SmugMug is a popular client gallery that helps photographers deliver and sell their photos. While they have a wide range of features, their main value is in their online gallery. Photographers can customise how it looks and deliver their photos in a professional looking gallery, which can be easily accessed in the browser without any app download. Clients can view and download the photos in different sizes, that the photographer can control.
In contrast, file-sharing services like Dropbox and Google Drive lack the visually appealing gallery options and the ability to control download sizes.
We believe that SmugMug and similar services are great for what they are designed for—delivering photos to clients after the shoot.
However, we also believe that there’s a much better alternative to deliver photos, especially for events, weddings and high-volume headshots.
There are a couple of limitations to how we deliver photos today:
- It’s too slow. People are the most excited to receive their photos while the event or wedding is happening, not days or weeks after it’s over. By delivering your photos slowly, you miss the most important time window.
- It’s too much work for guests to find their own photos, because they have to scroll through the whole gallery to pick them out. It’s also too much work for photographers or clients to send only the right photos to each guest.
As photographers ourselves, we were determined to find a better alternative to deliver photos. Hence, we built Honcho to address these two limitations.
- Honcho helps you deliver the photos instantly, during the shoot. This is done by uploading photos from camera to cloud (by tethering the camera to your phone), while you shoot.
- Honcho helps you share the right photos with the right people, with AI-powered face recognition. Your guests can easily find their own photos by uploading a selfie. Honcho then matches the right photos with the selfie and delivers them in a personal gallery for each guest.
In this article, we describe how you can use Honcho (as a SmugMug alternative) to elevate your photography service. You can also sign up for a free account and get started immediately.
Upload Photos Instantly, From Camera to Cloud
Honcho allows you to upload photos as you take them. These images are instantly available in an online gallery, which you can easily share with clients and guests.
It’s done by tethering your camera to your smartphone, with the Honcho app installed. The app automatically detects your camera, and as you capture photos, they are transferred to the app and uploaded to the cloud.
Once the photos are uploaded, they can be accessed from anywhere, on any device. For example, they can be accessed on another phone or laptop, in the mobile app or web app that runs in the browser.
Honcho supports wired tethering because of its speed and reliability, and it works with any data cable. The photos are transferred and uploaded very quickly, usually within 5 seconds for high resolution photos.
You can select the photo size for upload, from full resolution to photos that are compressed to 640px on the long edge. Smaller photos upload even faster, with 640px images being nearly instantaneous.
One of Honcho’s key advantages is that it doesn’t require extra equipment. Many tethering solutions (such as the CamRanger) require investment in hardware, usually to extend the range of the connection. Honcho just needs your camera and phone, and it essentially has unlimited range. This gives you the freedom to roam around the venue, without worrying about the connection.
As a photographer, you know how frustrating it can be when your photos are not shared with the guests.
We’re aware that our primary obligation is to the client—whether that’s an event planner or a couple getting married. They ultimately decide how the photos are distributed.
However, we’ve all had experiences where clients either delay sharing the photos or don’t share them at all, leading guests to approach us or send emails requesting their images after the event.
We believe that the photos we take are valuable not only to our clients but also to everyone at the event. We capture moments that hold significance for the guests, and they deserve to have these memories.
This is not to put the blame on the clients. They are often incredibly busy and have too much on their plate, so distributing the photos becomes an afterthought.
The real issue is the lack of an easy and efficient method for sharing photos. That’s where Honcho comes in.
With Honcho, guests can view and download all of the photos in the online gallery. Since you’re uploading the photos while you shoot, it means that guests can view them in real-time. This makes a huge difference to their experience, because they are getting their photos when they are the most excited about them.
While guests often enjoy seeing all of the photos from an event, they also want to find their own photos. This used to be a time consuming process, because they had to scroll through the gallery to find the photos.
Honcho simplifies the process to a single step—uploading a selfie. The app uses face recognition to match the photos with the selfie and creates a personal gallery for each guest, with just their own images.
One of the main reasons clients avoid distributing photos to guests is due to privacy concerns. For example, couples may not want their most intimate moments to be shared with everyone, and event planners may worry about publicly sharing photos out of respect for their guests’ privacy.
The unfortunate end result is that no one gets their photos, and they lose their value over time.
Honcho solves this problem by offering enhanced privacy controls.
The first option is to set a password for the online gallery, restricting access to a specific group. While many services (such as SmugMug) offer this feature and it’s useful for sharing photos within a closed group, it has its limitations. Our goal is to ensure all guests receive their photos, not just a select few.
Honcho offers a simple and elegant solution, by letting you blur all of the photos in the online gallery. Only photos that are found with face recognition are unblurred, which means you can only see your own photos and no one else’s.
This approach allows you to share photos publicly, ensuring every guest receives their own photos while preserving everyone’s privacy—an innovative feature unique to Honcho.
Play Live Slideshows to Engage the Audience
We firmly believe that photography should be more than just recording an event or wedding—it should be a memorable experience in itself. The features we’ve discussed so far enhance the overall experience of your photography service, elevating it beyond mere documentation.
Live slideshows are another tool to help you create a compelling experience. There’s something magical about showing beautiful photos on a large screen, because people love seeing photos of themselves. It boosts the energy in the room and sparks conversations.
It’s also win-win for you, because you get to showcase your photos to an engaged audience. Guess who they will think of if they need a photographer too?
Honcho makes it incredibly easy to set up a live slideshow. Simply open the online gallery in any browser, click on the More button, and select Slideshow. No software installation is required—it just works.
You can moderate the photos in the mobile app, or on any other device. For instance, you can hire an assistant to moderate the photos from a laptop, and they can see your photos in real-time without you having to manually transfer any files. Depending on how you prefer to work, you can set the default status of new photos to published or unpublished.
Print On-Site Without Manually Transferring Files
The features we’ve discussed not only enhance your photography service but also provide opportunities to upsell, allowing you to charge higher rates and increase your earnings per booking. Offering instant prints on-site is another option that our clients love, and help us to bring in more revenue.
There’s something uniquely satisfying about holding a physical print, and many of our clients use this to provide meaningful keepsakes for their guests. Instant prints serve as excellent alternatives to party or wedding favours and are personally significant for each guest.
Traditionally, on-site printing involves the cumbersome task of transferring files from your camera to your laptop, which can be challenging during a busy event. Honcho simplifies this process by enabling wireless printing from any device, eliminating the need for manual file transfers.
It gives you the flexibility to work with different arrangements. Use the mobile app to print photos yourself or hire an assistant to handle printing from a laptop. Since the photos are uploaded to the cloud in real-time, your assistant can access and print them immediately.
Conclusion
There are many missed opportunities with the way we deliver our photos today. While SmugMug (and other similar services) are great for delivering your photos after the event, we believe it’s much better to instantly share your photos during the event.
Honcho is an alternative that helps you do that and more. You can share the right photos with the right people with face recognition, while protecting everyone’s privacy. You can play live slideshows and print on-site, wirelessly.
We need to take a broader view of what we’re bringing to the table as photographers. Events are all about creating memorable experiences. If we continue with the mindset that we’re just there to record an event, we’re in danger of becoming obsolete—after all, everyone has an amazing camera in their pocket now.
Hence, we should consider how photography can enrich the overall event or wedding experience. When you bring more value to your clients, you grow your business and bring more success for yourself.
Take the first step by signing up for a free account with Honcho, and see for yourself how it can transform your photography business.
