ShootProof Review: Professional Photographer Edition

As an all-inclusive Seattle photographer, the way my clients view and experience their photos matters to me. There are many options available for photographers to select from. Honestly, it can get overwhelming. With that, I wanted to share an honest ShootProof review. As a customer for at least the past ten years, you can guess that I will be in favor of trying this online gallery proofing company. However, I will share both pros and cons (or things to consider) about using ShootProof.

In the end of this ShootProof review you can hopefully have a better picture of if this service will work for your business needs.

The first thing to look at in this review, is what exactly is ShootProof?

In the simplest form, ShootProof is an online place to create a way for your families to view their photos from their session. You are able to sell prints and products (more about that later), deliver digital files, and even allow your clients to share their galleries with their friends and family.

Photographers are also able to send contracts, newsletters and invoices through the platform, in efforts to streamline their businesses. Personally, I am currently using a full service CRM so my experience with that is very limited. Thus, this ShootProof review focuses on the online gallery side.

ShootProof’s photo galleries are clean, gorgeous, and allow your photos to stand out.

The minimal design allows the focus to be on your photos. There are user friendly, with simple navigation and buttons for purchasing and downloading photos. Because they are simple, I am not spending extra time in my business answering client questions about how to access their photos or order prints and products. For me, that’s a huge win on the ShootProof review.

Anything that saves time is a pro, right?

Again, the focus is on your photos not the platform making it ideal for creatives.

You are also able to customize the colors, fonts, and logos to fit your brand. As your client experiences their gallery, it will feel like an extension of the experience of working with your brand.

There are pricing plans for every level of photographer.

When I began using ShootProof I was simply using the free plan to get me started. As my business grew, I have always been able to find the plan that fit my needs.

Plans are selected based on the number of photos you’d like available to have uploaded at one time. From free (includes most features), to basic (includes 1,500 photos) all the way up to the unlimited plan, with several more options in between.

Plus, save space by archiving galleries. You will pay a small monthly fee. However, should a client request access to their photos again it’s as easy as a click of the button to make the gallery active again.

Setting up galleries is very user friendly.

Once again, I do not want to spend precious time trying to figure out complicated platforms. Initial set up is a breeze. A few clicks you can set up your brand colors and logos.

I found it very simple setting up all other details for uploading a gallery. Furthermore, you can create “defaults” or preset settings for galleries. Once you select settings for a gallery for say, newborn photography sessions, you can save the settings as a template to easy select for future sessions. You can have one for each client or session type.

Another plus side of this ShootProof review is the ability to set up multiple price sheets in your account.

Personally, I have family sessions, school portraits, charity events, headshot sessions, and Santa sessions. All of these types of sessions have different needs and thus require different price sheets.

Price sheets are easy to set up. You are able to choose from quite a few professional labs to have prints sent directly from the order to the lab with the click of a button. You can also set up self-fulfilled items on price sheets if you’d prefer to hand order things yourself.

Provide discount codes and automatic discounts for various items for your clients. This is wonderful if you offer discounts for purchasing by certain dates, or to allow clients to easily redeem their print credit.

I will say, at times it can feel complicated to set up a discount. However, if you carefully read your selection you will be able to create what you’re looking for.

Despite being fully online, they have amazing customer service.

Should you have a problem, question, or want to share feedback, the team at ShootProof is amazing. Again, I have been using ShootProof for over ten years. They have helped me and listened to my feedback first hand.

The biggest point of this ShootProof review is that it feels like they truly care about the people they serve – photographers.

However, I promised to include the good with the bad on this review.

One con of this ShootProof review is that there is not a way to show products easily.

There is something to be said of showing your photos as framed prints, canvases, folio boxes, etc. Other companies have those abilities built in. As of December 2022, ShootProof did begin having an integrated way for you to sell holiday cards through WHCC pro lab. As this is a new feature and that isn’t a lab I currently use, I can not offer a first hand ShootProof review on this. However, I did have a friend and fellow photographer give it a try. She said it was easy to implement and for clients to use.

Given my history with ShootProof and seeing their growth, I am guessing they are working on ways to make this happen. They are listening to us, photographers!

One final comment is the process for dealing with bulk orders is not as streamlined as I would like.

This aspect of my ShootProof review applies if you offer school or sports team photography.

On the plus side, you are able to easily upload folders for events. I can simply have each students photos in their folder and upload the collection of folders into one gallery. This makes it simple for parents to view only their child’s photos.

However, once orders are placed there is not an easy way to accurately print all orders at once. Any crop requests aren’t printed onto the order sheet, meaning I have to pay close attention to each order and mark it down.

With that, ShootProof was working on a QR code system in late 2022. My guess is more streamlining and systems just for high volume photography is coming soon.

Overall ShootProof is an amazing choice for online photo proofing.

In case ten years of use isn’t obvious enough of a ShootProof review from me, I highly recommend using this proofing company for your photography business.

With ease of use, clean design allowing your photos to shine, and the ability to easily make print sales makes it a no brainer.

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