One of the most common requests from photographers is to provide photo galleries for clients. This not only enhances the customer experience but also boosts sales. Let’s explore how Picdrop can assist you in creating the best galleries for your clients.
Almost every photo shoot imaginable involves collaboration to some degree. This can range from working with a few dozen people to a single client for family photos. Naturally, being able to show and display your work to the client in a quick and easy way is a must for just about any photographer in 2024. In other words, collaboration is key in this industry.
Picdrop is one way you can improve collaboration between you and the client. Providing a secure image and video-sharing solution for professional photographers, Picdrop can create online galleries that stand out and captivate your client. Not only is it secure, but with the new update, it brings features that not many other proofing services have. Let’s dive in and see why you should use proof galleries, and why Picdrop is the perfect solution.
Why Use Dedicated Proof Galleries?
The reason for using dedicated photo proofing galleries instead of just a system like Dropbox or iCloud is simple: ease of use and control over your work. With regular cloud-sharing services, you will find yourself sharing files that can be kept by your client, with them never paying for it. A dedicated proofing gallery service allows you to take full control of which files are shared, for how long, and who is able to see them. Suppose you are a media agency and you are sharing images for a general press release. Then, you might want to make the gallery available forever. At the same time, you might have a larger gallery that should be accessed by internal staff. This can be a separate gallery with a separate link and separate access with a clear expiration date. Another use for such a service could be if you are a photographer shooting business portraits and events. You can create a gallery for portraits with an expiration date, where the client is able to rate, tag, and comment, while for an event client, you can make a gallery where they can only view. Another use case would be if you are shooting a commercial and need to send off the images to a number of parties that are invested in the shoot. This can be an art director, creative director, art buyer, and the account manager for the brand. All of these people will have different opinions, and it would be ideal if each and every one of them could rate, tag, and comment in their own individual way.
Why Picdrop?
This is where Picdrop comes into play. Founded in 2012 by Andreas Chudowski and designer Tobias Friese, this service already has over 150,000 users. With a focus on what photographers need, Picdrop stands out from the rest. The customers of photographers, no matter the niche, want easy-to-use software that is accessible to everyone. As such, you don’t need to educate your clients on using software they are not familiar with. This solution is very fitting for the needs of professional photographers, as it allows their clients to use something that just works, rather than something that is confusing.
In the new update of Picdrop, you are now able to rate, tag, and comment, including from several accounts. As we all know, the final image is the most important outcome of a photoshoot. Having the functionality to enable several users to tag, rate, and comment independently allows you as a photographer to select the best image that will match the expectations of several parties involved. Take a wedding shoot as an example. Once you shoot your wedding, you send off a few options for your clients to take a look at. The people taking a look might be the bride, groom, and a few more family members. In most proofing gallery software, there is only one rating for the image. Suppose the groom rates an image 5 stars, but the bride is not happy with it; they will cancel that rating. This can be quite confusing; I’ve been there with fashion clients. With multiple ratings, everyone is able to use the proofing software with peace of mind.
Besides that, the new update brings a much better mobile experience with all desktop features. As some users will inevitably look at your work at late hours from their phone, this is a much-needed update. The new look of the software, in general, makes for a much better experience both on your end and their end. To add more features on your end, you are now able to restore deleted galleries if you haven’t had the chance to look at client feedback before it was deleted. Faster uploading, loading, and view times make for a seamless experience. Lastly, a neat upload state icon in the tab means that your browser shows the live upload status even if the tab is not active. Think Dynamic Island on the iPhone.
Closing Remarks
All in all, Picdrop makes for excellent proofing software you need to try out if you are using online galleries for proofing your work. Prices range from completely free to custom corporate rates. For €9.99 a month, you will be able to get most of the functionality, and if that is not enough, you can pay €5 extra to get the most functionality and bang for your buck. Platforms such as Picdrop can easily enhance your revenue, as well as deliver a better client experience. This is something that is key for any photographer, and having regular clients is the ultimate goal. For a relatively small monthly investment, you can have an incredible piece of software that makes online galleries easy — so much so, that you can have some of it for free!
Over to you, what are your thoughts on using online galleries? Have you tried any, and will you be trying out Picdrop? Let us know in the comments below!
It is a great platform. I have been using it for 10 years now. And the developer team here in Berlin is continuosly making improvements on it. They are very open to suggestions and always reply very quickly.