Sidetrack: How and where do you present your photos?

[Richard.no]

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As my Zenfolio subscription is running out due to an expired credit card, I thought I might just look around for another "publisher". I am not sure Zenfolio is the right thing for me. For example, the thumbnail size that they offer is simply not good enough; knowing myself when I surf galleries, I want them to be so big that I can decide whether to click or not.

 

I want an online gallery that allows (close to) full custom layout, great bandwidth and connections to Europe and possibilities for online sale/credit card functionality (with only marginal commission to the site itself).

 

Is there a "retail site" suiting my criterias, or do I have to buy a web hotel and make my own web-site? If I have to build it myself, which might turn out to be fun, I'd much appreciate any suggestions on gallery scripts, flash apps, or just experiences regarding layout and functionality.

 

I am making a shortcut here rather than checking out everything by myself, but I hope you could "chime in" with your experiences.

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Best,

Richard

[scho]

If you want to do your own website take a look at Exhibit Engine (shareware). Here is a link to my site done a few years ago with Exhibit Engine (I need to update the software to the latest version). There is a link for downloading Exhibit Engine at the top of the page.

Photo Gallery

[photolandscape]

I have sites on pbase.com and Zenfolio. Zenfolio is certainly more attractive in terms of graphics, but I get very, very few hits on it. In about 8 months I have only had 150 viewers.

 

Pbase.com is less attractive graphically. In 2 years, I have had 51,000+ hits, and over 170,000 individual image "views". I have about 770 photos in twelve galleries posted on pbase.com. With almost no effort, I have sold several images (prints, downloads for use in publications and websites) that have helped subsidize my addictive photographic habit.

 

Flickr seems ok, and there are plenty of others of course.

[Richard.no]

Thanks,

 

I think PBase looks huge, but unattractive. I've tried a trial account once, but I think it's easier to configure a Linux server in a text editor than setting up my page there. But things might have changed at PBase in the last two years?

 

Regarding hits, what do you think of Fotki? They seem to be very customisable and they offer sales at 15 % commission.

 

I've also looked at Smugmug, but after being a paying member for one year, I stopped, as the speed of the data traffic to Europe (Norway) was horrible. On the other hand, they seem to offer a widely customizable gallery?

 

 

 

I have sites on pbase.com and Zenfolio. Zenfolio is certainly more attractive in terms of graphics, but I get very, very few hits on it. In about 8 months I have only had 150 viewers.

 

Pbase.com is less attractive graphically. In 2 years, I have had 51,000+ hits, and over 170,000 individual image "views". I have about 770 photos in twelve galleries posted on pbase.com. With almost no effort, I have sold several images (prints, downloads for use in publications and websites) that have helped subsidize my addictive photographic habit.

 

Flickr seems ok, and there are plenty of others of course.

[Richard.no]

Thanks, I'll give it a look and a try. Building my own website sure seems to have benefits, but I will have to calculate whether it's worth it; I think the costs of having credit card shopping possibilities is too considerable, considering the relatively small amount of saleable photos that I have

[stuny]

Richard -

 

I used Microsoft Front Page to build ours, and host it on ipowerweb.com. Have a look.