# Wix? Hire a pro?



## Bram (Feb 9, 2011)

Hey guys, 

Alright so business idea/awesome. Alright so i'm going to be the new football photographer for my little brothers team in September. Now what I wanted to do is to keep an individual profile for all the players so at the end of the season I can sell them a disc with their own photos on it. 

I was looking for a website where I can host my photos without anybody being able to take them and their own will. So a friend recommended WIX, it's a flash website so nobody can copy the photos. Now should I do that and just keep everybody's photos seperate on the site as well as have the games best photos posted in a seperate spot?

Or should I hire a (friend) who can design me my own website for next to nothing, and I can do it on there. 

Any input is greatly appreciated.


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## e.rose (Feb 9, 2011)

Just so you know... they could *still* take the photos off of Wix if they REALLY wanted via screen shot...  So don't think that's a complete fail-safe.


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## Bram (Feb 9, 2011)

Hah yeah true she brought that up as well. I mean how many people will go through the trouble to screen shot a small jpeg image with watermark?


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## tirediron (Feb 9, 2011)

Go for the "real" website (non-flash) version, and post relatively small, low-resolution images.


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## Bram (Feb 9, 2011)

Yeah? I was thinking of then shooting in RAW+jpeg, so i'll have both files and i'll watermark and edit the jpeg photos and post them on my own website? Then keep the original RAW files for sales?


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## ghache (Feb 9, 2011)

Most pro will charge you a 1000$ to create a website and they will use a 70$ template.
if you friend is welling to do it, lets go.


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## e.rose (Feb 9, 2011)

Bram said:


> Hah yeah true she brought that up as well. I mean how many people will go through the trouble to screen shot a small jpeg image with watermark?



A lot.  I've seen my cousin do it on photos she had done... I forget if it was of her kid, or a maternity shoot... all I know is that there was a huge transparent C with circle around it in the middle of every shot. :er:


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## tirediron (Feb 9, 2011)

You're not going to sell RAW images; customers want something they can print/view.  I shoot RAW+JPG simply because it makes it easier to view the images on the computer and quickly separate the wheat from the chaff.  I would select the images that I think are the best, process them, save a high-resolution version and then do a 'Save as' at a very low resolution and in a much smaller size.  Those will be the images on your website, and when the customer says, "I'd like ...." you have it right there to send off.


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## quiddity (Feb 9, 2011)

> it's a flash website so nobody can copy the photos.



not true.

if the photos are in a folder on a server and that folder is web accessible then your photos are open to the public


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## Bram (Feb 9, 2011)

tirediron said:


> You're not going to sell RAW images; customers want something they can print/view. I shoot RAW+JPG simply because it makes it easier to view the images on the computer and quickly separate the wheat from the chaff. I would select the images that I think are the best, process them, save a high-resolution version and then do a 'Save as' at a very low resolution and in a much smaller size. Those will be the images on your website, and when the customer says, "I'd like ...." you have it right there to send off.


 
So after you've edited the Jpeg you would do save as on the jpeg and duplicate that into a smaller size? So essentially you'd have 3 copies of the same photo?


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## Ginu (Feb 9, 2011)

There is no way to post a high resolution picture on a website and be sure nobody copies it even if the browser doesn't allow the user; there is always the quick and fast "Print Screen" button or programs like SnagIt which will allow screen copying. 

Best solution is to use low resolution pictures and offer prints of the originals. Even this method still doesn't guarantee nobody will copy your work, but at least you know they got crappy quality.

If you have a friend who would design your website then by all means go with this as it will most likely bring you business in the future if you stick to photography and want to make money off your work.


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## Bram (Feb 9, 2011)

Thanks alot for the responses guys looks like i'll be asking my friend here to design me something and see what we can about it.

on to the profile ideas, I want to keep single player profiles so it's been sorted by the end of the season. Also the best photos from that weeks game.


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## Tight Knot (Feb 10, 2011)

Sorry for chiming in so late, but I use wix and am quite happy with them. It makes it a lot easier to just change things myself as I need, for example adding extra photos, or pages etc. than having to get someone else to constantly upload my stuff for me. 
Wix does have a learning curve, but they have fairly decent tutorials on most everything that you would need to do.

If you would like to see a wix website in action, here is mine, www.legacy-photography.net.


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## Village Idiot (Feb 10, 2011)

Smugmug or Zenfolio can do that easily enough, but I'm not sure how the currency conversion goes. Even better though, your customers order the photo from the gallery and it prints and ships directly to them, so after uploading, you don't have to worry about the logistics behind selling to an entire team. 

It's something like $70-$150 a year in USD, so entirely not worth it unless you know you're going to make your money back and then some. But if you do, it's a great way to host and sell files.


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## DerekSalem (Feb 10, 2011)

I don't show people my site, normally, but aside from hosting and domain registration ($60 a year) I didn't pay anything to do it.

Browse Album :: Gallery

I don't *sell* photos, but when I take pictures of events or people I direct them there and anything they want I usually just give them (or at worst sell for the price it costs to print). It was all done with Gallery3, a completely free resource. Did a little editing and whatnot but it's super simple to do anything I want with it. I could add the ability to sell via the site, comments, additional information,etc... I can basically add anything I want to the site and it's all painless.

Definitely worth looking into before spending $1,000 or more on a professional website. In addition, it would be easy to make a homepage that then *links* to the portfolio/gallery. Plus, with this site I can do it all myself (I can add/change/remove things at will), I can do *exactly* what I want with my pictures, and I have completely unlimited storage and traffic.


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## DerekSalem (Feb 10, 2011)

Oh, forgot the watermark thing. Lightroom3 automatically adds a watermark to my pictures when I export them. I take all my shots in RAW and Lightroom exports to JPG, with the longest edge at 900pixels, and with that watermark. I'm not a huge fan of watermarks, but like I said I'm completely fine giving away my pictures...so it's not because I don't want to lose money, just that I don't want them used in professional capacities without my approval.


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## AprilEye (Feb 10, 2011)

I did my site on Wix.  I really liked all the options and it was fairly easy to build.


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## Bram (Feb 11, 2011)

Thanks alot for all the feedback, I saw alot of you mention the $1,000.00 to get a professional website done. I mentioned in the OP that I have a friend that an make me one for next to nothing so that's not a decision maker for me. 
So the main thing i'm wondering is this. If I shoot RAW+jpeg I will have 2 photos. Should I first off only edit the jpeg and post the jpeg with a watermark and post those on the website, then whichever photos the customer wants, i'll give them the RAW files on a CD, edited ofcourse.
Tirediron mentioned not giving them the RAW files, why?
Doesn't the customer want the best quality phot and want the best DPI and no pixelation when they want to print these photos. Or when I print these photos?
I guess I just realized not alot of photocentres can handle the RAW files. So maybe i'll have to print the jpegs.

Any ideas?


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## DerekSalem (Feb 11, 2011)

Definitely stay away from giving people RAW files unless they specifically request them. Put shrunken JPG files on the site (preferably watermarked...I know how much people hate watermarks here but in some cases it's necessary) and keep the RAW files at home. If I were you I'd just shoot RAW only and use a catalog program like Lightroom to maintain the library and organize them all. Conversion to JPG is *super* simple in almost every mainstream editing program now-a-days and it'll help to conserve space on your card and hard-drive if you only convert to upload...then delete the JPGs.

The reason you don't want to give RAW files to people is because most people would have no idea what to do with them. It's hard to print from a RAW file (since very few services accept them) and on top of it it won't allow people to just pop the CD in and look at them (unless they're either using OSX, which reads them natively as long as you have a RAW codec, or something like Photoshop).


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## Bram (Feb 11, 2011)

Thanks alot for the reply Derek. 
So what you're saying is just shoot Raw, edit them, watermark them, and then convert to Jpeg? Then delete  ??? 
How would I provide the images then? Do I place the Jpegs with watermark on a CD? Then sell them that?


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## o hey tyler (Feb 11, 2011)

Bram, I wouldn't give up RAW files even if someone SPECIFICALLY asks for them. It's just not a good idea, to me at least. I don't want people ****ing with my negatives.


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## Bram (Feb 11, 2011)

Good call Tyler, I think i'll just shoot RAW, edit and watermark, transfer to Jpeg and post. Then i'll give them the transferred jpeg fiel with the removed watermark? Well with a smaller one.


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## Bram (Feb 14, 2011)

Hey guys, my friend is asking me what I should do for pricing on these? I didn't know what to tell them. I was thinking of asking here. 
How much would you pay for a CD with edited photos of your child playing football. I would say probably 50 good, high quality photos. Possibly for prints.


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