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The Encyclopedia of the Watermark
Alright, photographers. Since SmugMug started offering a non-destructive watermarking feature it’s been a favorite of lots of you, and it certainly has been one of ours. But our Support Heroes get questions about the nitty-gritty details all the time, so let’s dig deep and show those of you who haven’t tried it yet how much it rocks.
What’s a Watermark?
Watermarks are custom graphics or text that SmugMug Pros can apply to their photos. They appear on all the photos that appear in your SmugMug galleries. Your original uploaded files won’t contain them, which means that all downloads, print or gift items that clients purchased from your galleries will remain clean and pristine.
Who Can Use Watermarks?
At SmugMug, Portfolio and Business account holders can use Watermarks. If you have a Basic or a Power User account you can use programs (like Lightroom) to apply watermarks to your photos before uploading to SmugMug, but if you do this just remember that this means your original photo file will be marked and anything purchased from your site will contain them.
Why Use Watermarks?
Watermarks are awesome for keeping your name and brand associated with the photos you take. Especially if you sell your photos for profit, using this feature ensures that people pay you for your images.
Plus, once you set them up in your Gallery Settings (shown above), we’ll automatically apply them to new photos as you upload, so you don’t even have to think about it.
Tip: When you Watermark, why not consider letting your fans use your display copies for free? They get to share the low-res files with their friends, which means free advertising for you.
You can add watermarks to your images prior to uploading to SmugMug (through Lightroom or other image editors) but that watermark becomes a part of the original file that we print from. If you do this we, recommend that you disable printing in your galleries. By using the SmugMug Watermark tool, the custom watermark is applied to your display copies only after upload, leaving your originals in pristine condition.
Finally, you can have as many different Watermarks as you wish on file in your SmugMug account. We just recommend that you don’t keep too many, or the list can start to get confusing.
Where to Find Your Watermarks
Look in your Account Settings > Business tab. The first section there, Branding, will contain several important pro features, including Watermarks. This is your home base where you can manage, edit or delete any Watermarks you’ve uploaded to your site.
Tip: To change or remove the watermarks on your photos, you’ll go to your gallery’s Tools button. We’ll cover this in a minute.
How to Create and Apply Your Custom Watermark
First, you’ll create a special file using your favorite image editing program, like Photoshop. We suggest starting with a transparent file about 1000 x 2000 pixels in size (you can always crop it down or change this later), adding in any text that you wish and/or using your logo. When in doubt, start with a large canvas so that your finished watermark looks good on our full range of display sizes.
Tip: Given that your Watermark will be sitting over colorful images, you may want to keep the font color a simple opaque white, but it’s up to you.
Save your file as a transparent PNG file and upload it to an unlisted gallery on your site. Then click the gallery Tools button > This Photo > Make into Watermark. We’ll then let you set up the opacity, placement and other settings for that Watermark. Don’t forget to give it a unique name!
Tip: If you plan on using several watermarks, or if you’re experimenting with different ones, you may want to be specific and call out placement and the font, like “Center Helvetica for portraits” or “Bottom right logo 2013.” Being tidy is just a good idea, anyway.
We have a comprehensive step-by-step tutorial showing you how to make a sample Watermark file on our help pages. And we have a fabulous video tutorial, too, where you can see watermarks in action.
How to Change or Remove Your Watermarks
First, create and upload your new Watermark to your site, then set it up as aWatermark with a new, unique name. Once that’s done, you can go to any gallery on your site and open the Tools button > Many Photos > Watermarking.
You’ll see a new screen with thumbnails of every image in that gallery. Click to select one, a few, or all of them so that they’re highlighted in red, pick the new Watermark name from the menu bar at the top and click “Watermark.”
If you want to remove watermarks from your photos completely, it’s the same deal. Only choose the “Remove” radio button at the top. Again, click the “Watermark” button to save your changes.
Note that it can take a few minutes before you see the changes on your photos, so it’s a great time to put the kettle on or stretch your legs.
How to Fit Both Landscape and Portrait Images
We get this question from time to time, but it’s a bit tricky. After all, your camera’s sensor and how you crop your images can drastically affect the aspect ratio of your final image, which changes the placement of your Watermark.
If you want your Watermark to look good on both portrait and landscape-oriented images, here’s a suggestion: Go square! This doesn’t mean that the visible Watermark has to be square, only the image file that you’re using. So try creating a square transparent PNG, center your watermark text and make sure you keep it centered when you set it up in SmugMug.
Another alternative is to make a corner edge Watermark. Simply align your Watermark’s text along the bottom and one side of your image file and when setting it up in SmugMug, choose one of the Bottom left or Bottom right placement options.
Option 3: You can always tile your Watermark so that your design is repeated uniformly across the image. (See below for example)
And finally, if you’re really picky about perfect Watermarks on all your images, you may want to create and set up two versions of your design: one for landscape photos and one for portraits. Note that you can only set your Gallery Settings to automatically apply one Watermark, but you can manually apply the second one to only the photos you want to switch.
Watermarks vs Printmarks: What’s the Diff?
These two features are cousins. The thing to remember is that Watermarks are applied to the photos displayed on your website. Printmarks are like watermarks for your prints, and only appear on products that you and your customers buy.
Set Printmarks up just like you set up your Watermarks! The only thing to keep in mind is that Printmarks, unlike Watermarks, are limited in the size and area of the photo so they stay unobtrusive. Check the preview if you’re unsure.
Tip: Great ideas for Printmarks include the event date, your handwritten signature, team name, graduation year. What else can you dream up?
When They Work Great and When They Won’t
Watermarks go a long way towards preventing image theft by right-clickers and screen-grabbers, plus they’re great for spreading the word about you… but not everyone loves them. Some people find anything extra on the image distracting, and large Watermarks can sometimes cover up vital parts of the photo.
Unobtrusive Watermarks close to the edge or in corners can be cropped out, and of course there’s always the chance (however slight) that someone with lots of time and Photoshop experience can remove it.
Finally, Watermarks can be applied to photos only, so they won’t work on your video files. For security on your videos, and for better image protection all-around, we recommend using Right-Click Protection as well.
Great Watermarks We’ve Known
For your inspiration, here’s a few examples of various watermarks we’ve found along the way. You may want to try these yourself!
Corner:
Photo by Schmootography
Center logo:
Photo by Brian Rice Photography
Photo by Creative Focus Portrait Photography
Banner style:
Photo by Barnet Photography
Photo by Barn Door Studio
Photo by Meghan MacAskill Photography
Strike:
Photo by Trick The Light Studio
Tiled:
Photo by MJR Photography
Let’s Get You Started!
Are you ready to dive in? We’ve already pre-loaded a generic “PROOF” watermark into your website that you can use right away, but here’s a few basic watermarks you can snag to change it up.
Grab PNG files for square, portrait, landscape and banner watermarks
We hope that these questions hit all the points you may have been wondering about this powerful feature. If we missed one and you still need help, give our Heroes a shout!
Smug Tip of the Week: 6 Great Time-Savers Right Under Your Nose
If you’re like the rest of us, you’re constantly looking for a way to maximize your time behind the camera and shrink time spent at your desk. While it’s important to keep your photos safe, secure and organized, you don’t have to blow your entire evening doing it.
Here’s few features built in to your account that will help you shave a few valuable seconds off of your photo-flow.
1. Quick Settings (All)
Did you know that once you find that “sweet spot” of Gallery Settings, you can save it as a template? This way you don’t have to click each line to set specs on every. single. gallery. Set it and forget it! You’ll find all the Quick Settings you’ve saved in a handy dropdown bar on the gallery creation page.
How it’s done: Open up any gallery’s settings page and make sure that the settings are to taste. Scroll to the top and click the menu bar under “Quick Settings” header. You can give your current set of settings a descriptive name from this space, apply a Quick Setting, or apply a Quick Setting to multiple galleries at once. To delete a Quick Setting, simply highlight it in the bar and click the “delete template” button that appears.
Things to note: Gallery titles, gallery descriptions, keywords, the category/subcategory, NiceNames, and themes don’t get carried over by Quick Settings. You will need to set these manually for each gallery.
2. Smart Galleries (All)
Smart Galleries automate the photos that are included in your gallery. You create a set of rules to follow and we’ll listen, pulling in the photos that you’ve specified. Pick from a variety of options, like by keyword or date uploaded. The gallery will automatically Collect new photos that you upload to your SmugMug account that follow those same rules.
How it’s done: You’ll find your Smart Gallery settings in your Gallery Settings, under “Make This Gallery Smart.” From there you’ll be able to add rules that fit your requirements, tweakable to taste.
Things to note: Freshly-uploaded photos may take a little time to be included in your galleries, but they’ll get there. Please be patient! If you really can’t wait, open your Smart Gallery rules and hit the “Click to Refresh Preview” button to pull them in. Don’t forget to save your changes.
3. Lightroom plugin (All)
We talk about the SmugMug plugin for Lightroom a lot, but we really do think it’s one of the best inventions since lens caps. It’s free, it’s easy, it automates so much of your digital workflow… pro or not, for everything you shoot. And so many smart photographers are already loving Lightroom to process and organize their photos.
How it’s done: Download the free SmugMug plugin and install it according to instructions. You can edit, organize and even sync your SmugMug galleries right through Lightroom’s modules. When you’re ready, publish your photos and upload to SmugMug with a click. Business SmugMuggers, remember that you can sync, edit and republish your clients’ Event favorites, making sure your wires never get crossed.
Things of note: The plugin in remarkably easy to use, but Lightroom can be as simple or as complex as you need it to be. We recommend reviewing our Lightroom help page, FAQ and to watch our webinar.
4. Easy Customizer (Power, Portfolio, Business)
If our 70+ default themes don’t work for you, our point-and-click Easy Customizer is your new best friend. It’s super-easy to add your own logo and color scheme and have it instantly applied across your entire site. You get a preview of your website at all times in the left pane, so there are no surprises once you hit Publish. Leave your code at the door.
How it’s done: You can access the Easy Customizer right from your homepage Tools button. Click around the many different options on the right, preview what you’ve done and then Publish to show the world! If you add any banner or background images via the Easy Customizer, you’ll find those in an unlisted gallery that we create for you, called “My SmugMug Site Files (Do Not Delete).“
Things to note: For more complicated tweaks like changing specific items in certain galleries, or Javascript modifications, you’ll need to check out Advanced Customizations. We provide plenty of help on this through our Dgrin forums.
5. Proof Delay (Portfolio, Business)
Busy pro? We know. Proof Delay lets you quickly upload your unedited proof images into your clients’ galleries and get their approval the night of the shoot. This means they can buy prints while they’re still excited, and you save time by editing just the pics they’ve bought. Happy client, happy you. What more can you ask for?
How it’s done: Open your Gallery Settings and scroll down to the “Printing” option. You can enter a number between 1-7 there, which will factor into the potential shipping time quoted to your client. Once your orders are in, you can replace the image in your gallery with an edited version, then release the order to the print lab. Read more here.
Things to note: Proof Delay doesn’t currently apply to digital downloads, so if you plan on selling those be sure that you’ve edited your images before enabling or pricing that option.
6. Assistant Passwords (Portfolio, Business)
Why not have someone else do your uploading and organizing while you’re away? Assistant Passwords are one of the many time-saving features included in pro accounts, designed to let someone else do your busywork for you. Your password and billing information is never revealed, but they can take care of all those little details while you’re out on a shoot.
How it’s done: Set your assistant password from the Privacy tab of your Account Settings. Make sure it’s different from the password that you use to log in. Read all the details about what your assistant can or won’t be able to do.
Things to note: Although there are several security measures in place to ensure your account isn’t compromised, Assistants by definition have the ability to make changes on your site. Be sure that person you let in the door is someone you trust to manage your photos!
We hope that we’ve introduced you to a few way that help you get more things done in your day. Share your thoughts and tell us what’s on your time-saving wishlist!
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Link roundup:
- How to create, edit and delete Quick Settings
- All about Assistant Passwords
- Smart Galleries and how they auto-populate your stuff
- Collecting photos and virtual copies
- SmugMug’s free Lightroom plugin
- How to use the Lightroom plugin
- SmugMug’s Lightroom webinar
- Intro to the Easy Customizer
- Intro to Advanced Customization
- The Dgrin customization forum
- How (and why) to use Proof Delay
Uploading to SmugMug: What, How Big and How Many?
If you’re new to SmugMug, you may wonder exactly what, how much and how often you can upload to your galleries. And we agree — it’s a good idea to get an idea of what your limits are… particularly when there isn’t one.
The quick version: Upload JPG, PNG, or GIF files up to 50 MB and 100 megapixels apiece, videos up to 3 GB and 20 minutes apiece. Add up to 5,000 photos into each gallery and create as many galleries as you want.
Uploading at SmugMug
You’ve got tons of options for getting your photos from your computer and into your galleries. Our two favorite methods right now are:
1) Our default, browser-based HTML5 uploader. It’s lightweight, accessible from any computer/browser, and lets you drag and drop files from your desktop into the upload box. Voila!
2) Lightroom’s free SmugMug plugin. So many photographers from all walks of life love Lightroom for its ease of use and powerful editing capabilities. Download the free SmugMug plugin if you haven’t already got it, and start making your life that much simpler. Best of all, you’re publishing direct from your digital negatives, which means no extra JPG files to suck up space on your hard drive.
We’ve got lots of other options if those don’t bake your potatoes. From SmuggLr to Star Explorer, our community has created as many methods as possible to upload photos from wherever they are, just the way you like it. Check out your options here on our Apps page, or click the green “Choose a different uploader” from the bottom of the web uploader box.
How Big Can Galleries Go?
You can create as many galleries as you wish on your SmugMug site, and each one can be tweaked to have different SEO, privacy and print settings as you’re aware. You can give them a total makeover by choosing one of four different Viewing Styles, too.
Your galleries stretch with your screen and adjust to fit the largest images the gallery settings allow. They’ll also auto-adjust so that you see fewer gallery pages on big screens and more pages on smaller ones. We’ve capped photo count to 5,000 per gallery because basic tools like sorting and keywording become impossibly difficult when you have that many photos in one place.
The Many File Flavors at Smug
When it comes to photos, we accept JPG, PNG and GIF files up to 50 MB apiece. Which file you use depends on what you’re going to be doing:
JPGs are the format you’ll use the most. The only file type our print labs will print from, and they’re ubiquitous, so it’s easy-peasy for your fans and clients to view them if you’re offering digital downloads.
PNG files are recommended for images that contain transparent areas, like the site branding files that Power, Portfolio and Business users will use. We’re talking header logo images and watermark image files, to start.
GIF files are commonly used for animations. We don’t hear much about them these days, but who doesn’t love watching a good cinemagraph? We’re always thrilled to see what great ones you’re making.
If your tipple is video, you’ve got a lot more options. There’s tons of codecs out there and we support a good number of them. Check out the list here, which may not include everything but does come with bonus conversion info.
Just be sure that your videos are under 20 minutes long and 3 GB apiece.
Vault It! For Everything Else
SmugVault, our archival service provided by Amazon, is for the kitchen sink. PDFs, TIFFs, RAW, CR2, DOC whatever you’ve got and want to keep safe, keep it there. You can upload any file up to a max of 3 GB, and you can view and retrieve them from the familiar SmugMug gallery interface. When possible, we’ll even create a JPG preview so you know exactly which file you’re looking at.
Take a closer look at SmugVault, Amazon and how it works.
Tip: Because all video files are processed slightly on upload to SmugMug, you can choose to Vault your originals. This way, you always have a copy in case your hard drive goes boom.
We hope that everyone has a better idea of what’s possible with their accounts. So go ahead, grab your bag and get out there shooting. We’ll see you on the upload!
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Link roundup:
- Our drag-and-drop uploader
- Upload direct from Lightroom
- Uploaders, downloaders, migration tools and more
- How to set your own print, privacy and presentation settings in galleries
- Spruce up your site with gallery viewing styles
- Arranging photos in your SmugMug galleries
- Set up your keywords and get found
- What files types can I upload to SmugMug?
- All about SmugVault
- Video on SmugMug: What, why how?
Publish to Facebook: Now on the Loose
Did you know about our sweet Publish to Facebook feature? It’s a super-simple way to copy your (watermarked, if you’re a Portfolio or a Business Smugger) photos from your SmugMug gallery and export them into albums on Facebook. You say where, when and how. We do the rest.
For you die-hard SmugMug fans, you’ll notice that we’ve moved this feature out of beta. Now you’ll find it in your Share or Owner Share button by default.
Less work, more eyes (on your photos!)
The best part about Publish to Facebook is that you can share hundreds of photos with all of your friends and family and they don’t have to leave Facebook. And your images stay safe, because you determine the largest size that gets seen and your published photos include any SmugMug watermarks you’ve set on the original gallery.
How to do it:
- Open the gallery that contains the photos you want to share.
- Click Share > Publish to Facebook (or Owner Share if you’ve hidden this feature) and login to Facebook to authorize the connection.
- Select a Personal album or a Facebook Page album to share to, then a destination gallery.
- Choose the photos.
- Customize your image settings (image size, captions, link details)
- Click Publish. You’re done!
Of course, if you’re the type that likes to track your hits and keep your photos locked way down, you’ll probably want to keep posting your links directly to your Facebook stream instead. This way your photos never actually leave SmugMug’s domain, so you get the full range of tracking and image security: stats, right-click protection and all.
You can still use Get a Link, or just copy and paste the URL into your Facebook stream.
And a Few Good Tweaks
This feature used to live in our Darkroom, which meant you had to opt in on every browser just so you could use it. After a few more tweaks and polishes, we decided our baby is finally ready to leave the nest. We’re ecstatic to announce that it’s all grown up, ready and waiting for you in all of your SmugMug galleries.
- We also upped the export limit to 1000 photos (to match Facebook’s limit) and fixed a few things that used to choke big uploads in the past.
- You’ll also notice the ability to export at the X3 viewing size, so your Facebook friends can see your images big, juicy and bold… just the way your camera intended.
So don’t be shy — grab the camera and snap to your heart’s content. Your friends are waiting to see every hot cocoa mustache you’re sporting this season!
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Link roundup!
6 Essential SmugMug Tools for Celebrating a Sane, Organized (and Profitable) Holiday
Hectic holiday? It doesn’t have to be if you plan on uploading your photos (and videos) to your SmugMug galleries! You’ve already got your hands tied with hot chocolate, ribbons and last-minute gift planning, so here’s a few tips that will help make the picture sharing part of it refreshingly easy.
1) Show Off: Badges and Slideshows
This handy feature lets you build your own mini slideshow or photo mosaic to any size you wish, and gives you easy copy-and-paste code to embed it. You don’t have to know any nerd magic to get this going, and it automatically refreshes with new photos when you add more stuff to your gallery.
You’ll find this little feature a godsend for blogs, forums and websites. Anywhere that allows you to embed Flash objects. Here’s how to do it.
2) Guest Uploading for Party People
With all those folks at your house snapping away, you need a hub where guests can pool their photos and relive the glory of your massive decorating skills. SmugMug to the rescue!
Create a new gallery for your event and then open up the gallery settings. Set any word you wish into the “Upload key” box, like this:
The next time you fire up the uploader in that gallery, you’ll see a secret link at the bottom that you can copy and share. Your friends can visit that link and we’ll automagically pop up an uploader so they can easily drag and drop in their photos from the night.
Just remember that anyone who gets ahold of the link can upload to that gallery, so be aware when you share. More about guest uploads.
3) Make and Sell Photo Cards
We’ve been talking a lot about our holiday cards this year, but they’re so beautiful we just have to tell you again. And there is truly no better, easier way to take the best photos you’ve taken (or the best photos someone’s taken of you) and pair them up with custom, heartfelt season’s greetings.
Our catalog is bursting with new designs for everyone, whether your style is vintage, contemporary, minimalist or traditional. Or all of the above. Just look for the Buy button > Create a Card option in your favorite gallery and start building your 4×8 or 5×7 masterpiece!
Read all about cards, including how to price and sell them.
4) Custom Categories for Easy Navigation
Did you know that when our pre-loaded list of Categories (and sub-categories) don’t work for you, you can create your own? And that you can edit the URL that shows in the browser bar when you’re viewing your categories?
We make it breathtakingly easy to efficiently organize your site, share the URL verbally, and even get better Google juice. It’s like Christmas came early!
Take a closer look and bone up on the basics of Categories, then take it a step further and learn how to use Categories to your best advantage. This year, you’ll have your “I will be more tidy” New Year’s resolutions totally beat.
5) Picmonkey: Funky Photo Editing
Picmonkey may be our (unintentionally) best-kept secret. But if you haven’t already tried this smart, sassy tool to edit your SmugMug photos, run – don’t walk – to your nearest Tools button and find it now.
It’s built right into every SmugMug gallery and you can do everything from basic exposure correction and redeye fix to adding graphics, words, textures, frames and filters. And more. Tons, tons more.
It’s totally free to use — even their premium features, since they’re still the new kid on the block.
Check it out now and don’t be afraid to have a little fun with your photos. 
6) Camera Awesome for iPhone and iPad
If you’ve got an iPhone or an iPad, you’ve got the perfect excuse to leave the DSLR in your office. You can shoot up to 9 fps with our free camera app, meaning you never miss a moment. And apply gorgeous effects and filters to make them shine.
Best of all, your shots won’t stay locked on your phone where no one will see them. Share direct to Facebook, Twitter, Flickr or Instagram and back them up safely to your SmugMug account so you can visit them year after year. Download it free right now.
Bonus! Business features for Pros
Since there’s a lot of pros out there, here are three additional features we snuck in to remind you Business SmugMuggers that there’s a lot more to your website than just photos.
A) Coupons - A no-brainer for getting your customers a little extra nudge this holiday season! With a Business account, you can choose from 5 different types and create as many coupons as you wish.. which means you can tailor your discount codes to every client. Be sure to set an expiry date so they don’t sit on a good deal forever.
B) Events and Favorites - Intimidated? Don’t be. Events let you corral galleries into groups, so your customers can easily view only the photos that matter to them most. Best of all, they can tag and save their Favorite photos to a special gallery only they can see. All which makes browsing and buying a breeze.
C) Order Branding -This feature actually consists of three separate (and awesome) tools: Cart Branding, Stickers and Thank You Prints. All of them ensure that you and your brand stay connected to your customers until the prints are sitting in their hands. And you can easily switch up your Order Branding designs from season to season, so you look super organized… even if you’re not.
GIVEAWAY! What’s Your Lifesaver?
In the spirit of giving, we’re digging through Smuggy’s workshop and rounding up some of our best swag items.
To enter this giveaway, simply comment below and tell us which SmugMug feature you find helps most during your holiday rush.
We’ll pick a random winner and announce it in this space on Friday, December 7th, 2012.
From all of us at SmugMug, we wish you a picture-perfect holiday! And we can’t wait to hear what you can’t live without.
**UPDATE** The Magic SmugMug 8-ball chose Melissa Ponder as our winner. Congrats Melissa and we’ll be contacting you directly. Thanks to everyone and have a great weekend!
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Link roundup:
- How to properly show off your photos
- Let your friends upload photos to your gallery
- How to make scandalously good holiday cards
- SmugMug’s full catalog of custom photo cards
- How to master Categories and Subcategories
- Free photo editing with Picmonkey
- Free your photos with Camera Awesome
- Make and use custom discount coupons
- Events and Favorites: The easiest path to more sales
- Cart branding, Stickers and Thank You Prints
Can’t Keep Up? 6 Customization Tricks to Spice Up Your Site
What’s the point of having your own website if you can’t make it yours?
That’s entirely the point, which is why every SmugMug account comes with a whole bunch of ways to switch it up.
We also know that not everyone has all day to find inspiration in the clouds and push around pixels. So, today we’re sharing super-easy ways you can change up the look of your site without having to take a day off from work.
1) ALL: Change the Theme
Themes give you the most bang for your buck. We’ve got over 70 of them and it takes just two clicks to set one in place.
HOW: To set your new site-wide default theme, click the Themes button on your homepage and choose one to preview. When you love it, simply click the button again and choose “Save Theme Choice” to make it stick. More about themes.
2) ALL: Display Your Map
Did you know that your fans can browse your photos by location? We’ll automatically pin your public, geotagged photos onto a map shown right on your homepage.
HOW: Click the Homepage Layout button on your homepage and choose Around the World. The box will appear, and you can move it up or down the page according to taste. More about maps.
3) ALL: Feature a Slideshow (or a Video)
Grab their attention with motion. A buttery-smooth slideshow of your best photos or your masterpiece movie will get them anchored and asking for more.
HOW: Visit your homepage and hit the Homepage Layout button > Slideshow. With a Power, Portfolio or Business account, you can feature a video under the Single Photo or Video option, too. You’ll see an “Adjust: Settings” link in the top corner to specify what you want to show. More about your homepage boxes.
4) POWER, PORTFOLIO, BUSINESS: Add a Header and Navigation Bar
Adding basic branding to your site instantly gives your website a more polished, unified feel. Plus, your fans will always know where they are and where they should go next.
HOW: Open the Easy Customizer and click on the Header section. It’s simple to add a basic text header that links to your homepage, and a navigation bar that features the galleries you want to be seen most. As you tinker, you’ll get a live preview on the left. Click the Publish button to post your changes live.
5) POWER, PORTFOLIO, BUSINESS: Copy-and-Paste Customization
We’ve got tons of resources where you can search for specific customization tricks and exact code needed to make it happen on your website. From hiding stuff to moving stuff around to ginormous edge-to-edge slideshows, you can do it all.
HOW: Try our basic FAQ, the customization forums on Digital Grin (specifically this FAQ), and this thread with advanced-but-just-as-easy Javascript tricks. Simply copy and paste your code into the section of your Advanced Customization as described in the instructions.
6) ALL: Tidy Up!
Rearrange your virtual living room. Changing your gallery organization and swapping old portfolio photos for fresh ones can breathe new life into a stale site.
HOW: Display Categories on your homepage, unlist old galleries, create archive categories to “hide” stuff so your fans see the best pics first. Read up on our privacy options and review how custom Categories work for you.
There’s a lot you can do, but we’ve summed it all up for you before. Take a ride in the wayback machine and visit our first Smug Tip of the Week, the Customization Edition.
What quick and easy tricks have you done to make you love your website again?
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Link roundup:
Smug Tip: Build a Photo That Fits Juuust Right
Move over, Goldilocks. Instead of three sizes, SmugMug gives you nine. And when no options fit you perfectly, you can make up your own.
Every SmugMugger knows that you get lots of convenient photo sizes for every pic you upload, but sometimes you need one that doesn’t fit inside the box.
Custom photo sizes to the rescue!
Did you know that you can specify the height and width of any image? As long as your goal photo size is smaller than your Original (and permitted by your Largest Size setting in your gallery settings), it takes just a few keystrokes to get a photo that’s a perfect fit.
Here’s how to do it:
- Go to the image you want in your gallery.
- Right click and grab the URL (or Get a Link) and paste it somewhere you can edit it, like into a new browser window or a text editor.
- Change the size abbreviation to the pixel dimensions you want. (Example: 375×250) There’s two spots for this: in the middle of the image and at the end.
Once you’ve got your new link, try it out! We’ll automatically tweak the dimensions to the closest fit if yours doesn’t perfectly match your photo’s ratio. So you’ll never get weird or smooshed photos using this trick.
This info is covered in our help page here, so you can always refer to it.
Tip: If you blog through WordPress, you don’t have to build your own custom size. Just drop in a big image link and they’ll automagically resize it to fit. Dgrin, too.
SmugMug Tip: Give Your Fans a Direct Link
We know that it sounds a bit odd to write a blog post about this, but our Support Heroes get a surprising amount of email from friends, family and clients who can’t find their photographers’ websites. We thought you could use a hand, or at least a handy tip on how to ensure that your photos get seen for sure.
Don’t be vague!
You wouldn’t just tell someone, “Drive to New York, then look for the gray house,” would you?
Similarly, you should give visitors a specific address for the photos they’re expecting to see: Either a direct link to the gallery itself or, if you want to share several galleries, a link to the Category, Sharegroup or Event.
DO: Share a link that take your fans straight to the photos they can’t wait to see.
DON’T: Direct them to SmugMug.com‘s homepage and hope for the best.
This is particularly important if all of your galleries are Unlisted. (Lots of you do this!)
Can’t they just search?
Sure they can! Don’t get us wrong: SmugMug’s got great search engine-fu and Google juice, but searching has lots of moving parts. The more parts, the higher the risk. Here are a few potential trip-ups:
- You’ve forgotten to add keywords to your galleries or photos. Or you recently keyworded them and Google hasn’t had a chance to index them yet.
- Your friend spells your name wrong. This can happen to the best of us, especially if you were trading info quickly or in a noisy place.
- You have a popular name, like Smith or Jones, that turns up thousands of hits.
So what are those features you just mentioned?
Here’s our SmugMug Checklist to help you be absolutely sure your fans can find exactly what they’re looking for.
1) Add contact info to your Bio box so it’s easy to find. If you haven’t created that gallery yet, it’s even more important that you post contact information somewhere on your website. Pros should always have a Contact Email set up in the “Me” tab of their Account Settings.
2) Learn how to Get a Link and share them.
3) Share several galleries with a single link: Sharegroups to the rescue! Or if you’re a Pro, blow them away with Events and Favorites.
4) Add descriptive keywords to all of your galleries and photos, so that search engines can find them.
So consider this a brief, friendly reminder to err on the safe side and be specific when someone asks you about your photos. As always, our Support Heroes are always willing to help them find you, but it’s our mission to make it as easy as humanly possible.
Happy sharing!
Smug Tip: Kick Back and Watch Our Help Videos
In case our super-awesome Support Heroes haven’t already tipped you off, we have a growing library of help videos ready to guide you on some of the most important features on your SmugMug site:
They’re pretty self-explanatory, so go check ‘em out! If you’re like us and would rather see how to do something straight away, these vids are just what the doctor ordered.
Best of all, they were lovingly crafted by one of our very own veteran Support Heroes, Seán. You’ve probably shaken his hand at one of our trade shows, because he sure knows his stuff and loves to teach. Thanks, Seán!
What’s on the program?
So far we’ve got videos covering image protection, Pro pricing and – the latest – how to use the Easy Customizer:
But we’re not finished, yet. Our help library continues to grow so don’t be afraid to bookmark that page and keep checking back for more.
Let us know in the comments if there’s a topic you’d like to see. We love to hear what you think!
What is SmugMug?
Gorgeous, unlimited photo sharing for everyone. Grab your own website on SmugMug and be ready to archive, share and print the photos you love. From unlimited photo and video uploads to e-commerce tools for Pros, we have it all. Learn more.
