3.19.2009

A New Gallery!

Let's see a show of hands, who here has a Flickr site?

What about Picasa?

Or maybe Walmart or Walgreens?

I've tried them all. And I hate them all. (Well, with the exception of Walgreens since it's private and I only use it to have photos printed)

I also used to have a Yahoo photo site. But they closed that one down. (and I never really liked it much anyway)

My biggest complaint usually had something to do with uploading. It was a HUGE pain to upload to Yahoo and it is to Flickr too. I usually would try to start one of these sites and get too impatient. So my Flickr site sits mostly empty and unused. I also don't like the aesthetics on ANY of these free sites. If I'm going to display my photos for the world to see, I want them to look GOOD. (well...as good as possible)

Enter SmugMug.

Several photographers I know use this site and I had the chance to get a discount back when they closed Yahoo. But at the time I didn't feel the need for a pay site. It was pretty but I was still just getting into the photography thing. Over the last year or so I've posted more pictures on this blog and that format has been fine for me.

However, I've lately wanted to be able to post my images on some photography forums. Blogger doesn't want you to embed the images they're hosting for you on another site. I understand this...I'm not paying for image hosting so I'm happy to go along with their rules. (just wish their policy had been a little easier to find) This meant I was back to looking for an online photo gallery. Most people suggested Flickr (no thank you!) and a few suggested Photobucket (puke!), but I wanted something more.

I wandered back over to SmugMug, did some more looking around, and signed up for the free trial. Within one day of using the site I was in love! Uploading is a breeze, organization is nice, and best of all...my photos look great on this site! It's important to me that the people that come to view the photos have both a user friendly and an ATTRACTIVE interface. And did I mention my photos look great here?

With several levels of service, the price is reasonable for a beginner like me. And I can upgrade any time I want.

So, check it out and let me know what you think! I'll have a new photo post up soon.

http://ivorygirl.smugmug.com

8 comments:

Randy Pollock said...

Welcome to smug

Been using them for over a year now.

http://photos.randyandgerri.com

Be sure and read about these features

http://www.smugmug.com/help/viewing-online-photo-albums

http://www.smugmug.com/help/video-sharing

http://www.smugmug.com/help/pro-start

Unknown said...

So my only problem with Smug Mug so far has been that so many people are on flickr and sharing photos in a group is sooo much easier, being that is where the groups are. My kids school, my bike club, my office all have group pools on flickr, what's a guy to do?

Anonymous said...

Just to let you know, the owner of smugmug read this and commented on it! http://twitter.com/DonMacAskill/status/1355802774

Anonymous said...

I like a lot of things about smugmug, but uploading is not one of them. I have hit-or-miss success, sometimes the uploader won't start for me. When I upload from Picasa, it usually works, but sometimes fails when uploading a big set of files (or even 10).

Their customer service is TOP NOTCH and readily accessible via Twitter or email (easiest for me).

It will be even better when the coupon/discount code the pro's have been asking for gets implemented.

Tracie said...

Randy - Thanks! I appreciate the helpful links!

Dartanyon - I can see where this would be an issue. However, since I've never gotten into the group pools...it doesn't bother me that I can't do this in SmugMug.

Taylor - Thanks for letting me know! I was wondering where everyone was coming from! ;)

Stephen - I can imagine that uploading isn't always smooth. But out of all the sites I've used this one has been the best. And I like that there is more than one option on how to get your photos onto the site. Sorry to hear you've had problems with it! I'll keep my fingers crossed that it continues to behave like it has for me. :)

Thanks for stopping by everyone!

sskoutas said...

I've been with SmugMug for a couple of years now. I love it. I have never met a more creative and supportive cast of characters in my life. They are constantly improving, their support (via dgrin.com or via their support heros) is stellar, and their product works beautifully while looking beautiful too. They are one of only a handful of companies I have bought from that I give an unwavering "10" rating to. I hope you love your SmugMug experience.

Here's mine, just to show you how they allow you to customize:
http://www.halfpintprints.com

Click "blog" and you can see how you can make fairly seamless transitions between your SmugMug and your Blogger.

I should also add that I'm an enthusiast only, not a pro photographer.

Good luck!

Tracie said...

sskoutas - Beautiful! I love the customization! That's almost enough to make me go upgrade immediately...though my checking account would hate me. LOL

It's nice to see what my site CAN be in the future though.

You have some great images!

sskoutas said...

Tracie, I take very little credit for my customization. Kudos to the SmugMug team and the support groups over at DGrin.

Either way, I appreciate the kind words.