With digital photography, the ways to present our work have evolved and grown exponentially. Web galleries alone are numerous, and it can be difficult to find the one that matches your needs and expectations. But then, there are a few such as ShootProof that pretty much do everything most photographers need. From proofing to print ordering or even invoices and contract management, it’s a complete solution for the photographer who wants something easy to use. After a few weeks of trial, here’s my review of ShootProof.
Being used to Photodeck as my primary gallery and proofing system, I was afraid to learn a new one. Transitioning from one interface to another and having to relearn everything can be cumbersome and a loss of time that many of us cannot justify. Then there was the fear of not having all the features I’d need. I knew most of what I’m used to was available on ShootProof, but I wasn’t sure about some more advanced details such as customer language’s choice. But all doubts went away very quickly.
Backend Interface
When I first accessed the service, I was amazed to see how easy getting started was. Most of the major features are presented with a video giving you a tour of the possibilities before you try and use them for the first time. It is great because then you don’t lose time fumbling around for what you need. Just watch the video, see what functionalities you are going to need, and focus on these.
The main menu is well designed with efficiency in mind. The dashboard will give you all details you could need quickly from recent activities to sales history or lab orders. The second menu is Studio which contains all global settings and features such as automatic emails that have been sent or their templates, contracts, and interface styling options. The next menu item is Photos, and it’s probably the one you are going to use the most. It’s where you’ll find all the different possibilities to showcase your images to your clients. And don’t be fooled by ShootProof’s name, it’s not just for proofing. The second to last option is Commerce, and it’s where you’ll find everything related to sales. Finally, the last tab, Reports, will offer you a variety of details and stats.
What struck me is that ShootProof has a lot to offer in terms of features, but with such a well-organized menu, it’s easy to find what you’re looking for. Then, when accessing one of the items, everything remains intuitive. If I had to give one negative point, I’d say it’s that the interface is English only. It’d be great if users could choose a different language just like for the front end. But I’m guessing, if you read this article, then English won’t be an issue.
Front-End Interface
While the back end is important, I believe if you use a system long enough, you’ll get used to it anyway. Having an intuitive interface such as ShootProof is great, but not as crucial as the front end. Our clients may access a gallery only once, and perhaps they are not tech savvy at all. But there, again, the engineers hit the mark with a beautifully designed and easy to use interface. Even the most advanced features such as digital downloads and prints ordering are incredibly intuitive, just as much as it is to set it up.
As far as navigating the galleries as a client goes, the only minor critiques I’d have is that we cannot change the pictures order and the language is fixed in the back end. I wish clients could browse the galleries in the language they want. But I’m sure for most of you living in the U.S., that doesn't matter at all.
Features
I won’t spend too much time describing how image upload works or how you can set pricing for the products you sell. There are much more exciting features in ShootProof to talk about. Some that go even further than just your typical proofing system.
Contracts
Let’s start with one that portrait photographers will love. It can be cumbersome to set up a whole business management system such as Tave, especially when what you do just require a contract once in a while and simple invoices with no quotes. Well, then, ShootProof has got you covered with the contracts feature.
If you already own a contract template, you can just import it in ShootProof and start using it right away. Otherwise, you can buy one from the marketplace at a very reasonable price compared to what you’d pay a lawyer to get it reviewed.
Contracts can be signed on a computer using the mouse, but even better yet, you can sign them on your phone. It’s extremely useful in the case of a last-minute shoot where you need a model released signed or if you do in-person meetings.
Invoices
Following the same idea as contracts, some people perhaps don’t need a complicated invoicing system. ShootProof, once again, makes it easy for you and offers an intuitive invoicing system that will be sufficient for most photographers and retouchers. Invoices and contracts can also be linked so that your clients have everything in one place and you too, making the whole process a lot simpler for everyone.
Music
Galleries are nice, but going through an entire wedding can be long for your clients. Adding some music always makes everything better. However, the problem with music remains licensing. ShootProof makes it easy with a seamless integration of Triple Scoop Music 14,000 song extensive catalog. It’s an extra feature that cost $10/month or $100/year, but that can be worth it for wedding photographers or people looking for a way to add music, legally, to their galleries.
Mobile Apps
At first, I didn’t understand this feature. Creating a simple shortcut to a gallery on an iPhone can be done with any system. So it seemed strange to me that this was presented as a particular feature. However, when I had a client rate a few images as favorite, I noticed I could create a mobile app with just those pictures for my customer.
That’s a fantastic way to wow any client. Once they have rated their preferred shots, you can create the mobile app and send it to them. They’ll love it! It’s an excellent way for them to show their friends and relatives their favorite pictures without going through the whole gallery.
Order Fulfillment
Not every photographer makes his own prints. So while it’s great to have a self-fulfillment option, having a gallery that’s connected to high-quality labs is always nice. ShootProof works with LoxleyLab for Europe and offers a wide choice for the U.S.A. including BayPhoto, Miller’s, ProDPI, BlackRiver, and MPIX. Canadian and Australian photographers will also have a couple of options to choose from.
When using a partner lab, simply set your pricing, enable the print order on the gallery of your choice, and you’re ready to go. Orders will have to be manually approved so that you can make sure your pictures are perfect before they go to the lab — perfect time to make the last touch up in postproduction. Another important note regarding the orders made through ShootProof is that there isn’t any fee. So you only pay what you’d usually pay your lab for the prints and then add your margin, ShootProof doesn’t add anything on top of that and doesn’t take any part of your benefit.
Pricing
ShootProof is available at different subscription rates. It starts at $10/month or $100/year for up to 1,500 pictures, and it goes all the way up to unlimited use for $60/month or $600/year. If you don’t shoot a lot and just want to proof a couple of pictures once in a while, there’s even a free option allowing for up to 100 images to be uploaded.
Pricing includes access to all features but the Triple Scoop Music catalog which is extra as aforementioned.
What I Liked
- Intuitive interface
- Simplicity of Use
- Invoicing
- Contract management
- Integration with Triple Scoop Music
What Could Be Improved
- Multi-language options are limited to one language per gallery, and it’s set in the back end
- Choice of image order (date, reverse, manual, etc.) without having to rename the files
Like I said in the beginning, I’ve been using PhotoDeck for a while, but testing ShootProof to write this review is probably going to change that. The intuitiveness and the customer interface are second to none, and to me, that’s paramount to keep an efficient workflow. I don’t want my tools to get in the way, but rather have tools that I can rely on and use without having to overthink everything. That’s exactly where ShootProof shines. Having the contract and invoice management included is also a big plus for anyone who doesn’t have a full business management system already in place or for anyone who is looking for a lighter and simpler solution.
For more information on ShootProof or to try it for yourself, head over to ShootProof.com.
This looks interesting. I'm curious which website builder everyone uses. I'm using SquareSpace and it's looking like I'm missing out on a lot with it.
Those gallery websites seems useful for particular use cases. That's all good but it's disappointing that the most obvious use case, proofing, is usually the most limited. Let me explain.
I am still not aware of any gallery provider having a plugin to sync back the client's favorites to Lightroom and/or Capture One. Which of course is very useful to avoid errors about the photos that were indeed picked.
Moreover, there is no great comment and approval system.
In comparison, take a look at a service for dailies approval in the case of filmmaking : www.frame.io (you can sign up for a free account for 1 project of 2GB max)
The proofing system is really second to none. Anyone you invite can draw on the picture to indicate what they want to comment about and write about it in some kind of chat. Then there is an approval status field and a versioning system
By the way, it's not designed for pictures, but you can upload pictures too! For proofing it is the best system I've seen. But it's not a gallery.
So I wonder when someone will provide great galleries like shootproof AND a real proofing system such as frame.io ... or it is already existing and I don't know about it ? :D Please let me know.
Cheers
Ron,
I'd like to present you two products :
- the first for the sync back client's selection into Lightroom : https://evlaa.com. It's the tool I'm building and we are doing it to optimize the workflow of photos selection with clients and save a lot of time.
You'll be able, without leaving Lightroom, to create an online private gallery, your client will be able to rate and comment from a nice web interface, then you'll be able to download the selection directly into Lightroom and retrieve a collection set with the sorted photos.
Check it out and let me know what you think, there is a 15days free trial :-)
- redpen.io is more for commenting visual (any kind) with the same system than frame (you click on the photos where you want to add your comment). But it is not a selection system and it is not linked to Lr or Capture One. But it's a great product depending on what you are trying to achieve.
Thank you Martin !
So the situation is now the opposite :D
Avlaa & redpen are better proofing tools but (if I understood correctly):
- they are not galleries from which you can send individual sections (or filtered versions) to different people (with different permissions).
- you cannot create custom galleries for people with their favorites to keep on their phone or share on social media
- You cannot have your clients order prints from a lab either
So that means I would need to use both products ... and my clients 2 interfaces too, which is really cumbersome. :-/
Redpen seems interesting when working with a small team and can be used to review any visual project, not just photography. On a basic level you can do the same using Acrobat if you want to. The power of RedPen really comes from versioning and online collaboration with more than one other person than yourself.
A quick search brought also Review Studio & Webproof for those usages.
So to sum up, I am REALLY looking forward to discover yet a service offering all of these:
- galleries from which you can setup custom versions for different people so they can keep their favorites and share on social
- galleries from which clients & collaborators can pick their favorites and comment different parts of the image
- have it integrated with lightroom / capture one to have the favorites already flagged in LR/C1
- and then anybody can order prints to a lab from your gallery, from which you automatically get your margin
In the back end you can get a list of the favourite filenames.
You can then put this into capture one as it can create a selection from filenames. I think you can do the same in lightroom too.
Yeah, I know, but c'mon this is a workaround solution, not a real one.
And it's not adapted to proper proofing with comments.
Although you cannot draw on any images we use this german service:
www.picdrop.de
They continually improving their service and you have direct contact to the developers. One of them is a photographer himself.
I have been using Shoot Proof for 2 years. It is a great service, I have it setup as a subdomain so my clients just assume it is part of my website.
Have been using Zenfolio and being happy with it I kind of do not see any advantage of shootproof from what I saw... Am I missing something :)
Hi all. I'm a pro who's been using ShootProof for over 3 years mainly to sell images and videos from live performances, events and school productions. Overall it works extremely well for my situation.
Likes:
Password protection per gallery
Integrates with my website, using my URLs
Upload straight from Lightroom
Option for free or chargeable downloads
Custom emails to customers who have stuff in their cart but haven't checked out, or have added favourites but not purchased etc etc
Watermarking of images
Dislikes:
No option to show prices including sales tax (VAT in my case) - deal breaker
Shipping costs when using external fulfilment for prints (Loxley in my case) - nearly £5 even if my clients just order 1 6x4 print - deal breaker
Geared up for still images only - I sell videos from my events and have to bury that option in the 'Buy Image' menu - deal breaker (none of my clients know how to buy the video from their event and end up coming to me directly)
Clunky purchase process - SO MANY clicks to purchase just 1 print
Very limited selection of layouts for galleries
I thought this was a great article and as someone who has used ShootProof for years for my 3 businesses I think it is a really accurate representation of the service. I appreciate Fstoppers spending time on this. Hopefully it helps people in their decision process!
Top 2 favorite features of ShootProof : 1) Getting to choose my own lab on a per-gallery basis and 2) automated emails to gallery visitors (has made us a TON of money!!)
How would you say it compares to SmugMug? I like SM because it's an all in one (website, fulfillment, services, etc).
I have SmugMug and I'm probably going to replace it with Shootproof. SmugMug takes 15% off the top of all my sales. The interface for customizing pages is as clunky as it gets... it's horrible. SmugMug thinks visitors to my web page are there because of "their" branding (dumbest thing I've ever heard). If someone orders from my site and they also order from another photographer they will ship the orders together! Again, it's because they think my customers are there because it's SmugMug... talk about out of touch!!!
I tried Shootproof and loved the interface but found that it presents images slightly fuzzy. I have discussed this with their staff and they seem to want to keep it that way. It is good for security in that it makes screen shots less valuable, but I work hard to craft sharp images and would like my client to see the sharpness. Overall I love the functionality and design of Shootproof - much easier to use than Smugmug for example. But I stick with Smugmug to present sharp images on screen. Tough call. Even Dropbox presents images much sharper than Shootproof.
seems pixieset is the one who is closest to shootproof
to the author great article :)
Okay I have been reviewing and I am on the instaproof plan that that works like shootproof but limits on space not the number of prints. I also have been looking at a new system that is done by n-vu.com It has many features that Shootproof and Instaproof do not have.
1. Unlimited galleries that they will keep as an archive after it expires.
2. Room vu or Room view is a really nice feature. It is like having "Swift Galleries" in your shopping cart. You need to try this out so far I have liked what I see.
See what Sal says about N-vu and room vu. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N77C_QkH6h0
I may be a little late to the party here, but I use Proofpix.com for my client galleries and I’ve been really happy with them. I am on their free plan with 1GB of space and they do not take any commissions unlike ShootProof who charges on their free plan I think (or maybe I’m thinking of Pixieset). Anyway they have some other interesting features for high volume photographers.
"Choice of image order (date, reverse, manual, etc.) without having to rename the files"
This is huge and the reason I use Pixieset.
They are the only platform that does not support file sorting without having to rename the files. I just don't get it.