What's a good way to handle a large shoot?

missamo80

In about two weeks I'll be shooting the Jr National Curling Championships and putting the photos up for sale via smugmug. It's a week-long event with 19 teams, each with 5 participants and two coaches. There are going to be a lot of photos in the gallery.

I was hoping to use keywords to allow for searches by team at a minimum, but after reading through the form it looks like that's a dead end because of the 6+ day search indexing delay on new photos (!!!). I don't want use multiple galleries as that makes it a pain to link from the parent site (not on smugmug) that will drive people to the site.

What's a good way to organize the photos within a single gallery so people can quickly find all the pics of their kid? I was really hoping people could just click on the keyword under a photo to find all the related ones.

Thanks,

Neil

Stustaff

missamo80 wrote:

In about two weeks I'll be shooting the Jr National Curling Championships and putting the photos up for sale via smugmug. It's a week-long event with 19 teams, each with 5 participants and two coaches. There are going to be a lot of photos in the gallery.

I was hoping to use keywords to allow for searches by team at a minimum, but after reading through the form it looks like that's a dead end because of the 6+ day search indexing delay on new photos (!!!). I don't want use multiple galleries as that makes it a pain to link from the parent site (not on smugmug) that will drive people to the site.

What's a good way to organize the photos within a single gallery so people can quickly find all the pics of their kid? I was really hoping people could just click on the keyword under a photo to find all the related ones.

Thanks,

Neil

Surely you would link to a single Category from your main page to make that part simple and then have within it a gallery for each team?

so it would be

Category = Junior Curling 07
Galleries = Team A, Team B, Team C etc?

mrcoons

I recently did a multiple day event. I had one category with a gallery for each day in it, I post the gallery link on my website and the customer can go view whatever day(s) they are interested in. I define each album as 'all thumbs' so that when the customer opens it they can see all the thumbnails. They must have liked it as I had over 1800 page views the first day.

I'm sure there is another way that did not occur to me though.

Stustaff

mrcoons wrote:

I recently did a multiple day event. I had one category with a gallery for each day in it, I post the gallery link on my website and the customer can go view whatever day(s) they are interested in. I define each album as 'all thumbs' so that when the customer opens it they can see all the thumbnails. They must have liked it as I had over 1800 page views the first day.

I'm sure there is another way that did not occur to me though.

Did you mean Category link above in bold!? sorry to be picky but it does make a difference.

mrcoons

Stustaff wrote:

Did you mean Category link above in bold!? sorry to be picky but it does make a difference.

Maybe an example is better than me using the wrong terms. I posted this link on my website for my customers to find the photos of this event:

Citrus Tour

Is this what you were talking about?

missamo80

Hmm, ok, thanks for the suggestions. I never realized you can link a category to the front page and then have galleries under that. Is there an FAQ or info anywhere on how to customize that page? I've already invested a lot in making the gallery itself look the way I want.

Neil

Stustaff

missamo80 wrote:

Hmm, ok, thanks for the suggestions. I never realized you can link a category to the front page and then have galleries under that. Is there an FAQ or info anywhere on how to customize that page? I've already invested a lot in making the gallery itself look the way I want.

Neil

There is lots of help in the customisation section, they helped me create all of my different stuff post that request in there.

another thing you can do if you use categories is have a different header tailored to that specific event.

I use 2 Categories to present two very different things..

http://stuarthill.smugmug.com/Photography

and

http://stuarthill.smugmug.com/Family

under those categories I can then have whatever I like.

missamo80

I don't think the category approach is going to work. I need the category page (http://www.clearviewphotography.net/2007%20USCA%20Curling%20Junior%20Nationals) to look exactly like the gallery page (http://www.clearviewphotography.net/gallery/2319357). I don't want the changes to impact the rest of my site, since I have other content that is separate from the Junior Nationals. From what I read in the FAQs, the category page will pick up my site-wide customizations, and it doesn't have the ability to customize the look through CSS like you can with galleries (through gallery-specific classes).

Any other options? Am I missing something?

Neil

Stustaff

missamo80 wrote:

I don't think the category approach is going to work. I need the category page (http://www.clearviewphotography.net/2007%20USCA%20Curling%20Junior%20Nationals) to look exactly like the gallery page (http://www.clearviewphotography.net/gallery/2319357). I don't want the changes to impact the rest of my site, since I have other content that is separate from the Junior Nationals. From what I read in the FAQs, the category page will pick up my site-wide customizations, and it doesn't have the ability to customize the look through CSS like you can with galleries (through gallery-specific classes).

Any other options? Am I missing something?

Neil

You CAN have category specific settings, Look at my two categories that I showed you above. Different Header and navbar Basically you link different items to the specific category.

for example( please bare in mind I didnt write this stuff)

/* SHOWS BANNER ON HOMEPAGE AND OTHER SECTION */
.homepage #my_header,
.category_Photography #my_header {
display: block;
background: url(http://stuarthill.smugmug.com/photos/74593491-L.jpg);
height: 100px;
width: 750px;
}

/* SHOWS BANNER ON FAMILY CATEGORY */
.category_Family #my_header {
display: block;
background: url(http://stuarthill.smugmug.com/photos/74600214-L.jpg);
height: 100px;
width: 750px;
}

Serously though your best off posting this in customisation, youll get more help and a definite answer over there.

missamo80

AH! the .category_XXX is the ticket. That just might do the trick, thanks.

Neil

Stustaff

missamo80 wrote:

AH! the .category_XXX is the ticket. That just might do the trick, thanks.

Neil

No worries hope you get it sorted.

Andy

missamo80 wrote:

Hmm, ok, thanks for the suggestions. I never realized you can link a category to the front page and then have galleries under that. Is there an FAQ or info anywhere on how to customize that page? I've already invested a lot in making the gallery itself look the way I want.

Neil

Neil, our specialists Barb and Ivar will come to the rescue shortly.

Barb

Hi Neil,

First, can we get a link to your SmugMug site? Go ahead and put that in your signature and also in your profile (click on "You!" in the upper left of this page). Will make it much easier

missamo80

Barb wrote:

Hi Neil,

First, can we get a link to your SmugMug site? Go ahead and put that in your signature and also in your profile (click on "You!" in the upper left of this page). Will make it much easier

Doh, I thought I'd included them in the original post. Sorry

The current gallery for the Jr Nationals, formatted the way I want, is at http://www.clearviewphotography.net/gallery/2319357. A category for Jr Nationals is at http://www.clearviewphotography.net/2007%20USCA%20Curling%20Junior%20Nationals. The main site is www.clearviewphotography.net.

Note that the .category_ approach will only do part of what I want, I think. It'll just let me configure all galleries with that category to look the same, but I don't believe it'll let me do the actual category index page.

Neil

Barb

missamo80 wrote:

Doh, I thought I'd included them in the original post. Sorry

The current gallery for the Jr Nationals, formatted the way I want, is at http://www.clearviewphotography.net/gallery/2319357. A category for Jr Nationals is at http://www.clearviewphotography.net/2007%20USCA%20Curling%20Junior%20Nationals. The main site is www.clearviewphotography.net.

Note that the .category_ approach will only do part of what I want, I think. It'll just let me configure all galleries with that category to look the same, but I don't believe it'll let me do the actual category index page.

Neil

Hi,

Thx for the links

I've read through this thread trying to determine exactly where you want to go with this. I'm not exactly sure, but I wonder if you display categories on your home page instead of galleries you'll be closer. That way, you could have one category on your home page titled "2007 USCA Curling Junior Nationals"; you could create subcategories for each of the teams; and then galleries inside of those subcategories for each participant and coach.

Does that sound like an organization structure that would work?

missamo80

Barb wrote:

Does that sound like an organization structure that would work?

The structure you propose (one parent page that has sub pages for each of the teams) would be perfect, and I'd love to use it.

As far as I can tell, the technical limitations of Smugmug mean the only way I can have that structure is to create a category called "Junior Nationals" and then create galleries with that category for each of the teams. I can live with this approach, although I would exclude it from my main home page since I don't want to switch the page category view (the category link can just be placed directly on the main www.juniornationals.us page to drive people to the images). Changing to category on the main page would interfere with driving sales to my other galleries, where I'll actually make money on this shoot.

The big problem I have with this approach is how do I customize the category page? Specifically, how do I make http://www.clearviewphotography.net/2007%20USCA%20Curling%20Junior%20Nationals look like http://www.clearviewphotography.net/gallery/2319357?

Neil

Barb

missamo80 wrote:

The structure you propose (one parent page that has sub pages for each of the teams) would be perfect, and I'd love to use it.

As far as I can tell, the technical limitations of Smugmug mean the only way I can have that structure is to create a category called "Junior Nationals" and then create galleries with that category for each of the teams. I can live with this approach, although I would exclude it from my main home page since I don't want to switch the page category view (the category link can just be placed directly on the main www.juniornationals.us page to drive people to the images). Changing to category on the main page would interfere with driving sales to my other galleries, where I'll actually make money on this shoot.

The big problem I have with this approach is how do I customize the category page? Specifically, how do I make http://www.clearviewphotography.net/2007%20USCA%20Curling%20Junior%20Nationals look like http://www.clearviewphotography.net/gallery/2319357?

Neil

Hi Neil,

Try adding this to your CSS code and let's see how close we are:

.category_2007_USCA_Curling_Junior_Nationals #mainfoot
{
display: none;
}

.category_2007_USCA_Curling_Junior_Nationals #my_banner
{
display: none;
}

.category_2007_USCA_Curling_Junior_Nationals #jrnational_banner
{
background: url(http://www.juniornationals.us/img/bg_head.jpg) no-repeat top left;
margin: 0 auto;
color:#fff;
padding:1.5em 1em;
text-decoration:none;
font:verdana, tahoma, sans-serif;
font-size: 2em 80%;
display: block;
}

.category_2007_USCA_Curling_Junior_Nationals #singleImage,
.category_2007_USCA_Curling_Junior_Nationals #allthumbs,
.category_2007_USCA_Curling_Junior_Nationals #smugmug_small
{
background: transparent;
margin: 0px;
margin-top: 10px;
}

.category_2007_USCA_Curling_Junior_Nationals .jrnational_banner
{
margin: 0px;
}

html .category_2007_USCA_Curling_Junior_Nationals
{
margin: 0px;
padding: 11px;
}

html .category_2007_USCA_Curling_Junior_Nationals
{
background: #FFFFFF url(http://www.juniornationals.us/img/bg_main.gif) no-repeat top left;
}

.category_2007_USCA_Curling_Junior_Nationals #footer
{
margin: 0px;
background: #FFFFFF;
}

.category_2007_USCA_Curling_Junior_Nationals #stylebar {display: none;}


.category_2007_USCA_Curling_Junior_Nationals #jrfoot
{
margin-top:5px;
width:760px;
background:#2c4161;
color:#fff;
font-size:.8em;
display: block;
}

.category_2007_USCA_Curling_Junior_Nationals #jrfoot .address {padding:1em}
.category_2007_USCA_Curling_Junior_Nationals #jrfoot p {margin-bottom:0}
.category_2007_USCA_Curling_Junior_Nationals #jrfoot a {color:#fff}


.category_2007_USCA_Curling_Junior_Nationals #comment_header { display: none; }

.category_2007_USCA_Curling_Junior_Nationals .box {background: none !important; }

missamo80

Barb wrote:

Try adding this to your CSS code and let's see how close we are:

Barb,

That's pretty close. I gave it a quick spin using the Firefox web dev tool thingy and it is within the realm of being right. The breadcrums still display, but that's an easy fix, as is the incorrect display of the background image within the gallery list.

I need a description at the top of the page, but I believe there's a javascript hack available in the FAQ to add that, right?

Thanks!

Neil

Barb

missamo80 wrote:

Barb,

That's pretty close. I gave it a quick spin using the Firefox web dev tool thingy and it is within the realm of being right. The breadcrums still display, but that's an easy fix, as is the incorrect display of the background image within the gallery list.

I need a description at the top of the page, but I believe there's a javascript hack available in the FAQ to add that, right?

Thanks!

Neil

Hi Neil,

No. 43 on our FAQ is what you are looking for, I think:

http://www.smugmug.com/help/customize-faq.mg

missamo80

Ok, I've hit another wall.

If I go the "category + 19 galleries" approach, how do I prevent the 19 galleries from displaying on the home page? I'm ok with not having anything related to the Jr Nationals on my main page, since participants will arrive at the category/galleries through a direct link from another site. I don't want to clutter the front page and take attention away from my main artsy photos.

Setting the galleries to hidden makes them go away from the home page, but also hides them in the category view.

Neil

Barb

missamo80 wrote:

Ok, I've hit another wall.

If I go the "category + 19 galleries" approach, how do I prevent the 19 galleries from displaying on the home page? I'm ok with not having anything related to the Jr Nationals on my main page, since participants will arrive at the category/galleries through a direct link from another site. I don't want to clutter the front page and take attention away from my main artsy photos.

Setting the galleries to hidden makes them go away from the home page, but also hides them in the category view.

Neil

Hi Neil,

Display categories on your home page instead of galleries. Much cleaner. In the upper right corner of the galleries box, click on categories.

missamo80

Barb wrote:

Hi Neil,

Display categories on your home page instead of galleries. Much cleaner. In the upper right corner of the galleries box, click on categories.

What? No. That means I have to go in and re-jigger my existing galleries so they are categories instead, re-organize all the photos, add the hack to display descriptions on categories to each of them, etc. No thanks!

Any other options?

Neil

missamo80

Bump. Anyone have other options? If I switch to "categories" on my main page that'll solve the Jr nationals problem, but create a new one. All my regular, for sale, photos will now be buried under galleries under categories. Instead of one click to the photos that I actually make money on, it'll be something like:

Home Page > Landscapes > Prairie Photos

I don't have enough galleries proper to warrant grouping them into categories for navigation purposes.

Neil

Barb

missamo80 wrote:

Bump. Anyone have other options? If I switch to "categories" on my main page that'll solve the Jr nationals problem, but create a new one. All my regular, for sale, photos will now be buried under galleries under categories. Instead of one click to the photos that I actually make money on, it'll be something like:

Home Page > Landscapes > Prairie Photos

I don't have enough galleries proper to warrant grouping them into categories for navigation purposes.

Neil

Hi Neil,

How about for the galleries where you are selling the photos, use the Category "Portfolio" and place your galleries inside that ?? Just one click then to all the galleries. You can even keep your subcats, i.e., Portfolio -- Landscapes -- Prarie Photos, or skip the subcats and just have Portfolio -- Prairie photos, Portfolio -- Tulips, etc. You can even make your own category called "Photos for Sale" or something like that and then place the rest of your galleries inside. An idea anyway!

missamo80

You know, that makes a lot of sense. I like it. Then I'll have just two images on my home page, and at some point after Jr Nationals I can simply switch back to "Gallery" view and be back to where I was.

Thanks!

Neil

Barb

missamo80 wrote:

You know, that makes a lot of sense. I like it. Then I'll have just two images on my home page, and at some point after Jr Nationals I can simply switch back to "Gallery" view and be back to where I was.

Thanks!

Neil

clap you're welcome