Backend management with permission groups and passwords is convenient with a couple of caveats.
SSO integration
Download of different resolutions (i wish there was the option to crop before downloading)
Compared to some of the alternatives, price wasn't terrible. However unless you need a lot of permissions, SSO etc, you might be better off stepping away from the Brands platform since their consumer platform is cheaper and provides unlimited storage. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
There is no support for downloading images from a mobile browser even though it shows a download button. That is a huge issue depending on your workflow and how you deliver photos to clients. Fileflow app is an option, but that only works great for regular users and forces them to create an account even though it constantly signs me out.
Within folders (Collections), you can inherit permissions but not add additional permissions to that folder like you can on galleries. So I can give a department access to a collection of multiple team collections, but I can't add permissions of a specific team to just their collection. The only way to do this is to not inherit any permissions and manually add permissions at every level. This also makes a mess of their shared galleries list.
FTP access is one way.
The home page needs some redesign. The website, in-general, feels a little outdated with information constantly being cut off.
The general response to issues like this has been very superficial that they've shared my concerns.
Overpriced for storage, seats etc.
There isn't a way to provide a seat (backend access to upload/manage content to someone with only access to specific folders. It's an all or nothing feature. Contributor is an option, but it doesn't give them ownership over the content.
They are very slow to implement new features compared to some alternative web-based platforms we've worked with in the past. Don't assume a feature is going to be improved or changed anytime soon.
The lightroom plugin isn't as good as a previous plugin we used with smugmug. No option to synchronize specific folders or download content. If you make changes on photoshelter, you have to sync your entire library to update anything.
Update: LR Plugin is still an issue. I'd expect to use a web interface to upload photo content rather than having a lightroom synced library. Last update I heard from them was they recognize there's an issue with the plugin but no timeline for improving it.
Features and improvement have started to improve over the last year or so. A big one for usability was AI search being included. They've improved reporting, crop ability on download (I wish I could create custom crop presets for the end user). Mobile experience has improved a bit that it is possible to download, but there is a bug where I go to search and the ability to type in text is poor. Most of the time it won't bring up the keyboard to actually type.
I'm torn on the platform. They've tried to add integrations, but every single one seems to cost a decent amount of money rather than just be a feature of the service. They do continually raise their prices each year due to the 'added features' Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
Video Reviews
Changed the way our company uses assets
Great Functionality at a Great Price
1,052 out of 1,053 Total Reviews for PhotoShelter for Brands
Overall Review Sentiment for PhotoShelter for Brands
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Having one place to keep all our photos for the Arboretum that can be shared with all staff members is awesome. We used to use a simple folder system to store our images and it took so long to find images. Now I love that I can use the search feature and find specifically what I am looking for within seconds, without going through a ton of folders. I have had one-on-one calls with someone on the development team who listened to my problems and helped find solutions for me. I have never had that level of customer support from an online service. I use photoshelter weekly! I love the workspaces which are kind of like working folders that you can share with people on your team, external designers etc. I am constantly making them and using them for projects. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
With the change over to the new Lumin system, I am still getting the hang of a few things. Specifically, filing images is taking me a long time but I have been working with the custom support team to find ways to make this system faster. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
As a film and television production studio, distributing and reviewing photography and creative assets is central to our marketing efforts. For a single film, this can mean coordinating photo reviews with up to 10 actors—a process that was once time-consuming and complicated. This solution made a significant impact, simplifying the workflow and saving us valuable time. After a seamless training and support process, we were quickly up and running, and it’s now a key part of our daily operations. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
The only downside is the in ability to caption photos and export those captions into a document for delivery to our partners. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
I love the searchable functions and the ability to metatag everything. The software that allows you to tag and rename multiple or all photos at once is genuinely stellar & such a time saver! We all know time is money, which makes that a valuable asset when using PhotoShelter for Brands. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
There hasn't been anything that I have come across just yet that I have disliked. If I had to come up with an answer, the FileFlow app for Photoshelter for Brands could use a little updating to make it more user-friendly across any phone type is something I previously requested but I know they've updated it quite a bit and it's amazing! Again, I absolutely LOVE PhotoShelter for Brands & would recommend it to anyone!! Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
Lots of options for organizing assets, as well as sharing them to stakeholders. The company is agile enough to move with trends to provide additional features when brands are needing them. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
Looking forward to full AI integration to make facial recognition and tagging easier. That will save some of the time it takes to properly organize assets being managed. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
I am the photographer for the Marketing & Communcations department at USA Health, an Academic Health System affiliated with the University of South Alabama and the Whiddon College of Medicine. I use PhotoShelter everyday of my job. I appriciate the ease with which I can catagorize my images into different libraries and galleries. PhotoShelter also make it easier for me to share my images both within my departent as well as various people outide USA Health. On the rare occasions I have needed Customer support, they have been Quick and very efficiant in extending help. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
As much as I appreciated all the features of PhotoShelter, since it is weeb based, it can sometimes lag. Although the recent upgrade has made this less of an issue. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
Brands includes all the features that similar level platforms have. They show they are striving to improve and rise to the next level. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
While they are aiming to make the user experience simple and easy across a wide spectrum of users, there are a few features that could be taken to the next level. I need to be able to customize the access to images more. Also, it would be helpful to me if I could "see" what my users can see. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
I like PhotoShelter's organizational capabilities. It's great on how you can create as many levels of collections and galleries. For us working at a University, we thought it would be best to organize our photos by year, semester, and then event. That's really helped people get them to where they need. I also like how granular you can get with permissions, individually or by group or even by photo or collection, etc. You can really customize PhotoShelter to what works best for you. There's more we'd like to explore which is the watermark feature and the new UI looks nice. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
Onboarding onto PhotoShelter was really complicated and not user-friendly. You really did have to poke around and understand how organization and permissions worked. I'm also glad they are working on a new UI because it doesn't look modern, it looks very prehistoric. If you don't study the structure of PhotoShelter correctly, sharing our photos and galleries could get pretty fincky. I learned through trial and error and unfortunately not everyone has been nice about it. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
It keeps it really simple but intuitive. Whether its an in-house team that is accustomed to using similar platforms or external clients and partners everyone can browse and download assets with ease. Compared to other DAM platforms with similar functionality its good value. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
There's not much I dislike however they could improve the gallery view. The 4 thumbnail view means it looks like there is missing images when there is only 3 files in the gallery. I would prefer for it just to be blank. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
For the most part it's very easy to navigate the website (still getting used to the old interface)... I use photoshelter for my persoal website and now use it for work and have enjoyed seeing the full capabilties that it can be used for. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
I don't like that you can't download complete folders as a whole. I work in sports and if I'm close to being out of space i can't just take off the whole 2017-2018 season for men's soccer. I have to individiaully move each folder off at the gallery level. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
I like being able to collect photos for a project without having to download them to my computer as I go. I can organize everything there, then download all at once when I'm ready to get started.
I also like that it makes it easy to share any number of photos or galleries with campus partners, without having to give them full access to our entire photo library.
The ai search feature revolutionized my workflow, especially now that it has the ability to specify date ranges. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
I remember it being a little overwhelming as a new user. One particular detail that frustrates me is if I click on a photo in a search to view it larger, when I return to the search results, it brings me back to the top of the results instead of back to where I had previously scrolled to. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
