Deliver a client gallery without a second instruction email

A client gallery is successful when the client can open one link and understand what to do next. The photographs matter most, but the small decisions around them determine whether delivery feels finished or turns into another email thread.

Start with the job of the gallery

Name the action before changing the design. Is the client reviewing a first selection, choosing favorites, requesting retouching, or downloading completed work? A gallery can support several actions, but one should be primary.

If proofing comes first, make favorites and comments easy to find and hold back any download option that would confuse the review. If the work is final, move download access into the foreground. A clear hierarchy is more useful than showing every available control.

Prepare the collection

Use a title the client will recognize later. Add the session date and any useful description. Check the image order rather than trusting upload order: the opening sequence should establish the story, and similar frames should not accidentally bunch together.

Choose a cover that survives a narrow phone crop. A strong desktop cover can become unreadable when its subject sits near an edge. Open the mobile view and look at the actual crop.

Set proofing and comment behavior deliberately

Favorites are useful when the client is choosing a final set. Image-level comments are useful when a note needs context. If neither is part of the job, turn it off. Every visible control makes a promise that someone is monitoring it.

Give the client one sentence explaining the review. “Mark your twelve favorites by Friday” is better than a long explanation of how favorites work. The interface should handle the mechanics; the sentence supplies the decision.

Match downloads to the delivery promise

Decide whether the client can download one image, a selected group, or a gallery ZIP of up to 1,000 photos. For each photo the dashboard currently makes eligible for those routes, decide whether web-size or full-resolution photo delivery is appropriate. A non-JPEG photo source is delivered as a full-resolution JPEG rather than in its uploaded container. This guide does not describe or make a claim about a commerce workflow.

These controls govern the download paths Still Bureau presents. They are not DRM, copyright enforcement, a guarantee against copying, or a substitute for the studio’s own source-file backup. Test the gallery as a visitor instead of relying only on the dashboard setting. Try the download action you expect the client to use and one that should remain unavailable.

Inspect the exact public link

Publishing is not the final check. Still Bureau’s recipient-access preview can show which photographs a public visitor or selected recipient may see, but it does not create an invitation or client session. Use it as a configuration check, then open the precise URL you plan to send in a private browser window and on a phone. Review the cover, title, image order, lightbox, proofing controls, comments, and download menu. If the gallery has a password or personal invite, test that path rather than relying on a signed-in preview.

A personal invite is revocable, but its URL can be forwarded. Send the test invite to an address the studio owner controls, open it without the owner session, and forward it to a second controlled address so the sharing boundary is understood before a client receives it.

Finally, send the link with a short message that states the intended action and deadline. If the email needs a second paragraph explaining the interface, return to the gallery and simplify it.

A compact release checklist

• The title and cover identify the job clearly.
• Mobile and desktop crops have been reviewed.
• Favorites and comments match the review process.
• Download options match the delivery agreement.
• Full-resolution photo delivery is enabled only where the dashboard makes it available and the studio intends it, and the studio keeps its own source backup.
• The recipient-access preview was reviewed, then the exact public, password, or personal-invite path was tested signed out; test invitations went only to owner-controlled addresses.
• The delivery note names one next action.

If the client can open the link, understand the next action, and retrieve only the files meant for them without another explanation, the gallery is ready to send.