Photographer's first website - help with hosting and platform

[kpmedia]

A photographer wants to create his first web site, so we got into a PM conversation. Because the goal of this site is to help as many people as possible, we've decided to move this conversation into the main forum, so others can benefit.

Quote:

Originally Posted by kpmedia

For photo hosting, I've come to find 3 great solutions that aren't too impossible to maintain.

1. Use Adobe Lightroom to create HTML pages. Not eays to make lots of changes, but good for indy galleries that never need updates. I use this for sports work only.
2. Use WordPress, and a special photo theme. I suggest StudioPress, see my link below. Great for galleries and photo blogs.
3. Use a hosted service, be it smugmug or even Facebook. Smugmug for $99 per year isn't bad. Great for galleries and indy image sales.

For a list of hosts I have vetted, and some other related items (buying domain, WordPress themes, related software, etc), see the Web section on this page: http://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/show...-com-1528.html
--- it's the 4th section down. That page really has all you need, in terms of who to use.

Again, as a fellow photog, I just wanted to be sure you got the kind of suggestion a photographer needs, not just random hosting advice. Not all advice is equal.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ronxp2000

I appreciate the time you took to give me a personal response. The information was needed.

I am quite familiar with Lightroom, and have used it in the past to create small photo shows using my ISP's limited FTP account. Of course ISP's never allow business aspects, unless you pay outrageous prices. I do understand your methodology with it also. Lightroom is quite sleek.

I do intend to use Wordpress. I have not made up my mind how to use it yet.

1. Just set it up the way I want, and invest time into becoming creative with it.
2. Use ProPhoto with it. It costs. Know anyone who has used it? I have seen a few sites, it and it looks pretty nice.
3. Now you mention Studio Press? Is it free? I can't seem to find the right information about it. I see where it allows you to add themes, but then the THEMES do cost. Is Studio Press, difficult to learn, like can I create my own theme? Do you have any photo sites you can recommend that use it so I can take a tour?

I am being patient. I will probably take a few months to learn all about hosting, semi-mastering a few aspects, such as WordPress, paypal carts for sells, etc.

Unless I fail miserably, I am not really interested in SmugMug, Zenfolio, FLickR, Facebook, Myspace, or anything related to that method. I know they are there if I lose interest with my present intentions.

I potentially want to create my own system, do it my way, control it my way, and see how it goes. I may fail, but all I lose is my time, and at least it I obtain some knowledge on the venture. My photography is my passion, but it isn't what pays the bills for now. I still have my day job (two of them actually).

Well I better stop for now, I seem to be babbling...lol

and in the next post, I'll address and reply to some of his last PM...

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[kpmedia]

When it comes to Lightroom, I've been rather fond of the TTG gallery templates. These do not come with Lightroom, they're available at the official site at http://lightroom.theturninggate.net

You can see an example of these (the auto-index version) at http://www.tennmedia.com/photos/

WordPress based photo sites can come in all flavors.

• For example, this simple blog-like site: http://www.gabegrote.com
• Or the Black Canvas theme from StudioPress at https://www.e-junkie.com/ecom/gb.php...c=ib&aff=92465

The biggest problem with WordPress themes is the code can be indecipherable gobbly-gook, or well-written human-friendly code that any person can understand and edit. That's one reason I so highly suggest the templates from StudioPress, as creator Brian Gardner understands the need. He quickly rose from a person with no WordPress or coding experience, to a person that has created some of the best Wordpress themes online -- along the way he surely suffered through crappy code written by others, which makes themes hard to use, hard to edit, and WordPress hard to learn. One of his main goals is to provide user-friendly code.

I don't know much about the themes at http://www.prophotoblogs.com/support -- but not having demos online makes me cringe. Look at pretty photos and videos of a theme IS NOT THE SAME as test-driving it. This is 2010, and WordPress is well into the 2.9x series. ProPhoto looks to be written in 2008 on the 2.7x series --- and you need to know some things have changed in WP since v2.8. Themes did get broken.

Taking your time to learn everything is very wise.

When it comes to hosting, pick the platform to match your needs. For a simple WordPress blog, a basic Linux package will work. Any of the hosts mentioned here will work:

• BlueHost
• EasyCGI
• HostGator
• iPage
• LunarPages
• OmniTheme
• Pronet Hosting <<< I suggest this one, I use them for a project myself!
• SiteGround
• StableHost

As a friendly tip, DO NOT GET YOUR DOMAIN THROUGH YOUR HOST. There can be problems doing this, and people do lose their domains because of it. It is better to register with a known reliable registrar. I don't mean Godaddy either, but somebody like DirectNIC

I gave up on self-made HTML systems years ago. Once I even customized phpBB to the extreme, and made it into a photo site. In the end, I found Lightroom and/or WordPress to be the best options. Or when selling, to just use smugmug and pay the $99 annually and do the small profit share.

I'd show you some of my work, but almost everything is currently offline for major upgrades. Just took them down about 6 weeks ago, Won't be done for another month or two. Those sites really didn't have any PageRank, so I don't care about the downtime.

[RonFlash]

Hey I made it here. I certainly appreciate the help. I will take my time, and read your information.

[admin]

If there are any more questions -- be it about photo, video, and anything to do with websites -- feel free to ask. Glad to help.

[RonFlash]

I will take time to browse around later. Thanks for the nice help.

My daughter has a tragedy tonight, her dog got hit by a car. So we are having to stay up tonight to doctor it until we can get it to the vet tomorrow.

[admin]

That's horrible. Maybe you have a 24/7 animal hospital nearby?