I could just use 500px, Flickr, or even Instagram, however, I want more control over may photos, particularly when selling them. I put together ericphoto.com to see if I could make a photo website that looks good, is easy to use, uses responsive design, let’s me control how my photos are sold, and makes it easy for me to sell photos and prints.
There are not a lot automatic fulfillment of photo prints and frames that will plug into photo galleries. After a few days of work I was able to get Fotomoto to work and you can now click one of the Buy links under any full size photo and choose whatever print and frame you want. It’s a bit of an experiment so we will see if it works.
Here is how to get the whole thing to work if you want to try:
- Install WordPress 4.5.3 (or the latest) on your own host.
- Install the following plugins and themes (some of them you have to pay for).
- Use Fancybox for the lightbox effect in NextGEN Gallery Pro (Gallery / Gallery Settings / Lightbox Effects).
- Use one of the thumbnail NextGEN Gallery Pro galleries (the slide show galleries will not work with Fotomoto.)
- Set the Minimum Width or Height for Images in the Fotomoto store dashboard to something larger than your maximum thumbnail size (I set it to 600 pixels) and lower than your smallest full image (you may have to experiment a bit to get the number right.)
- Choose the various theme, gallery, and other options to your satisfaction.
- Upload your first gallery using the NextGEN Gallery tools.
If all goes right (and it likely won’t at first) you will have your very own photo gallery e-commerce site!