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|| SportsShooter.com: Member Message Board
Serving photos over a local network
Cliff DesPeaux, Student/Intern, Photographer
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Shoreline | WA | USA | Posted: 12:28 AM on 04.07.09 |
->> I have been looking for a way to serve my pictures over a private network and/or a protected internet page. I've looked at Portfolio NetPublish, but it's way too expensive.
Basically: I want the ability to go to a website and search metadata from my library of thousands of pictures, and be able to download the file from wherever I am.
I just signed up for a SmugMug account and it looks like that will be great -- for when I remember to upload stuff. But I'm looking for something that can search and serve a entire library stored at home, not something that I have to upload to a 3rd party which could go under at any time.
Please advise if you know of anything that might work.
Thank you,
Cliff DesPeaux |
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Delane B. Rouse, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Washington | DC | US | Posted: 12:39 AM on 04.07.09 |
| ->> Why not use PhotoShelter? |
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Cliff DesPeaux, Student/Intern, Photographer
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Shoreline | WA | USA | Posted: 12:42 AM on 04.07.09 |
->> Because I would have to upload everything to it, and uploading 130,000 images would be very expensive.
I'd like to have the files served from my network instead of using a 3rd party network because then I won't have to copy them elsewhere or rely on another company's system. |
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David Harpe, Photographer
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Louisville | KY | USA | Posted: 8:13 AM on 04.07.09 |
->> Cliff,
There is no charge to upload to your photoshelter account. You only get hit with a bandwidth charge when you do an export:
http://pa.photoshelter.com/tour/pricing
(roll down the "external bandwidth for exports" tab)
"All accounts come with unlimited bandwidth for uploading or downloading images to and from your own account. The bandwidth limits refer strictly to exports from your account (e.g. FTP or client download). "
For a small fee ($100) you can send photoshelter a hard drive with your images and they will transfer them all to your account. Saves a boatload of time if you have a bunch of images to load. |
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Clark Brooks, Photo Editor, Photographer
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Urbana | IL | USA | Posted: 9:58 AM on 04.07.09 |
->> There isn't going to be a cheap way to do what you want. Ideally, you would want set up a webserver on your network and give it a static IP address. Then using VPN you could securely access you file anywhere you have a internet connection. How much would this cost? More than PhotoShelter and even SmugMug initially and depending on how much use may really be a waste of financial resources. Over time, with regular, daily usage it might be worth it.
The other option and much cheaper is to purchase enough Maxtor Central Axis 1TB drives to cover you storage needs and plug them into you network via a network switch box. Seagate offers a free service called "Seagate Global Access" where owners can access files on their Seagate storage device and share those files with other people via the web or access them themselves. You might want to look into this option as a way to go. |
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Clark Brooks, Photo Editor, Photographer
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Urbana | IL | USA | Posted: 10:23 AM on 04.07.09 |
->> One more option that may be even cheaper.
Do you have a website with FTP access to your file area?
Since you signed up for a SmugMug account and have wordpress blog, I'll assume you don't at this point until you tell us differently.
But if the answer is yes, you can purchase a program called ImageFolio (www.imagefolio.com) and use it to do exactly what you want. IF is an internet based image asset manager. Once you install the PERL script you can upload your high-res files to your server or ISP account. If you files are IPTC captioned, IF will read that data, and the archive will be immediately searchable. You can use the lightbox feature to send potential clients low-res files to review or consider for projects and download files any where you have an internet connection just as you desire.
And, from any where you have web access, if you shoot an assignment and want to back up files while on the road, you can upload your take to your server so you have a back up copy while traveling. Or better yet, if you want to make photos immediately available to clients while on assignment, as soon as you upload them they would become available to buyers. IF is definitely the most cost effective way to go and gives you complete control over access, templates for display, and access to your images where ever in the world you may be as long as you have internet access to your website.
I have been using IF since 2002. It paid for itself in six months and is well worth the investment. Out of all the options this would be the cheapest route in the long run.
HTH |
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Delane B. Rouse, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Washington | DC | US | Posted: 11:06 AM on 04.07.09 |
->> I think you can send PhotoShelter a hard drive and they will do the upload for you. Maybe for a charge? I'm not sure...but you can always ask...
http://pa.photoshelter.com/contact
or even (gasp) call them ;)
PhotoShelter, Inc.
33 Union Square West
2nd Floor
New York, NY 10003
212 206 0808
Fax: 212 206 0554 |
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Dan Leitch, Photographer
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New Hope | MN | USA | Posted: 11:48 AM on 04.07.09 |
->> Take a look at Windows Home Server software. I recently upgraded my desktop and used the old machine to build a Windows Home Server. Cost about $100 for the software and any drives you add to the system. You can also buy a server pre-built with everything already installed. HP and a few others are selling versions now and they will work with a Mac as well.
It allows me access to my files from anywhere I have an internet connection. It also will back up each machine you put on the network nightly. Uploading your files to the server is free, its over your own internal connection, no bandwidth issues. It will take a while to put that many photos on your server but this might be a good solution for you. |
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Matthew Sauk, Photographer
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Sandy | UT | United States | Posted: 5:08 PM on 04.07.09 |
->> That is a lot of images and it would be well worth any money to invest in a good home server. Uploading 130,000 images has to be at least a terabit worth off files! I mean I have 30,000 and I am at 300 GB of data.
Most broadband companies would stop your connection pretty quick lol let alone if you were to upload it would take you a month!
Photoshelter is nice but your looking at way more then 35 bucks a month. With a windows home server you could spend around 700 I believe for that HP home server and it would do what you are wanting. |
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Matthew Sauk, Photographer
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Jack Howard, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Central Jersey | NJ | USA | Posted: 7:53 PM on 04.07.09 |
->> Cliff: I'll give you an A for ambition, but an E in editing.
-There are specialized stock sites with smaller collections.
-Brad Mangin has been shooting MLB and tons else over more than 2 decades and has less than 30,000 images on Photoshelter, for comparison.
Honestly, bulk key and cap input is an awesome tool, but not everything is a select. I'm sure you could pare this down a wee bit and make a much stronger collection and that would require less bandwidth and storage all around...think about it, do you really want to put off a potential buyer by having them have to sift through every single shot from every single shoot?
I could be wrong, maybe you've got truly 130,000 unique selects, but I reckon you could halve that and make a stronger set...I know some stock shooter subscribe to the "maybe one noodle will stick to the wall" if you throw enough macaroni at it, but I think a curated collection of just the selects of the selects will ultimately lead to more sales.
Good luck! |
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