Posting all images from wedding for freinds/family

[Michael1984]

I am looking for a way to post a clients complete wedding day on an online gallery (800-1300 images ) for the family and friends to view and order prints. What do you recommend that has a easy navigation and thumbnail galleries ? My current website makes you go through each picture and not very easy to browse. thanks!

[Red Tie Photography]

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/....php?t=1181360

[scorpio_e]

+1 ^
Zenfolio is a great solution.

[tkbslc]

I think it is a bad idea. Nobody is going to look at 800+ images in one sitting. I'd cull it down to 100 or so of the best ones and make a small gallery.

Also, really think about the market here. Are friends and cousins really going to order wedding photos in quantities that make it worth your while? Very doubtful. It's probably just mom, dad, grandpa and grandma.

[jerrybsmith]

I use Smugmug Pro to post an entire wedding for friends and family to review. I'm in control of the prices and from time to time, will sell a few prints. I tell the couple that anyone can fulfil their own orders rather than going through them and they like that idea. I don't make much but more than enough to pay for the service.

[joedlh]

I think it's a bad idea to post hundreds of images of a wedding, or anything for that matter, other than a road race with 800-1300 runners. How did you even get that many? You weren't praying and spraying, were you? It will take a long time to wade through all of them. People will get ornery. And if they get ornery, who are they going to blame? If it were me, I would only put up the best shots, being sure to eliminate redundancy. You're not going to sell all 800 or 1300. Quantity is not quality.

[suecassidy]

Originally Posted by joedlh

I think it's a bad idea to post hundreds of images of a wedding, or anything for that matter, other than a road race with 800-1300 runners. How did you even get that many? You weren't praying and spraying, were you? It will take a long time to wade through all of them. People will get ornery. And if they get ornery, who are they going to blame? If it were me, I would only put up the best shots, being sure to eliminate redundancy. You're not going to sell all 800 or 1300. Quantity is not quality.

I completely agree with this. there is NO WAY IN HELL that even the bride and groom will not grow tired of looking through that many images, and it is their day! You might think that you will have more chance of selling more images like this, but I think that it will backfire.

[scorpio_e]

If you are showing 800+ images, it is a bit much.

I use zenfolio.. I create a group for the wedding and then a few sub galleries..."Getting Ready", "Ceremony" and " Reception".. I have not done it yet but I will probably create another galley called "guests"

[Red Tie Photography]

I do what Scorpio does. You can see mine here: http://redtiephotography.zenfolio.com/weddings

[bnlearle]

I use Smugmug -- have for 6 years.

Unlimited backup (I think I might have TB's of data on their now), I no longer do disks/dvd's as I can email the client a link that immediately downloads ALL of their images (which also means no sales tax in California if they don't buy anything else), great lab choices, the BEST customer service, easy galleries, upload from LR... all for somewhere around a hundred bucks a year.

[tnis0612]

You'd be surprised how many photos some brides and grooms want to see. I do the same as Red Tie and Scorpio, but use Smugmug.

My categories are: Our Favorites (about 100 pics), pre ceremony (about 100), formals (about 100), ceremony (about 200), reception (about 400).

I probably give more photos than most, but so many times I have heard brides tell me how they want to see EVERYTHING and want to be able to remember every moment throughout the day, not just the big obvious ones. I can tell from my Smugmug stats that they really do look at almost every one of them. Do the buy that many? absolutely not. Not everyones business it based around print sales. I provide it as an easy convenient way to show friends and family the photos.

At my personal wedding the photographer gave us all 3000 photos that he and his assistant took. Have I ever looked at all of them? Nope. Has my wife? Yep. Am I glad we have them all? Absolutely.

To say that there is no way in hell that a client will look through 800 photos is kind of ridiculous. There are LOTS of successful wedding photographers that provide that many, and most of the time it's because their clients want that many.

It sounds like the whole reason he is looking for something different is so that clients can browse. If they had to flip through all 800-1000 images one by one that's a different story.

[tkbslc]

Originally Posted by tnis0612

Yep. Am I glad we have them all? Absolutely.
.

Can I ask why you are happy to have them?

[tnis0612]

We have actually referred back to them a few times when talking about our wedding trying to remember a specific moment. Also, you never know 20 years down the road and you are closer to a friend or family member now than you were at the time and you will want to look back on a photo that the photographer may not have seen much value in, but you do. Not all clients want the photographer to decide which photos are important enough for them to see. If the photographer doesnt want to show them all then that is certainly their choice, but it's not a business decision that is one size fits all. I think what I provide is the best of both worlds. If you only want to see the 100 best, look at the "favorites" gallery. If you want to see them all, look through them all.

edit: FYI, I do NOT provide out of focus/flash didnt fire/blinking/etc shots. When I say all the photos i'm referring to anything that is properly exposed and in focus with a clearly visible subject. I sync settings and go through all of those so that they are edited just like the rest, I spend a little more time on the ones that I think are the best.

Originally Posted by tkbslc

Can I ask why you are happy to have them?

[tim]

If it was my wedding I wouldn't want to see 1500 photos. Do you job and edit out the crap rather than forcing your customers to weed through it, slowly, online.

[tnis0612]

Tim, would love to hear how many photos you provide, how many you take, and how you break them up in your viewing gallery.