The Best Way to Backup your Client's Photos Safely and Securely - What to Look For When Choosing the Best Photo Sharing & Storage Service

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THE IMPORTANCE OF SECURE PHOTO SHARING & YOUR BUSINESS

Photo sharing is more than being able to send an image to a friend or family member, it’s also about protecting your business and building trust with current and future clients.  If you have a secure system you can prevent unwanted downloads from your client’s friends and family members without paying, and help potential clients feel confident their images are secure if they hire you.

This guide will help walk you through the options available with photo sharing, and how you can use them to grow your business. And remember, not every tool is needed right now, so go with what makes the most sense for you now while looking for features that might help in the future.  Personally, I’ve been using Smugmug as my photo storage service since I started my business in 2011, but there are tons of options out there. I’ve tried out a few others but I always end up sticking with Smugmug because of all of the features they offer. Here are a few things to consider when deciding which service to go with:

CLIENT SECURITY

Whether you photograph weddings, corporate events, or do product shots for ecommerce clients, the day will come when someone will try and take the image without paying.  Don’t let this happen to you!  You have options to protect your work.

These include:

  • Watermarking

  • Low-res samples

  • Password protected galleries

  • Encrypted links

  • Right click prevention

  • Small file size images in the code base

WATERMARKING

The first and easiest solution for protecting your photos is watermarking.  When you’re choosing a photo sharing service, ask their customer support if you can have watermarks automatically added whenever a third party accesses the images within your galleries.  It isn’t enough to place your logo on the image, as logos can be cropped out easily.  If you don’t like watermarking, don’t worry, there are other ways to protect your images. 

RIGHT CLICK PREVENTION

The next level is right click prevention.  

Users will try to right click on an image and download it for free, especially if they can upscale it to reduce pixelation.  By making sure your client galleries have right clicking disabled, you can help prevent these unwanted downloads when you share a link to access the images. 

IMAGE EXTRACTING

And this goes code deep, which gets a bit more complicated.

More tech savvy clients will look at a page’s source code or try an image extractor.  Here’s how to check if your photos are susceptible to this. Open the page source of the webpage and look for the image name.  It is as easy as doing a text search and typing in the file name.  Now open the URL with the image and see if the image shows up with a watermark.  You can also try downloading it and upscaling it to make sure the client cannot do this and bypass paying you.  If this sounds intimidating, don’t sweat it.  There’s lots of ways to keep your work from getting “exposed” to unwanted downloads.  

PASSWORD-PROTECTED GALLERIES

Make sure the photo sharing service you’re considering offers password protected galleries, or a way to send an encrypted link that only lets clients access the images you put into the private gallery.

Having password protected galleries isn’t only important for fine art and custom business shoots. It’s important for portraiture.  

Boudoir is one of the largest markets to make money in.  If you have a secure photo sharing system, you can list the ways you protect your clients by keeping their most intimate images guarded.  Showing that you take extra precautions helps set yourself apart from your competition.  And this could help you land more business. And don’t forget parents!

Making sure family photos, or even holiday sessions don’t get out into the real world is vital.  Parents want to keep images of their children safe from downloading.  They want to prevent their kids from getting bullied, and the images from being turned into memes.  By letting them know you’ll keep everything in their control, you’ll help gain their trust. 


EASE OF USE

And there’s one thing outside of security that is important with photo sharing, ease of use.

Once you know your photo sharing service has the levels of privacy needed for your business, you want to make sure you’re able to quickly and easily retrieve and display your work.

APP AVAILABILITY

The first step is having an app available that can be used on connected devices.  Being able to open an app while at a client site to display your work is an important safeguard in case your camera or computer gets damaged or breaks. The Smugmug app is pretty incredible because you can also set it up to back up your photo stream on your phone. So instead of paying for iCloud storage or something similar, Smugmug can back up the photos on your phone instead!

RELIABLE ACCESS

Next is having a portal that can let you access your work with ease.

2fa and password protection are important, but what happens if the system locks you out and recovery is tricky.  Make sure you talk to the support team and see what controls there are to access your work when you’re overseas, and in different locations.  This is especially important for travel, landscape, and workshop photographers.  Not to mention if you’re editing at a client site.  Being able to get the work from unknown locations makes the difference between a productive visit and a flop.

SITE SPEED

Last is the speed to access your galleries.  If the photo sharing solution is too complex, or the load times are too long, you’ll have cranky clients.  Test each system before you purchase and use different connection types including cell phone data plans.  You never know when you won’t have wifi and will need to rely on your phone’s network to save the day.


FINAL THOUGHTS

Photo sharing is more than just finding an easy way to get photos to your client, it is about protecting your business.  Make sure you have the highest levels of privacy and security available, and that your clients know you take extra steps to make sure their images are safe.  This goes a long way in helping you prevent images from being stolen and printed, as well as turning potential leads into paying clients!


Smugmug is a great option for photo storage and sharing. I’ve been using it for over a decade! They offer ALL of the services I mentioned above, including an app that makes access and sharing super easy, even when I’m traveling. Click here to get 15% off a new account!


Thanks so much for stopping by! Feel free to leave any questions/comments/concerns! And don’t forget to stop by my Amazon storefront for more camera/film recommendations. :)

Have a lovely day!

<3 Myles Katherine