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Author Topic: Setting up a photographic website  (Read 10898 times)

sanfairyanne

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Setting up a photographic website
« on: June 04, 2012, 01:52:12 pm »

Currently I have my photographs on Flickr but I'd really like to put them onto a personalised website. I know there is a lot on the internet regarding writing a website but are there any obvious do's and don't for a photographic based site.

Many thanks.
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mediumcool

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Re: Setting up a photographic website
« Reply #1 on: June 05, 2012, 03:21:25 am »

Currently I have my photographs on Flickr but I'd really like to put them onto a personalised website. I know there is a lot on the internet regarding writing a website but are there any obvious do's and don't for a photographic based site.

Many thanks.

Don’t use any technology/template based on Flash.
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EduPerez

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Re: Setting up a photographic website
« Reply #2 on: June 05, 2012, 07:03:55 am »

I think the most important part of building a website is in the planning:

Decide who is your intended audience, who do you intend to visit your place, and how are they expected to reach there; then decide why are you setting up the site: do you plan to sell prints? just for bragging rights?.

The answers to those questions will determine how you should build your site.
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sanfairyanne

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Re: Setting up a photographic website
« Reply #3 on: June 05, 2012, 07:16:35 am »

I'm told almost nobody sells landscape prints from a website. Currently mine are on Flickr and Pbase, I'll probably never sell anything but on occasion I do meet influential people who ask to see my images and I'd like to at least look professional.

I'm not very tech' savvy so I want something simple but professional looking. I know several friends who don't update their websites because it's so complicated and time consuming.

I've been told to look at TTG (The Turning Gate) which is a plug in for Lightroom 3 or 4. Truthfully though I haven't a clue what HTML5 is, or Flash.

I wonder if anyone has used TTG, I do like the idea of a Lightroom Plug-in especially if it's anywhere near as simple to load images as Lightroom's publish to Flickr feature.


Any help would be much appreciated.



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Ellis Vener

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Re: Setting up a photographic website
« Reply #4 on: June 05, 2012, 09:25:16 am »

Keep it focused on just your photography. Avoid frills that distract. make sure you can keyword every image and that every image is findable by Google's and Bing's search engine.
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Keith Reeder

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Re: Setting up a photographic website
« Reply #5 on: June 05, 2012, 11:02:26 am »

The Turning Gate is a website that provides Lr gallery plugins, rather than a plugin itself - you might want to spend some time browsing what's on offer.

Really though, it'll behove you to become a bit more "tech savvy" - it pretty much goes with the territory that if you want a professional-looking website you can maintain yourself, you're going to need to understand some basic web concepts, if only fully to assess the options on offer from TTG and others.

At the other end of the complexity scale is this - a php gallery script in a single file, which you upload along with a folder of images, and there's your gallery.

Professional looking, free, and as easy to maintain as possible - simply a matter of using an FTP client to upload the necessary files/folder to some webspace with php support.

Get it here.
« Last Edit: June 05, 2012, 11:08:33 am by Keith Reeder »
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Ken Bennett

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Re: Setting up a photographic website
« Reply #6 on: June 05, 2012, 12:24:31 pm »

Another option is to use something like Photoshelter. You can have multiple galleries and portfolios, sell prints, etc., and it lets you customize the look of your site within some limits. In my opinion it looks more professional than Flickr, maybe not as good as something like Livebooks.
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sanfairyanne

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Re: Setting up a photographic website
« Reply #7 on: June 05, 2012, 12:40:30 pm »

Thanks again, more to keep me occupied.
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Slobodan Blagojevic

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Re: Setting up a photographic website
« Reply #8 on: June 05, 2012, 01:00:27 pm »

Photoshelter, Zenfolio, SmugMug... from very simple, for non-tech savvy, to customized pro versions... SEO, shopping carts, printing.

figure1a

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Re: Setting up a photographic website
« Reply #9 on: June 06, 2012, 01:28:03 am »

APhotoFolio.com and livebooks.com work pretty good.
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sanfairyanne

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Re: Setting up a photographic website
« Reply #10 on: June 06, 2012, 06:42:38 am »

Thanks to all who've taken their time to write, I can always come back to this info' but I think I've worked something out. I'm going to take over a friends existing website and re-work it as my own.

Thanks again.
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Brad Barr

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Re: Setting up a photographic website
« Reply #11 on: June 27, 2012, 09:00:09 pm »

Big vote for zenfolio here too.  Actually, I'd recommend creating a site using WP and a template of your choice, and linking that to your zenfolio account.  WP sites are google darlings, and easy to work on....and zenfolio is probably the better of the options of that type (smugmug, ps, etc).  fwiw, you dont need to pay the extra for the "pro" version imo.  But hey, check out mine if you want, and see.

If you sign up, use this and you and I both get 5 bucks...
Referral Code: ZB4-ANJ-1MY
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Brad
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sanfairyanne

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Re: Setting up a photographic website
« Reply #12 on: June 28, 2012, 05:33:49 am »

Thanks Brad,

I already set up the Zenfolio and paid for the £150 a year service. I will have to check out your site as soon as I have more time. I'm going to use a domain name so my site has no Zenfolio markings.

It will be www.waddingtonphoto.com

I expect to have it up and running soon, I have no hope of selling anything, who ever buys a photo from a website anyway?

Thanks Andrew
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Brad Barr

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Re: Setting up a photographic website
« Reply #13 on: June 28, 2012, 09:14:02 am »

Yeah, thats why I had said to set up a site using a wordpress template  (thousands avail free) and just have a link to zenfolio.  They have a plug in that allows your current galleries to display right on your site whcih is kinda cool.  You can sell images that way...not a windfall, but depending on how you market it, it does work.  Or you might want to check out the offerings from www.bigfolio.com.  These guys get it when it comes to photo template sites. 
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Brad
www.bciphoto.com
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www.sportsshooter.com/photobrad

D3s, D3, D300, Nikon: 14-24 2.8, 24-120 f4VR 70-200VRII, 300 2.8, 400 2.8VR; 1.7-TC2, Siggy 50 & 85 1.4's + Spiderholster, D300 IR just for grins.

sanfairyanne

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Re: Setting up a photographic website
« Reply #14 on: June 28, 2012, 02:13:33 pm »

Brad,

My father has a website and thousands of people (certainly not tens of thousands) look at it. He suggested I use his domain name and basically share the site because those people keep going back to his site. This sounds ok in theory whether it'll work in practise I'm not sure. I'm leaving it to him to sort it out, if it doesn't work I'll come back to your suggestions.

Thanks Andy
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Brad Barr

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Re: Setting up a photographic website
« Reply #15 on: June 28, 2012, 09:18:14 pm »

Very cool.   Might be even better to have a link to yours from his.  Better for SEO thats for sure. Inbound links always help, esp from established sites of similar genre. 
The quicker you start building your own online footprint/reputation, the better, cause if you build it up on his....you'll lose it all when you break away, and most of the good mojo will stay on his site. 
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Brad
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JMPhoto

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Re: Setting up a photographic website
« Reply #16 on: July 20, 2012, 03:26:01 am »

I use photobiz

flash/html5

tons of templates, can have blogs and a fully customizable store front

Electromen

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Re: Setting up a photographic website
« Reply #17 on: July 21, 2012, 05:54:04 pm »

Big Black Bag has the best web site templates that I've seen for photography.  They also host sites, so it's a one stop shop.
They have a free trial.
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Gregory Storm

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Re: Setting up a photographic website
« Reply #18 on: August 12, 2012, 08:49:18 pm »

Hi sanfairyanne,

I would say the easiest method, that doesn't involve paying a third party like Zenfolio or Livebooks, even for the non-tech savvy, would be to set up a WordPress site.  WordPress (http://www.wordpress.org) is free and open-source and there are thousands of themes out there to meet your needs.  Most web hosting companies have one click installations of WordPress so you don't even need to FTP anything.  You can change the look of your site with a few clicks.  You can add photos to your gallery by dragging from your computer and dropping into the browser.  WordPress is now a photographer's dream.  I've been with services like Livebooks.  I like the freedom of WordPress.  My current web sites www.GregoryStorm.com and www.LAHomePhotography.com are built on WordPress.

Good luck!

Gregory

Pete Ferling

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Re: Setting up a photographic website
« Reply #19 on: August 15, 2012, 02:34:46 am »

I've tried lots of options in the past decade, currently I'm using a both HTML and galleries linked from ZenFolio.  While I sell a few prints online, (and I make my living doing other things).  Nothing beats a personal experience as I've sold many at yard sales, parties and family events.  Therefore, I'm of the understanding that like everything else in life, you have to know someone or be known to make a connection for a sale.  Cold sales online yield little.  Zenfolio and the like are great if you do weddings or offer prints in lieu of your work and have no desire to handle the printing process (or you do the prints but want them to handle the transactions).  They've also added options for static web pages and a blog.

Personally, I'm going to stick with a single static HTML/CSS site (rather than the confusion of going back and forth across DNS servers to Zenfolio I have now).  Pages that load in mere seconds without a plugin still works today.  I also like the freedom of not being penned into a template.  More so, once you've established a residence, look and feel.  You want to keep it that way and not confuse your following with constant remodeling, etc.  Focus is on content, content is king. 

While I've seen some great sites done in Flash.  It's still pains me to see page loads taking upwards of a minute or more, even today, (so much for being cool - now clicking away...)

I have to agree with others about WordPress for those whom want to avoid coding their own sites.  With a huge selection of templates, and if you learn enough coding to be dangerous, you can tweak some of them to make it uniquely yours.

-Pete
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