Displaying your photography work is one of the most rewarding steps in the creative process and a powerful marketing tool.
A stylish online gallery to share your photography with clients, peers, friends, and family is essential for pro and serious photographers and also doubles as storage for your images.
Your best imagery printed, framed and displayed showcases your work so it can be admired and appreciated. It shows your clients what you are capable of producing for them and inspires them to use your services.
Today Rich, our Creative Director and Photo Mentorship Co-Founder, gives his recommendations for prints, canvases, and online galleries. We know there is an overwhelming ocean of options when it comes to displaying your work. We've done the work for you.
Rich has tried and tested many of the companies offering print and gallery services. He is happy to share his opinions and findings so you can zoom straight to the best pro services on the market.
Canvases and Prints
Mpix is an affordable yet quality print option for canvases. Mpix offers gallery wrapped canvas prints on certified archival-quality canvas, which is hand-stretched around a wooden frame. Modern, lightweight and easy to hang so you can decorate your home and office in no time.
Mpix and Nations Photo Lab are our top choice for value-for-money prints. The colors are rich and vibrant, and they use quality photographic paper that looks great and is long-lasting.
If you are looking for a higher quality canvas, we say Canvas on Demand Pro is the way to go. These look amazing hanging in art galleries, photo studios or offices and will wow your clients. Since they specialize in canvas prints, you have many options for sizes, framing style and finish.
For high-quality prints, White House Custom Color (WHCC) won't disappoint. Professional photographers have a wide range of choices with sizes, paper type, finish, and products. The company is very detail-orientated to accommodate photographer's needs, and they can even ship directly to your clients.
Stepping into the highest quality luxury prints and canvases, you can't go wrong with Miller's Professional Imaging, PRODPI and Bay Photo. When you need to display your best images to clients in your photography studio, gallery, or at an event to market your services, it is worth investing in one of these top-notch printing companies.
First impressions count. When your clients see your photography presented in such a beautiful way, by a photography printing lab that produces the best quality available, they will be motivated to book.
Online Galleries
Shootproof is excellent for semi-pro and professional photographers who want an online gallery that offers an all-inclusive service for managing their business. It seems Shootproof has thought of everything with features including branding, invoicing, slideshows with music, printing and more. The platform is easy to use and looks stunning. Your clients will be as impressed as we are and your brand will be elevated at the same time.
You can try Shootproof for free for two weeks without handing over your credit card details. After that, if you are happy, there are a range of packages from free to $60 per month depending on your needs. Or you can pay yearly and get a nice discount.
Pass is another innovative company helping photographers store and display their work and streamline their business workflow at the same time. Pass fans love the clean-looking galleries and effortless way clients can order prints.
Pass also has a range of gallery options, from free for a limited number of images to $34 per month for unlimited images with branding, marketing and album design features.
Pass has been operating since 2011 and has constantly upped its game to meet the needs of the changing times. When they launched, many photographers were still burning CDs for their clients, so they really did begin by leading the industry in terms of modern technology and continue to do so.
Pixieset is another modern, advanced online photography gallery service that professional photographers rave about. We agree that the galleries look fantastic, are easy to use, including viewing, downloading and ordering prints. Pixieset offers five plans ranging from free to $40 per month, which includes unlimited storage, branding and print sales.
For wedding photographers, portrait photographers, fashion photographers, and lifestyle photographers, Pixieset offers a positive viewing experience for your clients when they log into their password-protected gallery. The clean layout of the galleries makes it easy and tempting to order prints. This Canadian company has been helping photographers excel in the digital world of photography since 2013.
Shootproof, Pass and Pixieset are all excellent and which one you use comes down to personal preference, which is why the free trials are so great. Take time to test them all before you buy a monthly or yearly package. Chances are, you would be delighted with any of the three stand-out online gallery services we mentioned.
It is probably time you went through your portfolio to select a few worthy images to print and frame or put on canvas. It can be a bit like blogging and social media. As photographers, we get behind in those tasks because we have more urgent things to deal with. But we have to remember it's important to print and display as our portfolios grow and improve. Just like one social media post could go viral and lead to a big job, printing and displaying work can also drive sales and increase your workload. The same with galleries. We need to use modern layouts and make sure our branding is up-to-date and on-trend.
Printing is a great way to showcase your work to clients, add some character to your office space or as a gift for someone who appreciates your photography work.
We hope this article inspires you to order a quality canvas print soon and share your beautiful artwork and maybe upgrade to a better online gallery service.
5 thoughts on “Rich’s Recommendations For Canvases, Prints, and Online Galleries”
Wow thank you Rich for all this information! This really helps to narrow down the best places for printing. It is so overwhelming with all the choices out there. I really appreciate how you break them all down and explain each of them.
We are so glad this cleared things up!
Great info… thanks for putting this together Rich. I am currently using a middle of the road plan with Pass.🥰
This is really good information, thanks Rich! I use Pixieset for my online gallery. I am not a “people” photographer, so I was able to categorize my images by subject matter – Botanicals and Butterflies, Fine Feathered Friends, Wildlife and Waterfowl, etc. My problem is knowing which images to print, what size, and on what surface…framed prints, canvases, metal, acrylic, etc. But, I am building an inventory with a little bit of everything, and it’s great to have artwork that people can see and touch.
We are so glad you enjoyed the read!