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Darwin's Quic Tips for Mastering Graduation Photography

Darwin's Quic Tips for Mastering Graduation Photography
Graduation season is a bustling time for photographers.

Capturing the essence of such a monumental event requires not just skill but also the right strategy. At NowCandid, we understand this well, which is why our GradPics Now program is designed to maximize both the quality and efficiency of your graduation photography services.

Here, Darwin, our long-time Photography Specialist with a wealth of experience in graduation events, shares his top tips to help you excel this graduation season.

1. Prioritize Speed Over Extensive Retouching

In the fast-paced environment of graduation ceremonies, the quick delivery of photos can significantly boost your sales. Darwin emphasizes that speed in making images available often trumps the detailed retouching of images in terms of sales impact.

Graduates and families appreciate quick access to their photos to share their special moments. Therefore, focus on capturing the best possible shots in-camera.

2. Stick to SRGB Color Profiles for Retouching

If retouching is necessary, Darwin advises saving images in an SRGB color profile. This ensures that your photos look consistent and vibrant across all viewing platforms, be it digital devices or prints, enhancing the overall appeal of your photos to clients.

3. Use Direct Flash to Enhance Image Quality

Proper lighting is crucial in photography, especially in the varied environments of graduation venues. Using direct flash can help mitigate common lighting issues such as facial shadows, ensuring your subjects are evenly lit and standout.

This simple technique can significantly improve the color and clarity of your photos, making them more appealing to your clients.

4. Be Prepared: Carry Extra Batteries and a Backup Camera

Always be prepared for the unexpected. Darwin recommends carrying extra batteries and a backup camera to all events. This ensures that you can continue shooting uninterrupted, even if your primary camera fails or batteries run out.

Being prepared is key to a smooth operation during busy events like graduations.

Darwin's Impressive Track Record

Darwin brings a vast amount of practical knowledge to the table, having managed the capture of over 35,152 graduation images in just the last two weeks of this season alone. His experience underscores the effectiveness of these tips in real-world settings.

Why Choose GradPics Now?

NowCandid's GradPics Now program is tailored to streamline the graduation photography process. By integrating Darwin's tips and our state-of-the-art technology, photographers can not only enhance their efficiency but also improve their sales potential.

The program supports instant uploading and sorting of images, enabling photographers to focus more on capturing great shots and less on post-event workflows.

Graduation season doesn't have to be overwhelming.

With the right tools and strategies, you can turn this busy time into a highly profitable and fulfilling part of your photography career. Embrace these tips, utilize GradPics Now, and capture the milestones with confidence and efficiency.

Ready to transform your graduation photography approach?

Join the many photographers who have already found success with NowCandid. Learn more about GradPics Now and schedule a session with Darwin to fine-tune your strategy. Let’s make this graduation season your best yet!

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Weekly Recap: Positive ID Improvements, New Product & Capture App Upgrades 🎓📱
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Weekly Recap: Positive ID Improvements, New Product & Capture App Upgrades 🎓📱

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Hey photo friends!

We’ve got a bunch of tidy little upgrades this week—making rosters cleaner, products better, and the Capture App easier to use on busy Positive ID shoots. Here’s what’s new:

📋 Dashboard Improvements

👥 Extra Contacts on Positive ID Rosters: Now supported, just like with PhotoRosters

🏷️ Auto-create PhotoTags: Uploading a Positive ID Roster with new tags? They can now be created automatically in the Event at the same time

📜 Image Details history: Now shows manual unassignments for better tracking

🛍️ Retail Site Updates

🎓 Graduation Plaque: Text now renders live on the retail site

🎓 Graduation Tassel Frame: Text now renders live on the retail site, and features a gold gradient text instead of plain white, and has a new matching stock example

🖼️ New Print Products: 10×18 Print and 10×18 Group Photo now available in the Custom Offer Creator & Editor

📱 Capture App 4.20.3 (iOS)

🔠 Alphabetical PhotoTags: Tags are now sorted A–Z

📌 Persistent PhotoTag filter: Name Lookup will keep your selected filter until you change it or remove it—great for shooting one team at a time

💻 New iPad UI for Name Lookup: Multiple sortable columns + participant image counts in green (easy to see who’s been photographed already)

Better performance: Faster Name Lookup when working with large rosters

📷 Camera support: Sony 7RM3A now supported

🔄 Auto-rotation fixes for vertical images with CamFi & Canon Wireless

📡 Canon Wireless connections working again with the Capture App

🛠️ Small but Mighty Fixes

🏷️ Retail shipping & billing default now set to “Select” instead of "Alabama"

📑 Updated templates for PhotoRoster/Positive ID Roster spreadsheets

📂 CSV roster uploads now supported (not just Excel files)

🔍 Ctrl+F search now works on the Web Dashboard's Blog page

📏 Better DPI conversions in uploader & image details for cm → inches situations

👤 Positive ID Roster fixes for a bug that caused some images to assign to additional Participants

🖼️ Retail Groups tab cutouts now display properly as JPEGs when originals are hidden on the retail site

That’s a wrap for this week! 💫

From cleaner rosters to new products, these changes should make your workflow smoother and your galleries better.

Keep being amazing,

Candy 🍬

Weekly Recap: More PhotoTag Power + Capture App Upgrades 🏷️📱
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Weekly Recap: More PhotoTag Power + Capture App Upgrades 🏷️📱

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Hey there, photo friends!

We’ve got more PhotoTag goodness this week, along with some handy Capture App improvements and small workflow wins. Here’s what’s new:

🏷️More Ways to Use PhotoTags in the Dashboard

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📱Capture App 4.20.2 Highlights

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Photographing Homecoming Weekend with NowCandid: A Photographer's Playbook
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High school homecoming weekend is packed with photo-worthy moments

From the parade and pep rally to the big game, homecoming court, and the dance. For photographers, it’s a whirlwind. But with NowCandid™, even a small team can cover it all efficiently and profitably.

Below is a quick look at each event, the opportunities it presents, and the NowCandid tools that help you make the most of them.

🎉 Homecoming Parade – Kicking Off the Celebration

  • • Selfie Check-In™: Let parade participants register with a quick selfie before kickoff. Face Matching will tag them automatically later.
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    💡 Every identified face is a potential sale. Automation ensures you don’t miss anyone.

📣 Pep Rally – Spirit & Smiles

  • • Selfie Check-In™: Continue building your attendee database for the weekend.
  • • LiveLoop™: Display photos on the big screen in real-time to build excitement.

    💡 More personalized photos = more likely purchases.

🏈 Football Game – Under the Lights

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    💡 Thousands of game photos become searchable and personal, boosting sales.

👑 Homecoming Court – Crowning Moments

  • • Prepare: Add nominees to Face Matching™ ahead of time with Selfie Check-In™!
  • • Background Removal: Instantly turn sideline shots into elegant portraits.
  • • Live-Upload: Provide those crowning shots well before the night’s over.

    💡Court images have built-in demand, your social pics will encourage bigger package sales!

💃 The Dance – A Night to Remember

  • • Selfie Check-In™ at the Door: The best time to get Check-Ins!

    • Even if someone checks-in again, that's no problem! Get everyone to do it as they funnel into the dance.
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  • • Photo Booth + LiveLoop™: Between NowCandid's Photo Booth Mode & LiveLoop™, you have multiple upsell options that create more photos and more positive energy!

    💡 Multiple background choices can lead to one image being purchased multiple times!

🚀 Why It Works

NowCandid™ turns homecoming into a personalized, real-time, high-volume photography experience—without extra staff.

  • • Efficiency: Automation handles matching, sorting, and delivery.
  • • Delight: Participants see their photos fast and without searching.
  • • Profitability: More sellable images, quicker turnaround, and premium offerings = better margins.

A typical homecoming weekend is jam-packed with memories in the making.

For a photographer, it used to mean juggling notebooks of names, printing hundreds of proofs, or spending days in post-event labor. Now, with tools from NowCandid™, a single photographer (even operating solo) can confidently cover the parade, pep rally, game, court, and dance – and do it in a way that’s both fun for students and profitable for the business.

By using features such as Selfie Check-In™ and Face Matching™ to ensure everyone’s identified, QuicPics™ and LiveLoop™ to deliver excitement in real time, and Photo Booth and AI-powered backgrounds to offer creative products, you transform the event photography workflow from chaotic and labor-intensive to smooth, high-tech, and engaging.

In short, NowCandid’s software and workflows allow you to capture the full spirit of homecoming

Every candid laugh, every triumphant cheer, every dance floor twirl – and get those images into the hands of the people who will cherish them, almost as fast as the memories are made.

This means happier clients, more sales, and a homecoming weekend where the photographer can enjoy the process as much as everyone else enjoys the photos.

Here’s to using technology to work smarter, wow your customers, and make homecoming (and many more events to come) a win-win for everyone involved!

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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