A proofing gallery is a private online gallery where a client looks through the photos from their session before the final edit and marks the ones they want. The photographer then retouches and delivers only those. It replaces the email that says "we like 12, 47, the one by the window and the black and white one", which somebody then has to translate back into filenames.
It sits between the shoot and delivery. The client chooses, the photographer finishes, and the final gallery (often the same gallery, with downloads switched on) goes out afterwards. Below is what a proof actually is, how the process runs, and the numbers worth setting before you send the link.
What does "proof" mean in photography?
A proof is a preview image, shown so the client can decide, not the finished product. The word comes from the film era, when a lab printed a contact sheet or a stack of small, cheap prints from every usable negative, often stamped "PROOF" across the corner so nobody framed it. The client circled what they wanted on the sheet, and only those frames were enlarged and retouched.
Digital proofs do the same job. They are usually culled, colour corrected and exposure balanced, but not retouched: no skin work, no removing the exit sign, no head swaps. They are often shown at web resolution, sometimes with a watermark, because the point is choosing, not keeping.
How does a proofing gallery work?
Most photographers run it in five steps:
- Cull and batch edit. Take 1,500 frames down to the 150 worth showing, with a consistent base edit so the client is not choosing between two white balances.
- Upload and share. The client gets a private link, usually with a PIN or password, and no account to create.
- Client picks. They heart or star the frames they want, often against a number set by their package ("choose 25").
- Client comments. Notes on individual photos: "can you soften the shadow under his eyes", "crop the car out of this one".
- Photographer finishes and delivers. Only the selected frames get the full retouch, and the finished files go out as the final gallery.
The shortlist comes back tied to the actual files, which is the whole advantage over email. Nobody has to guess which window.
Are proofs edited?
Lightly. A reasonable standard is that a proof looks like the final image with the retouching still to come. If proofs are straight out of camera, the client picks with their eyes on problems you would have fixed anyway, and you get notes like "this one is too dark" on a frame that was always going to be lifted a stop.
The opposite mistake is fully retouching everything before the client picks. On a 150 frame proof set with a 25 image package, that is 125 retouches nobody paid for. The whole economic reason for proofing is that the expensive work happens after the choice.
How many proofs should a client see?
Show enough that choosing is real, not so many that it becomes a chore. Rough ranges that work:
- Portrait or family session, 25 images included: 60 to 120 proofs.
- Headshots, 1 to 3 images included: 20 to 50 proofs, since the client is choosing between near-identical expressions.
- Wedding album, 60 to 80 images for the spreads: the full delivered gallery of 500 to 900 is the proof set.
The ratio that drives it is roughly three to five proofs for every image in the package. Below that the client feels boxed in. Above it they stall, because comparing 40 near-duplicates of the same pose is tiring work. Cull harder rather than showing more; the culling guide covers how to get a thousand frames down in one sitting. If you are unsure what the delivered number should be in the first place, the photos per session calculator and the ranges in how many photos to deliver per session are a starting point.
Should you limit how many photos a client can pick?
Yes, if your price includes a fixed number of edited images. A visible limit does two things: the client knows how picky to be, and you are not handed 70 favourites on a 25 image package, followed by an awkward conversation.
What happens past the limit is a pricing decision to make before the gallery goes out, not after. The common options are a flat price per extra image, a larger package upgrade, or a digital collection of the whole set. Per image prices for extras are often €15 to €50 ($20 to $60), driven by how much retouching each image gets and by the price of your next package up. Put the number in the booking confirmation so the first time a client sees it is not while they are choosing.
How long should clients get to choose?
Give a deadline, and make it short. Seven to fourteen days works for most sessions. Without one, a portrait selection can sit for a month, and your editing schedule and your delivery promise both stretch with it.
Tie the deadline to what happens if it passes. Two workable versions: you choose the selection yourself from the client's favourites so far, or the gallery expires and reopening it costs a fee. Write that in the contract. A gallery that says "please choose by 14 October" in the header gets answered; a reminder buried in the original email does not.
What should a client be able to do in the gallery?
The minimum is picking and per photo comments. Beyond that, a few things separate a proofing gallery that works from one that creates support email:
- A count they can see while they choose, such as "18 of 25 picked".
- Separate access for the client and for guests, so the grandparents can browse without adding picks to the couple's selection.
- A way to say "I am finished", so you know the list has stopped moving before you start retouching.
- Comments attached to the photo, not a single message box. People write far more specific notes when the image is in front of them.
Clear comments also prevent the vague complaint later. If a client is unhappy after delivery, the notes they left during proofing are usually the record of what was agreed; handling an unhappy client covers what to do when that record is missing.
Is soft proofing the same thing?
No. Soft proofing is an editing term, and it has nothing to do with clients. It means previewing on your monitor how a photo will look when printed on a specific printer and paper, using that paper's ICC profile. Prints have a smaller colour range than a screen and cannot glow, so saturated blues and deep shadows often print duller and darker than they look while editing.
In Lightroom Classic, open the Develop module and tick Soft Proofing under the image (or press S). In Photoshop, use View, Proof Setup, then toggle it with Ctrl+Y (Cmd+Y on a Mac). If you searched for proofing because a print came back darker than your screen, soft proofing and a calibrated monitor are what you need, not a client gallery.
Do you need a separate proofing tool?
Not necessarily. The workable setup is the one where proofing and delivery happen in the same gallery, so the client never learns a second link and your picks do not have to be copied from one system to another. Xposure galleries work this way: turn on proofing for an album, set a selection limit if the package has one, and the client hearts photos, leaves notes on individual frames and sends their selection when they are done.
Whatever you use, set the three numbers before the link goes out: how many proofs, how many picks, and the date the choosing stops.
