Proofing or presentation? When each gallery mode is right
Not every gallery should do the same thing. During selection the client may like and comment — during the final presentation they should just enjoy. When to use which mode.
Over the course of a job, a client gallery serves two very different purposes — and the two shouldn’t look the same. At the start it’s about choosing, at the end about showing. Cover both phases with the same gallery setting and you give away impact.
Phase 1: selection / proofing
Right after the shoot the client needs tools: mark favorites, comment on images, leave notes. Here the gallery is a work tool. It may well look sober, but everything must be within reach — selection buttons, comment fields, perhaps a selection limit so the client commits to the best images.
In this phase it’s normal that the gallery isn’t finally retouched yet. Often the web versions run here instead of the originals, possibly with a watermark, as long as payment hasn’t arrived.
Phase 2: presentation
Once the images are selected, edited and approved, the purpose flips. Now the client shouldn’t work anymore but experience the result — and share it onward. Selection buttons, the comment feature and markups only get in the way at this moment. A pure display, perhaps as a slideshow, with your branding and no controls, feels like a finished online exhibition.
That’s also the moment galleries get shared: the bride sends the link to the family, the business client to management. A tidy presentation view makes the best impression here.
The rule behind it
For every gallery, ask yourself: should the recipient do something right now, or look at something? Do = proofing mode with all the tools. Look = presentation mode, reduced and elegant. Some jobs run through both phases in sequence, others need only one — a pure presentation gallery for a portfolio shoot, for instance, needs no selection at all.
Conclusion
A gallery mode isn’t a detail but a stance toward the client: in proofing you give them control, in presentation you remove every distraction. Switch deliberately and you deliver the right experience in both phases.
Lumio is built exactly for that: per gallery you choose between “selection / proofing” (select, comment, mark) and “presentation” (pure display, no selection or comments) — and switch anytime a job moves from one phase to the other.