It was while looking for an easy way to create and manage a website that I first came across Smugmug.com, I have to admit that the name almost put me off looking further, which would have been a mistake.

Smugmug offered what I was looking for, I could build and update galleries of photographs quickly and easily, I could customise the look to match my branding and I could show or hide individual galleries which I knew my clients would love. I could also upload unlimited photographs without extra charges…. unlimited, sounds too good to be true…

…but an email from the Smugmug team in answer to my questions confirmed that I could upload as many photographs as I wanted to. It seemed that Smugmug could offer even more than I was originally looking for.

As I could sign up for a free trial without a credit card I decided to give it a try.

With little effort, or skill, I have built my website based on the templates, including information pages, public galleries and password protected galleries for clients. A visit to the excellent forum taught me how to add my logo and customise the look of the galleries and pages.  I suspect someone who is a little more technically minded could do wonderful things with the customising options. I should also add that the tech support is the best that I have had anywhere, essential as I am a photographer not a techie.

If I wanted to I could use my own domain name and remove the Smugmug branding, order prints, I could add video and utilise the unlimited bandwidth, the list goes on.

But the very best thing for me is my images are now backed up off site, like most photographers (I hope) I backup my images, I use external hardrives but ensuring that photographs  are also stored off site is tricky or would be without Smugmug. To be frank this one feature alone would make my Smugmug account worth having.

Smugmug and work
I usually undertake photographic commissions on location without my clients being present, when I get back to the office I run the photographs  through Lightroom and then upload low resolution proof images to a password protected gallery and the high resolution photographs to an archive gallery. When the client has selected the images they need I move the chosen images to a client download gallery, it is actually easier to do than describe. For my wish list I would like to lock (from download) or unlock (for download) individual images.

Unlocked Galleries Page – click to enlarge

Locked Galleries Page – click to enlarge

Conclusion
I am impressed with the features that Smugmug offers, the technical support and the great value for money. If you need a easy to set up website and/or a very good back up option from a reliable service with excellent support, Smugmug should be the first place that you look.

If you sign up I can even save you $5, simply use the following voucher code, qNJmKQXKIG3Qg.(note I get a few dollars off my account costs as well.)

http://markbaigent.smugmug.com/