There is much more good to Smugmug than bad. Despite its one drawback, it is a favorite for both professional and private users, even with it having one of the most expensive memberships. First we’ll give you the bad, just to get it out of the way: Smugmug is clearly a site run by professional photographers and not a major corporation, like Google or Yahoo or HP. Good in many ways, but bad in one way: the lack of web experience shows in the site’s organization. However, personal web albums are easily accessible and arranged to your specifications.
The casual environment and quick access to tons of pro advice, forums where you can speak directly to the pros and an impressive amount of layouts, options, tools and perks for pro membership makes the main site’s jumbled layout very forgivable. The appearance may be too much for casual users, but the large amount of information offered in a friendly tone makes this site great for enthusiasts: you could spend all day surfing around this site!
Now the good, and there is plenty: Smugmug is used for private and professional application. It costs money, unlike many other sites, but even with the least expensive package you get many fun and useful features. Customer service is accessible and responses are always prompt and helpful.
Even more important is the valuable feedback and advice available from professionals on everything from photo topics and techniques to business secrets. We say this site is for enthusiasts, not casual users, but this site can actually make an enthusiast out of anyone. While the information from real professionals is technical and very useful, it is not intimidating. How could anyone be afraid of photography when it is represented by a green smiley face named Smugy?
One benefit of paying for their service is your photos will not be deleted if you do not make any purchases. You only have to pay the annual fee to keep your photos available forever.
Public Galleries: The Smugmug gallery is a comprehensive database of all members’ photos that are set for public viewing. When searching for a photo, it is tedious to sift thorough a lot of amateur work, but there are some excellent professionals mixed in as well. While it may seem like a drawback that amateurs and professionals are not separated, this allows for comparisons, learning and an overall feeling of inclusion in the digital photography community. Another nice aspect of the public gallery is the extensive amount of browsing options, such as timelines, keywords, rankings and other search criteria.
If you are a digital imaging rookie, you may want to check out the glossary for descriptions of general features found on photo and video sites, and for some insight into basic industry terms.
[#Unique#]
Pro Services: The benefits for professionals set Smugmug above many other sites. The personal URLs are fully customizable and password protected. Choose from themes for your site or use your own layout and hide the Smugmug logo. All prices can be set so professionals can make whatever profit they desire. Professionals also can benefit from comprehensive account traffic analyses and statistics.
Digital Grin: Dgrin is a lively and educational forum where pros and beginners can discuss techniques, locations, equipment, homepage design, business tips, and even specific photos. The exchange of feedback from consumers and advice from experts can be useful to any photo enthusiast, but is especially useful for those wishing to capture and display excellent photography. Other great features are the tips from the house pro on photography and the industry.
[#Membership#]
Basic membership gets you a personal URL, photo sharing, access to groups/communities, unlimited storage, open galleries and ad-free browsing. The Power package offers support for video files. The Pro package allows you to set your own prices for prints and gifts so you can make a profit, plus other benefits geared towards photo entrepreneurs.
[#Drawbacks#]
One negative aspect of this site is the cost for basic membership. Those not looking to make a profit or to upload video can probably find all of the features in Smugmug’s basic membership package for free elsewhere.
Smugmug’s information overkill can be a drawback for the casual user, but can be a major benefit for a professional.
Also, Smugmug’s gift selection is limited.
[#Uploading#]
There are some complaints about this site floating around discussion forums. Some people claim they have problems uploading photos. While testing and reviewing this site, none of these problems were found. However, it might be wise to take advantage of the free trial for a week before spending money to join. One plus is that they have accessible customer support.
Upload Speed*
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upload speed, modem is a T1 modem.
[#Storage#]
Unlimited storage in all levels of membership and user-friendly organization tools.
[#Products#]
The gift section is limited, but the basics are available: shirts, bags, posters, mugs, etc.
[#Prints#]
Prints are available in three finishes and many sizes. They give good explanations of cropping necessary for various print sizes so you know what will be cropped ahead of time. Add borders to prints and your own logo with the Pro package.
[#Privacy#]
Because this site is run by professional photographers, they understand the needs of the industry. Galleries are password protected and right-click copying disabled.
[#Sharing#]
To share photos with friends, you can email them a link to your homepage, or to certain albums or photos. Certain guests can get specific passwords so you can grant them individual access. Public or private sharing is available on Smugmug. You must password protect your albums if you do not want them publicly accessible. People are encouraged to allow public viewing because the millions of photos in the Smugmug database make it a great browsing and learning site. You can allow comments to be left on your photos as well or open them up to criticism in a discussion forum.
[#SiteNavigation#]
Menu bars are located on most pages, but the amount of information provided in instructions and descriptions of services can be overwhelming for the casual user.
