What the client sees
Worth knowing, because it is what your client experiences of you after the shoot is over. Click Preview in the gallery header to see it for yourself.
Opening it
They click the link and the gallery opens on your cover. That is your image, your title, the event date if you set one, and your business name in the typeface you chose. There is no sign-in unless you asked for one. See Passwords and access for what a gate looks like.
Scroll past the cover and the chapter strip pins to the top of the screen. It lists your chapters, and the action bar sits at its right-hand end.
The action bar
The icons a visitor gets depend on what you left switched on:
| Icon | What it does | Turned off by |
|---|---|---|
| Collections | Opens Your selections | Allow collections |
| Share gallery | Link, plus X, Facebook, Pinterest, WhatsApp and email | Social sharing |
| Start slideshow | Plays the chapter full screen | Slideshow |
| Download gallery | Opens the download page in a new tab | Allow downloads |
| Log out | Forgets them on this device | Shows only once they have given an email |
On a narrow screen the download icon stays put and the rest move into a ⋯ menu.
Looking at photos
Each chapter is its own page. They scroll and photos keep loading until the chapter runs out. A See more link at the bottom then takes them to the next chapter. The strip at the top moves between chapters in any order. A chapter description, if you wrote one, sits above that chapter's photos.
Tapping a photo opens it full screen, where they can move between photos with swipes or the arrow keys. The open photo carries the same actions on it: save to a collection, download, share, and hide.
On a computer those actions also appear on a thumbnail when the pointer is over it. On a phone or tablet they do not, so the photo has to be opened first.
The Gallery Guide
The first time someone opens the gallery, a short guide appears covering the tools you left on: saving photos to collections, sharing, and downloading. It shows once per gallery in each browser. The Gallery Guide switch under Settings → Experience turns it off.
Choosing photos
They tap the star on a photo to save it to a collection, and the pill at the bottom of the screen shows the current collection and its count. Your selections opens the full panel, where they can keep several lists, write notes and send the finished set to you.
If you created selection requests, those collections are waiting for them named and briefed. See Collections.
The slideshow
A full-screen slideshow of the chapter they are in, moving on by itself every few seconds, with play, pause, previous and next. It also starts from an open photo. It is a small feature that clients love, especially when they are showing family.
Switch it off under Settings → Experience.
Sharing
With Social sharing on, a visitor can share the whole gallery, a single photo, or a collection to X, Facebook, Pinterest, WhatsApp or email, and copy the link. Off is a legitimate choice for private work.
Downloading
If downloads are on, the Download gallery icon opens a page in a new tab. There they give their email, enter the PIN if you set one, pick chapters and a size, and collect the files. A single photo asks for the same email and PIN before it saves. See Downloads.
Hiding photos
When Client access and Let clients hide photos are both on, the person who came in through Client access can hide a photo so guests do not see it. It stays visible to them and to you. Everything they hide is listed under Activity → Private Photos.
On a phone
Most clients open galleries on a phone, so check yours on one before sending. The Layout tab has a Mobile preview for exactly that. Look at the cover especially. A layout that is beautiful on a laptop can put the title across a face on a narrow screen.
What they cannot do
They cannot edit, reorder or delete anything. Right-clicking a photo to save it is switched off on purpose. Nothing they do changes what you see, apart from selections, notes and hidden photos, which are meant to reach you.
There is no print shop and no ordering. If a client wants prints, that is a conversation with you.
Making it a good experience
Cull hard. A tight gallery gets looked at properly. Eight hundred photos gets scrolled.
Open strongly. The first screen decides whether they look at everything.
Use chapters for anything long. A wedding without chapters is a wall.
Say what you want. If you want selections, ask for a number and a date. Clients like being told what to do with their photos.