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09/29/2010 05:43:43 PM · #1 |
Back to the wedding this Saturday. I was going to print the orders for the bride and the bride's immediately family through White House Custom Color.
For orders from extended family/friends, it seems like it would be so much easier to get the pro level smugmug account, set my prices, and have people order from there.
Has anyone done this? Are the prints any good, or is it better to place all the orders yourself with whcc and take care of all the shipping requirements to friends and family?
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09/29/2010 07:15:47 PM · #2 |
I order all my family prints through my smugmug account, and I ordered my own wedding prints from my photographer who had a smug mug pro account. I use the auto color correction. I am no pro but I don't see a problem with smugmug. They also order from Bay photo and you can soft proof your color correction using their ICC profile (whatever that is...)
Link to Smugmug color correction |
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09/29/2010 07:27:51 PM · #3 |
Done a couple weddings,,many SP...over 500 prints sold off smugmug and no returns. I've never seen a print from them, but it seems to work well...
Originally posted by EL-ROI:
I order all my family prints through my smugmug account, and I ordered my own wedding prints from my photographer who had a smug mug pro account. I use the auto color correction. I am no pro but I don't see a problem with smugmug. They also order from Bay photo and you can soft proof your color correction using their ICC profile (whatever that is...)
Link to Smugmug color correction |
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09/29/2010 07:28:51 PM · #4 |
double post....
Originally posted by ace flyman:
Done a couple weddings,,many SP...over 500 prints sold off smugmug and no returns. I've never seen a print from them, but it seems to work well...
edit....I use the lab with color correction too. Cost a little more, but worth it.
Originally posted by EL-ROI:
I order all my family prints through my smugmug account, and I ordered my own wedding prints from my photographer who had a smug mug pro account. I use the auto color correction. I am no pro but I don't see a problem with smugmug. They also order from Bay photo and you can soft proof your color correction using their ICC profile (whatever that is...)
Link to Smugmug color correction |
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Message edited by author 2010-09-29 19:29:19. |
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09/29/2010 08:21:05 PM · #5 |
I do my ordering through my own site which is powered by Gallery2 (an open source package) with a shopping cart module. Once I receive the money through PayPal, I edit the pics and send them to MPix for printing and drop shipping. Works well for me and saves me from having to process unordered photos.
My proofing site:
//proofs.leroydickson.net
Most of the galleries or password protected for obvious reasons.
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09/29/2010 09:32:01 PM · #6 |
With a SmugMug Pro account you have a choice of professional labs for your prints. You can choose either ezprints or bayphoto. I've been using ezprints for years and I've always been very satisfied with the results. I haven't used the bayphoto lab yet, although I hear they do wonderful work. I stick with ezprints because, as I said, I've always been satisfied and they have a larger selection of products, print sizes, photo gift items, etc.
SmugMug has lots of other cool features for pros too, like photo packages, event marketing, digital downloads, and coupons to name a few. They are constantly adding new features too. It seems like every time I log into my account there's at least one new feature.
You can give them a try with a free 14-day trial account. Use my referral code (qzDagz7w1S78w) on the signup form and save a few buck$.
If you do get an account and need help customizing your SmugMug site, let me know. I've customized several SmugMug sites, including my own.
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09/29/2010 09:51:31 PM · #7 |
I'm another vote for Smugmug. I really like mine, and it has made the print side of things very easy.
There's another site that I know a lot of photogs use, but for the life of me, I can't remember it right now. Starts with a "V" I think.
"V" "Z" same thing -- zenfolio.
Message edited by author 2010-09-29 21:52:00. |
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09/29/2010 10:07:16 PM · #8 |
Originally posted by Mick:
With a SmugMug Pro account you have a choice of professional labs for your prints. You can choose either ezprints or bayphoto. I've been using ezprints for years and I've always been very satisfied with the results. I haven't used the bayphoto lab yet, although I hear they do wonderful work. I stick with ezprints because, as I said, I've always been satisfied and they have a larger selection of products, print sizes, photo gift items, etc.
SmugMug has lots of other cool features for pros too, like photo packages, event marketing, digital downloads, and coupons to name a few. They are constantly adding new features too. It seems like every time I log into my account there's at least one new feature.
You can give them a try with a free 14-day trial account. Use my referral code (qzDagz7w1S78w) on the signup form and save a few buck$.
If you do get an account and need help customizing your SmugMug site, let me know. I've customized several SmugMug sites, including my own. |
I have gotten my stuff through BayPhoto from smugmug and am very happy with the prints. top notch stuff from them. |
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09/30/2010 04:53:19 PM · #9 |
If you are already on smugmug, jumping up to a pro account makes perfect sense and would pay for itself quickly. If you aren't on smugmug yet, you might want to look at zenfolio as well. I won't take sides.. both have advantages and disadvantages. I'm on Zenfolio at the moment but both sites are constantly improving so who knows where I'll be when it's time to renew. Here is a sample page I have been using to play with the selling options if you want to see how it might look.
But, I do still find a lot of people that are uncomfortable ordering over the internet. Mostly I use Zenfolio for add-on or follow-up sales. |
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09/30/2010 05:10:17 PM · #10 |
Another site you might try is Exposure Manager  Skip turned me onto them a few years ago and I love their services and their customer service. Sold thousands of prints through them and not had one issue.
Matt |
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09/30/2010 05:13:00 PM · #11 |
I'm on smugmug -- but it would be another $70. I'm not sure that I'll get $70 worth of orders from people not in the immediate family. The immediate family shots I was going to do through WHCC and have them sent directly to me so I could do quality control.
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09/30/2010 06:30:19 PM · #12 |
Originally posted by vawendy:
I'm on smugmug -- but it would be another $70. I'm not sure that I'll get $70 worth of orders from people not in the immediate family. The immediate family shots I was going to do through WHCC and have them sent directly to me so I could do quality control. |
I depends on what you consider to be immediate family. For my last wedding immediate family turned out to be the bride and groom. One set of parents were so indecisive that I ended up putting everything on Zenfolio and letting them order. All you need to 2 or 3 8x10 prints to cover the $70 and after that you are making money. |
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10/01/2010 05:30:33 AM · #13 |
for this event, it doesn't really matter what you do.
as far as prints go, almost any lab service you use is going to give you spectacular results. maybe 1 out of 1000 people could tell the difference between an mpix print, an ezprint, a whcc print, a buckeye color lab print, or a richmond camera print. at this point, the lab services are simply commodity.
so, if you are serious about making money from print sales, you'll need to do some serious research into what your overall cost per year would be with the various online partners, and that involves evaluating annual/monthly fees, commissions, order fees, shipping & handling charges, and the amount of time you have to put into preparing images for upload, managing your galleries, processing for print, and handling fulfillment. if you don't plan on selling much (and/or if you price your prints so low that you're basically giving them away for a few dollars more than the cost of paper and ink), it doesn't really matter what you do.
on the other hand, if you are planning on selling more than a few thousand dollars worth of prints, you owe it to yourself to do the research and find an online partner that will help you maximize your profits. there are some options that charge anywhere from $50-150 A MONTH and there are some that charge only $100-150 a year, but charge much higher per order percentages. and then there are some that charge reasonable annual fees and low commissions. in the end, though, the online partnering options are mature enough that it really does come down to how much money are you going to make with one versus another.
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