Portrait & Family Photo Proofing Galleries

What makes this delivery hard today

Clients reply with descriptions rather than filenames, and you spend an evening decoding them.
Grandparents want the photos too, and they are not going to create an account.
You want to show a proofing set now and the retouched finals later — without two separate deliveries.
Headshot clients need one specific file at full resolution, immediately, usually while you're shooting someone else.

The GalleryLink workflow

1
Deliver the proofing set from Drive
Export the culled session into its Drive folder and publish it. Use the Grid layout for headshots and contact-sheet proofing, or masonry when the session mixes verticals and horizontals.
2
Turn on favorites with a target
Set the number their package includes — say twelve. The client hearts as they browse, sees their count against the target, and submits a final set with their name attached.
3
Retouch and swap in the finals
Drop the retouched files into the same folder (or a Finals subfolder) and they appear in the gallery the client already has. One link across the whole job.
4
Let the family share it
No accounts, so the link works for parents, grandparents, and whoever else the client forwards it to. Turn downloads off if the package is prints-only.

Why it fits portrait & family photographers

Selection you can act on

Submitted picks arrive as a named, timestamped list of filenames in your dashboard — copy them straight into Lightroom rather than reverse-engineering a description.

Favorites without a login

Clients are identified by an anonymous per-browser id, so hearting works instantly with no account. The barrier that makes proofing galleries go unfinished simply isn't there.

View-only when the package says so

Switch downloads off and the gallery becomes browse-only: clients can still see everything full-screen, but the originals stay with you until the order is paid.

Sessions stay online

Because the files are in your Drive, last year's family session costs nothing to keep up — and returning clients are most of a portrait business.

A studio page for repeat clients

Pro gives you yourname.gallerylink.live listing the galleries you choose to feature, so a family that shoots with you every year lands on one branded address.

What it costs

The free plan publishes one live gallery — enough to try this on a real job. Pro is $5/mo or $50/yr for unlimited galleries, password protection, every theme and layout, and your own studio subdomain. Your photos stay in your Google Drive either way, so nothing here is priced by storage.

See full pricing →

Questions portrait & family photographers ask

How do clients choose their photos for prints?+

Enable album selection on the gallery and set a target count. Clients heart the frames they want while they browse, then submit a final set with their name and an optional note. You get the exact filenames in your dashboard, so nothing has to be matched up by description.

Do my clients need an account to favorite photos?+

No. Favorites are stored against an anonymous per-browser id, so a client can start hearting the moment the gallery opens. Nothing to sign up for, nothing to verify.

Can I stop clients downloading the originals?+

Yes — turn off downloads on the gallery. The photos are still fully browsable in the lightbox, but the download button is hidden, which suits packages where prints are the product.

Can I show proofs first and finals later?+

Use the same folder. Add the retouched files (a Finals subfolder becomes its own scene) and the gallery the client already has updates itself — no second link, no second email.

Is it private enough for a newborn or boudoir session?+

Gallery slugs are random and unguessable, client galleries are excluded from search indexing, and a Pro password adds a second layer. For sensitive work, use the password and leave downloads off until the client asks.