DropBox for Photographers

As a photographer in the digital photography world, there are many new things you need to think about: Having a place online to share and display your images; Being able to share your images between all of your devices; The ability to access your images from wherever you are; Most importantly, a secure place in which to backup your images.

What if there were a single place that could accomplish all of this? What if it were free? That is the promise of Dropbox. Dropbox is a service which allows you to synchronize files of any type, including your images, to their server and all of your other devices, such as a tablet, laptop or smartphone. And best of all, the service is free. You can store up to 2GB of images for free and grow that to 16Gb.

You can get extra space by inviting people to try out Dropbox. Both you and the referred person will receive 500Mb of bonus space. And with a service this robust, referrals are easy.

What many photographers who have heard about or use Dropbox don’t realize is that it is the perfect medium for sharing images with clients and potential customers. Dropbox allows to set up and share quick and easy photo galleries. Simply create a sub-folder under your Dropbox Photos folder and give it a meaningful name. You can then create a link that allows you to share this folder with anyone on the Internet, even those without a Dropbox account. Then, just copy the images you want to share to the folder on your computer and they will appear in your online gallery, already re-sized to the appropriate dimensions. Your customers will be able to preview your images and download the originals. In case you are not planning to share the full resolution files, you should either downsize or watermark them.

To make it even easier and more professional, you can point your own sub-domain at the gallery or use a URL link shortener like bitly.com to create a link that would look great on your business cards. Prior to an event, set up the gallery and the link, and have the link printed on your business cards. Then simply hand them out at the event to give all of those potential clients instant access to the gallery.

Photos by Luca Galuzzi

If you don’t have a Dropbox account yet, register with this referral link to get 2GB of free space plus extra 500MB. Once you are registered, you will want to download the free software to your computers, laptops, tablets, and smartphones to be ready to display and share your photographs with whoever you choose from anywhere in the world with an Internet connection. Don’t have a connection? That’s alright. Your images are constantly synced up with all of your devices when you are connected so that you can still show them when you are offline.

For any photographer in the digital age, having an online presence is mandatory. But it can get expensive and time-consuming, especially when you are just starting out. You need to set up a host for your web pages and spend time and money having pages created that can display your images in a professional manner or subscribe for a professional image hosting service.

But with Dropbox, all of that work has already been done for you. All you need to do is drag and drop your photos on your computer as easily as copying any other file. Almost instantly, your images are uploaded to the cloud, synchronized with all your other devices and ready to share with the world.

Create your Dropbox account and begin to experience this dynamic and user-friendly online file sharing and hosting platform.