Why photographers charge for gallery extensions & image unarchiving
All businesses have expenses. Yes, they can be tax write-offs, but we still have to pay for them of course. One of my big annual expenses is photo hosting, backups, and archiving.
For me, this process has 4 parts: external hard drives, photo gallery hosting service, continuous computer backup, and photo archiving. For this post, I’m talking only about galleries and photo archives. Let’s break it down!
Client Galleries
I personally use Shootproof for my client photo galleries. I started using this web-based service many years ago, and continue with it to this day. It’s user-friendly, and they add features from time to time. There are many other similar services like CloudSpot, Pixieset, Pic-Time, Zenfolio, SmugMug, etc, and they all work generally the same way, with certain features varying from platform to platform. Shootproof is the way that I can digitally share my “proofs” with my clients, and it also allows for online ordering, and digital downloads when applicable.
Shootproof has a few features that I am particularly fond of — automated emails, invoicing, online ordering, password protection, and lots more. I also love that for the online ordering, it links directly to my photo lab, making it convenient for me to complete customers’ orders as they are placed.
And yes I love Shootproof, but it’s not free! None of the above programs are free if you are a professional photographer with thousands of photos to deliver to clients from month to month like I am.
Photo by Pixels by Emily
Backups & Archiving
You can archive photos on Shootproof too, and then pay an additional monthly fee for the amount of storage you use. I opt to backup my photos on a different site where I have them in a secondary location and pay one annual fee for storage rather than month to month.
For this archiving method, I use Zenfolio as they have an unlimited storage option that I use and pay just once a year. It does mean an extra uploading step for me, but I have built it into my workflow and it doesn’t take too much extra time.
What does this mean for clients?
Basically it means that we have to put time limits on how long photos are accessible to you to review, order, or download. In my business, I keep weddings up for 6 weeks, and most sessions 3-4 weeks, depending on the type of session. In my delivery email, I state that extensions can be granted as long as you ask for the extension before the expiration date. And in those cases, sessions are extended by 2 weeks, and weddings by 4 weeks.
Once a gallery expires, there is a $50 reactivation fee (also stated in the delivery email and expiration alert email 1 week ahead of expiration). The reason for this is that once the gallery expires, there are extra steps I have to take to make the photos available to you again. And even though I’m paying for my galleries yearly, there is still a limit to the number of photos I can post based on my plan. You’d be surprised how fast I got through 25,000 images! Also since I use a separate site for my long-term archive, sometimes I also have to go re-download or re-upload the photos and create a new gallery to make your photos available to you again.
Download your photos in a timely manner
The key takeaway here is to be mindful of your expiration dates, and whenever possible download or order your photos as soon as you can upon receipt. Your photographer will be so appreciative of your care and attention to this!