whlsdn Loc: Colorado

I've been toying with the idea of online storage of pictures for a long time. I recently did a little research here and elsewhere on the various services available. Besides storing photos offsite, one of my goals was to be able to load my granddaughter's club volleyball pictures somewhere besides Facebook where players, families, coaches, etc could access them without having to Friend a barely known grandpa and see all his conservative views, motorhome, 4-wheeling escapades, motorcyle trips, christmas photos, well, you get the idea. One was to put up photos I wanted to show off to friends of mine who share photofever. And probably a few of us have this odd idea tucked back there that just maybe, someday, I might try to market a special shot or two.

Anyway, I finally decided to give SmugMug a try. If you click, let me know what you think. I've just thrown up a few things to maybe get started, but not enough to be a big waste of time if I just let the trial expire. As for good storage, of course, I need to put my unmarked stuff in secure files. And the stuff I display I'll need to more neatly watermark if I proceed with this little whimsy. Also, I can customize the URL if I want. Price is decent, I think.

https://randalldonahoo.smugmug.com/

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

I clicked, some pretty good stuff.
Your moose looks friendlier than the one in Aspen that made the news. I understand he doesn't like snowboarders or for that matter skiers.

Bipod

Is there something like the FDIC that will insure your images?

When the company's phone number is disconnected (hypothetically speaking),
exactly what are your options?

With service providers, usually their is no bankruptcy, because they have no assets worth
fighting over (total assets = officer furniture, 5-year-old servers, $1.2 mn of past-due payables).
The principles just "fly by night".

Been there, done that, got the tee shirt.

Cdouthitt Loc: Traverse City, MI

Did you get a coupon for your first year? It helps both you and the person you get the coupon from.

I love smugmug. Been using them since 2007. My site can be found by clicking on my user name.

Grnway Loc: Manchester, NH

You've got some nice shots in there. It's a good start.

I use SmugMug for exactly the same intended purpose: To quickly share photos from my daughter's basketball games and other events/activities. What I like about it is that you can password protect each photo gallery so that viewers can see just the basketball games and not necessarily your family pictures, if you so choose. The on-line storage is another added extra.

I'll typically shoot both jpeg and raw. I'll upload the jpegs into SmugMug, if I'm looking to get photos out ASAP. The raw photos go into Lightroom. If I see a jpeg I want to play around with, I'll do so with the raw file in LR and then add it to the gallery later, as desired.

whlsdn Loc: Colorado

Thanks Grnway....for the encouragement AND the ideas. You're obviously beyond me yet. I've just started getting back into Photoshop after years using lesser tools, and I'm just now beginning to investigate Lightroom. A bit deep for me yet; I've saved some files in RAW, but don't really know what to do with them yet.

whlsdn Loc: Colorado

I remember seeing coupon teasers along the way, but had lost track of that by the time I'd made a choice. Did get an introductory free test period and discount; don't know how good. I was more focused on on-going cost if I stuck with it.

I'll check your site now.

whlsdn Loc: Colorado

NICE! You've been at it awhile, Cdouthitt! Some beautiful photos there - and a beautiful family. I like the organization. I'm curious about how you manage security of your creative property, or if it's any concern. It's awesome stuff.

whlsdn Loc: Colorado

Thanks, robertjerl!

Actually, I think the Aspen moose was probably just playing. Had he been more serious, the outcome would have been too. But I actually missed the video, so maybe the boarders/skiers were just very good or lucky.

whlsdn Loc: Colorado

Bipod, all that's certainly on my mind. I guess I'm thinking an online storage is just back-up, as far as a longevity issue. Any place I have files stored could go bad. I doubt I'll have insurance on any local hard drives either, though if I started dumping the best stuff to hi-cap thumb drives, I could put them in my bank safety deposit box, and that would have some insurance. Still....

And for any concern about seeing my best image show up on some greeting card or calendar somewhere without my permission, at this early stage, that's why I've "defaced" everything with a bold, unimaginative watermark for now. Until I can determine a good strategy....or if I even really want one.

Thanks for the cautionary thoughts!

Cdouthitt Loc: Traverse City, MI

I’m not overly concerned. If it becomes a problem, I’ll lock it down...but the thing is, I didn’t want to make family sign into anything. I could always just move my landscape stuff to a locked section of the site, but that’s somewhat of a pain to keep track of.

If you end up going with smugmug...here’s a coupon code for 20% off your first year.
https://secure.smugmug.com/signup?Coupon=KxZ9FVYs09Y0A

Cdouthitt Loc: Traverse City, MI

If you want a better logomark...send me a PM. I’m a graphic designer (for 19 years now) by nature.

david vt Loc: Vermont

I went to Smugmug for the “sports team sharing” reasons you did.

Found it fairly easy to organize into events and post images for sharing, and i like i can sent out different links each gallery. Have not tried the PW option, but I think I might

Some issues I have yet to overcome in my still novice using of the site. Will mention not only to see if others reading this thread have answers and/or the OP might benefit

A) I can find a way to share each gallery (say for an individual meet). I have the meets gathered in a folder (say 2018 XC), but thus far, have not been able to find a way to share a link to the folder that would give access to all of the galleries inside.

B) While I have been able to grab and post the default link created by smugmug, have not had luck creating a custom link that I input. I see where to do it, but have not any luck

Look forward to hearing thoughts on the above.

To the OP, I (and the families of my kid’s teammates) have been quite happy with this, and found it easy to get and download shots they wanted. I like that you can set it not to be searchable within Smugmug or from the internet in general. I do shoot jpeg plus raw (like Grnway), also using a quick edit on the jpegs (can’t stand crooked horizons!) and post all that are good or better. Keep the raws the same way he does, editing the ones that could be 4 or 5 star that i have a reason to. I also add watermarks to the shots. One option I can recommend is that I have a gallery note that says better versions of each shot are availble, and let parents contact me to inquire. Then I can take the raw, really fix it up, and send them a very nice shot.

Cdouthitt Loc: Traverse City, MI

I know A can be done...I often share galleries with school families without sharing my whole site...I just need to remember how to do it. Hold on.

whlsdn Loc: Colorado

THANK YOU!