clientgallery.io

Answer

How Do Photographers Send Proofs to Clients?

The direct answer, then the workflow that produces it: a private gallery link, two pick levels, a one-tap submission with no client account, and picks that arrive back in the editing catalog.

Updated 2026-09-07

Photographers send proofs by sharing a link to a private online gallery. The photographer publishes web-sized copies of the shoot into a gallery that carries their own name, protects the link with a password, and emails that link to the client. The client marks the photos they want inside the gallery, then sends the whole selection back in one action, without creating an account. The photographer is notified the moment the selection lands, and the chosen filenames come back into the editing catalog as ratings and flags. Attachments, shared drive folders and contact sheets are the older answer, and they all end the same way: a list of file numbers typed into an email, which somebody has to reconcile by hand.

Most pages that answer this question define the word proof and stop there. This one walks the whole loop, including the last step that decides whether the workflow actually saves you time. Every competitor mechanism described below was read off that vendor's own help centre on 7 September 2026 and is listed in the Sources section.

The five steps, in order

  1. Publish web-sized proofs, not deliverable files.
  2. Put a password on the link before you send it.
  3. Give the client two levels of pick, not one.
  4. Let the client submit the whole selection in one tap, with no account.
  5. Pull the selection back into the editing catalog, matched by filename.

Steps one to four are offered in some shape by every serious gallery platform. Step five is where the workflows separate, and it is the step this page spends the most time on.

Step 1: publish proofs, not deliverables

A proof is a preview. It has to be sharp enough to judge a photograph and useless as a finished file, because you are handing it to someone before the job is closed. That separation is a setting on most platforms rather than a different upload. Pixieset, for instance, publishes high-resolution download options and web-size download options separately in a collection's download settings, and lets a photographer control full gallery download and single photo download on their own.

On clientgallery.io the separation is structural instead of optional. Photos are compressed inside the photographer's own browser into proof JPEGs of roughly 0.6 MB each before they ever leave the machine, and those proofs are what the gallery hosts. Full-resolution delivery is a separate handoff: the photographer uploads one full-resolution ZIP per gallery, it stays live for three days per handoff, and it can be replaced at any time. The gallery itself never expires. Only the ZIP does.

If you edit in Lightroom Classic, you do not export and upload by hand. The plugin publishes the shoot straight out of the catalog, builds the gallery, names it and returns the client link. Re-export the same shoot later and each photo is replaced in place, with the picks already attached to it left intact.

Step 2: put a password on the link

A proofing gallery contains work that is not paid for yet, and often contains people who did not agree to be public. The link alone is not enough. Password protection is the norm across the category, but the platforms guard different things with it, and the difference matters.

Pixieset automatically assigns a four-digit download PIN to every collection, applying to both photo and video downloads, and recommends keeping it in place to protect your work. CloudSpot offers the same idea as an option: a four-digit PIN required from anyone downloading from the gallery, which can be reset or disabled at any time. Those two guard the download. CloudSpot also publishes gallery password protection, which it calls a critical feature for more sensitive galleries, so the page itself can be gated there as well.

On clientgallery.io the password guards the page itself, and the check runs on the server. When a gallery carries a code, a visitor without it gets nothing but the prompt. The photos are never queried and never reach the page source. The whole-gallery ZIP, the full-resolution handoff, the face index and the comments all re-check the same gate and refuse without it. A separate kill switch makes a link return a 404 outright while leaving the gallery intact, which is what you want the day a link gets forwarded somewhere it should not have gone.

Step 3: give the client two levels, not one

One heart forces a binary. The client has to decide, on the first pass, whether a photograph is in or out, and the ones they are unsure about pile up unmarked. That is the single biggest reason proofing galleries stall.

Two levels fix it without adding a manual. On clientgallery.io a single tap on a photo stars it and a second tap loves it. Tapping the level a photo already has clears it. Stars mean yes, hearts mean these are the ones, and a running tray at the bottom of the page keeps both counts visible so the client always knows where they stand. One pass through the gallery produces both a shortlist and a must-have list.

The competitors solve the same overload problem from the other direction, by capping the count. Pixieset lets a photographer preset a favorite list with a limit on how many selections the client can make. Pic-Time enforces a requested number outright: a client may submit fewer than requested or exactly the number, but selecting too many shows a red indicator and blocks submission. Both are legitimate. A cap tells the client when to stop. Two levels tell you what they actually felt about each frame.

Step 4: one tap sends the selection, and the client never signs up

The proofing round is not finished when the client marks photos. It is finished when they tell you they are done. Without an explicit submission you are guessing whether the gallery is still being worked on, and you cannot start editing.

On clientgallery.io the client presses Send my picks. A confirmation modal states how many starred and loved photos are about to go to the photographer, warns that sending locks the selection, and asks for the client's name and email. Both are required and the email is format-checked on the server. Sending stamps the gallery as complete and stops further picking. There is no account anywhere in that flow. The share link is the login, optionally plus the gallery password, and the name and email collected at send time are records, not credentials.

The photographer learns about it three ways at once: an email with the client's name and the gallery title, a push notification to their phone, and the dashboard, which flips from a pick count in progress to a finished state with an export button. Every platform in this comparison notifies you in some form. Pic-Time tells photographers they will be notified by email when the client completes a selection. ShootProof sends both a dashboard notification and an email when a linked contact finishes selecting. Pixieset has the client send the list and confirm that their selections are finished.

Step 5: the picks land in Lightroom Classic

This is the step that decides whether any of the previous four saved you time. A list of chosen filenames sitting in a browser tab is not a workflow. Somebody still has to find those frames in a catalog of two thousand and mark them, and that somebody is you, at the end of a long week, matching numbers by eye.

On clientgallery.io the plugin closes the loop. It authenticates with a studio key generated in the studio and revocable from there, so it only ever reads galleries on your own account. You paste the client link in any shape and one command pulls the selection back, matched by filename. In the catalog, starred photos are rated three stars, loved photos are rated five stars and flagged as Picks, and the whole selection is gathered into a collection named after the gallery. The plugin also runs as a Publish Service, so the gallery lives in Lightroom's left panel and re-edited photos push up with a Publish. In Lightroom's own menus the plugin appears under the name ClientGallery.

If you cull in Capture One or Hasselblad Phocus, the same selection comes out as a plain list instead. Every completed gallery carries an Export picks (.txt) button, which writes the picked filenames with the loved ones first and the starred ones after them.

How the picks come back to the photographer, platform by platform

Every mechanism in this table was read off the vendor's own help centre on 7 September 2026. The last column is the one worth reading twice, because it is where your Sunday goes.

PlatformHow the client marks a photoHow the client submitsHow the picks reach the photographer
PixiesetHeart icon on any photo, added to a new or existing favorite list saved under the client's email address. Clients can create several lists and add notes.Sends the list directly to the photographer and confirms the selections are finished.Favorite Activity under the collection's Activities tab, organized by email address. From a list the photographer can export a .CSV of filenames or a Lightroom Copy List.
Pic-TimeFlag icon on the photo, then a checkmark for which selection it belongs to, through the Selection Request tool.Send to Photographer. Pic-Time states the photographer is notified by email on completion.User's Favorites under the gallery's Workflow tab, with a .csv download. The Lightroom plugin syncs favorites when LR Sync also Favorites is switched on in Preferences.
ShootProofFavorites inside the gallery, with a filtered Favorites view in the gallery's top navigation.ShootProof sends a dashboard notification and an email when a linked contact finishes selecting.Favorites count in the Gallery Visitors report, an option to send the favorited files straight to the client, and filtering of client favorites in Lightroom.
CloudSpotFavorites images inside the gallery.CloudSpot publishes no separate submit step. The documented path is the client’s own download: they open the download icon at the top right and pick their favorites list plus any other folders, with downloads enabled in gallery settings first.The client enters an email and a download link is sent to that address. Download activity is visible to the photographer.
clientgallery.ioOne tap stars a photo, a second tap loves it. Two levels in a single pass, with a running tray of both counts.Send my picks, confirmed with the client's name and email. No account, and sending locks the selection.An email and a phone notification. The Lightroom Classic plugin pulls the picks back by filename as three stars, five stars plus a Pick flag, and a collection named after the gallery. Export picks (.txt) covers other editors.

One plan note worth knowing before you build a process on it: Pic-Time lists Client Selections as a Professional and Advanced plan feature, alongside album proofing and guest pre-registration. It is not listed on the Free or Beginner plans.

The honest reading of that table is that everyone gets the picks to you. The difference is the shape they arrive in. A CSV of filenames or a copy list tells you which frames were chosen. Turning that into ratings on the right two hundred photos is still an act of manual labour, and it is the part that gets skipped at eleven at night. Arriving as ratings, a flag and a collection means the culling decision is already applied when you open the catalog.

When you should stay where you are

A studio that already lives inside a print lab and a CRM should keep Pixieset or Pic-Time. That is not a hedge, it is the correct answer for that studio. Pixieset Studio Manager creates and sends client invoices with line items, taxes, discounts, due dates, payment schedules, automatic reminders and tips, and its store fulfills digital downloads automatically by emailing the client a secure link after purchase. Pic-Time charges commission on your markup rather than on production costs, and publishes no commission on self-collected payments on its Professional and Advanced plans. If print revenue and booking paperwork run through the gallery platform, moving the galleries somewhere else means dismantling the business system around them.

clientgallery.io deliberately does not compete there. There is no print store, and no money ever passes through the platform. You paste your own payment link into the gallery, a Pay your invoice button appears for the client, and you switch downloads on yourself once the invoice clears. Nothing watches a payment and nothing unlocks automatically. The galleries hold JPEG proofs, not RAW files and not video, which is what keeps the price flat and what makes it the wrong tool if you deliver video alongside your photographs.

What it is built for is the loop this page describes: proofs out of the catalog, a private link under your own name, two levels of pick, a selection sent in one tap by a client who never signs up, and that selection landing back in Lightroom Classic as something you can actually filter on.

Sources

Every competitor mechanism on this page was read on the vendor's own help centre or pricing page on 7 September 2026. Product behaviour for clientgallery.io was verified in the product source on the same date.

Frequently asked

How do photographers send proofs to clients?

They share a link to a private online gallery. The photographer publishes web-sized copies of the shoot into a gallery under their own name, protects it with a password, and emails the link. The client marks the photos they want inside the gallery and sends the whole selection back in one action, without creating an account. The photographer is notified when it lands and pulls the chosen filenames into the editing catalog.

Do clients need an account to pick their photos?

On clientgallery.io, no. The share link is the login, optionally plus the gallery password. The client stars and loves photos, presses Send my picks, and types their name and email on the confirmation step. That name and email are a record of who submitted the selection, not credentials, and nothing is created for the client to remember.

What size should proofing images be?

Web-sized copies, sharp enough to judge a photograph and useless as a finished file. On clientgallery.io photos are compressed inside the photographer's own browser into proof JPEGs of roughly 0.6 MB each before they leave the machine. Full-resolution delivery is a separate handoff: one ZIP per gallery, live for three days per handoff, replaceable at any time.

How do I stop a proofing gallery from being seen by the wrong people?

Put a password on it. On clientgallery.io the check runs on the server, so a visitor without the password gets only the prompt and the photos are never queried or written into the page source. The whole-gallery ZIP, the full-resolution handoff, the face index and the comments all re-check the same gate. A separate kill switch makes a link return a 404 outright while leaving the gallery intact.

How do client picks get into Lightroom Classic?

The clientgallery.io plugin authenticates with a studio key and pulls the selection back matched by filename. Starred photos are rated three stars, loved photos are rated five stars and flagged as Picks, and the whole selection is gathered into a collection named after the gallery. In Lightroom's own menus the plugin appears under the name ClientGallery.

What if I cull in Capture One instead of Lightroom?

Every completed gallery has an Export picks (.txt) button that writes the picked filenames as a plain list, loved photos first and starred photos after them. That imports into Capture One or Hasselblad Phocus the same way any filename list does.

Which platform should I use if I sell prints through the gallery?

Stay with Pixieset or Pic-Time. Pixieset Studio Manager sends invoices with line items, taxes, payment schedules and reminders, and its store fulfills digital downloads automatically. Pic-Time charges commission on your markup rather than production costs and publishes no commission on self-collected payments on its Professional and Advanced plans. clientgallery.io has no print store and never handles the money.

Your client galleries, under your name

Unlimited galleries, your branding, one-click Pixieset import, and a Lightroom plugin, all on a flat 10 $/month with everything included. Your first gallery is free.

Create your studio

Related guides

How Do Photographers Send Proofs to Clients? (2026)