Client delivery guide
Client delivery guide
You finish a wedding, cull six hundred frames down to four hundred edited full-resolution JPEGs, and now you have to get them to the couple. Email chokes on the file size. A transfer link works, until it expires a few days later and the bride messages asking for it again.
So what’s the best way to send photos to clients? A branded online gallery on your own site. It holds full-resolution files, looks like your studio instead of a generic file drop, lets clients download and order prints themselves, and doesn’t expire mid-download the way a transfer link does.
Email, WeTransfer and Google Drive all move files across. None of them does that last part.
Here’s how the five common methods actually compare.
Five common methods
| Method | Full resolution | Your branding | Client download | Feedback / proofing | Sell prints | Link expiry | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Client gallery (Pixpa) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | You set it | From $4.80/mo |
| WeTransfer / file transfer | Within size cap | No | Yes | No | No | Free links expire | Free; paid plans |
| Cloud storageDropbox, Drive | Yes | No | Yes | Limited | No | Permanent | Free tier; paid |
| Hits size caps | No | Yes | No | Yes | N/A | Free | |
| USB / hard drive | Yes | No | In person | No | No | N/A | Cost of drive |
The split is clean. The bottom four get a file from your machine to your client’s. A client gallery is the only one that also presents the work under your name, controls how it’s downloaded, collects feedback, and sells prints from the same screen. That’s the whole reason dedicated galleries exist.
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Method breakdown
Each of these has a real use, so start with what they’re good at.
Email is instant and everyone has it. For three or four preview shots, it’s fine. The wall is size: Gmail caps attachments at 25MB, and a single full-resolution file can clear that on its own. Send a full gallery and you’re splitting it across a dozen messages or compressing the images down to something you’d never want a client to judge your work by.
WeTransfer is fast, free for small sends, and the client needs no account. The catch is the expiry. Free transfer links go dead after a set window, so a couple who comes back from their honeymoon to download finds nothing there, and you’re re-uploading four hundred files to generate a fresh link. It also drops the client into a bare transfer page with no sign it came from you.
Cloud storage is genuinely good for keeping and backing up RAW files, and the space is generous. As a delivery tool it falls down on presentation: the client lands in a generic file list, not your brand, there’s no clean way for them to mark favorites or leave notes, and there’s nowhere to buy a print. You’re using a filing cabinet as a storefront.
The case for galleries
A client gallery closes every one of those gaps in a single place. The client opens a link and sees your logo, your colors, your domain, full-resolution images laid out the way you’d want them seen.
“As an event photographer I send large photo galleries to multiple clients. It looks neat, is easy to use, and I haven't heard any problems from clients.”
The controls are yours. Put each gallery behind a password and an optional download PIN, so only your client gets in. Decide whether they download full-resolution or web-size, the whole set or single frames. Set an expiry date if you want the gallery to close itself, instead of old work sitting live forever.
The part no transfer tool can match: on Pixpa, client photo galleries are part of your own website and store, not a separate subscription bolted onto your site. The same platform holds your portfolio and a zero-commission store, so the link you send to deliver photos is also where the client can order prints, and you keep everything after the payment-processor fee. Sending the work and selling the work stop being two tools.
No credit card required.
Resolution & quality
This is where most methods quietly cost you. To share high-resolution photos with clients without losing quality, you need control over the download, and email or messaging apps take it away by compressing files on the way out. A gallery hands that control back.
You choose what download sizes to offer, full-resolution stays full-resolution with no forced compression, and the client picks what they need.
Storage is the other half of high-resolution delivery, because RAW-heavy weddings and events are large. Pixpa’s standalone gallery plans run from 20GB on Lite up to unlimited, so a full event delivered at full quality doesn’t force you to thin the gallery or upgrade mid-season.
Upload your photos to a gallery
Create a new client gallery and drag in your final edits or proofs.
Brand it as your own
Add your logo, colors and custom domain so the gallery reads as your studio, not a third-party tool.
Set downloads and access
Choose full-resolution or web-size, add a password and optional download PIN, and set an expiry date.
Share the gallery link
Send the link or a branded email invite. Clients view, favorite, download and order prints from any device.
No credit card required.
Pro delivery
Most working photographers have moved off email and bare transfer links to a dedicated client gallery, for the reasons above: presentation, control, and a single place that also sells. The ones who run a full business tend to want their client photo delivery, their website and their store in one account rather than three.
“I really like the client galleries feature in Pixpa, which is a great way to deliver photos/files to customers.”
Client proofing
If your delivery also needs the client to choose their final set, that’s proofing — clients mark favorites and approve a selection inside the gallery.
How Client Proofing WorksSell images online
If you want to sell prints and downloads beyond the client’s own set, that runs through the same store.
How To Sell Images OnlineShareable gallery links
For a one-off public set that anyone can open without a login, a shareable gallery link is the lighter option.
How Shareable Gallery Links WorkEverything else about sending photos to clients. Still curious? Live chat is open 24/7.
A branded online gallery. It holds full-resolution files, carries your branding, lets clients download and order prints themselves, and doesn’t expire mid-download the way a free transfer link does. Email and USB lose quality or look unprofessional; cloud storage moves files but presents them in a generic list.
Share a private, branded online gallery instead of attachments or a bare transfer link. Upload your photos, set a password and the download sizes you want to allow, then send the gallery link or a branded email invite. Clients open it on any device, view your work under your name, and download what they need.
Use a gallery that offers full-resolution downloads with no forced compression, instead of email or messaging apps that shrink files. On Pixpa you set the download sizes, the client chooses what they need, and plans scale from 20GB to unlimited so full-quality events fit.
Most use a dedicated client gallery rather than email or a bare transfer link, because it presents the work under their brand, controls downloads, and can sell prints. Photographers running a full business often want the gallery, their website and store on one platform.
Upload the full set to a client gallery and share one link, rather than splitting files across emails or zipping them. The client downloads the whole gallery or individual images at the size you allow, with no attachment limit to work around.
WeTransfer is fine for a quick one-off send, but its free links expire and the client lands on an unbranded page with no downloads control, feedback or print sales. A client gallery keeps the work under your brand, lets you set access and expiry yourself, and sells from the same screen.
For client work, yes. WeTransfer moves files but expires the link and shows none of your branding. A client gallery delivers under your name, keeps the link live as long as you want, lets clients leave feedback, and sells prints from the same place. For a one-off send to a friend, WeTransfer is still fine.
Upload your photos to a gallery, add your branding, set the download size and an optional PIN, then share the link or a branded email invite. Clients view on any device, download the files you allow, and the gallery can auto-expire on a date you choose.
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Branded delivery, full-resolution downloads, prints sold from the same link, on one platform with your website and store.
No credit card required.