Skip to main content

How to deliver photos to clients online

How you hand over the final photos is the last thing a client remembers about working with you. A zip file lost in their inbox says something very different to a polished gallery with your name on it. This guide covers how to deliver your work like a professional.

Why email, WeTransfer and USB drives fall short​

The quick options all have the same problems:

  • Email caps attachments at a few megabytes, so a full shoot never fits.
  • WeTransfer and Dropbox links run out or get buried, and they look nothing like your brand.
  • USB drives cost money, get lost, and force your client to wait for the post.

None of them let a client browse, pick their favourites, or come back to the photos months later. And none of them look like you.

A client gallery is a private web page where your finished photos live. You send one link. Your client opens it on any device and sees your work presented beautifully, under your business name, in the colors and type you chose.

A good gallery lets clients:

  • Browse the full set, organized into chapters
  • Star the photos they want and send the list back to you
  • Download the photos they need, at the size they need
  • Come back any time the gallery is live

How to deliver photos professionally​

A few habits make your delivery feel premium:

  • Brand it. A cover image, a typeface and a color set that match your style. The gallery should feel like an extension of your work.
  • Organize into chapters. Break a wedding into Getting ready, Ceremony and Reception so clients find what they want fast.
  • Curate. Deliver your best work, not every frame. A tighter gallery feels more intentional.
  • Set expectations. Decide whether clients can download, at what sizes, and whether the gallery expires.
  • Protect your work. Turn downloads off for a proofing gallery, or offer only a smaller size and keep the download PIN on.

How to deliver photos in CoreHue​

  1. Create a gallery. Galleries → New gallery, a name and an optional event date. It opens on the Chapters tab with one chapter already there, called Featured. See Creating a gallery.
  2. Upload your photos and sort them into chapters for each part of the shoot. Add a chapter description and it appears above that chapter's photos for the client. See Chapters.
  3. Design it on the Layout tab: Cover layout, Typography, Colors and Grid. A live preview shows the real gallery as you go, and your changes save themselves. See Design and themes.
  4. Set access and downloads on the Settings tab. Access holds the gallery password, client access and email registration. Downloads holds the sizes and the PIN. See Passwords and access and Downloads.
  5. Publish and share. The first time you publish, CoreHue confirms it and then takes you to the Share gallery screen. There you pick the contact and write the message. Include in email adds the Contact password and the Download PIN to it. Or copy the link and send it yourself.

The two settings that generate the most questions​

Downloads start switched on, at Original plus Web Size (2048px). The other optimized sizes are Standard (1024px) and Small (640px), and you pick one of them at a time. At least one of Original and Optimized has to stay on. If you do not want clients taking full-resolution files, switch Original off before you share.

A download PIN starts switched on too. Every new gallery gets a four-digit code, and nobody downloads anything without it. That is the single most common reason a client reports a gallery as broken. Either send the PIN with the link, or tick it into the email, or turn it off under Settings → Downloads.

What you see afterwards​

The gallery's Activity tab shows what happened: whole-gallery and single-photo downloads, the collections your client built, who registered an email on the way in, and any photos your client hid.

Downloading always asks for an email, whether or not you turned email registration on, so downloads come with a name attached. Viewing does not ask, unless you turned it on.

There is no view counter, so a quiet Activity tab does not necessarily mean nobody looked.

Getting selections back​

Clients star photos into named collections and send them to you. That is what you want for an album or a print order.

You can also go first. Create a selection request addressed to their email, with a brief and a maximum, so they know exactly what to pick and how many. Five starting points are offered, including Album picks and Retouch list. See Collections.

Next step​

Ready to send your first one? Walk through Creating a gallery, or read the Galleries overview to see everything they can do.

Questions about delivering your work in CoreHue? Email us at hello@corehue.co.

Last updated on