Zenfolio vs WordPress - need helps choosing please

Discussion in 'Lounge' started by parchemin2000, 19 Apr 2018.

  1. parchemin2000

    parchemin2000 Skilled

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    Hi everyone,
    basically I would like to have a website where I can have a client (login) area where I will be able to do photos proofing for my photography clients in order to edit the pictures that clients would select. I heard that Zenfolio has this Lightroom plugin that allow you to import an XMP file of the selection of the pictures that the clients have made. This makes the process easier because you dont have to select manually one by one the pictures that the client would have selected, once you load the XMP file in your catalog, the Zenfolio Lightroom plugin does it automatically.

    My question is, is there any alternative Wordpress plugin that can do the same? Because when you have 1000+ pictures you have to go through its become quickly time consuming and tiresome. Is there any other any other benefits of using Zenfolio over Wordpress?

    TY in advance for your help
     
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  2. Robert

    Robert Apprentice III

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    wordpress with picu plugin for proofing is faster than zenfolio
     
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  3. convectuoso

    convectuoso Moderator

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    Unlimited storage.

    But I suspect you could get away with using WP if you just refined your workflow a little - esp re file naming conventions. As a bit of an aside - what are you shooting where you turn over a thousand images without proofing first?

    --

    I used to be on WP with client galleries via Instaproofs, but have since shuffled over to Squarespace + Zenfolio.
     
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  4. parchemin2000

    parchemin2000 Skilled

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    Thank you for your reply Colorspace,
    Isn't it possible to have unlimited space with WP? What do you mean by I could get away with using WP if I just refined my workflow? (Can you plz explain?). Finally, what made you shift from WP to SS and Zen (besides unlimited storage?). Would you recommend a SS/Zen website instead of a WP one?

    1000+ photos for weddings
     
    Last edited: 19 Apr 2018
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  5. parchemin2000

    parchemin2000 Skilled

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    Thank you Robert
     
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  6. Robert

    Robert Apprentice III

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    I loathe square space and zen, they are rather slow and I have a different domain for each genre of photography so 6 web sites under either would be pricey
     
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  7. parchemin2000

    parchemin2000 Skilled

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    In fact 6 websites under zen/ss would be pricey! May I ask you what genres of photography you do? Do you have a team or you run everything by yourself
     
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  8. Robert

    Robert Apprentice III

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    There is one for general fine art and one for fetish fine art as a lot of fine art people are snobs and won't let you enter some shows if you shoot commercially. One for commercial local, one for fashion and two separate ones for experimental stuff. With domains running around 15$ a year and my shared hosting allowing them all on the same account. I use envira gallery and can upload images from Lightroom and don't actually do a lot of blogging
     
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  9. parchemin2000

    parchemin2000 Skilled

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    Sounds like lots of stuffs man, how do you manage your time among your phography businesses?
     
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  10. Robert

    Robert Apprentice III

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    The commercial is my main and most of the time is spent on building client relationships. I have a decent day rate so 4-5 gigs a month pays the bills. I am a big proponent of workflow efficiency and refine processes to save time continually. All the email accounts flow into one outlook and one cell phone using apps so it's not actually super complex to manage
     
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  11. parchemin2000

    parchemin2000 Skilled

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    Sounds great mate, what kind of commercial do you do? ( products, beauty, fashion,...)
     
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  12. Robert

    Robert Apprentice III

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    For commercial pretty much everything, houses for a developer on a monday, fashion for a student on wednesday 1000 boring exposures of Ebay items on Friday. Nowhere in this state really has the market for specialists. Saving up to move somewhere I might be able to do more fashion
     
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  13. parchemin2000

    parchemin2000 Skilled

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    Wish you all the best to you mate, thank you for your time and all your prompt replies!
     
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  14. convectuoso

    convectuoso Moderator

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    Is that standard practice in your area? My proofs never see the light of day.
     
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  15. parchemin2000

    parchemin2000 Skilled

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    Some photographers do that in my area, but I'm not sure yet how I will be doing. Can you tell me what you do plz? How many pictures you take roughly at a wedding and how many you deliver and how you do deliver them.
     
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  16. convectuoso

    convectuoso Moderator

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    Shoot > Dump Cards > Cull in PhotoMechanic (Red is Discard, Green is Keep - auto advance on, info written to sidecar XMP) > drop into LR, apply import preset > filter by green > edit image - when done, change color tag to blue (or yellow revisiting)

    Once all the greens disappear, filter by blue > select all > export.

    Of note: my import preset basically gets it all right, so the only changes I really have to make beyond that are exposure/straightening or cropping and wb. I have presets for -1 -0.5 -0.3 0 +0.3 +0.5 and +1 exposure adjustments - and I sync settings between similar files.

    How many are taken vs delivered is a personal thing and it really varies from couple to couple. 60/hair turnover is low - but safe.
     
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