[Harmony]

Does anybody know of any good sites where I could make a nice, professional-looking gallery for my photography? The site doesn't have to be completely free, but that's always best. (:

I already have a page on DEVIANTART.COM, but there's so many things you can add to your page, and I'm looking for more of a professional looking page that I could make for myself to show people what I can do. I also have a page on YOURPROFOLIO.COM which is nice, but you aren't allowed to put links anywhere on your site, and you're pretty limited on what you can put on there. There isn't any way to track the number of people looking at your site, or make any forum-type page for people to leave me any comments. The only for of feedback is putting your e-mail on the site.

Does anybody know of any website builder that's what I'm looking for?

This post has been edited by Harmony: 07 February 2011 - 02:11 PM

[Scott]

There are a few options that I know of. Free will most likely result in a gallery with advertisements or other negatives attached. If you want something professional, I suggest paying for a decent service.

I started using Zenfolio.com and have been very happy with it so far (I have the premium plan). You can see how it looks at RedGreenBluePhoto.com. Zenfolio is one of the more user friendly options as their styling system is very point and click. I know computer programming, but sometimes I just want something that's easy and doesn't take much time to get running.

(you can use my affiliate code of T5J-CD6-XKZ to save 10% off an account, I then would also get 10% of whatever plan you opt for.)


The other well known service is Smugmug Pro.
http://www.smugmug.c...ng-sell-photos/
Their styling system is more flexible, but requires more html and CSS knowledge to get how you want it.


There are quite a few others available. I know of one that allows you to sell photos for free, but I can't find the link. Spend maybe 15 minutes looking... It had a few negatives though like forced company links on your page footer.

Besides those you could use something flickr.com or Picasa, but they are not really that professional as you can't use your own domain name and the interface is fixed.

[Harmony]

Thanks for the suggestions! I'll definately take a look at them.

I figured anything professional and as involved as I am looking for is something I would have to pay to use, which I'm not totally against. Some profiles, like my account on YourProfolio, was so much to start the account, and just the one-time fee. Not a certain amount a month.

Smugmug looks more like what I am searching for, but I'm not sure if it will be the same as what I've found in the past. I do know some html, though, so I'll have to play with that one.

[Scott]

I would suggest getting your own domain name as it looks a lot more professional. Just make sure the service allows you to link it up. Most that do are of course the more costly plans though.

[Harmony]

Yeah, a domain name is pretty much a must eventually. But like you said, you won't be able to get that unless you pay for the more expensive options. :/

[Jace]

Are you savvy in making your own website? If so, I run a site and am always looking for things to add to it. For instance:


whatever.fallfirst.com

fallfirst.com being my domain >>

I made it several years ago to showcase some of my own photos/writing, but haven't really went anywhere with it. At the moment it's only being used as storage for some sigs and manipulations I've done, plus some private forums for a few friends to RP on. I don't do code or anything, and barely remember how I made my own site though, so you'd have to code everything yourself. And you would need to know how to use an FTP client and all that... but on the plus side, you could have anything there you like! ^^

Oh, as far as storage space/bandwidth goes I have unlimited.


OR PLAN B! If you'd like to know the people I host with, I pay 29.99 every three months for what I have. Not sure if they offer the same thing as I have though, since I have been there for several years. I don't think I had unlimited when I first signed on, but I do now for some reason. I also get emails from them for friends or family to get a domain name and host for 9.99 for the first year, but not sure what the fine print is.