Web Hosting Sites for Photography

[Mata]

I thought I would put this on the forum as it may be of interest to others.

I am about to start doing some research into finding a specialised photographic web hosting site for me as well as storage solutions for images which are increasing at an alarming rate even after I go through the deletion process they still continue to breed.

Below are some sites of interest, there may be others.

http://www.smugmug.com/pro
http://www.zenfolio.com/
http://www.photodeck.com/
http://aphotofolio.com/
http://www.photoshelter.com/
http://www.squarespace.com/templates/
http://www.pictage.com/

Any ideas you can add are most welcome.

[davidc]

Squarespace is very good for web hosting in general, well priced, good support and very pretty. However I'm using zenfolio because it's better suited to what I wanted from a photography site.

If I was just wanting a generic website I'd probably use squarespace. For large volumes of photos, galleries, client portfolios & embedded shopping/prints etc. I'd go for zenfolio.

If you are interested in squarespace I can get you a discount by going here -

http://squarespace.com/?channel=podcast ... e=skeptics

10% off if memory serves.

My site using zenfolio

http://davidcandlish.photography

[Mike Farley]

I am currently on a trial with The Image File, although I have not done much yet about setting up a website so currently have nothing to show for it. It is run by a small team who are helpful and is geared towards offering everything a photographer is likely to need. One thing which is important to me is that they have their own statistics systems which, unlike Google Analytics, does not rely on cookies and avoids issues arising the relevant EU directive. If you ask nicely, they will probably double the initial 30 day trial period. Costs start from £6 per month, which includes VAT, which seems reasonable for what is on offer.

https://www.theimagefile.com/

[Mata]

I have had a quick look at both – squarespace and theimagefile.

I have two more shoots this week and then I am slowing down for 6 weeks, - end of April.

I have had a few more thoughts as well.

Copyright and Licencing – some sites to get familiar with the terminology.

http://www.the-aop.org/information/copy ... ients/faqs

http://jonathanbowcott.com/other/license-images/

http://www.digital-photo-secrets.com/ti ... otographs/

Model release agreements also covers copyright/ownership/use – A simple example on the link below. I am sure there are plenty of others.

https://www.scanstockphoto.com/modelrelease.pdf

[davidc]

I won a year's free top of the line hosting with the image file and found their site and support to be so poor I decided to not waste my time. The other options are much better.

Definitely check out zenfolio as well as squarespace.

[Mike Farley]

I spoke to someone from Zenfolio at the trade show held in conjunction with The Societies Convention earlier this year and had a great deal of difficulty in getting her to understand my requirements. It did not help that she was from eastern Europe and was struggling with her use of English, but why put someone like that on a sales stand in the UK? It has not encouraged me to investigate Zenfolio further.

[davidc]

Interesting timing. I've just dropped my hosting plan with them after a deal ran out and after clearly and explicitly discussing what would happen, what has ACTUALLY happened is completely different.

I'm still trying to rescue the situation but I cannot now recommend Zenfolio, their support is useless. The best I can get is the service I thought I was paying for until I can get out of the contract.

Go for squarespace.

[davidc]

Gah the trial of idiocy with zenfolio continues. Looking at their plan comparison you'd think it was clear what the differences are between price points. It is not.

Despite admitting in their emails that their website is flat out wrong, they refusing any kind of responsibility. Had I not just renewed my subs and were I not getting increased traffic I'd just drop them completely and take the time to switch. I will definitely NOT be using them again. They are utterly abhorrent in terms of customer service which is a shame considering their site design tools weren't too bad.

#avoidzenfolio

[Mike Farley]

Customer service? They've heard of it!

Although in this case, quite possibly not. It does make you wonder how such companies can survive in a competitive market when they treat customers so shabbily. Sorry to learn that you are having problems and thanks for the warning.

[davidc]

It gets even worse.

The original problem I had was at £100 for their pro plan I wasn't seeing the value. Dropping to Unlimited would mean some branding on the site and would mean I couldn't link an external web page onto my home page. So I checked - I asked for samples of the branding they use and it was quite discreet at the bottom, no big deal. I also don't use any external pages, all my site is contained within zenfolio and I use their Zenfolio blog as my homepage. For example, using an external page I could turn forums.croydoncameraclub.org.uk as the homepage for my site under the pro plan, but not the unlimited plan.

So I downgraded and renewed at £60.

Except the branding they use for my site is completely different to the "samples" they give, I now have a large, prominent zenfolio logo right where my nav bar is. They explained their samples do not necessarily reflect what will be seen on a live site. So in other words, a lie & flat out deception.

The home page is an issue too - despite ALL zenfolio literature saying that only external sites are barred from being used as a homepage, and their customer support CONFIRMING that the zenfolio blog page is NOT external, and is in internal zenfolio page, they have now blocked my home page and replaced it with a random image I have hosted with them. Needless to say this a total disaster show, outright misleading and utterly shocking customer service. My site looks like garbage as a result.

Because migrating at this stage would take time and I need my site working now, I asked Zenfolio for a discount on upgrading back the Pro - they offered 25% off. Not ideal, but I'd be back with what I am used to and it gives me a year to find a proper, worthwhile web host. Their support team credits my account with £35 and asks me to pay the balance upto £140! What happened here is quite staggering.

Last year I paid £100 - they then sent an email mid-year saying their prices were rising by 40% but that I would have the price I'd paid locked in for LIFE. So Pro for me should always cost £100. Evidently yet again this was another flat out lie from Zenfolio and now they want to charge £140.

Absolute crap. I'm now hastily looking at other sites, bulk export tools and preparing to migrate en masse.

Do not use zenfolio under any circumstance, they are so much trouble it's unreal.