FooGallery & ShortPixel: A Photographer’s Guide to Optimizing WordPress Images

For photographers using WordPress, image optimization and the way you present your galleries are crucial for showcasing your work in an appealing way to visitors but also to the search engines sending them your way.

FooGallery for WordPress

FooGallery is an essential WordPress gallery plugin for enhancing visual storytelling, thanks to its range of pre-built, mobile-friendly, and responsive gallery templates and lightbox. The ability to customize every aspect helps to align your photos with your site’s design and vision.

FooGallery prioritizes performance, with features like lazy loading and image resizing, and it can be leveraged with your preferred content delivery network (CDN) and other WordPress image optimization plugins like ShortPixel Image Optimizer.

ShortPixel for WordPress

Using FooGallery alongside ShortPixel, which harnesses its own image optimization cloud, you can be sure your WordPress images are compressed for fast loading, giving users a seamless experience, while boosting search rankings due to improved speed indicators.

The ShortPixel Image Optimizer for WordPress offers lossy, glossy, and lossless compression for your entire image library and Foo Galleries, and you can even keep EXIF data for photography. 

How to Integrate ShortPixel with FooGallery

To get started, you need to ensure your site is powered by WordPress and has your images and photos in the media library. 

How to Install ShortPixel Image Optimizer on WordPress

Installing ShortPixel is as easy as any plugin. Remember to register for your free account to allow the plugin to activate.

1. From the add new plugin area of WordPress, search ShortPixel and choose the Image Optimizer version.

2. Alternatively, download the plugin directly from ShortPixel and upload it to your WordPress site manually.
3. Once installed, remember to click Activate.
4. To get an API key, go to the ShortPixel settings page in WordPress, enter your email address, accept the terms box, and click Request Key.

5. The key will auto-fill the field and now you have full access to ShortPixel’s settings and optimization cloud.
6. There is a Buy Credits link on the settings page to go to ShortPixel and buy credits or an unlimited plan. Or you can proceed with the free account to give it a test.

How to Optimize WordPress Images in FooGallery with ShortPixel

Optimizing images in FooGallery with ShortPixel is a straightforward process. Integration is seamless and acts on all the images already in your library and then any new ones you add later.

1. Navigate to ShortPixel in WordPress and click the General tab.

2. Select your compression type.
3. Keep thumbnail compression checked.
4. SmartCrop is useful for automatically cropping the correct areas of an image.
5. Keep Backup checked, so you can reverse any unwanted optimizations.
6. Uncheck remove EXIF data.
7. If your site has PDFs, check this option to reduce their file size.

Bulk Optimizing WordPress Images in FooGallery with ShortPixel

Once your settings are configured, it’s time to run the bulk optimizer on all your existing FooGallery and Media Library content.

1. Go to the Media tab in your WordPress admin dashboard and select Bulk ShortPixel. Alternatively, enter the library and click the specific image to optimize.

2. Under Bulk ShortPixel, click Start optimizing and follow the wizard. The plugin will then automatically compress and optimize all images.
3. Monitor the optimization progress and review the savings in file size for the optimized images.

Practical Tips for Optimizing Images with ShortPixel in FooGallery

ShortPixel is suitable for any type of WordPress site, but when it comes to photography and galleries, these tips will help you find the best optimization methods with FooGallery.

• Run the bulk optimizer for existing images and optimize any new images, then go to FooGallery to add them to your galleries.

• Choose lossless or glossy compression for hi-res photos as lossy is intended for general images and will lose some visual quality during the compression process.
• For an even better quality to compression ratio, check ‘Next Gen Images Support’ for WebP and AVIF under ShortPixel’s Advanced Settings tab.

• ShortPixel backs up your original WordPress images, so there is room to test different compression methods.
• ShortPixel’s smart cropping is a great way to automate cropping and compression for thumbnails, but you may wish to use FooGallery’s own cropping tools for a more hands-on approach. 

• Always uncheck the ‘Remove EXIF’ setting in ShortPixel if you intend to use this feature in FooGallery PRO Expert, which includes EXIF management and the ability to display this metadata in your galleries.

• Uncheck ‘Resize large images’ in ShortPixel general settings. This prevents any compatibility issues when FooGallery resizes images.

Common Troubleshooting Tips

Both plugins work out of the box and have good compatibility together. However, sometimes errors occur. This is how you can fix them:

• Internal Server Error – This may occur during ShortPixel optimization on hosting plans with limited resources. Make sure you aren’t running any other resource intensive tasks at the same time, such as backups. Temporarily deactivate any resource intensive plugins and run the process again.
• 503 Error On Cloudflare – If you get a 503 when running an optimization and you’re using Cloudflare, make sure to Whitelist ShortPixel’s IPs within the Cloudflare dashboard.
• 503 Error After WordPress Update – This may occur with FooGallery and is commonly linked with particularly large images. Try replacing your largest images in the backend using FTP or hosting file manager with smaller versions, then re-upload them when the error is cleared.

Note: 503 or server overload issues are rare with ShortPixel as it uses an outside optimization cloud to run bulk optimizations in the background. This reduces the load on your own server.

Benefits of Using FooGallery for Creating Visual Stories

FooGallery offers numerous benefits for creating engaging visuals on your WordPress site. Tell a story with your images, don’t just present a bland database of content.

• Huge Variety – FooGallery offers a range of gallery layout options, including grid, masonry, and carousel views.

• Built-in Lightbox – Display images or videos in a popup overlay for an immersive experience. Choose the colors, positions, and behavior of the lightbox, including slideshows with captions and other engaging elements.

• Filters – Visitors can filter and search gallery content, making it easier to navigate and find specific images.
• Advanced Features – Features like animated thumbnails, lazy loading, watermarking, and integration with WooCommerce, give endless possibilities for visual engagement and fast performance. 
• Beginner-friendly – Despite so many features, FooGallery has an intuitive interface and drag-and-drop sorting, allowing you to create and manage galleries with ease.
• Free and Pro Versions – Photographers can use FooGallery for free with a range of customizable templates and styles, as well as lazy loading. Upgrade to Pro for even more templates, such as polaroid, slider, and grid, as well as custom captions and advanced pagination, e.g., numbering, a ‘Load more’ option, or infinite scroll. 

How FooGallery and ShortPixel Work Together for WordPress Image Optimization

Combining ShortPixel and FooGallery offers many benefits for photographers and WordPress website owners looking to showcase their images in an optimized and visually appealing way.

• Compression without sacrificing quality – ShortPixel optimizes your FooGallery images by compressing them and reducing file sizes, but with multiple settings to maintain high visual quality. This results in faster loading times and improved overall website performance.
• Next-gen Formats – Both WebP and AVIF offer better compression efficiency than traditional image formats. They adapt to various image types, offering lossy and lossless compression, which is ideal for photographers.
• WP Retina 2x – Compresses retina images to benefit users with Retina displays.
• Automatic Smart Cropping – ShortPixel’s algorithm detects key elements of an image, such as faces, so you do not have to manually crop thumbnails for the best results.
• SEO – A faster loading site is great for SEO, so searchers can find your images. WebP was developed by Google, so provides a natural SEO boost. 
• Save Bandwidth – Optimizing images doesn’t just improve the user experience or SEO, it reduces bandwidth and the costs involved with hosting an image-heavy site.
• Seamless Integration – ShortPixel integrates with your FooGallery galleries, lightboxes, and other features, ensuring enhanced speed and performance without interfering with FooGallery’s functionality. Both also integrate with WooCommerce.

FooGallery & ShortPixel vs Competitors

FooGallery and ShortPixel stand out in the sea of WordPress gallery and image optimization plugins.

FooGallery vs NextGen Gallery

Overall, FooGallery for WordPress boasts an easier user interface and more control over thumbnails than NextGEN Gallery. NextGen also puts more load on your server by using its own folders and database tables, rather than working with the WordPress native media library. 

While both offer free features, FooGallery is more affordable, at $99,99 for PRO Commerce (the highest plan), while NextGEN is $139 for all features.

FooGallery vs Envira Gallery

FooGallery stands out from Envira Gallery by offering a more affordable, flexible, and performance-focused solution. Its gallery templates are plentiful with a greater ability to adjust styling. Foo also has a lighter weight codebase that doesn’t slow down sites quite like Envira. 

While FooGallery starts at $39 for one site and $69 for the PRO Expert plan, Envira starts at $99 and tops out at $299.

ShortPixel vs Competitors

When you add ShortPixel into the mix, it has several benefits over other WordPress image optimizers like Imagify and Smush. Firstly, it has an entirely free plan with all features available. This gives you 100 free credits/optimizations a month.

Secondly, its optimization cloud, PDF compression, integrations, and WP Retina 2x compatibility are not found elsewhere. Its ability to handle EXIF data is perfect for photographers, especially when combined with FooGallery.

ShortPixel’s Unlimited plan is just $9.99/mo compared to Imagify’s bandwidth-based pricing and Smush, which starts at $15/mo. You can check ShortPixel’s pricing plans directly on their website.

Together, FooGallery and ShortPixel provide both superior features and cheaper pricing. They address two critical aspects for displaying photographic work online: highly customizable and engaging gallery presentation and top-tier image optimization. What’s more, they work well in unison and integrate with many of the same setups, such as WooCommerce for selling work and Shortpixel works with multisite WordPress installations.

Photographers can optimize their entire media library with just a few clicks, saving time and effort in managing their site. Cloud-based optimization prevents excessive strain on your server, ensuring a smooth experience for visitors browsing your galleries.

Get the Perfect Combination of Photo Galleries and Image Optimization with ShortPixel and FooGallery

Photographers aiming to enhance their online visual storytelling have the ideal partners with FooGallery and ShortPixel. As demonstrated by FooGallery’s endless features, you can bring your photos to life and engage users in creative ways not possible in WordPress alone or with other common gallery plugins.

If you want to improve site speed and performance, ShortPixel seamlessly compliments FooGallery with automated compression techniques that take your hi-res photos and reduce file sizes while maintaining the visual quality needed to show off your work in its raw glory. 

Begin optimizing images and building beautiful galleries today with ShortPixel Image Optimizer and FooGallery PRO today!