What is the

ExposeTheMomentExposeTheMoment Registered Users Posts: 271 Major grins
edited September 1, 2008 in SmugMug Pro Sales Support
Best way to show hundreds of photos in one gallery. IE how to give my wedding client, their family or friends the best way to view the wedding photos.

I myself like the thumbnail gallery so thay all load up. Since I started with smugmug I have never forced a viewer into a type. Not that I want to now, but does anyone have a professional opion on really what works the best.
Gary Harfield
Owner/Photographer
Expose The Moment

Had a list of gear, now its to long, so lets say I have 2 bags and 15,000 worth of stuff.

Comments

  • jfriendjfriend Registered Users Posts: 8,097 Major grins
    edited September 1, 2008
    ExposeTheMoment wrote:
    Best way to show hundreds of photos in one gallery. IE how to give my wedding client, their family or friends the best way to view the wedding photos.

    I myself like the thumbnail gallery so thay all load up. Since I started with smugmug I have never forced a viewer into a type. Not that I want to now, but does anyone have a professional opion on really what works the best.

    I'm not a wedding photographer, though I do post photos from a lot of other kinds of events. Here are a few thoughts you can ponder: I personally like to limit the number of photos in a single gallery to about 30-50 so as not to put a giant list of photos in front of anybody. When I have more than that number of photos that I want to show, I break them into logical groups and do a gallery for each grouping all under one sub-category for the event. For a wedding, you could use groupings like "Getting Ready", "Formal Posed Shots", "Wedding Ceremony", "Reception Guests", "Reception Activities", etc...

    I like the Smugmug view the most because it's very efficient for the viewer to both see a bunch of thumbs, but also to browse the different images and it dynamically sizes to your window size which gives a great viewing experience. When a buyer is comparing different images, it's also really easy to switch back and forth between two similar images to decide which you like the best.
    --John
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  • Matthew SavilleMatthew Saville Registered Users, Retired Mod Posts: 3,352 Major grins
    edited September 1, 2008
    jfriend wrote:
    I'm not a wedding photographer, but here are a few thoughts you can ponder: I personally like to limit the number of photos in a single gallery to about 30-50 so as not to put a giant list of photos in front of anybody. When I have more than that number of photos that I want to show, I break them into logical groups and do a gallery for each grouping all under one sub-category for the event. For a wedding, you could use groupings like "Getting Ready", "Formal Posed Shots", "Wedding Ceremony", "Reception Guests", "Reception Activities", etc...

    I like the Smugmug view the most because it's very efficient for the viewer to both see a bunch of thumbs, but also to browse the different images and it dynamically sizes to your window size which gives a great viewing experience. When a buyer is comparing different images, it's also really easy to switch back and forth between two similar images to decide which you like the best.

    As a wedding / event photographer, I can say that the ULTIMATE would be to be able to simply disable a few un-desirable styles, instead of only forcing ONE.

    And, the problem with "Smugmug" style is that, especially now since it's dynamic, clients will sometimes try and refer to "the 3rd image on the 5th page", and that means NOTHING as we know. Having to go back and forth saying "is THIS the image you're talking about?" is kinda annoying.

    Optimally, I PREFER all-thumbs, but I don't force it. I leave the slideshow button visible, so I guess I could force all thumbs if I wanted to, but smugmug style IS pretty sweet for viewing on a huge monitor...

    Like I said, what I'd like to be able to do is disable some of the useless ones, like critique, journal, etc. and just allow clients to pick between a couple / few of the most relevant viewing styles...

    (Don't get me wrong, I LOVE using Journal style for tutorial etc. pages, just not for clients!)

    =Matt=
    “My first thought is always of light.” – Galen Rowell
    My SmugMug Portfolio • My Astro-Landscape Photo Blog • Dgrin Weddings Forum
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