This question is for all you event photographers that post your event photos online for viewing and/or sales. An example would be youth sports action shots.
I am trying to come up with the best approach for creating a website where "interested parties" can browse photos from an event in which they participated.
Do you use a particular program/software to create your gallery/portfolio of images for presentation? It seems that SquareSpace, Wix, and SmugMug are quite popular online services. What about Adobe Portfolio?
The "web gallery" feature offered in LightRoom Classic fits exactly what I am looking for as far as the presentation aspect is concerned so i am looking for a solution that can easily incorporate that into the workflow.
Any information you would care to share would be greatly appreciated.
I don’t post many galleries, it’s a big waste of time for very little sales, but when I do, I use Smugmug. It’s easy to set up, you can create custom price lists for each gallery if you have the appropriate level of service. It works well.
Having said that, I do prepaid whenever I can. Shooting on spec is very time consuming and unless you limit how long the galleries will be available for purchase, people will not find the time to look. When I first started doing prepaid, I did two different levels for how many photos they got, they still didn’t find time to decide which they wanted. Now I just have one offering and post the photos and be done with it.
Shooting spec is dead....is dead for years if not for the past 10 years. You may get one or two sales...that's it....unless your events are taking place in some odd hours in the morning or with limited access to spectators....Shoot for promoters and to help them to promote the events with your photos. Yes, that's another level...that's how it is now...... Otherwise, there's no reasons why the promoters would hire you to shoot if your works aren't up to the standard needed to properly to represent the events....to attract attendance...
I use SmugMug and post but if I didn't enjoy shooting HS sports and I wasn't using the photos as part of my regular school job it wouldn't be worth the time it takes, certainly not the investment in equipment! I don't even pay attention to how much I make off spec shooting sales - several hundred to a few thousand dollars each year.
Just like TooManyShots stated.....did the big gallery's on Smugmug (I have over 15000 images on there) and at first, saw some $$...but in a couple years...NO $$......thanks to the cell phone and other changes.
Once I started pushing for the promoter...things changed greatly...greater opportunities in various menus....and then I started to see contestants, family's start asking for prints.....
I agree with toomanyshots. I shoot only for the folks that hire me and for the promoters. As for the ones that hire me, I choose the photos they receive and I do not post any on galleries except the ones that I use to promote my photography. In the past I had online galleries and for what you make it is not worth the time and effort.
Yeah..especially right now with the pandemic.... photos are more important for any event promoters putting out events now when they are legally possible. They represent a sense of normality. Don't go crazy capturing people crowding with each others without masks....fyi. Maybe if they are far apart. You don't want to give the promoter a bad PR....
Obviously...there are only limited events being put out in your area. Once you are in, that would leave many togs shooting without being paid. So, you have to really up your game here to standout. Nepotism and favoritism would rarely work here since event promoters want their events to succeed and they would only hire the best they can afford and find. Once you begin to shoot for one promoter, it is very easy to get noticed by another promoter, even pimping your own brand... I literally shoot for 3 event promoters. Only 2 regularly. This year, if bike racing is resuming, is possible I would be shooting for total of 4 event promoters throughout the entire 2021 season....
For events where I'm not paid to be there, I use the free version for Pass Gallery when I want the athletes to be able to to download my photos. My Instagram bio has my page if you want to take a look how I've set it up client-side.
TooManyShots stated it perfectly, but there can be some exceptions. As another indicated, Smugmug is a good place for sales on-the-cheap and can host your web site address. Just one tip: never enable display of your original resolution images even if "protected" by the host site; easy to steal them and then people won't pay.
It's a lousy market for prints, IMHO, unless you get a gig that has photography restrictions or access (like prime viewing location or harsh terrain) to which you would need connections to the event producer and earn your way in. I've got a friend who shot things for the Smithsonian and NASA and that was after decades building connections and even then, he's not making much $. best to pursue it for the love of doing it than the thought of raking in big bucks. Wishing you good luck to your efforts.
