SmugMug Pro???

I'm looking at trying to set up a website so people can view/order/print online.. I ran across SmugMug Pro, and it sounds and looks good.. Has anyone used them and have any feedback positve or negative.. It cost about 150 a year not much in the whole scheme of things...

Thanks
Scott

I use SmugMug Pro now for over two years.....

I chose them for several reasons:

Price
Options
Print Lab

In the time I've used them, I would chose them for:

Support
Price
Support
Options
Print Lab
Print Lab

Can't say enough of the support by SmugMug group.........OUTSTAND​ING!!!!
The print lab has not failed yet to produce spot on images, and with the backing if not
satisfied...a free redo...if not still satisfied...free
Great packaging, and presentation to the customer.

Have only had on time that I went to upload images, and not able due to system maintenance.

Full flexible styles of how to setup your web site, solid performance on their systems, and unlimited storage for the account. I have over 13000 full size files on my site....and never a word about it.....and I'm adding about 1000 a week during season

here is my site......enjoy

www.rb-images.net

I'd agree with the awesomeness of Smugmug!

I've been using them now for over 4 years and I've yet to have issues with them. They have the best customer service out there and I'm amazed if I send in a question and get an emailed response back within 10 minutes.

I know that they just posted something on their Facebook page about a guy they were recommending that was custom building sites around their software and incorporating the galleries into a full site. That is pretty cool right there if you dont already have your own site set up

Plus, the fact that you can keep all your images on there full size is the same price as some of the online storage companies that dont even offer all the other perks that Smugmug does.

I'd recommend it again and again and rate it as one of the best on the web

If you join, enter that code and you'll save $5 = cge80uNDMZZ1Y

I have the SmugMug Power account and it's basically the same as Pro, save the commerce features. The site is easy to use and has a lot of customization options. They have partners as well that can design a site for you and I believe they also have a deal with GoDaddy for domain names. This may be a small thing but one of my favorite features is being able to upload directly from Lightroom.

yourdoinitwrong wrote in post #12656349
may be a small thing but one of my favorite features is being able to upload directly from Lightroom.

Not small thing at all but not dependant of the Pro account ( I have the pro account though ). For most of my photos I have now eliminated the editing step in CS5 by using LR and upload directly to SmugMug with publish service.

Real life example: in 2010 I shot 4500 photos over three days at Copenhagen Carnival at that time my process was: Copy photos to pc, sort with bridge and edit in CS5. The edits I did was mainly resize, border and watermark. And then manual upload to my website. I was finished with 2010 in may this year. This year I shot 3000 photos over 3 days. My process is now: Import photos to LR, sort and select photos. Add to SmugMug gallery. Publish. In the publish service I resize the photos, add the border and watermark. CS5 is not even started. Result is that I am done with this years photos 2 weeks after but most of the work was done already 1 day after. Now I only use CS5 for more advanced adjustments.

tommykjensen wrote in post #12656433
Not small thing at all but not dependant of the Pro account ( I have the pro account though ). For most of my photos I have now eliminated the editing step in CS5 by using LR and upload directly to SmugMug with publish service.

Real life example: in 2010 I shot 4500 photos over three days at Copenhagen Carnival at that time my process was: Copy photos to pc, sort with bridge and edit in CS5. The edits I did was mainly resize, border and watermark. And then manual upload to my website. I was finished with 2010 in may this year. This year I shot 3000 photos over 3 days. My process is now: Import photos to LR, sort and select photos. Add to SmugMug gallery. Publish. In the publish service I resize the photos, add the border and watermark. CS5 is not even started. Result is that I am done with this years photos 2 weeks after but most of the work was done already 1 day after. Now I only use CS5 for more advanced adjustments.

I don't shoot nearly as many photos as you, but the time savings is definitely huge! I don't mind spending time editing but all of the extra busy work of converting, etc. was a real pain and now I don't have to deal with it. I know it would be different if I used CS5 a lot but I hardly touch it and do just about everything in LR. These time-savers have made shooting as a hobby a lot more enjoyable because I don't dread editing and uploading any longer. I'm sure other sites are very good too, but SmugMug has been perfect for my (albeit meager) needs.

Another thing I forgot to mention that I see alot of people asking about is the ability of having a watermark layered over the image with Smugmug's software.

This makes it easy to keep a few watermarks on file and its as simple as clicking a button in the control panel of their site whether you want the image watermarked or not. Saves a ton of time rather than watermarking them in CS5 or another program.

I also like the Right Click Option they offer. We all know how to get around that, but many of my clients who do not know how to do it will ask me, "How do I copy that image off the gallery site simply to post it to Facebook?"

My response, "Buy it!"

Their customer service is outstanding.

Truth is, I could probably make more money if I handled my own orders, did my own printing and shipping. But photography is my second job and I don't always have time for all that. I'd rather just do the shooting and let Smugmug take care of the rest.

I've had a pro account with them for about three years and they're continually adding new options and features. I really like their coupons. I have the client pay me up front and tell them "This includes $X worth of prints." The client gets an email from me with a coupon code and a link to their gallery. It works slick.

awesome awesome guys.. you are making Smugmug seem like the way to go.. Thanks for all the comments.. wierd tho.. didnt see any negative comments.. lol.. must be that good.. lol

Thanks again.

EveryMilesAMemory wrote in post #12656585
Another thing I forgot to mention that I see alot of people asking about is the ability of having a watermark layered over the image with Smugmug's software.

This makes it easy to keep a few watermarks on file and its as simple as clicking a button in the control panel of their site whether you want the image watermarked or not. Saves a ton of time rather than watermarking them in CS5 or another program.

I also like the Right Click Option they offer. We all know how to get around that, but many of my clients who do not know how to do it will ask me, "How do I copy that image off the gallery site simply to post it to Facebook?"

My response, "Buy it!"

Hey I don't want to sound ignorant but I guess I will. How do we go around getting the image without right click?

buy2ls wrote in post #12681696
Hey I don't want to sound ignorant but I guess I will. How do we go around getting the image without right click?

There are many ways but do you really expect to get an answer on that question here.

One way is to ASK the owner of the image, you migth be surprised of the answer.

fstopnoob wrote in post #12681525
.. wierd tho.. didnt see any negative comments.. lol.. must be that good.. lol

The one glaring negative of SmugMug for me is that it requires very specific knowledge to build a website there. You need to know web building software (HTML, CSS, Activscrip) to build a fully functioning website. If you are already familiar with how to build web pages Smugmug is great.

If you don't already know how to build web pages your options with Smugmug will be limited to a)using their "easy customizer" feature, which is easy but very, very limited or b)earn enough HTML, CSS, & PHP to build a web site on your own or c)pay someone about $600-$1000 to build one for you.

Unfortunately Smugmug does not offer any "template" web pages/sites that you can use and easily customize to build a functioning web site. In other words there is little "plug-and-play" functionality with Smugmug. So, your choices are to make a somewhat bland and limited Smugmug site with the "easy customizer" or go all out and learn to build web sites yourself or pay someone to do it for you.

If you decide to learn to be a web designer Smugmug has several tools available to help you out - a forum with 30,000 posts of information and an active community willing to help, which makes learning all the things you need to know a bit easier.

tommykjensen wrote in post #12681721
There are many ways but do you really expect to get an answer on that question here.

One way is to ASK the owner of the image, you migth be surprised of the answer.

Thanks for the comment
Hey only as a SmugMug owner I was curious if there were other ways that it could be done so I might be able to better protect my own images.

buy2ls wrote in post #12682033
Thanks for the comment
Hey only as a SmugMug owner I was curious if there were other ways that it could be done so I might be able to better protect my own images.

But the thing is you CANNOT protect your protos from being copied. And I certainly do not want to give directions to people on how to copy photos regardless of how stupid the socalled "rigth-click-protection" is.

Bottomline is If it can be seen it can be taken. So conclusion is to either put a huge ugly detracting watermark on them or not post them online at all.

buy2ls wrote in post #12682033
Thanks for the comment
Hey only as a SmugMug owner I was curious if there were other ways that it could be done so I might be able to better protect my own images.

One thing. If you really want to use rigth-click protection you migth wanna disable the share option because through that it is possible to get a link to a nice large 1600x1200 version of your photos but disabling that means you can't imbed photos on forums.