How to send photos to a client for selection — methods compared

Every session ends with the same question: how do you hand the photos over to the client so they can mark the ones they want retouched? It sounds mundane, but this is exactly the moment that decides whether you close the project in a week or drag it out for a month. The choice of delivery method has a real impact on your time, on the client's comfort, and on how professional the whole collaboration looks.

In this article we walk through the four most popular approaches — from a plain email to a dedicated selection gallery — and show where each one works well and where it starts to get in the way.

What you actually need from a delivery method#

Before we compare specific tools, it's worth naming the criteria. A good way to hand over photos for selection should:

• require no installation or account from the client — the more steps there are, the longer you wait for a decision,
• let the client clearly mark the chosen frames — so there's no confusion about which numbers they meant,
• protect the quality and rights to the photos — unedited files shouldn't circulate online at full resolution,
• give you a clear summary — a list of choices you can load straight into Lightroom,
• look good — because the gallery is part of your brand's calling card too.

Keep these points in the back of your mind. Most selection problems come from a delivery method that ticks one of them and ignores the rest.

Method 1: Email with attachments#

The simplest thing that comes to mind: zip up a dozen photos and send them by email. It works, as long as there really are very few photos.

The problem shows up fast. Mailboxes have attachment limits — usually 20–25 MB. A single full-resolution JPG from a DSLR can weigh 8–15 MB, so a single email fits literally a few frames. A 300-photo session turns into a dozen emails the client gets lost in immediately.

The second issue is the selection itself. The client replies: "I like photos 3, 7, 12 and the one from the second email where I'm by the window." You guess which frame they mean. You end up with a ten-message thread and you still aren't sure you understood correctly.

Email works for sending single previews or finished, edited photos for approval. It doesn't work for selecting from a larger session.

Method 2: WeTransfer and similar file-transfer services#

WeTransfer solves the size problem — you upload a folder of a hundred photos and the client downloads it in one click, without creating an account. That's why so many photographers use it.

But file transfer only solves the delivery, not the selection. The client still has to download the whole package to their computer, unzip it, browse it in a file viewer and manually write down the numbers. We're back to the same place: "I want 4, 19, 22 and 56." Plus new troubles appear:

• the link expires (usually after a few days on the free plan), and the client gets back to you two weeks later,
• the client receives full, unedited files at maximum resolution — exactly what you don't want to hand over before the choice is made and the editing is paid for,
• on a phone, downloading and browsing several hundred files is simply a pain.

WeTransfer works for delivering finished galleries after editing. As a selection tool it leaves all the work on the client's side and exposes your files.

Method 3: Cloud drive (Google Drive, Dropbox)#

A shared cloud folder is a step beyond a one-off transfer. The photos are in one place, the link doesn't expire, and the client can come back to the gallery whenever they want.

Some photographers improvise with comments or a second "selected" folder the client copies files into. It can be done — but it's still a workaround. The client has to have (or create) a Google or Dropbox account, learn an interface that wasn't designed for rating photos, and at the end you still copy the choice out by hand. Thumbnails load slowly, the file order tends to break, and full-screen preview can be clunky.

There's also a security angle: full files land in the cloud too, and a shared link is easy to forward on.

A cloud drive works as an archive and as a way to hand over finished material. For selection itself it's better than email, but it still forces the client to do work they shouldn't have to.

Method 4: A dedicated online selection gallery#

And here we arrive at tools designed for exactly this one purpose: for the client to pick photos and for you to get a ready list. An online gallery is simply a page of thumbnails you open with a link — no installation, no client login.

How does it look in practice? You send one link. The client opens it on a phone or computer, browses the photos in a convenient view, and clicks a heart or "select" on the frames they want. They can add a comment ("enlarge this one", "please remove the person in the background"). When they're done, they confirm the selection — and you get a notification and a clear list of numbers, ready to load into Lightroom.

Crucially, a good selection gallery:

• shows lower-resolution previews with a watermark, so the originals don't circulate online before the editing is paid for,
• counts the selections — you see how many photos the client marked, which matters with packages ("30 photos are included"),
• works on a phone just as well as on a computer, because most clients pick photos in the evening on the couch,
• looks like part of your brand, not like a raw folder of files.

This is exactly the approach Pixchoose is built on — you send the client a link to the gallery, they choose their favourite frames without creating an account, and you get a ready summary of the selection. All the "which numbers were those again?" correspondence simply disappears.

A quick comparison#

The lower down the table, the less work is left on your side and the client's.

A common mistake: confusing "delivery" with "selection"#

It's worth pausing on the crux, because it's what most often leads photographers astray. Delivery and selection are two different tasks, even though at first glance they look like one:

• Delivery answers the question "how do I move the files from the photographer to the client." It ends the moment the client has the photos.
• Selection answers the question "how does the client indicate which photos they want — and how do I receive that choice." It ends the moment you have a ready, unambiguous list.

Email, WeTransfer and a cloud drive are delivery tools. They do one thing well — they move files — and they completely ignore the other. That's why, when you use them to choose photos, you always land in the same spot: the files arrived, but the choice still has to be dug out of emails, phone calls and guesswork.

A selection gallery is designed around that second task. Moving the files is a means in it, not the goal — the goal is to gather the client's decision in a usable form. Once you grasp that distinction, the tool choice becomes obvious: to choose photos you need a tool for choosing, not for transfer.

Which method to choose for yourself#

There's no single answer for every situation — but there is a simple rule:

• If you're sending a few finished photos for approval, email is enough.
• If you're handing over a finished, edited gallery for download, WeTransfer or a cloud drive will do the job.
• If you want the client to pick frames from a session — and you care that they do it quickly, unambiguously and safely — reach for a selection gallery.

The most common mistake is using a file-transfer tool where you need a selection tool. Transfer ends the moment the file is downloaded. Selection begins where the client's decision begins — and that's exactly the stage worth simplifying as much as possible.

Summary#

The way you send photos for selection isn't a technical detail — it's part of the client experience and your workflow. Email, WeTransfer and a cloud drive handle delivery, but they push all the selection work onto the client and you. A dedicated gallery flips that logic: the client clicks, you get a ready result.

If choosing photos regularly stretches into weeks for you, the problem most likely isn't the client — it's the tool. Try a selection gallery and see how much shorter the road gets from "photos are ready" to "selection confirmed."