Smugmug

[Pooh_Girl]

Yeah, not just you. I tried to upload some pictures already this morning and it asks me to log in again... over and over.

 

[Ellen aka Snow White]

I don't even get the opportunity to log in! I get:

"Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage"


I haven't been a "member" of smugmug for long - is this common??

Ellen

 

[dcg0317]

SmugMug is doing a weekly maintenance and will be down for a while.
http://smugmug.wordpress.com/

 

[Ellen aka Snow White]

SmugMug is doing a weekly maintenance and will be down for a while.
http://smugmug.wordpress.com/

Well that just explains it all now! I was afraid I had crashed the whole thing with my big upload last night!!
Thanks for the info!
Ellen

 

[Code]

And as seems to be usual for them lately, it's taking way longer than they expected.

 

[KarenAylwood]

And as seems to be usual for them lately, it's taking way longer than they expected.

No kidding. I've been getting more and more annoyed with them. The last four times I've gone to add pictures- only ONCE was the site up and working. Maybe it's just my luck... but I don't remember them doing maintenance this often a few months ago!

 

[NostalgicDad]

The positive side of it is that they plan on some new features starting this week after finally getting their network upgraded. It's frustrating but there must be maintenance windows to stay on top of the game. I'm glad they post what they are doing and admit to some previous mistakes and failures. When most sites are down, we're just left in the dark with no explanation.

 

[Code]

The thing that gets me is they were still serving up server errors until just a few minutes ago. We're talking server admin 101 here, give your visitors a soft landing page when you're down. Even the support forum was down... unless you knew about the wordpress status page already, there was nothing.

 

[Ellen aka Snow White]

The thing that gets me is they were still serving up server errors until just a few minutes ago. We're talking server admin 101 here, give your visitors a soft landing page when you're down. Even the support forum was down... unless you knew about the wordpress status page already, there was nothing.

I think someone is reading this post!! Now it does go to the home page with a message across the top:

"We're upgrading our systems during our announced maintenance this morning. We hope to have full service resume shortly. Status Updates"

Hopefully I can start my upload before I leave this morning!
Ellen

 

[KarenAylwood]

I started mine about 15 min ago!

 

[Pugrpooh]

I know a lot of you have Smugmug accounts and I was looking at their different features. I really want to keep everything in one place and have the ability for friends and family to download hi-res pics, unlike in Snapfish where you have to pay for hi-res downloads.

A couple of months ago, I bought Photoshop Elements 7 and have been using that for editing my pics from Alaska for the last two weeks. I thought it would be easier for me to use photoshop.com for online storage and sharing but I've run into a couple of bugs with it and the free site allows 2gb of storage and I've already used half of that with just the 5 night land portion of our trip and I still have the 7 night cruise to go through! Not to mention all of my other pictures! It's around $50 to upgrade, but the limit is 20gb. I've got tons of pics from Disney and everything else, so I can see eventually running out of space there.

I'm determined to learn PSE7 and stick with it -- I like what I've seen and been able to do so far, but I don't think photoshop.com is what I need. For those of you with the mid-level account is it worth getting or would the standard account be enough? For only $20 more I'm thinking to just go with the mid-level one.

Can I count on you all to talk me into it?

 

[Code]

Can I count on you all to talk me into it?

Sure I've been on Smugmug for about 4 months now, and while it isn't perfect, for me it is definitely the best of the canned photo hosts. The interface is great, and I like that I can have password protected galleries for my family photos (and they only have to put the password in once if it is the same password for many galleries). It is easy to set up the galleries using custom "quick settings"... save your settings once and then easily use them for new galleries. Also, I can share full res pics to my family, but restrict the size of things I'm sharing publicly.

Admittedly, I wish there was a way that my family could download an entire gallery of full res pics more easily, but unfortunately it doesn't matter because they are so used to getting their prints at Walmart that I have to send everything there too I know you can order prints from Smugmug, but they are more than double the price of Walmart and that's all that matters to my family

As for the mid-level account, it's worth it if you want to have custom banners/branding, or have video to share. I just have the standard account and I'm happy enough with it.

Now for a shameless plug save $5 with my coupon code: csg7eFByPBvYk

 

[annnewjerz]

I'm another that will sing the praises of SmugMug. I've had an account since I got my first dSLR last year and have been extremely happy with them.

I had the standard account and for what I needed, it worked well. Then I started to take some pictures that I was getting paid for and needed to provide access to an online gallery, but have it right click protected so the customer couldn't just go take the photos and get them printed at their local pharmacy. I upgraded to the mid-level power account and have been very happy with that as well. Luckily, if you decide to upgrade you just pay the difference for the remainder of the year.

Their customer service is fantastic. I have had a few issues that I e-mailed them about and have always had a fast and helpful response. On another occassion, a friend ordered some prints and didn't realize that she had the option to pick the crops on them. She got the prints and they were not what she wanted, so she called and they sent a new set out via overnight delivery without any extra charge.

I'm still playing around with some of the features and haven't fully figured out how to best organize all of my photos, but it's coming along.

Good luck!

 

[Pea-n-Me]

LOL, Code

I joined a year ago and I love it! One thing I like about it, besides password protection, is right click protection, so photos cannot be downloaded (if you engage those features). It takes a little while (for some of us!) to figure out how to work the system, but I've found it to be fairly user friendly.

Galleries are beautiful to look at.

I'm considering upgrading to a Pro account since I'm getting a lot of requests from people to do photos for them and I might as well start charging something since so much time and effort goes into it (and Mama needs a new len$ ). The nice thing is that people can order right off there so it's fairly easy (and they can get all kinds of things done with their pictures including framed prints and canvases, photobooks, etc, check out the merchandise options).

One downside, and it's minor to me, is that the site "goes down" pretty frequently, but it's usually only for a short time. Another thing I don't like is when uploading pictures, you have to use the number of the photo as you can't see the actual pictures, but that's not a huge deal. It seems like they're constantly upgrading the system so I'm sure in the future, you'll be able to do that (and maybe there's a way that I don't even know about).

 

[MarkBarbieri]

...One thing I like about it, besides password protection, is right click protection, so photos cannot be downloaded (if you engage those features)....

Just to be sure you understand the limitations, blocking "right click" only hampers people with very little computer skills. It's very easy to get around this. If you really want people to see but not save your pictures, there are no good options.

...Another thing I don't like is when uploading pictures, you have to use the number of the photo as you can't see the actual pictures, but that's not a huge deal. It seems like they're constantly upgrading the system so I'm sure in the future, you'll be able to do that (and maybe there's a way that I don't even know about).

There are many ways to upload to Smugmug. You can do it directly from Lightroom. You can look at your photos in Windows Explorer and drag-n-drop them into and uploader.

I'm a Smugmug user and and happy with the. I'd recommend starting with a standard account and only upgrading if there are particular features that you want that are worth the extra cost. I don't remember what the extra features for each level are, but I was very happy with Standard for many years. I only upgraded to Pro for the extra video capabilities and I paid for the upgrade by charging a few cents more more my pictures.

It is cheaper to get your shots printed at WalMart, but it is more convenient and the quality is better with Smugmug. I make my pictures available for free download and I still have lots of people ordering prints from my site.

Just in case the Zenfolians don't show up, I'll add a plug for ZenFolio. I don't like their site as much, but they use MPix as their printer and many people prefer their print quality.

Finally, you might want to look at Flickr. I haven't spent much time there. It seems to me that it isn't as well set up as a home for all your pictures. It is better set up as a place to share and discuss pictures. I know several photos that use Smugmug as their photo home but spend more time on Flickr sharing and discussing pics with other photogs.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Just to be sure you understand the limitations, blocking "right click" only hampers people with very little computer skills. It's very easy to get around this. If you really want people to see but not save your pictures, there are no good options.

There ya go. (Kinda makes you wonder why they even advertise/offer it, then? Maybe assuming most people don't have more than basic computer skills? Maybe to deter "most" people? Interesting... )

 

[WDWFigment]

There ya go. (Kinda makes you wonder why they even advertise/offer it, then? Maybe assuming most people don't have more than basic computer skills? Maybe to deter "most" people? Interesting... )

I would hazard a guess that 98% of the popular has poor enough computer skills that it prevents them from downloading the images. A simple search of google can inform anyone how to get around it, but many people are lazy or lack resourcefulness (one of my favorite snide remarks I've seen is people responding with www.LetMeGoogleThatForYou.com to questions with patently obvious answers if only the individual asking would have done their due diligence before asking).

I wish I hadn't stumbled upon this thread. I have been using a free Flickr account exclusively (which limits me to 200 pictures, so my older stuff has been disappearing), and am thinking I want somewhere to put my entire library. The problem is that I am cheap. If I thought I could sell enough prints for SmugMug to pay for itself, I would jump on this. However, I'm thinking I wouldn't even come close. Hmmm...

 

[MarkBarbieri]

I would hazard a guess that 98% of the popular has poor enough computer skills that it prevents them from downloading the images. A simple search of google can inform anyone how to get around it, but many people are lazy or lack resourcefulness (one of my favorite snide remarks I've seen is people responding with www.LetMeGoogleThatForYou.com to questions with patently obvious answers if only the individual asking would have done their due diligence before asking).

OK, I guess it is effective against most people, but not against people that really want the picture. I guess it is like locking your car doors. It will keep the casual thief out of your car, but it won't deter a real car thief.

I wish I hadn't stumbled upon this thread. I have been using a free Flickr account exclusively (which limits me to 200 pictures, so my older stuff has been disappearing), and am thinking I want somewhere to put my entire library. The problem is that I am cheap. If I thought I could sell enough prints for SmugMug to pay for itself, I would jump on this. However, I'm thinking I wouldn't even come close. Hmmm...

My Smugmug account roughly pays for itself with two roughly equal sources. I sell a bunch of 4x6 prints of Disney shots. I have a few threads over on the Scrapbook forum and that drives traffic. Most of the people just download the pictures (which I make available for free) and print them themselves, but about once a month or two I get an order from someone printing about 100 pictures. I find it kind of amusing that my vacation photos are gracing someone else's scrapbooks.

I also have two neighborhood photo shoots each year. My kids patience is more limited than my desire to do portrait photography. So to get in practice and to learn, I set up my garage as a photo studio a couple of times a year and let the neighbors pick a time to come by. They get lots of shots and I get lots of practice. I put the pics on my Smugmug site. Once again, many of them download and print them themselves (I even burn disks for a few of them), but some order stuff from Smugmug.

Those two things have been enough to pay for my Pro account for two years running. Actually, I've run a slight loss when you factor in income taxes, but it's close enough. I've also had a few sales from soccer teammates and other vacations, but not much.

Of course, if we all start making our pictures available to the scrapbookers, none of us will make as much money. On the other hand, the scrapbookers will have more and better pictures to chose from and will be happier.

 

[WDWFigment]

My Smugmug account roughly pays for itself with two roughly equal sources. I sell a bunch of 4x6 prints of Disney shots. I have a few threads over on the Scrapbook forum and that drives traffic. Most of the people just download the pictures (which I make available for free) and print them themselves, but about once a month or two I get an order from someone printing about 100 pictures. I find it kind of amusing that my vacation photos are gracing someone else's scrapbooks.

I also have two neighborhood photo shoots each year. My kids patience is more limited than my desire to do portrait photography. So to get in practice and to learn, I set up my garage as a photo studio a couple of times a year and let the neighbors pick a time to come by. They get lots of shots and I get lots of practice. I put the pics on my Smugmug site. Once again, many of them download and print them themselves (I even burn disks for a few of them), but some order stuff from Smugmug.

Those two things have been enough to pay for my Pro account for two years running. Actually, I've run a slight loss when you factor in income taxes, but it's close enough. I've also had a few sales from soccer teammates and other vacations, but not much.

Of course, if we all start making our pictures available to the scrapbookers, none of us will make as much money. On the other hand, the scrapbookers will have more and better pictures to chose from and will be happier.

I don't see this being effective for me for a few reasons: 1) every picture I take besides my Disney pictures seems to stink, so I don't anticipate anyone buying any non-Disney pictures from me; 2) your pictures are generally better than mine, and; 3) you're somewhat of a "Celebrity Poster" around these parts, so I think people are more likely to buy your shots than mine.

I need to either find a cash tree or find some odd and arbitrary niche that has a small but loyal following of people who order prints. Maybe I can focus on "Shallow depth of field shots of obscure laundry detergent containers". Chances are neither of those plans would pan out.

 

[Pugrpooh]

Okay, you all have convinced me. I'll fork over another $40 for this hobby, or actually $35 with the coupon code (Thank you Code:worship!) But you've convinced me I don't need more than the standard membership so I think you've saved me $20? That sounds better, doesn't it?

Anyone know if you can upload the photos directly from PSE7 to Smugmug? I'm thinking not, but if I put them in albums in PSE7, it would be nice to just move it directly over there.

Thanks!