Gone are the days of grabbing a courier to take your negatives over to the photo editor! It is 2018 and the internet has never been faster, I can send large files in minutes rather than hours.

As a Commercial Photographer, a quick turnaround is beneficial - sending finished images (or proof images) online is the norm. My workflow often include creating a proof pdf with low res images (and filenames) along with copyright data. I send it off to the client and get a list of selected images to work up. For a long time I used Dropbox to deliver my images but now I use WeTransfer almost exclusively.

DROPBOX

Dropbox creates a folder for you on your computer and also in the cloud, Dropbox syncs any files within your local (computer) folder to the cloud folder (internet). The benefits of this are that you can give other people permission to edit any files within your cloud folder, this is good for collaboration or if more than one person is working on a project and you need shared access to files. You can also send and email link to download a folder or file (the recipient doesn't need a Dropbox account). The problem with this is capacity! A free Dropbox account gives you 2gb of space, put more than one or two Weddings in there and you will quickly run out of space. You can pay a monthly subscription to unlock new features and more space. Dropbox also offers an excellent cloud based collaboration/notes function called Dropbox Paper - from the Dropbox website: "Paper is a product by Dropbox that helps you work in real-time with your team. You can write together, share comments, embed images, and more. If you have a Dropbox account, you can use Paper for free." I use it and its legit!

WETRANSFER

WeTransfer is a simple file sending site which does what it says! Sending large files via email is not a reliable option. WeTransfer have made it as simple as possible - go to www.wetransfer.com and type in your email, the recipients email, a short message and the file you want to send. I normally compress (Zip) a folder full of images and send that, you can also send multiple files in one transfer. WeTransfer has a 2gb file size limit (the free version) which is fine for me at this time. An email is sent to the client that looks like it is from me, they can reply and it comes straight back to my inbox. Once they download the files I get an email to say as much. The files are saved for 7 days and then deleted (Free version) which is fine most of the time although I occasionally get some some clients who try to download the files after they have been deleted. If (when) you decide to pay for the pro version you get 20gb upload limit, you can save 100gb (for those clients who take a long time to respond), you can also password protect your files and customise the client experience with images and logos.

Which is better?

It really depends on your needs - I do some graphic design work and Dropbox works brilliantly as it dynamically syncs any files the client uploads - they can send the copy and I can start working on that whilst the images download/update. An additional function I have not talked about is using Dropbox as a storage solution, it is possible to delete the copy on your local computer and just keep it in the cloud (this function is called smart sync and is only available on the business (Professional) accounts at this time - fingers crossed they bring it to the personal accounts soon! 

On a day to day basis I use WeTransfer to deliver images and videos, it is quick (I have fibre broadband) and automatically cleans up after 7 days. definitely worth a look if you haven't already.