Photo hosting and printing for 3rd parties, without my involvement?
May 13, 2015 4:14 PM   Subscribe

I took photos at an event, and I want people to be able to order prints, but without involving me. Bonus points for a site that will allow for additional watermarking if a 3rd party wants it. Details inside.

I took photos at a prom a short while back, and they turned out OK. I don't feel they're good enough for me to make any money off of them, and my post-processing was pretty quick and basic (cropping, simple color correction).

My first idea was to simply post them on Dropbox and distribute a link, as mentioned in response to another similar question. Download what you like, print wherever you like, I'm done. But my wife thought there might be a service that would allow people to print on their own, which made me think of Smugmug and the like, except I don't want to pay money for this service, especially if I'm not making money back. I could charge a bit more for each photo and try to break even, but I feel that's disingenuous, given what they're getting.

And because this is a prom, the usual prom photos include some "watermarking" with "High School Prom 2015" in a corner or along a side. I have done some of this, but I'm aware that some photo services crop a bit off of edges, so I'm not 100% sure how accurately my watermark will come out on the printed photo, and that bothers me enough that I haven't done this for every photo and saved a watermarked copy for people to use if they wish.

Am I overthinking this, and I should just stick with Dropbox? Is there something like Smugmug with a free period, or costs to print cover the hosting costs for a basic account? Or is Smugmug (or a similar site) really a great service for what I want to do? Thanks!
posted by filthy light thief to Technology (2 answers total)
 
Best answer: Dropbox is fine. I bet most people won't want prints anyway, and those that do should have little trouble finding a service.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 5:05 PM on May 13, 2015


Best answer: Pass does this and they do have a free option.
posted by girlmightlive at 5:24 PM on May 13, 2015


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