A third party service provides all the storage, bandwidth, and order fulfillment back end.  They should also have a good client and owner interface to make managing photos easy for the owner, and browsing and buying easy for the client.  In exchange for this service, they typically charge a yearly fee and take a cut of sales.  To me, though, this is worth it from an ease of use perspective.

As it turns out, there are many such services available, but after poking around for a while I decided to get the free trials of both Zenfolio and SmugMug.  Both offer similar services, and are close to the same price at the Pro level, at least when compared to other options.

After messing around with both for a bit, I decided to go with SmugMug.  The biggest feature that sold me on their service is that you can really customize the look for your gallery to help it belnd in with your site.  Zenfolio let’s you change the look and feel of your galleries around, but SmugMug let’s you actually modify the CSS for your site so you can get almost exactly the look you want.  Notice how my SmugMug gallery site fits right in with the look of this blog.  My navbar even stays intact, providing a nice, clean browsing experience.

Both services, it seems, offer excellent support, but SmugMug has a bit of a leg up with it’s massive Digital Grin forums which pretty much contain all of the information you could want on using SmugMug.  I’m sure you can’t really go wrong with either service, but for me, SmugMug had the edge.  If you’re looking for a simliar service, you get two week free trials from both Zenfolio and SmugMug, so be sure to give them botha try and see what you think.

However, for the serious photographer, traveling light can be difficult. If you want to the flexibility that you’ll only get with a SLR camera, your travel weight just went up much higher than someone with only a point and shoot. However, traveling with a decent SLR kit doesn’t have to be like lugging a boat anchor around if you make the right choices. The following is my setup which worked well for me on my recent trip to Europe. This won’t work for everyone, but I don’t think its a bad place to start.

Nikon D60 with 18-55mm VR Kit Lens

This is a very lightweight, compact camera with a versatile kit lens. Sure, it doesn’t have all the features of a high end model, but its miles better than any point and shoot, while not being overly large and unwieldy. The kit lens nice, lightweight, and flexible. The Vibration Reduction (VR) feature can be a lifesaver in low light. Of course, it is rather cheaply constructed, which lead to its downfall when a traveling companion inadvertently dropped the camera, breaking the plastic lens mount. The camera survived unscathed, but the lens needed replacing. Still, this (or a D40) is a great choice for those looking for a compromise between image quality and weight.

Nikon SB600 Speedlight

Very well built strobe that works awesome in TTL mode on my D60.  Great for bounce flash and fill.  In the future I might bring some sort of wireless triggers to allow off camera flash options, but this did the job great and is pretty much an essential accessory for any Nikon shooter.

Gorilla Pod SLR Zoom

My secret weapon.  This handy little device is super small and light compared to a real tripod, and allowed my to take some good night shots with a little ingenuity. The legs can wrap around pretty much anything, making it very useful in urban environments.  Highly reccomended.

So, I hope that gives you an idea of just how light you can travel with an SLR.  I really had no issues carrying my gear around the whole time.  In the future, I hope to upgrade to a better quality lens, but the kit setup really did do an excellent job without costing much at all.  Of course, everyone has different needs and wants, so your kit might look completely different.  Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below.  Thanks for reading.

Versailles

Notre Dame

Versailles Gardens

Cafe

Arc de Triomphe

Bridge

Arc de Triomphe

Pere Lachaise

Notre Dame

]]> http://www.davidwilsonphotography.com/travel-photos/paris/feed 0 http://www.davidwilsonphotography.com/travel-photos/ireland-dublin-and-wicklow-mountains http://www.davidwilsonphotography.com/travel-photos/ireland-dublin-and-wicklow-mountains#comments Mon, 19 Jan 2009 00:08:45 +0000 admin http://www.davidwilsonphotography.com/blog/?p=15 I had a great time in Dublin. Touring the city was fun, the people were friendly, and the weather was horrible. However, it was still a great trip. The surrounding Wicklow Mountains in the countryside are quite scenic as well, I hope to return someday when the weather is better

Monastery Ruins

Trinity College

Wicklow Mountains Road

Miniature Saint James Gate Brewery

Vintage Guinness Bottles

Four Pints