Today we released Smart Galleries Until today, your galleries could only contain actual photos and videos that you uploaded. Now they can also display virtual copies so that one photo can be displayed in many locations.

This was also the #1 request on our feature request forum.

The details are in the Release Notes and our help pages for Collecting Photos and for Smart Gallery Settings.

We'll answer all your questions here, or you can also write our Support Heroes as well!


























FAQs to come, right here.

Do collected photos obey the gallery settings from the original gallery? Yes.

I'm a Pro - why on earth would I want other people on SmugMug to collect my photos on their website? Since the collected photos respect your rules (size displayed, right click, pricing, for sale, not for sale, etc) and have a link back to your site, it's a great way for your stuff to be out there in more places, seen by more people.

Bah. I don't want my photos collected by anyone. No problem. Go to control panel, settings tab, and turn collecting off, sitewide. Or, set specific galleries to be unlisted, or external links off, or have a gallery or site password.

If I post an image on a forum using the link from the virtual copy, does the original image get hit with stat counts? Yup, indeed it will.

It's magic !! that link is to a trial gallery i just setup, I followed the instructions on the help page and; BOOM the photos are there.

Thanks a mill folks, this is brilliant.

Shay.

Great stuff indeed. The Collect Feature is easy to use, but I find the options under Smart Gallery a little lacking.
I also tried setting up a Smart Gallery with two rules, one being Popular. But they are not showing up for some reasons. Popular just requires someone give it a thumbsup right? Or is popular define in some other way?

ws

Originally Posted by wslam Great stuff indeed. The Collect Feature is easy to use, but I find the options under Smart Gallery a little lacking. I also tried setting up a Smart Gallery with two rules, one being Popular. But they are not showing up for some reasons. Popular just requires someone give it a thumbsup right? Or is popular define in some other way? ws

These are your popular photos:
http://photos.lam.ws/popular/#98101199_NpAtE

if there are none in the gallery, then you'll get that message :)

It's a great feature, and I'm glad to see it. The only change I would like is for virtual copies to honor the strictest permissions of either the source or destination gallery, or at the very least a choice between either of those two.

Originally Posted by J. Pollack Photography It's a great feature, and I'm glad to see it. The only change I would like is for virtual copies to honor the strictest permissions of either the source or destination gallery, or at the very least a choice between either of those two.

They do honor the restrictions. What are you seeing (give links please)?

Originally Posted by Andy They do honor the restrictions. What are you seeing (give links please)?

I have a source gallery that allows Original-size downloads and a destination gallery that only allows large. Because the virtual copy is the same exact file, there's no way to restrict the sizes that people can view in the destination gallery.

I'll send you a private message with an example.

Originally Posted by Andy These are your popular photos: http://photos.lam.ws/popular/#98101199_NpAtE if there are none in the gallery, then you'll get that message :)

You are right, the photos I am looking for are not showing up in the link above.

I wonder why. Is it because my galleries are password protected?

Basically I have a bunch of photos that are password protected, only people with password have access. So once they rank (thumbs up) the photos, I want those photos to show up in a public smart gallery. Is this possible?

Originally Posted by wslam You are right, the photos I am looking for are not showing up in the link above. I wonder why. Is it because my galleries are password protected? Basically I have a bunch of photos that are password protected, only people with password have access. So once they rank (thumbs up) the photos, I want those photos to show up in a public smart gallery. Is this possible?

passworded photos aren't part of /popular. Only public photos.

Originally Posted by Andy passworded photos aren't part of /popular. Only public photos.

So basically, photo ranking in a password-protected gallery doesn't work?

I'm missing something here. How are the smart galleries virtual galleries? I just want to add pics from different galleries (myself) to a gallery of my choice??

I like the new feature - however I'm struggling to understand how this would be useful to me or to a customer of mine -

As an example - I have many photos of high school hockey - say a parent wants to review these galleries as they come on line and when they see a photo they like - but want to wait until the end of hte season to order all their prints - would they somehow be able to 'collect' their images to put in a particular gallery so they are all easily accessible to order at one time?

Originally Posted by wslam So basically, photo ranking in a password-protected gallery doesn't work?

it has been this way forever, yes...
https://www.smugmug.com/help/search-online-photo-album

Originally Posted by BigAl I'm missing something here. How are the smart galleries virtual galleries? I just want to add pics from different galleries (myself) to a gallery of my choice??

You aren't uploading photos more than once. You can collect from many galleries.. you can set smart rules in the collection gallery to show date, keyword, popular, etc.

Does this help?

Originally Posted by Andy it has been this way forever, yes... https://www.smugmug.com/help/search-online-photo-album

Thanks. I read it just before you posted the link... hmmm so there is no way for 'user participation' in a password protected gallery that will become a 'variable' for the Smart Gallery then, right?

very cool idea, i look forward to playing with it, I would like the ability to setup rights to make a collection in a private gallery; It would be cool for me to be able to show a client a set of "raw" prints in low res and then they could collect the ones they want touched up or full sized then email a link to me to that virtual gallery/collection. it's a very interesting idea with alot of potential.

Originally Posted by pguyton very cool idea, i look forward to playing with it, I would like the ability to setup rights to make a collection in a private gallery; It would be cool for me to be able to show a client a set of "raw" prints in low res and then they could collect the ones they want touched up or full sized then email a link to me to that virtual gallery/collection. it's a very interesting idea with alot of potential.

Thanks! Stay tuned

Originally Posted by Andy Thanks! Stay tuned

That would basically solve my problem too!

I had a Bridal gallery sorted in Date Uploaded + Descending order, so that the newest pictures show up first.

The moment I added just one image to that gallery as a virtual image ... the sort order broke. It now just shows in what I believe is the default order (the order in which pictures were added to the gallery).

Can this be fixed?

What about clean-up?

When I decide to delete files from a gallery containing both actual pictures and virtual pictures ... what will happen? Will I be able to tell if it's a real or virtual image? If I delete one of the virtual images, will it delete the source image too?