Hi there, I feel a little out of my depth here! I have a client/friend who has requested a photography portfolio for her new business. The issue is, I have no idea what the best CMS platform to use would be! I usually deal with Wordpress, Magento and Opencart for e-commerce sites but I feel like they might struggle dealing with downloadable high-resolution imagery. She has also requested functionality to allows her clients to purchase artwork and download it digitally in a variety of sizes. I have a feeling that we might encounter file size issues when uploading her downloadable content. She has requested a site that allows the following Ability to publish her work and categorise by event/occasion or type. User-friendly for her to update web content Downloadable content Hidden albums/password protected content (for weddings etc). Clean and fast loading. I've had a look at some CMS platforms like Pixpa and Zenfolio but i'm not sold on either of these. Any suggestions from photography experts out there? Thanks guys!
Im using Zenfolio Use it for putting up galleries for people to purchase - you have the option for different resolution/pricing structures but i dont bother with that, just personal vs commercial pricing. I use hidden/password protected galleries. They take a cut of your profits but thats normal feel free to have a squiz https://www.thesportsphoto.com.au
I used Pixieset when I needed to sell images and it worked well. Smugmug is another option as is squarespace. I wish adobe portfolio had the option for a checkout!
Wordpress seems to get hacked a lot. I like it a lot and have a dormant site there but no longer want to use it because Wordpress makes news for those wrong reasons. Squarespace is nice and easy. For a photog folio, Squarespace does it well. I follow a YouTube landscape photographer called Thomas Heaton. His YouTube feed is sponsored by Squarespace, and his website is on SS. If you use the code "Heaton" at the checkout, you get a discount for the first purchase which is very handy if you subscribe for a full year. You can also register a domain at the checkout as well. They do month to month pricing also. Squarespace give you a free 30 day trial so if you don't like it, don't pay for it. I managed a website at my last job, along with their three domains. I couldn't be arsed doing all that for my photog folio site. I'm on Squarespace because I wanted something that allowed me to make something reasonably quickly and easily and was minimalist.
How do you guys go with Hosting? What formats do you usually upload images in? I am not 100% across this so I'm not sure how much space I'd need to host imagery.
Most if not all of these sites include hosting, some have pricing structures based on space others don't. Images are usually uploaded in jpeg.
Its not worth the $$$ to host galleries of hundreds of photos yourself. Much better off looking at the likes of Smugmug, Zenfolio, Pixieset, Pic-Time etc etc
Koken is the best Ive found for that and its free and has a Lightroom plugin that works with collections to galleries etc. You dont want a subscription service that essentially will hold all your photos and content to ransom to that subscription.
I've used wordpress for personal blog/ portfolio in the past which was simple enough although fairly hands on. I asked a bunch of people here about what they use to sell prints online and user TheBear21 suggested pixieset which I'm using to deliver my first wedding shoot. It's very quick to get started, offers mobile friendly navigation and can be tried for free without much limitation. Ability to publish her work and categorise by event/occasion or type. User-friendly for her to update web content Downloadable content Hidden albums/password protected content (for weddings etc). Clean and fast loading. Pixieset handles it all (I have no affiliation, I just like their product)
As mentioned above I was a big fan of Pixieset (and still am). But I have recently moved over to Pic-Time that offers all the same features of Pixieset with a few additions that suit me perfectly. Pic-Time has a local printer on board (Atkins Photo Lab) that makes print sales even easier. They also have an album proofing feature which allows me to upload my album spreads and get feedback. And another nice feature I just found was they can integrate their gallery into your website. So when emails are sent it is a link through your website (not theirs) which has obvious SEO benefits.
Are the prices at Atkins competitive? I do like the fact that they are a 'partner' of Pic-Time, takes one step out of the equation getting those prints ordered and delivered. I have two labs I currently use, codeice.com.au and macquarieeditions.com; an A3 Hahnemuhle photorag 308 GSM print is $25.60 and $40 respectively although I haven't tried out the 'fill your own order' on pixieset yet.
Atkins is $30.20 for an A3 Fine Art Print edit: And I also heard on the grapevine that Seldex is about to come on board too, which is great as that is who I use for my wedding albums.
Honestly I went to Squarespace and never looked back. I spent far too long dicking around with CMS platforms and patching exploits and optimising for mobile devices. Find something that just works with good SEO and polished interface / mobile publishing. I was paying just as much for decent hosting by itself. www.terranmedia.com.au if you want an example. Though its an old template now
