naive members the impression that their stuff in under lock and key when uploaded here.</p>

<p>Well take a look at carbonmade.com.</p>

<p>I put my daughters pics on there for them.</p>

<p>http://emmaella.carbonmade.com</p>

<p>I second <a href="http://www.smugmug.com">Smugmug</a>, good product and great service.</p>

<p>I second zenfolio.com</p>

 

<p>zenfolio vote three</p>

<p>Before making a decision, you may want to find out what rights you will be giving up to the hosting sites.</p>

<p>http://www.photo.net/casual-conversations-forum/00SLsS</p>

<p>http://www.photo.net/casual-conversations-forum/00WBi0</p>

<p>Zenfolio vote four.</p>

<p>I use smugmug and bought their Power account for around $60 a year and it allows me to upload as many photos as I want full res. too.<br>

It also allows me to link this account with my website address I bought from Godaddy for $10 a year or so. I'd recommend smugmug to anyone looking for an easy to setup online gallery</p>

<p>Fineartamerica.com At least I believe photos CAN"T be saved unless you buy.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.viewbook.com/">www.viewbook.com</a></p>

<p>While smugmug seems to be good choice, you'll have to pay for an upgrade in oder to sell your photos. If you are just starting out this might be a cost issue.<br>

There is a pretty decent site (dotphoto.com) that allows you to set up your own site, upload your photos, display (and YES even sell them at your pricepoint) without paying an "up charge" to do so. They do offer an upgrade with some decent perks. The free/base account will allow you to display, watermark the photos at your descression, choose to set your own prices or use their standard prices. You can link your account to any of the socail networking sites (i.e., Facebook, etc.) and even include Yahoo and Google search engines.</p>

<p>The very fact that everybody can view your images on the web already means those images have already been downloaded onto their computer. It is a waste of time trying to "block" people from taking your images unless you don't share them on the web at all.</p>

<p>What I do is that I only post low-resolution images on line so that it is pretty much useless other than for web display.</p>

<p>Anybody else have examples of how you used these offerings?</p>

<p>http://www.photo.net/casual-conversations-forum/00WEa6</p>

<p>www.zenfolio.com<br>

cheap: 25$ / year<br>

+<br>

you can sell your prints<br>

+<br>

when you sell your prints you can choose between: zenfolio takes care of everything and ships the final product or you print it, frame it, and deliver.</p>