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Prom Night Profits: How to Rock Prom Photography in the Age of Smartphones

Prom Night Profits: How to Rock Prom Photography in the Age of Smartphones

Prom night is a rite of passage, filled with teenage dreams, extravagant dresses, and Insta-worthy moments. But as a photographer, you might be wondering if prom photography is still a profitable gig in the era of smartphones and selfies. Fear not, fellow camera enthusiasts! With a few clever strategies and the help of NowCandid's Party Pics Now program, you can turn prom night into a money-making opportunity. So, grab your camera and let's dive into the world of prom photography!

  1. Adapt and Thrive:
    The rise of smartphones has indeed changed the game, but savvy photographers can adapt by focusing on what they do best: capturing high-quality, professional images. Offer your clients a mix of posed pictures and candid shots, using the Selfie Check-In and Tap-A-Face workflows from NowCandid's Party Pics Now program to streamline the process and ensure a smooth experience for everyone involved.
  2. More Photographers, More Profit:
    Increase your revenue potential by sending multiple photographers to cover the event. Assign one to a dedicated photo station for portraits, while others roam the venue capturing quick posed photos of friends and group pictures. This approach ensures that you capture a wide variety of sellable frames, making the most of your time on-site.
  3. Create a Unique Photo Station:
    Make your photo station stand out by offering themed backdrops, fun props, and creative lighting. This will not only draw the prom-goers to your station but also encourage them to share their professional photos on social media, giving you free advertising and potentially attracting new clients.
  4. Network with Schools and Event Planners:
    Build relationships with schools, event planners, and other key stakeholders to secure more prom photography gigs. Offer special deals, referral incentives, or donate a portion of your profits to the school as a way to give back and establish a positive reputation in the community.
  5. Promote Your Services:
    Use social media, your website, and local advertising to promote your prom photography services. Share examples of your work, highlight special offers, and showcase testimonials from satisfied clients to build credibility and attract new business.
  6. Capture the Essence of Prom Night:
    Prom is a night of glitz, glamor, and teenage dreams come true. To create images that truly resonate, focus on capturing the energy, emotion, and excitement of the event. Channel your inner photographer and make every shot a visual feast that transports the viewer to a world of prom night magic.

Prom photography can still be a profitable venture for professional photographers willing to adapt and innovate. By combining the power of NowCandid's Party Pics Now program with smart strategies and a touch of creativity, you can turn prom night into a lucrative opportunity that'll have you dancing all the way to the bank. And hey, who knows? You might even get a chance to bust a move on the dance floor while you're at it – just remember to keep your camera handy, because you never know when that perfect shot will present itself. Happy shooting!

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Weekly Recap: Apple Pay Everywhere, Capture App 4.22 & Clearer Check-Ins 🍬📱
Feature Updates
December 19, 2025

Weekly Recap: Apple Pay Everywhere, Capture App 4.22 & Clearer Check-Ins 🍬📱

3
 minutes read

Hey photo friends! 👋


Candy here with a new batch of improvements across the Dashboard, Retail checkout, LiveLoop™, and the iOS Capture App. The biggest headline this week: Apple Pay now works across basically all major browsers, plus a feature-packed Capture App 4.22.

🛍️ Retail: Apple Pay in More Browsers

🍎 Apple Pay is now supported on Chrome, Edge, and Firefox

  • 🍎 Including on Windows and Chromebooks. More shoppers can check out faster with fewer steps.

🧾 Manual checkout fixes

  • ✅ Fixed an edge case where “Shipping address is same as billing” still forced shipping entry
  • 🧹 Fixed an edge case where a prefilled participant email had trailing whitespace and blocked checkout

📱 Capture App iOS 4.22

📷 Fujifilm file names now match the camera’s file name

  • Helpful for keeping filenames consistent with what you see on-camera.

📺 AirPlay shows the latest/selected image by default

  • Think of it like a one-device, real-time mini slideshow. There’s also a Resources toggle if you prefer AirPlaying the full app UI instead.

🧩 Folder naming rule update: No underscores in folder names

  • Underscores are now reserved internally, so the app will prevent using them in folder names going forward.

🏷️ Selfie Check-In Station can require PhotoTag check-in

  • Matches the web behavior and is controlled via your Custom Offer Advanced Settings.

🫥 Check-in reference images hidden from the shooting strip

  • Keeps the strip cleaner and focused on the images that matter for sales.

🖥️ Dashboard: Clarity & Capability Updates

🏷️ Additional Contact badges on PhotoRoster page

  • Additional contacts now show a badge there, just like on the Participant List page.

🚫 Legacy Events can be marked invisible

  • The visibility toggle is now available on legacy event details pages too.

🍬 Candy got smarter and more capable

  • Improvements across: main Candy, Compare Report Candy, Image Timeline Candy, and Mini Candy.

📊 Compare Report improvements

  • ✍️ Fixed a typo
  • 🧠 More intelligent summary output

🧾 Reports fix: Hidden events no longer appear in the specific event selector

🌀 LiveLoop™ Fix

🧼 Cutout preview edge case fixed

  • Cutouts won’t show with a checkered background during the “in-progress” phase. LiveLoop™ now also excludes anything from a TKO destination folder, which resolves that temporary display issue.

✅ Check-In Label Updates

🧑‍🏫 Non-sports Events now use clearer labels

  • “First Name” → Photo Subject’s First Name
  • “Last Name” → Photo Subject’s Last Name

That’s the scoop for this week!

Between broader Apple Pay support, a stronger Capture App release, and clearer participant tools, a lot of little friction points just got cleaned up.

Keep creating magic,
Candy 🍬

Weekly Recap: Horizontal 3D Plaques, Event Calendar View & PhotoTag LiveLoop Links 📅🌀
Feature Updates
December 12, 2025

Weekly Recap: Horizontal 3D Plaques, Event Calendar View & PhotoTag LiveLoop Links 📅🌀

5
 minutes read
Hey photo friends! 👋

Candy here! This week’s updates are big on visual workflows: more orientation options for our 3D products, a new Calendar view for Events, and PhotoTag-powered LiveLoop™ links for better slideshow control.

Let’s jump in!

🖼️ Big Product Upgrade: Horizontal Orientation for 3D Plaques & Prints

End customers now have more flexibility when ordering these 3D-rendered products:

🎓 Graduation Plaque now supports a new horizontal design

  • • 🔄 Customers can switch orientations during the live 3D render
  • • 🖼️ Updated 2D render support included as well

🪧 Premium Plaque now supports a horizontal design

  • 🔄 Orientation can be switched during the live 3D render

🖨️ Premium Print now supports a horizontal design

  • 🔄 Orientation can be switched during the live 3D render

✍️ Caption preview fix: Premium Print/Plaque now correctly reflect the default “Line 2” in the 3D render before a shopper enters their own text

These updates make it easier to sell premium products even when the “best” shot isn’t a perfect vertical crop.

📅 New Dashboard Event Calendar View

Prefer a more visual way to plan and review your schedule?

🗓️ Event Calendar is now available via the calendar button on the Event List page

👀 Great for spotting what’s coming up at a glance, instead of scanning a long list

🌀 LiveLoop™: PhotoTag Links

LiveLoop™ just got more flexible:

🏷️ PhotoTags now have LiveLoop links

  • • Found in a couple places on the PhotoTag page in the Dashboard
  • • Pulls in new images automatically, just like a normal LiveLoop™

🧾 Cleaner titles & history

  • • LiveLoop page now shows the Event name in the title bar, history, and links
  • • PhotoTag links show as: PhotoTagName – EventName

Perfect for running separate slideshows per team, division, day, or group without juggling multiple Events.

🖥️ Dashboard Improvements

🧹 New “Clear” button in Manage Images select mode (clear selections without re-entering select mode)

📋 PhotoRoster uploads improved:

  • • 📞 Additional phone columns now ignore parentheses (like main phone)
  • • 🔀 Columns can be in any order (matching Event roster upload behavior)

🔗 Fixed Image Details lightbox link for images manually removed on Participant Details

🧾 Positive ID Code PDF sorting updated:

  • • A–Z participants with no PhotoTag
  • • Then PhotoTags A–Z (participants A–Z inside each)
  • • Then blank cards at the end

🛍️ Retail & Check-In Updates

🚫 Invisible Events are now truly inaccessible

  • • If an Event is marked invisible, its retail site + check-in pages now show an “Event is no longer available” screen

🌎 Positive ID check-in phone formatting helper

  • • If an existing registration code has a phone without “+”, we’ll append “+1” to default to US country format (unless it already starts with “+” for another country)

🧩 Fixed a retail site crash when the Statuette Ornament was included in a package

🛡️ iPhone GalleryGuard now loads faster

🛠️ Misc Fixes & Improvements

🖨️ Backprinting updates for existing Events when your business info is updated (previously it was locked to whatever info existed when the Event was created)

✉️ Fixed a strange edge case where email-only participants wouldn’t send if another email in the queue contained “.@”

✅ Improved email validation across all web check-ins

That’s the week!

Between horizontal premium product designs, PhotoTag-level LiveLoops™, and a Calendar view for Events, you’ve got a lot more control over how things look and how you run the day. 💫

Keep creating magic,

Candy 🍬

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 🍬

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