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📸 Candy’s 12 Days of Christmas: Day 12 – Photo Booth Mode! 🎄🎉

📸 Candy’s 12 Days of Christmas: Day 12 – Photo Booth Mode! 🎄🎉
Hello, my festive photographers!

Candy here, and Merry Christmas to those who celebrate.

We’ve arrived at the 12th Day of Christmas, and I’m thrilled to unwrap our biggest new feature of 2024—Photo Booth Mode in the Capture & Upload App!

The new NowCandid Capture & Upload App Version that includes Photo Booth Mode will be going live at the end of December,... this very month!

Let’s get into the holiday spirit and explore everything this mode has to offer. 🎁

What Is Photo Booth Mode? 🤶

Photo Booth Mode is a brand-new option inside our Capture & Upload App—you’ll see a shiny new “Photo Booth” button once you log in to an Event and create a Folder (after the update of course).

Give that Photo Booth button a tap, and voilà: your iPad turns into a photo booth station where guests can snap fun pictures with minimal hassle!

  • Multiple Camera Options: Tether a Nikon, Sony, or Canon camera, or use your iPad’s front-facing camera, depending on your particular photo booth setup.
  • Solid Internet Connection Required: The app downloads any custom overlays or backgrounds you’ve set on the web dashboard, and live-uploading images of course requires an internet connection, so stable Wi-Fi or LTE is essential!

It’s perfect for holiday parties, corporate shindigs, weddings, or any event where a lighthearted photo booth can bring on the smiles!

The Photo Booth Flow ⏱️

Here’s how Photo Booth Mode keeps your guests engaged:

  1. Tap to Begin Screen: A dimmed live view awaits guests to tap and start. Once they do, the booth will let them know to get ready for three photos.
  2. Three Countdown Shots: Each shot has a 3-second countdown followed by a short preview of the taken pic after each shot. If your event uses a Bottom Banner Overlay or Full Frame Overlay, it shows up in the live view, so no one ends up hidden behind the graphics!
  3. Instant Delivery & Overlays: In Events using the QuicPics Program, each photo is sent via MMS with the overlay art included! And with every NowCandid Program, a gallery link is delivered where retail site users can download images and order photo products.

Guests can hop in, pose, and receive fun, branded photos—no fuss required! 🎉

On-Device Backgrounds & Filters 🎨

Before finalizing those memorable pics, guests can personalize them right on the device:

  • Background Selection: If you’ve uploaded custom backgrounds on the web dashboard, the app fetches them before the booth session. Guests can pick from these in addition to several default backgrounds, great for holiday vibes or brand-specific themes.
  • Filter Options: Classic filters like Noir, Sepia, Clarendon, and others let participants get creative.
  • Reshoot Button: Not happy with the shot? Guests can “Reshoot” and start the session over at any time.

This ensures a lively, interactive experience that encourages guests to come back for more snaps. ⛄

Positive ID vs. Face Matching 🧐

After styling, the next step depends on your event’s workflow:

  • For Face Matching Events: Guests are guided to tap the faces they see on-screen, and then can enter contact info for each face! If this is their first or only reference photo for the Event, it will also match them to shots taken outside the Photo Booth!
  • For Positive ID Events: A simpler approach: participants just type in their contact info and send off the images! Easy peasy.

Either way, photos head straight to their phones via QuicPics (if you’re using that Program) and will always land in their personal gallery. 🔔

Seamless Integration with NowCandid 💖

Photo Booth Mode plugs right into your existing NowCandid features:

  • Selfie Check-In & LiveLoop: Photo booth images appear in your LiveLoop feed if you’re displaying one at the event. Selfie Check-Ins can still match participants to their booth photos too if they don't self-identify during their photo booth session!
  • QuicPics & PartyPics: The images upload instantly, letting your guests receive them right away via MMS (with QuicPics), or find them in their personal gallery for easy purchase or free download (with every Program).

It’s the same NowCandid ecosystem you know—just dressed up in a festive booth format! 🎄

Requirements & Limitations 🎅

A few notes to keep in mind:

  • Camera Orientation:
    • Nikon supports horizontal and vertical live view.
    • Sony/Canon currently only support horizontal orientation for tethered cameras.
  • iPad-Only for Now:
    • Photo Booth Mode works on iPad in vertical orientation, not on iPhone or Windows.
  • No Built-In Printing:
    • If you need on-site prints, consider setting up your own print station with a computer and a printer! Use quic.pics/portal to access your Event images, and then download images with or without overlays to print them on-site.
  • We Value Feedback:
    • Missing something? Let us know! Your input shapes our next updates.

Why Photo Booth Mode Is a Holiday Treat 🎁

  • Interactive & Fun: Guests love choosing backgrounds, filters, and overlays, making the booth a memorable attraction.
  • Fully Integrated: Works seamlessly with QuicPics, PartyPics, LiveLoop, Face Matching, and more.
  • Revenue & Engagement Boost: Branded overlays, holiday backgrounds, or sponsor tie-ins can lead to higher sales and delighted clients.

This mode is a surefire way to add a dash of cheer to any event—holiday-themed or otherwise! ✨

That’s all for now, folks.

We hope Photo Booth Mode adds a dash of magic to your season and beyond.

And thank you for following along with our 12 Days of Christmas!

Enjoy this new feature, and as always, keep capturing the moments that matter most.

Reminder: The new NowCandid Capture & Upload App Version that includes Photo Booth Mode will be going live at the end of December, this month!

Candy 🍬

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Crowning Moments: Turning Prom Night into Profit with NowCandid
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Crowning Moments: Turning Prom Night into Profit with NowCandid

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 minutes read
Prom night is an iconic milestone in a high schooler’s life, brimming with fashion, friendships, and unforgettable memories.

While it's true that smartphones have made "everyone a photographer", professional prom photography remains a lucrative venture. Why? The answer lies in the quality that professional photos can offer, capturing prom night with a finesse that smartphones simply can't match.

The Profitability of Prom Photography

Prom photography can be highly profitable, with a target metric of $1.50 per image being a realistic benchmark for success. However, with the right approach, this figure can soar, as evidenced by a NowCandid's users Oklahoma City Prom, which achieved $2 per image across 3000 pictures taken, totaling $6000 in sales.

The key to serious profitability lies in having quantity, quality, and variety! An effective photographer using NowCandid has the ability to quickly deliver a professional, high-quality image gallery that will capture the attention of their subjects.

Why Proms are Still Profitable

  1. Social Media Influence: Today’s high schoolers live in a social media-centric world where the quality of a photo can greatly increase the quality of a post. Professional, well-lit, and expertly framed photos are in demand for their social media feeds, making them willing to purchase digital copies for their Instagram or Facebook profiles.
  2. Parental Investment: Parents are equally important customers in the prom photography market. They cherish these milestones and are often more than willing to purchase photos that capture their child’s special night. Using Selfie Check-In allows you to collect both the subject and the parents' contact info, marketing the subject's photos to both parties!
  3. Speedy Delivery: With the help of NowCandid, images can be available for purchase instantly. Selling images right away can benefit your overall sales thanks to impulse purchases people make when they are at their most excited about the Event.
  4. Unique Print Products: Unique print products alongside desirable images is always a combination that will generate extra sales! A variety of products be purchased, in addition to the usual prints and downloads. You can even upload an Event-specific custom banner to your Events to further make your product unique compared to the images subjects can take with their own phones - turning every photo into a memento!

Keys to Successful Prom Photography

  • Quality: While taking a substantial number of photos is important, ensuring the quality of your images increases their salability. Ensure each photo is well-lit and tightly cropped!
  • 2 Pics Per Minute: Aim for 2 pictures every minute, targeting 120+ per hour. These need to be unique images too - don't count duplicates! Utilize features like NowCandid’s LiveLoop to encourage guests to seek out photographers to get on the big screen.
  • Posing: Encourage a variety of poses to maximize the number of sellable images for any group you approach. After photographing a group of four, break the group into couples, ladies only, guys only, etc.
  • Photo Stations: Establish a dedicated photo area with an attractive backdrop suitable for individuals, couples, and groups, enhancing the variety and appeal of a subject's image gallery. Props are optional, but can be a fun addition. Also, a photo station is also a good place to station your less-social photographers, as guests will come to them!
  • Selfie Check-In Mastery: Achieving high participation in Selfie Check-In not only streamlines image delivery but also ensures a direct marketing channel to both students and their parents.
  • Strategic Staffing: Align the number of photographers with the expected guest count, aiming for one photographer per 100-150 guests to ensure comprehensive coverage of the event.
  • Strategic Compensation: Many successful social photographers pay their photographers based on how many unique (no duplicates) and sellable (good quality) images they take at a party. Consider paying $0.20 per sellable image with a minimum pay of $18 an hour, guaranteeing them decent pay but giving them room to take more images to make you both more money. (Example: 120 images an hour would be $24 an hour)

NowCandid: Your Partner in Capturing the Magic of Prom Night

NowCandid software is designed to streamline the photography process, from efficient image capture and upload to simplifying sales through intuitive galleries and easy online ordering.

With NowCandid, photographers can focus on what they do best—taking stunning photos—while the platform handles the logistics, making each prom a potential goldmine of photographic opportunities.

Success Stories to Inspire

Photographers like Tosha LaForest and Eric Miller have harnessed the power of NowCandid to amplify their school dance and event photography sales. Their experiences underscore the potential of well-executed prom and dance photography to significantly boost revenue and client satisfaction.

Prom photography, powered by NowCandid, offers a great option for photographers to expand their portfolios and profit margins. By focusing on quality, variety, and quantity, photographers can tap into the lucrative prom market, turning each dance into a profitable venture (and fun) venture.

Learn more, and join the ranks of successful prom photographers with NowCandid.

Visit our success stories to learn more and get inspired to capture the vibrant energy and timeless elegance of prom night.

Background Removal, NowCandid's Newest Feature!
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March 13, 2024

Background Removal, NowCandid's Newest Feature!

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Hey there, photographers and NowCandid fam!

It’s Candy here, your cheerful guide through the NowCandid universe, and I’ve got some thrilling news!

Introducing Background Removal 🚀

What’s New?

We’ve rolled out a game-changing feature: Background Removal, available for all NowCandid Programs & Workflows!

How It Works:

Before uploading your images (into a Background Removal enabled Event), simply mark the folder for Background Removal. We'll then use top-notch AI to whisk away the background, leaving you with pristine cutouts as an additional option alongside the original image in your subject's gallery.

And, it happens live!

If you practice best business practices with NowCandid, you probably upload your images live as you take them with the help of our Capture & Upload app! Images live-uploaded to a Background Removal folder will be cutout in no time at all, adding themselves to the subject's gallery automatically and on-the-fly.

Note: Capture & Upload App Version 3.17 or newer will be needed to utilize background removal while live-uploading images.

Choose Your Backdrop 🌟

Variety Galore:

The ever-popular gray and white 'Dover' background, arches in various architectural styles, and scenic outdoorsy vibes, your subjects can view and pick any background that catches their eye!

Future Customization:

Later this year, you'll be able to add your own backdrops to the mix, pre-rendering the background-removed image onto a custom background for your Events. Stay tuned!

Get Certified & Dive In 📜

Certification Needed:

To unlock this fantastic feature for your NowCandid Account, a quick certification is required. Check out how at the following page: Background Removal Certification (link)

The Best Part? It's On Us! 💖

Absolutely Free (For Now):

For the time being, enjoy this feature at no extra charge.

We need some time to assess how often Background Removal will be used and how it will affect sales. So, for now, it's free! Think of this as our way of saying thanks for being part of the NowCandid family. We're excited to see how Background Removal can enhanceyour business!

Note: 📝

Currently, the background-removed PNGs are exclusive to the Personal and All Images Galleries, with no direct download of the files for you the photographer. So, your customers can buy them, but you can't currently use the service to generate image cut-outs for use outside the system!

We’re buzzing with excitement over here at NowCandid about the extra sellable images this feature can bring to your photography Events! 🐝

Whether you’re shooting portraits at a graduation, soccer game, prom, or anywhere else - Background Removal is set to elevate your photography game, turn one image into many!

Stay tuned, as we'll be rolling out more customization options as the year progresses. If you have any questions or need a hand getting started, just give us a shout. We’re here to help every snap of the way!

Sparkly wishes,
Candy 🌟
Capture & Upload App's Latest Update 3.17
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March 12, 2024

Capture & Upload App's Latest Update 3.17

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Hiya, NowCandid fam!

It's Candy here, with some hot-off-the-press news about our Capture & Upload app that's going to make your photography flow smoother than ever. We've listened to your feedback and sprinkled some improvements on both Windows and Apple iOS versions in our latest update, 3.17. 🌟

Changes Across Windows & Apple iOS Versions of the App

1.     Whoops! We didn't make this very clear before. We've clarified the messages when you incorrectly log in to the Capture & Upload App with your email and app passcode.

2.     Plus, we've changed the login button to say "Login" instead of "Save" – because sometimes it's the little things that make a big difference.

3.     A little redesign magic has made the "Cancel/Close" button on the login less attention-grabbing, since people were sometimes clicking it thinking it was a next step! Whoops.

4.     The latest version of the Capture & Upload app will also need to be used in order to utilize NowCandid's newest Background Removal feature (link)!

Changes to Only the Windows Version of the App

1.      Get ready to feel the need for speed! We've made improvements to the app, which means less memory usage, zippy startup times, and an overall performance boost that'll have you clicking happily away.

Changes to Only the Apple iOS Version of the App

1.     Volume button as a shutter? Yes, please! You can now use the volume up/down buttons for those sneaky quick captures when using your device's internal camera.

2.     Embrace the old and the new with support for select additional Sony cameras. We used to only support newer versions of Sony cameras! Check out the list at the bottom of this post to see if your gear's on there.

3.     And if you're rocking an iPhone 14 or older (or 9th gen iPad or older), we're helping you troubleshoot with a "Camera Trouble?" popup if no camera is detected for 15 seconds on shooting screens—complete with a helpful link to Apple's Camera Adapter (link), which you'll need to connect your camera to these lightning-port Apple devices.

4.     For our Nikon D7000 users, no more connection woes. We've ironed out those kinks for you!

5.     Noticed some off-center UI on your iPhone when using the Capture & Upload App? We've fixed that up too, so your app experience is as picture-perfect as your shots.

What's Next?

Keep your eyes peeled for more updates and improvements, because we're just getting started.

In the meantime, enjoy the new tweaks and treats with update 3.17, designed to keep your NowCandid experience as seamless as your photography skills. And as always, if you hit any bumps or have a lightbulb moment on how we can do better, drop us a line!

Happy shooting, everyone!

Candy 🌟

List of Additional Sony Cameras Now Supported on Apple iOS

Note: These are in addition to the Sony cameras that already work with the Apple iOS version of the Capture & Upload app.

ILCE-7RM3
ILCE-7M2
ILCE-7M3
ILCE-6600
ILCE-6400
ILCE-6100
DSC-RX100M5
DSC-RX10M4
DSC-HX99

Note: Firmware updates may be required for some models of Sony.

Let’s get in touch

If you’re a photographer looking to add NowCandid services to your wheelhouse – set up a call by clicking the button below.

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How to customize formatting for each rich text

How to customize formatting for each rich text

How to customize formatting for each rich text

How to customize formatting for each rich text
How to customize formatting for each rich text

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Headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, figures, images, and figure captions can all be styled after a class is added to the rich text element using the "When inside of" nested selector system.

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