Privacy
Birth Photography Private Gallery: Keeping the Full Story With the Parents
A birth gallery holds frames a family will send to everyone and frames they may never show anyone. This guide sets up the delivery around that split, and says plainly what each setting can and cannot do.
Updated 17 September 2026
A birth gallery is one of the most private sets a photographer delivers.
Some of its photographs will be on a grandmother's fridge within a week.
Others belong to the parents alone, and they may decide that years from now.
The delivery should respect that split from the first day.
This guide covers how to do that on clientgallery.io: what each setting protects, where each one stops, and how to give relatives a gallery of their own without opening the full story.
It gives no medical advice and makes no claim about any hospital, birth centre or midwife practice. Photography rules differ from one birth location to the next, so check the rules of the place where the birth happens, and the family's wishes, well before the day.
Boudoir delivery raises different questions and has its own guide.
What a birth gallery has to protect
The worries parents raise are practical ones. The table maps each to what the gallery does, and to where that stops.
| The worry | What the gallery does | Where it stops |
|---|---|---|
| A stranger finding the gallery | Gallery pages are marked noindex, and an optional password gates the page. | The password stops people who do not have it, nobody else. |
| Relatives seeing frames the parents keep private | A second gallery, with its own password, holds only the approved frames. | The parents still decide whom they forward each link to. |
| Someone saving the photos | A downloads switch removes the download buttons and the gallery ZIP. | A displayed image can still be saved or screenshotted. |
| Faces being searchable | Face Search is off unless you switch it on for that gallery. | Nothing, as long as it stays off. |
| The link travelling on | The Share button on the client page can be switched off. | The address can still be copied and pasted. |
Two galleries: the full story and the family set
The cleanest setup uses two galleries, each with its own password.
- Gallery one holds the full birth story. Set a password, switch the Share button off, and leave Face Search off. Decide on downloads with the parents. This link goes to the parents only.
- The parents choose what relatives may see. They can mark those frames with picks in gallery one. Once picks are sent, a plain-text list of the picked filenames is available to you.
- Gallery two holds the family set. Upload only the approved frames into a second gallery and give it a different password.
- Send the parents both links. They forward the family link and its password to whomever they choose.
Why not a section link instead? A section link still asks for the gallery password, and that is the same password that opens the full story. Any relative who holds it would also open gallery one if its link ever reached them. Section passwords do not exist, so a second gallery is the only way to give relatives a separate key.
On the paid plan, galleries are unlimited under fair use, so the second gallery costs nothing more. A free account holds one gallery, so this setup needs the paid plan.
Sections inside the full story
Sections help the parents move through a long story. For example: labour, arrival, the first hour, the first family photo, details.
The parents see one scrolling page. Photos not placed in a section come first under “Highlights”, and a jump bar at the top shows each section with its photo count.
Each section also has its own link, which shows only that section. That page is view-only: no downloads, no picks, no comments, no colour labels, no face search, no invoice or payment button, and no full-resolution file. It has no link back to the full gallery, and the gallery password still applies.
A section link suits a relative the parents already trust with the password, who should see the arrival photos without scrolling past labour. Treat it as a courtesy boundary, not a lock.
What the password does
The password is optional, set per gallery, and can be up to 60 characters.
A visitor types it once, and that browser stays unlocked for 30 days. If a parent opens the gallery on a shared family tablet, the next person to pick it up may not see a prompt. Suggest the parents open the full story on their own devices.
The password also gates the whole-gallery ZIP, the full-resolution ZIP, face search and comments.
There are no guest accounts. The link and the password together are the credential, and a parent can forward both in one message. No setting prevents that.
Setup steps are in the password guide.
Downloads: what the switch hides and what it does not
Parents sometimes want relatives to look without keeping copies. The downloads switch helps, within limits worth saying out loud.
| With downloads switched off | Status |
|---|---|
| Download button on each photo | Hidden |
| “Download all photos” button and the gallery ZIP | Hidden and refused |
| Full-resolution ZIP, if you uploaded one | Still offered |
| Social crops of picked photos, after picks are sent | Still offered |
| Invoice | Still shown |
| The displayed images themselves | Served from ordinary image addresses; right-click is not blocked |
So on the family gallery, switch downloads off and do not attach a full-resolution ZIP there. Then tell the parents the truth: the switch removes the buttons, and a determined relative can still save what is on the screen.
The gallery applies no watermark. If the parents want one on the family set, add it with Lightroom Classic's own Watermarking panel at export, or watermark the JPEGs before upload. The watermark guide covers placement.
Parents choosing their favourites
If the parents choose frames for an album or for the family set, switch picks on for gallery one.
In the full-screen view, one tap stars a photo and a double tap loves it.
Everyone with the link shares one pick set. If both parents pick on their own phones, each sees the other's changes after reloading the page.
Pressing Send my picks asks for one name and one email, then locks the selection. You can reopen picking, and the existing picks stay, but the parents are not notified, so tell them yourself. Agree in advance which parent presses the button.
Comments and colour labels are off by default. Leave them off unless the parents need to ask for specific retouching.
Face Search stays off
Face Search is off unless you switch it on, one gallery at a time. When it is on, matching runs in the guest's own browser and the selfie is never uploaded. It is never available on section links.
It exists for weddings and events, where many guests look for themselves. A birth gallery has no crowd to search, so leave it off on both galleries. The face recognition privacy answer explains how it works for studios that use it elsewhere.
Search engines, location data and how long it stays up
Gallery pages are marked noindex, and the site's robots file blocks the gallery addresses.
Client pages carry your studio name and logo, with no platform branding, on your own studio subdomain.
For a home birth, location data matters. The Lightroom Classic plugin removes location metadata on export. This page makes no claim about files uploaded another way, so remove location data in your own export before uploading them.
There are no per-viewer logins, so you cannot see which relative opened a gallery. Each gallery tile in the studio shows only whether it has been opened.
Hosted galleries do not expire. Agree with the parents how long each gallery stays online, and write it down. Revoking a gallery takes its page dark; deleting it is permanent.
The numbers
| Item | Figure |
|---|---|
| Password length | Up to 60 characters |
| Password remembered on a browser | 30 days |
| Paid plan | $10 a month, or $100 a year (8.33 a month) |
| Free account | 1 gallery, 5 GB |
| Photos per gallery (fair use) | 1,000 |
| Full-resolution ZIP lifetime | 3 days per upload, re-uploadable any time |
| Standing full-resolution ZIPs per paid account | 100 GB |
| Gallery expiry | None |
| Pick sets per gallery | 1, shared by everyone with the link |
Before the birth: what the gallery cannot settle for you
Several decisions belong in a conversation and a written agreement, not in a setting. This is practical guidance, not legal advice.
- Whether and where photography is allowed: check the birth location's own rules before the day.
- Other people who may appear in frames, and how the family wants them handled.
- Which frames go in the family set, and who decides.
- Who may receive the family link and its password.
- Portfolio use, as a separate choice the parents opt into, or not.
- How long each gallery stays online, and how long you keep the files.
When a birth photographer should use something else
If you sell albums and prints inside the gallery. clientgallery.io has no print store and takes no commission. A studio that earns its margin through an in-gallery store should stay on a platform built around one, such as Pixieset or Pic-Time.
If you need a record of who opened what. There are no per-recipient links and no viewer log. That need calls for a different category of software.
If several people in your studio need their own logins. There are no seats or roles; a two-person studio shares one account.
If you want the gallery to hold your masters. The service hosts JPEGs, not RAW files. Keep the originals on your own drives and backups.
For the everyday handoff after the birth, the newborn delivery guide covers the family link, and the maternity delivery guide covers the session that often comes before.
Sources
This page states no external figure, quotes no competitor and makes no medical or birth-location claim. Pixieset and Pic-Time are named only as examples of platforms with a built-in store; no figure about them is stated. Every clientgallery.io behaviour below was checked against the product on 17 September 2026.
- clientgallery.io privacy behaviour (optional per-gallery password up to 60 characters, remembered 30 days on that browser, also gating the gallery ZIP, full-resolution ZIP, face search and comments; noindex gallery pages and robots rules; Share button switch; Face Search off by default, matched in the guest's browser, never on section links; no watermark on client galleries; no per-viewer logins; opened indicator; revoke and delete), checked 17 September 2026, https://clientgallery.io/
- clientgallery.io downloads and sections (what the downloads switch hides and does not hide; section links view-only with the gallery password still applying and no section passwords; one shared pick set that locks on sending and can be reopened; plain-text picks list; full-resolution ZIP live 3 days per upload with 100 GB per account), checked 17 September 2026, https://clientgallery.io/
- clientgallery.io plan and limits ($10 a month or $100 a year; free account of 1 gallery and 5 GB; 1,000 photos per gallery under fair use; no gallery expiry; no print store or commission; JPEG hosting only; no seats), checked 17 September 2026, https://clientgallery.io/
- clientgallery.io Lightroom Classic plugin (location metadata removed on export), checked 17 September 2026, https://clientgallery.io/lightroom
Frequently asked
How do I keep a birth gallery private?
Set a gallery password, switch the Share button off, and leave Face Search off. Gallery pages are already marked noindex. Send the link and password to the parents only, and give relatives a separate gallery with its own password.
Can relatives see only some of the birth photos?
Yes. The cleanest way is a second gallery that holds only the frames the parents approve, with a different password. A section link also shows only one section, but it uses the same password as the full gallery.
Does switching downloads off stop anyone saving the photos?
No. It hides the download buttons and refuses the gallery ZIP, but the displayed images can still be saved or screenshotted. A full-resolution ZIP you uploaded, social crops after picks, and the invoice stay available.
Does the gallery add a watermark to birth photos?
No. The gallery applies no watermark. If you want one, add it with Lightroom Classic's Watermarking panel at export, or watermark the JPEGs before you upload them.
How long does the password stay remembered?
Once typed, it is remembered for 30 days on that browser. On a shared family tablet, the next person may not see a prompt, so parents should open the full story on their own devices.
Can both parents choose favourites in the same gallery?
Yes, but they share one pick set. Pressing Send my picks asks for one name and email and locks the selection. The studio can reopen picking, and the parents are not notified when it does, so tell them.
Is photography allowed at every birth location?
This guide makes no claim about any hospital, birth centre or midwife practice. Rules differ from place to place, so check the rules of the birth location and the family's wishes before the day.
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