How to send a client gallery you're proud of

Start with what the gallery is for

Many gallery problems come from one link trying to do several jobs. Decide first which one this is:

• Delivery: finished photos and films, ready to view and download.
• Proofing: the client picks the photos you will edit. Images are watermarked and can't be downloaded.
• Sales: visitors buy downloads, from the Basic plan up. The guide to selling event photos covers it.
• Review: a film or a set of edits that needs comments and a sign-off before it is final. That is a review link rather than a gallery, covered below.

Make the first screen count

Your client will probably open the link on a phone, often straight from a messaging app. The first screen should look like you.

• Template and cover. Choose a template, then a cover photo or film. Set the focal point so the part of the cover that matters stays in view on every screen size.
• Your brand kit. Galleries can pick up your logo, colours and fonts automatically, and you can change them for a single gallery.
• Sets. Split the gallery into chapters such as Ceremony, Portraits and Reception, and hide a set that isn't ready yet.
• Grid and slideshow. Masonry, rows, squares, editorial or filmstrip; crossfade or Ken Burns transitions; and music for the slideshow, which the client can mute.

Before sending, check the preview on both desktop and mobile in the gallery builder. It takes a minute and catches most surprises.

Access: password, expiry and who is visiting

• Password. At least 4 characters. Send it separately from the link.
• Expiry date. Optional. Once it passes, visitors see that the gallery has expired and are told to ask you for a new link.
• On or off. Switch a link off without deleting anything. Even deleting a gallery leaves your files in your library.
• Visitor details. Off, optional or required. Visitors give their name and email, with no account or password, and tick a privacy notice you can rewrite in your own words. They can ask to be forgotten from the gallery menu at any time.
• Link preview. For a password-protected gallery, choose whether the cover appears when the link is pasted into WhatsApp or iMessage.

Downloads: generous for the client, controlled for everyone else

Download options decide what leaves the gallery. Turn downloads off completely, or choose the sizes (high resolution, web size at 2048 px, or both), the scope (whole gallery, one photo at a time, or favourites only), a 4-digit download PIN that is separate from the password, sets that can be viewed but never downloaded, and a download limit. A common setup: family views with the password, and only the client, who has the PIN, downloads the originals.

Watermarks that protect without spoiling the work

Watermarks are applied on Aurant's servers to every image visitors see. Your originals are only ever sent as downloads you allow.

• The mark: text (your studio name by default), your studio logo, or an uploaded image. A PNG with a transparent background works best, up to 5 MB.
• Placement: any of nine positions, or tiled across the image, with your choice of opacity and size.
• Downloads: web-size downloads carry the watermark; high-resolution originals never do.
• Proofing: proofing photos are always watermarked, and you can customise the mark.

For a delivery gallery, a small, light mark in a corner is often enough, or none at all. For proofing or a sales gallery, a tiled mark gives more protection.

Favourites, selections and comments

Favourites. Visitors heart photos and sort them into lists such as Album picks or Prints, with a note on each photo, then send a list to you with a message. You are notified, and from the gallery's client activity page you can copy the file names for a Lightroom filter, download a CSV, or build a new gallery from the favourites.

Selections for proofing. Set a selection limit if your package includes a fixed number of edits. When the client submits, the selection locks; you can reopen it, then mark it as being edited and, later, delivered, so both of you know where things stand.

Comments. Visitors comment on a photo, or on a film at the exact moment they are watching, and only they and you can see the conversation. You reply from the client activity page, mark threads resolved, or hide a comment from the client.

For films: send a review link

A gallery is the right home for a finished film. While it is still in the edit, share it for review instead:

• Guests open the link without an account. They give their name and email first, so you know who said what.
• Each comment can attach to the exact time, a single frame or a marked in and out range, and carry a drawing: a pin, a rectangle, an arrow or a freehand line.
• Upload a new version and earlier comments are carried over, so nothing gets lost. Compare versions side by side, with a slider or as an onion skin.
• Clients can approve or request changes, and you can name required approvers.
• You decide whether guests can comment, approve or download, and you can add a password and an expiry date, or turn the link off at any time.
• Export the comments as a CSV or a printable report with timecodes, ready for the edit.

Send it, then follow up

Send the gallery by email from Aurant, with your cover photo, a personal note and the link under your studio's name, or copy the link or its QR code for WhatsApp. Then watch the client activity page: views, unique visitors, the photos opened and favourited most, and every download. Aurant measures this itself, with no third-party trackers on your client's gallery. You can also ask to be notified when comments or favourites lists arrive.

Before you press send, run through this short list:

1. Open the gallery on your phone, with the password, as your client will.
2. Download one photo in each allowed size to check the files.
3. Look at the watermark on both a light and a dark photo.
4. Play a film from start to finish on mobile data, not just on your studio connection.
5. Write a short personal note: it is the first line your client reads.