Make Your Photos Come Alive

You Bring The Photos - We'll Bring The Rest
server

Hosting

Fully managed hosting on LiteSpeed Web Servers (LLSMP). All maintenance and security issues are handled by us so you can focus on showcasing and selling your photos.

domain

Websites

Your choice of over eighty website templates to choose from. From a streamlined minimalistic approach to a full featured website, there is sure to be something that fits your needs.

server

Galleries

The possibilities are endless with all the gallery options available. You are not stuck with just one gallery display. Feel free to improvise and come up with what works for you.

ecommerce

eCommerce

Once you are done with your galleries and you decide to put your photos up for sale, you will find the built in eCommerce features makes things a breeze. Just a simple setup, set prices and your done.
domain

Community

Utilize our community features to meet like minded individuals in photography. We make it a simple and enjoyable experience here at Dot Dot Photos so get out there and meet some folks.

ecommerce

forums

If you have any questions or concerns, or you have something to share and you didn’t find what you need by utilizing the community features, feel free to make a post in the forums.

four teamwork people sitting at a round table

How It Works

We will go through the process of what it is, what we do and how you can have your own website up and running in minutes.

We Know What Works

We know what works because we too are photographers and/or web designers. We have thousands of great photos buried inside shoe boxes or stuffed away on a hard drive. Only looked at by our own eyes whenever we get the urge to look through them. We wanted a better way. A way to not only view our photos in a better way but also showcase them to share with others and have a way to sell them.

It didn’t take us long to figure out we needed a website built for showcasing and selling our work. We also decided we would like a place to share our knowledge of photography with others and also have an opportunity to learn a few things ourselves. So we figured we would add a community and a forum for sharing information with others.

 

We began looking into what it would take to accomplish this and although it turned out to be far more complicated than it at first appeared, we persisted. We were determined, and through perseverance, blood, sweat and tears, persevere we did and Dot.Photos is the result. So now we have a website for showcasing and selling our photos, a community for meeting other like-minded individuals, a wiki for the how-to’s, and a forum for everything else.

Please keep in mind, this is not intended for cloud storage of all your photos. This is your very own hosted WordPress website(s) with built in eCommerce to showcase and sell your best photos. We give you all the tools to make that task easy, enjoyable and productive. Please read on.

website templates

The website templates we offer are built with the photographer in mind. They are feature rich and offer room for expansion. You can choose from a simplistic streamlined template to a more feature rich option. All of our packages now offer you more than 160 templates to choose from. More are in the works. These templates are fully customizable so you can make them whatever you wish or leave them as is and just add your photos and set prices. If you would like to see the full line-up of websites just click on ‘Sign-Up’ and take a look, if you click on any one it will open the full website in a new tab. There’s sure to be something for everyone.

Here are a few of the website templates available

Iconic Theme

Genesis child theme for photographers with wide open featured image on the front page.

Fearless Theme

Side-header-style Genesis child theme for photographers with full screen background image.

Chic Theme

A visually rich Genesis child theme for photographers and visual artists.

Captivate Theme

A clean, captivating Genesis child theme for photographers and visual artists.

Softly Theme

A soft, beautiful Genesis child theme for photographers and visual artists.

Gridly Theme

A Genesis child theme for photographers with a grid of featured images on the home page.

Sidewinder Theme

Minimalist side-header style Genesis child theme for phographers.

Simplicity Theme

Genesis child theme for phographers with wide open featured image on the front page.

Free Spirit Theme

A Genesis child theme for photographers who crave wide spaces, with big featued image and widgetized home page.

Reportage Theme

Side-header-style Genesis child theme for photographers with full screen background image.

Rebel Theme

Genesis child theme for photographers with rich image layout on home page.

Lightly Theme

A simple, light, neutral colored Genesis child theme for photographers.

Punk Bride Theme

Genesis child theme for photographers. A bold spirit, with pink on dark colors and widgetized front page.

Journal Theme

Simple Side-style Genesis child theme for journaling and photo-blogging.

Limitless Theme

A visually rich and image intensive Genesis child theme for photographers.

Expedition Theme

Side-header-style Genesis child theme for photographers with full screen background image.

Beckstead Theme

Genesis child theme for phographers and videographerswith rich video and image layout on home page.

Summerly Theme

Elegant Side-style Genesis child theme for wedding photographers with full screen background image.

Headshots Theme

The first-ever Headshot photographer specific WordPress theme design. Minimalistic in many ways, and exactly what’s needed to sell a lot of headshot sessions.

Lets Talk Software

You can’t have a great website if you don’t have great software.

Well, we did our homework and came up with some winners.

Software

We are using the number one gallery software in use on the

internet today. It offers extreme flexibility and is loaded with

enough options to meet even the most critical requirements.

We know you will want to customize your website to

perfection so we have included over seventy plugins. Some

of these included plugins are for security, some are for

convenience and some are for aesthetics. They are all

intended to make your website experience more enjoyable

and we will continue to add more versatility through future

options.

Gallery Software

You can’t have a photo website without having some software to display the images. We checked them all out and decided the best was Imagely NextGEN Pro Gallery. It’s been around a while and has a proven track record and is the most popular gallery software on the internet. But that’s not why we chose it. We chose it because of it’s easy customization options and because of it’s end product – it just looks better than the rest and that’s what it all boils down to anyhow. How your images look to your visitors. Imagely NextGen Pro Gallery also looks great on the backend with its intuitive menus and easy navigation. It is so feature rich we couldn’t possibly do it justice by trying to list all the features here. You can read through our wiki which explains some of the most common tasks and features.

Plugins

Below is a list of some of the plugins we have available. Some are for security, some are to add features and others are tools to simplify work on your website. We will continue to add plugins periodically. If you find a plugin you would like to use, just send us a request and we will test it out on a staging server, if it passes tests then we may add it to the list of available plugins.

Admin Menu Editor Pro

Lets you directly edit the WordPress admin menu. You can re-order, hide or rename existing menus, add custom menus and more.

 

AME Branding Add-on

Adds branding options to Admin Menu Editor Pro. It creates three new tabs on the “Settings → Menu Editor Pro” page: “Branding”, “Login”, and “Colors”.

Branda Pro

A complete white label and branding solution for multisite. Login images, favicons, remove WordPress links and branding, and much more.

Classic Editor

Enables the WordPress classic editor and the old-style Edit Post screen with TinyMCE, Meta Boxes, etc. Supports the older plugins that extend this screen.

Debug Bar

Adds a debug menu to the admin bar that shows query, cache, and other helpful debugging information.

 

Genesis eNews Extended

Replaces the Genesis eNews Widget to allow easier use of additional mailing services.

 

Loginizer

Loginizer is a WordPress plugin which helps you fight against bruteforce attack by blocking login for the IP after it reaches maximum retries allowed. You can blacklist or whitelist IPs for login using Loginizer.

Password Protect WordPress Lite

Password protect the entire WordPress site, unlimited pages and posts by user roles. This plugin is required for our Pro version to work properly.

Akismet Anti-Spam

Used by millions, Akismet is quite possibly the best way in the world to protect your blog from spam. It keeps your site protected even while you sleep. To get started: activate the Akismet plugin and then go to your Akismet Settings page to set up your API key.

Avatar Manager

Avatar Manager for WordPress is a sweet and simple plugin for storing avatars locally and more. Easily.

 

Child Theme Configurator

When using the Customizer is not enough – Create child themes and customize styles, templates, functions and more.

Coming Soon Page, Under Construction & Maintenance Mode

The #1 Coming Soon Page, Under Construction & Maintenance Mode plugin for WordPress.

Duplicator Pro

Migrate and backup a copy of your WordPress files and database. Duplicate and move a site from one location to another quickly.

Genesis Simple Edits

Genesis Simple Edits lets you edit the three most commonly modified areas in any Genesis theme: the post-info, the post-meta, and the footer area.

My Calendar

Accessible WordPress event calendar plugin. Show events from multiple calendars on pages, in posts, or in widgets.

 

PublishPress Capabilities

Manage WordPress role definitions, per-site or network-wide. Organizes post capabilities by post type and operation.

Query Monitor

The Developer Tools Panel for WordPress.

 

 

Regenerate Thumbnails

Regenerate the thumbnails for one or more of your image uploads. Useful when changing their sizes or your theme.

Smush Pro

Reduce image file sizes, improve performance and boost your SEO using the WPMU DEV WordPress Smush API.

UpdraftPlus - Backup/Restore

Backup and restore: take backups locally, or backup to Amazon S3, Dropbox, Google Drive, Rackspace, (S)FTP, WebDAV & email, on automatic schedules.

Username Changer

Change usernames easily

 

WordPress Importer

Import posts, pages, comments, custom fields, categories, tags and more from a WordPress export file.

 

WP Content Copy Protection & No Right Click

This wp plugin protect the posts content from being copied by any other web site author , you dont want your content to spread without your permission!!

WPForms Lite

Beginner friendly WordPress contact form plugin. Use our Drag & Drop form builder to create your WordPress forms.

Real-Time Find and Replace

Set up find and replace rules that are executed AFTER a page is generated by WordPress, but BEFORE it is sent to a user’s browser.

Simple Social Icons

A simple CSS and SVG driven social icons widget.

 

Ultimate Addons for Gutenberg

The Ultimate Addons for Gutenberg extends the Gutenberg functionality with several unique and feature-rich blocks that help build websites faster.

User Login History

Helps you to know your website’s visitors by tracking their login related information like login/logout time, country, browser and many more.

Widget Importer & Exporter

Imports and exports widgets

WordPress Toolbar Editor

Lets you edit the WordPress Toolbar (a.k.a. Admin Bar) – the horizontal menu at the top of your page that shows up when you’re logged in. You can hide, move, rename and edit existing items, as well as create new menu items. Requires Admin Menu Editor Pro.

WP Fastest Cache

The simplest and fastest WP Cache system

 

Yoast Duplicate Post

Clone posts and pages.

               Servers

Servers were the first and possibly biggest challenge to overcome. They come in different sizes, features and price ranges. We had specific needs for our servers as photos tend to take up a lot of processor and hard drive space. So we searched and researched and found the best option we could find for our specific needs. Our servers provide reliable, lightning fast speeds and enough drive space to host the hoards of photos we intend to host. In a range that allows us to offer cost effective performance and options to our customers.

server

HOSTING, QUANTITY vs QUALITY

There are some things we should talk about so you have a better understanding of the tier’s available and have a better idea of what you need. Servers come in many forms. And each host will have different servers available. Some are fast, some offer more memory or more hard drive space. Usually you’ll find one spec that fits what you need but the server may fall short with one or more of the other areas. Finding a server that meets all of your criteria is rare and usually very expensive. You cannot have the best of all features and not expect to pay a lot for it. This typically means compromise, in one area or another. If you choose right, you can get a server that meets your needs and any compromise you had to make will not be noticeable by your users. Just be sure to give them what they need most. This was our goal and we are happy with our choice of servers. No compromise necessary. We chose fast servers with plenty of storage space. Our servers are also expandable. So if we end up needing more processor, more memory or more storage space we just add components with no impact to current users. We are confident this is the best possible platform for your precious photos. Further details below on storage space and how best to use it.

Make the most out of your drive space

In our case we knew that we would be needing a lot of drive space. Photos take up a lot of space. Especially if you’re uploading files for large print that could take up to 80MB per photo. Know your client base. If 99.9% of your customers are only using the images for on-line viewing it may not make sense to keep all of those original images on your website. On the other hand if you need to have high resolution images available just make sure they fit within the quota of your website, upload less and alternate them. Choose accordingly. If you are only catering to on-line use you can typically keep the image size down to less than 3MB per image. Just do the math and pick the right plan for your needs.

Man Pulling Out Hair
inspector

The reason we point these things out is so you can get a rough idea of how many images you can expect to upload to your account. The website itself is usually less than 50MB, the rest is all text and photos and text takes up very little space. If you looked at our templates you likely noticed the images we use look pretty good. They would not look as good in print however. On the screen you can get away with lower resolutions than you can with print. The images we use take up only 1MB or less, typically around 100KB-500KB per photo. You can use the Imagely software to automatically resize images to the size you designate. The software will also backup the original photo if you choose that option.

Don’t Be Confused, Just Do The Math

Then comes the simple math of “how many photos can I upload? This is the nuts and bolts of it. Let your camera or computer give you the file sizes and you can determine approximately how many images you can upload. Most, for online use, will be in the 2MB or less range. For some, for print fulfillment can be up to 150MB depending on the camera.

At the 500MB free tier you can fit approximately:

A.) 1000 photos @ 500KB
B.) 250 photos @ 2MB
C.) 125 photos @ 4MB
D.) 63 photos @ 8MB
E.) 31 photos @ 16MB
F.) 15 photos @ 32MB
G.) 7 photos @ 64MB

At the 5GB tier you can fit approximately:

A.) 10000 photos @ 500KB
B.) 2500 photos @ 2MB
C.) 1250 photos @ 4MB
D.) 625 photos @ 8MB
E.) 312 photos @ 16MB
F.) 156 photos @ 32MB
G.) 78 photos @ 64MB

At the 10GB tier you can fit approximately:

A.) 20000 photos @ 500KB
B.) 5000 photos @ 2MB
C.) 2500 photos @ 4MB
D.) 1250 photos @ 8MB
E.) 625 photos @ 16MB
F.) 312 photos @ 32MB
G.) 156 photos @ 64MB

At the 20GB tier you can fit approximately:

A.) 40000 photos @ 500KB
B.) 10000 photos @ 2MB
C.) 5000 photos @ 4MB
D.) 2500 photos @ 8MB
E.) 1250 photos @ 16MB
F.) 625 photos @ 32MB
G.) 312 photos @ 64MB

 

You get the idea. That’s still a lot of photos. There are some good write-ups on-line and some nice calculators for calculating resolution. Just Google it to find all the details you may need. We have included a couple useful links below. And don’t be confused, just know your limits and choose accordingly. One thing to remember, this is not a cloud storage site for all of your photos. This is your very own website with built in eCommerce, for showcasing and selling your most valued photos.

 

 

 

todo-list
Confused Man

Here is an example chart depicting Image size vs Print size:


It’s easy to just memorize this. Multiply the width
by the ppi (pixels per inch), then multiply the height
by the ppi then multiply those two numbers together.

Print Size   Web         Min          Good       Better       Best
in Inches    72 ppi     100 ppi    150 ppi    240 ppi    300 ppi
3.5×5          0.09 MB  0.18 MB   0.4 MB    1.0 MB     1.6 MB
4×6             0.12 MB  0.24 MB   0.5 MB    1.4 MB     2.2 MB
5×7             0.18 MB  0.35 MB   0.8 MB    2.0 MB     3.2 MB
8×10           0.41 MB  0.8 MB     1.8 MB    4.6 MB     7.2 MB
8×12           0.5 MB    1.0 MB     2.2 MB    5.5 MB     8.6 MB
10×15         0.78 MB  1.5 MB    3.4 MB     8.6 MB    13.5 MB
11×14         0.8 MB    1.55 MB  3.5 MB     8.9 MB    13.9 MB
12×18         1.3 MB    2.2 MB    4.9 MB     12.4 MB  19.4 MB
16×20         1.7 MB    3.2 MB    7.2 MB     18.4 MB  28.8 MB
20×24         2.5 MB    4.8 MB    10.8 MB   27.6 MB  43.2 MB
20×30         3.1 MB    6.0 MB    13.5 MB   34.6 MB  54.0 MB
24×36         4.5 MB    8.6 MB    19.4 MB   49.8 MB  77.8 MB

This chart is typical of what you will find in your internet
searching. This is not accurate however. A pixel does not
equal a Byte and ppi is not equal to dpi which is what a
printer or scanner uses. If your talking a completely digital
transition from file to screen then each pixel on the screen
is represented by 1 Byte for B&W, but color is represented
by 3 Bytes, 1 for Red, 1 for Green, and 1 for Blue. So each
byte (which is 8 bits) can represent 256 variations (binary).
So you have a possible 256x256x256 color variations or
roughly 16 million colors on a standard display.

This gets even more confusing when you add a bit for transparency or if you’re using a 12 bit display which has
a total of 36 bits per color pixel which is equal to 4 Bytes
per pixel or a myriad of other possibilities due to changes
in software and hardware specs. But none of this has
anything to do with how the photo will look when printed.
For that you should read the article in the 2nd link we’ve included below. It gives a pretty good explanation of
DPI vs PPI which is rather lengthy and beyond the scope
of this article. The best bet? Let your camera do the math.
I have thousands of photos at 3MB or less that were taken
years ago on a 16mp camera that prints out just fine. It all depends on your usage too. You may see the pixels on very large prints if your holding it six inches from your face, but these larger prints are meant to be hung on a wall and/or viewed at a distance.

confused lion
calculator pen paper photo Vector Graphic

As for print quality, Kodak recommends the following:

For a 4″ x 6″ print, the image resolution should be 640 x 480 pixels minimum.

For a 5″ x 7″ print, the image resolution should be 1024 x 768 pixels minimum.

For an 8″ x 10″ print, the image resolution should be 1536 x 1180 pixels minimum.

For a 16″ x 20″ print, the image resolution should be 1600 x 1200 pixels minimum.

For a 20″ x 30″ print, the image resolution should be 2048 x 1536 pixels minimum.

For a Wallet-size print, the image resolution should be 320 x 240 pixels minimum.

And remember, there’s a lot that goes into figuring file size vs printed image quality vs resolution and we only show these tables as a quick example to get you in the ballpark. Your final results will vary of course.

 

This topic definitely needs some more discussion and I
think the forum would be a good place for it. See ya there.

Here is a good megapixel calculator to help in calculating your photos.
https://toolstud.io/photo/megapixel.php

Here is a good write-up on DPI vs PPI and enough about resolution to give you a headache.
https://photographylife.com/dpi-vs-ppi