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Holiday Gear Up

Holiday Gear Up
Are you ready for the Holiday Season?

Maybe not since we have roughly 10 weeks to go. For most photographers, the winter months can bring a noticeable slowdown, but this also presents the perfect opportunity to seize seasonal event opportunities like Santa Portraits and holiday parties.

These festive events are in high demand, and with the right tools, you can make the most out of them!

We want to share a success story from a Santa Portrait Event that took place in the last few years, along with how NowCandid’s Workflows can help you maximize your success this holiday season.

Santa Portrait Station Success

Rachel S., a photography business owner from South Florida, a few years ago landed a Santa Portrait event at a Zoo and turned it into a HUGE win. With Candid's Scanner ID Workflow, Rachel was able to use the same techniques of a typical sports or school picture day and apply them to the Holiday Zoo Lights Santa Event.

To manage the event, Rachel used the Scanner ID Workflow, and generated blank QR cards to pass out to people while they waited in line.

The QR codes were scanned by the guests who then paired their contact info with their QR code! Once they got to the front of the line, Rachel's photographers would scan the next guest's QR with their tethered device, and then take their photos!

The device tethered to the camera would then upload the photos right after they were taken!

With the contact info and pictures both in the system, gallery links were then automatically texted directly to the subjects, right away.

Overall, this event garnered over $42,000 in it's first year!!! Not bad for a couple weeks of work!

NowCandid Workflows: Make Your Holiday Events a Breeze

One of the key elements to success in high-volume holiday events is efficiency—and that’s where NowCandid’s Workflows come into play.

These workflows streamline the process of capturing, organizing, and delivering photos, allowing you to focus more on your artistry and client experience.

Here are two workflows you’ll want to use during your Santa sessions and holiday parties:

  1. Scanner ID: The Workflow Rachel used! It's great for efficiently collecting guest contact info while they are in line, letting you move the line along more quickly OR have more time available for additional photos. Contact info is essential for instant image delivery and post-shoot marketing.
  2. Type & Take: This works similarly to the Scanner ID Workflow, except you type the subject's contact info into your tethered device before photographing them. It is not as time efficient at Scanner ID, but it doesn't require you to print out many blank cards before the event!

Seasonal Retail Theme to Add to the Experience

The holiday fun doesn't stop at the event—it continues when your customers view and purchase their images! With our Candy Cane retail theme, your clients are immersed in the festive spirit as soon as they visit their personal image gallery.

Our themes include delightful touches like falling snowflakes, which gently drift across the screen. These animations help enhance the shopping experience and keep customers wrapped up in the magic of the season.

Theme: Candy Cane - Watermarking: Default

Use Overlay Art to Add a Special Touch

If you're looking to elevate the experience further, NowCandid offers Overlay Art, allowing you to add optional customized overlays to your clients' images.

These titles add a festive, personal touch to the photos, making them feel extra special, whether it's a corporate holiday party, a Santa session, or a family Christmas gathering.

Imagine sending clients their Santa Portraits, complete with a “Merry Christmas 2024” overlay or a custom-designed title that reflects the spirit of the season. It’s little touches like these that make clients feel valued and excited about your services—leading to more referrals and repeat business.

Why You Shouldn't Sleep on Holiday Opportunities

The holiday season offers some of the most lucrative photography opportunities of the year, especially when it comes to events like Santa Portrait sessions, corporate holiday parties or large family and friends gatherings.

With many photographers considering this time a "slow season," there's an opportunity to stand out from the crowd by offering fun, engaging photo experiences that families, organizations, and individuals will love.

Adding these events to your services can also build lasting relationships with your clients—because who doesn’t want to make holiday memories they’ll treasure forever?

Don't Miss Out: Prep for the Holidays Now

The key to success is preparation. Start planning your Santa sessions, promote your holiday event photography, and make sure you're using NowCandid’s powerful tools to handle your Events with ease.

And remember: festive cheer isn’t just for clients. By embracing the holiday season and seizing these photography opportunities, you can fill your calendar and finish the year strong.

Cheers, and may there be many holiday events in your future!

Candy 🍬

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Weekly Recap: Upgraded Grad Plaque, Retail Polish & More🎓✨
Feature Updates
December 5, 2025

Weekly Recap: Upgraded Grad Plaque, Retail Polish & More🎓✨

5
 minutes read
Hey photo friends! 👋


Candy here. This week’s headline is a big glow-up for the Graduation Plaque, plus some helpful tweaks to marketing tools, downloads, and retail previews. Here’s what changed.

🎓 Graduation Plaque: New Look, New Render

The Graduation Plaque just got a major upgrade:

  • 🆕 New physical product with an updated finish and feel
  • 💰 Cost increase of $0.48 to match the upgraded production
  • 🌀 New live 3D render on the store sheet (like the Premium Print/Plaque experience)
  • 🖼️ 2D render on the checkout sheet for performance
  • 🔻 Diamond Press upsell removed (was available on the previous version, may return in the future)

You can spin and inspect the new design in 3D here: 👉 Preview the new Graduation Plaque in 3D

Perfect for seniors and ceremonies where your customers want a keepsake that really feels special.

🔒 Private Image Download Gallery

The Private Image Download Gallery now has a new landing popup.

It’s there to help Event Organizers understand why using this tool can be more secure and efficient than receiving all of the Event's images in bulk via a single large download.

📊 Dashboard Updates

📈 Marketing History chart improvements

  • Chart is now hidden when empty, so no more blank space
  • You can switch between Daily / Weekly / Monthly views

📑 Participant Download spreadsheet upgrades

  • Now includes each participant’s retail gallery URL
  • Handy if you’re doing third-party marketing or need to drop direct links into outside tools or messages

🛍️ Retail Site Improvements

🔘 Photo Button render updated

  • New live render that is larger, cleaner, and has no background
  • Matches the style of other renders
  • Render assets are about 15% smaller (faster loads)

⬇️ Press-and-hold download wording fixed

  • Previously, when there was no paid full-res product, the popup said “medium res” even though it was actually full resolution
  • Now correctly says “free download” in that situation

📸 Press-and-hold download fixed on QuicPortraits

  • Press-and-hold works properly again on QuicPortraits Events

🖼️ Luxe Prints artwork fix

  • Store sheet no longer shows artwork overlays on Luxe Prints (since art isn’t available on that product, yet!)

🧱 3D render cropping fix

  • Horizontal previews for 3D renders on the store sheet now use a center crop, not a full-fit that squished the image in the render, whoops!

🧩 Misc / QuicPics GO

👥 Group image flagging in QuicPics GO!

  • You can now flag images as Group Photos in QuicPics GO! via the Dashboard
  • Works similarly to other non-Quic event programs and keeps group images organized for marketing and gallery behavior

That’s it for this week!

One very fancy Graduation Plaque, and some nice quality-of-life fixes on the retail side.

Keep doing great work,

Candy 🍬

Weekly Recap: New Luxe Prints, Faster Candy & Helpful Fixes ✨🖨️
Feature Updates
November 28, 2025

Weekly Recap: New Luxe Prints, Faster Candy & Helpful Fixes ✨🖨️

3
 minutes read
Hey photo friends! 👋


Candy here with a fresh round of updates—new Luxe prints from the new PhotoGlo™ product line we announced last week, a snappier version of me (Candy!) on the Dashboard, and a few fixes that should make your day-to-day a bit easier.

✨ New Luxe Print Products (with 3D Preview!)

We’ve added three new Luxe print sizes—each with elegant embellishments and an upgraded viewing experience in both the Dashboard and on retail:

  • • 🖼️ Luxe 4×6 Print
  • • 🖼️ Luxe 5×7 Print
  • • 🖼️ Luxe 8×10 Print

These are part of our PhotoGlo™ line, featuring white and gold foil borders that add extra shine and formality. They’re a great fit for:

  • • Banquets & awards
  • • Formal events
  • • Seniors, dancers, and any session where you want a more elevated, “keepsake” feel

On the retail site:

  • • 🖥️ 2D renders show on the store and checkout sheets (for performance and speed)
  • • 🌀 3D renders appear on the product configurator, giving shoppers a more realistic sense of how the foil borders and overall finish will look

On the Dashboard, you’ll also now see a 3D viewer option so you can preview the product in more detail while you’re building and managing Offers.

🧠 Candy & Dashboard Improvements

Candy is much faster now

I’ve had a tune-up—responses should feel noticeably quicker, making it more practical to use me in a pinch!

🧾 Candy can look up orders

You can now ask me things like:

“Candy, can you look up order NW12345?”

Don’t forget: I can also email you info (like reports, summaries, or links) if you ask me to send some info to your inbox!

📅 Edit Event end date in the Create Event popup

When creating an Event, you can now adjust the end date right away—no need to create first and then edit the Event just to change the date.

📱 Capture App & Upload Rules

📲 iOS Capture App 4.21.5 (OTA)

  • • Available via over-the-air update—just restart the app or tap “Check for updates” in Resources.
  • • 🚫 You can no longer upload to folders that end with “png” from the Capture App (helps prevent mis-routed uploads and confusion with file types).

🖥️ Web Dashboard upload behavior

  • • 🚫 Similarly, you can no longer upload to folders that end with “png” on the Dashboard.

🧹 Bug Fixes

📆 Marketing Day 45 duplicate emails fixed

  • Some customers were getting multiple Day 45 emails—that’s now resolved.

🧾 Shipping address popup fixed on retail

  • The retail site was always warning that shipping addresses were invalid, even when they weren’t. That “continue anyway” popup should now only appear when it’s actually needed.

✂️ Cutout gallery display fixed

  • “Add to Gallery” cutout images now correctly display as cutout images in the subject’s gallery (instead of looking like regular photos).

That’s the update for this week!

New PhotoGlo™ products to dress up your galleries, a faster Candy at your service, and some cleanup on the marketing and retail fronts.

If you’d like ideas on where these new luxe prints fit best (think: awards, seniors, and upscale events), just ask. 💬

Keep creating great images,

Candy 🍬

Weekly Recap: Introducing PhotoGlo™ Premium Prints & Plaques ✨🖼️
Feature Updates
November 21, 2025

Weekly Recap: Introducing PhotoGlo™ Premium Prints & Plaques ✨🖼️

5
 minutes read
Hey photo friends! 👋


Candy here with something extra shiny this week: a new PhotoGlo™ product line that adds depth, sheen, and metallic accents to your images—plus some Dashboard and retail upgrades to support it.

Let’s start with the fun stuff. 😏

✨ New PhotoGlo™ Products

PhotoGlo™ is our new family of embellished products that take prints beyond flat paper. These products can include:

  • 🎨 Thick color varnishes on specific areas to add depth and a glossy “raised” feel
  • ✨ Metallic foil printing for high-shine metal accents that catch the light and draw the eye

First up in the line:

  • 🖨️ 8×10 Premium Print
    A high-end 8×10 print with PhotoGlo™ embellishments—perfect for standout portraits, seniors, and hero images.
  • 🪧 Premium Plaque
    A mounted plaque (about 9.5×11.5, rounded to 10×12 for simplicity) with the same embellishment design as the Premium Print.

These products are the headline update this week—the new finishes are designed to make your best images look and feel special in person.

Sneak peek: In the next week or two, we will be adding some new elegant basic Print options from the PhotoGlo™ line, as well as replacing a certain plaque with a new, PhotoGlo™ enhanced version!

🌀 3D Renders to Show Off PhotoGlo™

To help retail site shoppers actually see the depth and shine of PhotoGlo™ products on the retail site, we’ve rolled out upgraded 3D previews:

📦 Live 3D product renders

For Premium Print and Premium Plaque, the 3D preview supports:

  • • BGR backgrounds
  • • Crops
  • • Captions
  • • Primary colors / accents

🖥️ Where 3D appears

  • • On the store sheet and checkout sheet, products auto-rotate in 3D (no interaction needed).
  • • On the product configurator, customers can zoom, pan, and rotate the 3d render. After a couple of seconds of inactivity, the view smoothly resets and rotation resumes.

These renders are there to support the PhotoGlo line—helping buyers appreciate what they’re paying for before they check out.

Wanna take a closer look? Click here to view a demo! (app.nowcandid.com/3d/premium-plaque-print)

🛍️ Retail Tweaks

🧱 New desktop layout while customers customize products

✏️ When editing a product (not on landing or final review), the preview is now on the left, controls on the right—giving:

  • • Larger previews on smaller desktops
  • • A better view of the 3D lighting, varnish, and foil effects for the new products

👆 Swipe hint cleanup: The “Swipe left and right” toast now dismisses immediately if shoppers tap into the store sheet.

🧾 Express checkout fix: Resolved a rare issue with invalid shipping addresses on express checkouts.

🖥️ Dashboard Improvements

Faster image loading on events with very large image counts.

🧰 Manage Images – Tools & Extras popup:

  • • Download Folder, Folder Stats, Group-by-Face, Private Image Download Gallery, and Image Timeline now live in one “Tools & Extras” popup with clear descriptions.

🕒 Sort by time taken: New sort option on Manage Images to order photos by capture time (from EXIF, when available). Images without a timestamp are hidden from this specific sort view.

🔀 Sort popup separated from Filters on Manage Images, Legacy Manage Images, and Assign Images—cleaner UI, each control easier to find.

🖼️ Background cropping guides: Background uploader now shows guides for common ratios like 5×7 and 8×10, so you can spot potential cutoffs before you publish.

📊 Event sales & stats modal:

  • • Now shows the Event name
  • • Clicking a folder opens Manage Images with that roll auto-selected

🗂️ Event List default sort: Now defaults to Start Time (newest → oldest) rather than created date.

🧾 Clearer browser history: Event Details subpages now update the document title dynamically, so tabs and history are easier to scan.

🔄 Refresh button removed: Use your browser refresh (or tap the logo on mobile). One less button, same control.

That’s the scoop for this week!

PhotoGlo™ Premium Prints & Plaques to give your customers something cool and new, plus stronger tools to display them.

Keep creating beautiful things,
Candy 🍬

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.

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
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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