Glasgow pro lab Loxley Colour is teaming up with one of the world's leading subscription-based photo-sharing sites, Smugmug, based in the US, to offer a new ecommerce solution aimed at professional image makers.

The fully automated service allows photographers to upload their images to a Smugmug Pro account, create portfolios and customise their galleries with their own domain, branding and watermarks. They can then sell prints or image downloads directly to clients, leaving fulfilment to Loxley, charging their own mark-up on the base price set by the lab (Smugmug takes 15 percent of any mark-up). The service also handles HD video.

Smugmug is already widely used by pro photographers worldwide, offering a range of options for building portfolios, from templates and custom designs to solutions allowing full control (using CSS and HTML code), or even the services of one of its "certified customisers". Logo branding can also be placed in the user's online shopping cart and delivery notifications, and Smugmug offers marketing tools to drive promotions, social media campaigns, and SEO optimisation. Galleries can be integrated into Facebook accounts, or viewed on a dedicated iPad app.

"Most photographers want to focus on their creativity," says Chris MacAskill, co-founder and president of Smugmug "They are mainly time-poor and have little interest in the challenges of setting up and managing their online presence, or fulfilling orders for high-quality prints. But they still want to capitalise on their creativity - and that is where Smugmug and Loxley Colour enter the frame. We have created a seamless solution whereby photographers, across the full range of photography disciplines, can easily showcase, market, sell and deliver their work to their clients."

Previously, Smugmug has worked with labs such as Bay Photo in the US. Loxley will now serve users across Europe. Services it offers through Smugmug include acrylic mounts, canvas wraps, high-gloss Alumini prints, glacier blocks and box frames, as well as standard rints in glossy, lustre or metallic papers.

Subscriptions for Smugmug Pro start from £94 a year, an ad-free service that comes with customer support, help with SEO, site stats and unlimited uploads.