In honor of our QuicPics Program’s rebrand to FreePics, we wanted to take a fresh look at some helpful info, best practices, and booking strategies for using FreePics and service photography successfully!

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Giving photos away for free might not sound like an obvious way to make money.

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But with the right setup, FreePics can be a powerful business tool — whether you’re getting paid by an event organizer, working with a sponsor, building the cost into ticket sales, developing relationships with venues, or simply using free photos to get your name in front of more potential customers.

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And depending on the kind of experience you want to offer, you now have three different Programs to choose from: FreePics, FreePics GO!, and FreePortraits.

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First: What Is FreePics?

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FreePics is designed for photographers who want to provide images to subjects at no cost to the person being photographed.

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Instead of relying on each participant to purchase their own images, the photography can be funded another way — or used as a marketing tool to help generate future business.

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That opens up a lot of possibilities.

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Ways to “Sell” FreePics 💸

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1. Work Through an Event Organizer

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One of the simplest approaches is to have the event organizer pay for photography as part of the event itself.

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That could include:

• Reunions
• Luncheons
• Galas
• Corporate parties
• Balls
• Private events
• Community events

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Instead of charging individual guests for their photos, the organizer pays you for your time and coverage.

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This can make the photography feel like another included event amenity — just like entertainment, décor, or catering.

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The original FreePics training material even suggested photographers may be able to charge a few hundred dollars per hour, per photographer, depending on the event and market.

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2. Find an Event Sponsor

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Another option is to have a sponsor cover the photography.

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In exchange, you can incorporate the sponsor’s branding into the experience, including branded image artwork or overlays.

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That gives the sponsor something more memorable than a banner or table sign: photos attendees may actually save, share, and revisit.

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Sponsorship pricing will naturally depend on the event, audience, and sponsor, but this type of arrangement may support a much higher overall photography budget than selling directly to individual attendees.

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3. Build Photography Into Ticket Sales 🎟️

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If every attendee is going to receive photos, another option is to simply include the photography cost in the ticket price.

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A relatively small increase per ticket can add up quickly across a large event.

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For example, an organizer could add a photography fee to each admission ticket, then use that revenue to pay for event coverage while letting every guest access their photos afterward.

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Participants feel like they’re getting something included with admission, while the photographer still gets paid.

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4. Partner With Party Planners or Venues 🤝

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FreePics can also be a great tool for building recurring relationships.

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A photographer can establish themselves as the go-to photographer for a planner or venue and create an arrangement that works for everyone involved.

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That could mean a commission, referral agreement, preferred-vendor relationship, or another setup that encourages the planner or venue to continue sending events your way.

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Instead of thinking about a single event, you’re using FreePics to help build a steady pipeline of future bookings.

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5. Use FreePics as Marketing for Your Own Business 📣

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You don’t necessarily have to make money directly from every FreePics Event.

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Sometimes, the value is the exposure.

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Offering free photography at the right event can introduce your business to dozens or even hundreds of potential customers.

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Because participants receive their images directly, you have an opportunity to put your business and branding in front of them while creating a positive interaction with your photography.

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That can turn one promotional event into future:

• Event bookings
• Portrait sessions
• School or sports opportunities
• Corporate work
• Referrals
• Repeat customers

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Sometimes the free photo is the product.

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Sometimes it’s the advertisement. 👀

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Which Free Program Should You Use?

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This is where the three Programs start to differ.

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FreePics — Best for Most Events ⭐

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For most photographers, FreePics is the best all-around option.

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It provides the full FreePics experience and gives you the most flexibility in how images are delivered to participants.

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If you simply want to photograph an event and make it easy for subjects to receive their images for free, start here.

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It costs more per image than the other Free Programs, but you’re paying for the broader experience and flexibility.

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Best for:

• Parties
• Galas
• Corporate events
• Reunions
• Sponsored events
• General event photography
• Most situations where you want free image delivery

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FreePics GO! — Best for a Gallery-First Experience 🖼️

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FreePics GO! is a gallery-only experience, which allows it to cost less per image than standard FreePics.

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But the gallery format also gives it some unique advantages.

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FreePics GO! is especially useful if you want participants to clearly see that they can download different versions of their images — such as versions without overlay artwork.

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It can also be a better choice when using Background Removal, because participants can browse different background options before deciding which version of an image they want to download.

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And because subjects are already browsing through a gallery, FreePics GO! gives you a stronger opportunity to showcase physical products and other potential upsells alongside their free images.

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Best for:

• No-overlay option is important
• Sponsored events with branded artwork
• Background Removal workflows
• Events where you want subjects choosing between different image treatments
• Photographers who want to promote prints or physical products
• Situations where keeping per-image costs lower is important

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FreePortraits — Best for Headshots 👤

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FreePortraits takes the FreePics concept and adapts it specifically for headshot-style photography.

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Because the workflow is more limited — with only one image file sent out per image — it can be offered at a lower per-image cost than standard FreePics.

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If your Event is centered around individual portraits rather than a larger event gallery, that limitation can actually make perfect sense.

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Best for:

• Corporate headshots
• Conferences
• Professional networking events
• Employee portraits
• Profile photos
• Other single-image portrait workflows

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If you want the FreePics experience but you’re really photographing headshots, FreePortraits is likely the better fit.

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A Simple Way to Choose 🍬

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When in doubt:

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Use FreePics for the best general-purpose experience.

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Choose FreePics GO! when the gallery itself adds value — especially for Background Removal choices and physical-product upsells.

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Choose FreePortraits when you’re photographing headshots and only need to deliver one finished image file per image.

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The goal with all three is the same: make it easy to get great images into your subjects’ hands while giving you flexibility in how the photography fits into your business.

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Free Doesn’t Have to Mean Unprofitable 🚀

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FreePics is less about giving your work away and more about deciding who is paying for the experience — and what value the photography creates.

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Maybe the event organizer pays you.

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Maybe a sponsor does.

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Maybe the cost is included in admission.

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Maybe a venue relationship brings you more bookings.

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Or maybe the Event itself acts as marketing that introduces your photography business to a whole new group of people.

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There are plenty of ways to make free photos make business sense.

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And with FreePics, FreePics GO!, and FreePortraits, you can choose the version that fits the Event instead of forcing every job into the same workflow. 📸✨

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Cheers,

— Candy 🍬

You may notice some familiar names looking a little different around our platform.

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That’s because we’re making a few big naming changes! 🍬

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QuicPics is now FreePics.

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QuicPics GO! is now FreePics GO!

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QuicPortraits is now FreePortraits.

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Don’t worry — the Programs you know aren’t going anywhere! This update is all about making our platform easier to understand, especially for photographers who are just getting started. 🙌

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Note: And if you did not know - the "GO!" stands for "Gallery Only!" since that Program delivers free images via one URL and not directly texting your Participant every image like standard FreePics.

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Why FreePics? 💡

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As our platform has grown, so have the number of Programs, tools, and Workflows available when creating and managing Events.

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That’s a great problem to have, but it also means the names we use need to do a better job of helping photographers understand what each option actually does.

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FreePics gets right to the point. 📷

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The FreePics Program allows photographers to provide images to participants for free, while FreePics GO! brings that same idea to our pay-as-you-go image delivery workflow. FreePortraits follows suit, giving the portrait-focused Program a name that fits naturally alongside them.

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For longtime users, it may take a little getting used to. But for someone creating their first Event and deciding which Program is right for them, we think these names make those choices much clearer.

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Clarity is something we’re continually working to improve across our platform, and sometimes that means revisiting things that have been around for a long time. ✨

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And speaking of things that have been around for a long time…

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So, What Happens to the QuicPics Name? 👀

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We’re not saying goodbye to QuicPics.

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Quite the opposite.

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We’re freeing it up. 🚀

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The QuicPics name has a lot of history within Candid Color Systems, Inc. and with our founder, Jack Counts Jr.

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Long before the software, tools, and photography platform we have today, QuicPics was part of the story that eventually grew into PartyPics, Candid Color Systems, and even Glamour Shots.

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Jack’s photography story began more than five decades ago photographing college parties and building a business around getting those photos back to customers quickly. That early operation grew into PartyPics and ultimately helped launch Candid Color Systems in 1972.

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Over the decades, the company continued building around many of those same ideas that started it all: speed, innovation, and finding better ways to get photos into customers’ hands. ⚡📸

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That same entrepreneurial spirit eventually helped lead to ventures like Glamour Shots, which became one of the most recognizable photography brands of its era.

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So, when we started thinking about where we’re headed next, QuicPics felt like a name worth bringing back to center stage.

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And no, we're isn’t spilling all the beans just yet. 🍬🤐

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But freeing up the QuicPics name gives us room for something exciting coming soon. 👀✨

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Pardon Our Dust! 🛠️

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This is a pretty sweeping change.

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We’re updating QuicPics to FreePics, QuicPics GO! to FreePics GO!, and QuicPortraits to FreePortraits throughout our platform, documentation, resources, and more.

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With that many places to update, there’s always a chance we missed a spot. 😅

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If you run into something that still says QuicPics when it should say FreePics — or if anything seems off or isn’t working quite right following the change — please let us know!

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We apologize for any short-term confusion while everything gets switched over, and we appreciate your patience as we make the transition. 💜

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FreePics is here, and QuicPics isn’t gone. It’s just getting ready for its next chapter. 🚀

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Cheers,

— Candy 🍬

Hey photo friends! 👋

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Candy here with another weekly recap! This week’s biggest improvements are in Background Removal, with better sports cutouts, and faster processing.

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We’ve also made the mobile receipt download experience much easier, added a couple of helpful Capture App features, and cleaned up several Dashboard workflows.

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✂️ Background Removal Keeps Getting Better

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Background Removal got another round of quality and performance improvements this week:

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⚡ Faster processing‍

• BGR is now a bit quicker overall.

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🏈 Better sports cutouts‍

• Cutout quality has been improved, particularly for sports-related images.

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📈 Continuous improvement system‍

• We’ve also added a new system designed to help Background Removal continue improving over time as we further refine the process.

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📱 Mobile Downloads Are Much Easier

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The Web Receipt Download Page has been reworked on mobile to make getting images into your phone or sharing them much simpler.

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🗂️ Info cards now use two columns‍

• Just like desktop, which gets the actual image downloads closer to the top of the page.

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📤 Download is now Share on mobile‍

• Individual images now show Share instead of Download and open your device’s native share sheet.
• That makes it easier to save an image to your Photos app, text it to someone, or send it directly into another app.

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🖼️ Share All sends actual image files‍

• The previous Download All option is now Share All on compatible mobile browsers.
• Instead of creating one ZIP file, it attaches the images individually so you can more easily save the entire gallery to the Photos app (or send the images elsewhere).
• If the browser can’t handle the share—for example, if there are too many images—it will automatically fall back to a ZIP like desktop.

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📷 Capture App 5.10

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iOS & Android App Store update — September 8

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Two handy additions made their way into Capture App 5.10:

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🔊 Audible scan confirmation‍

• You’ll now hear a beep after successfully scanning a card, making it easier to know immediately that the scan worked.
• Should help you and your hired photographers better know when a Scan Card has been succesfully scanned when using the Scanner ID Workflow!

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📸 “TAKE PHOTO” placeholder is back‍

• The familiar image placeholder has returned to the shooting workflow.
• Should help new users or hired photographers know when the app is ready to receive images!

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🛍️ Retail Improvements

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🖼️ Overlay now appears in the cropper‍

• If a shopper selects an Event overlay, they can now see it while adjusting their crop.

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📱 Larger overlay preview on mobile‍

• The image shown during the “Would you like to use this Event’s overlay?” step is now bigger on mobile.

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✉️ Better mobile email receipts‍

• Receipt emails should now display more reliably in a mobile-friendly layout across mobile email clients.

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🧩 Memory Mate fix‍

• Fixed an edge case where TKO images couldn’t be selected as the primary image when the Memory Mate configurator was opened from a Group Photo.

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🍎 iOS 26 layout cleanup‍

• Fixed a small spacing issue on the overlay-selection screen when Safari is using bottom-positioned tabs.

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🖥️ Dashboard Updates

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🏷️ Event names are easier to keep track of‍

• Desktop Event pages now prefix the Event name in the header.

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👥 Cleaner merged-participant display‍

• Tabbed-in merged participants now have a subtle curved line visually connecting them to the main participant.

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📊 Marketing History traffic fix‍

• Fixed some retail web traffic chart dates being displayed incorrectly because of timezone differences.

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🖼️ Virtual Group image picker fix‍

• Double-clicking a blank participant will continue opening the Image Picker correctly after a refresh.

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🎨 “Overlay” renamed to “Foreground” in Virtual Group Builder‍

• This helps distinguish Virtual Group foreground artwork from full-frame Event overlays.

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📄 Easier Manage Images pagination‍

• When you’re beyond page one, page controls now also appear above the images so you don’t have to scroll all the way down just to switch pages.

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🪪 Clearer Positive ID activity logs‍

• Image Details now correctly reports “Image Positive ID’d to X” rather than describing the action as Tap-A-Face or categorizing it as Face Matching.

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That’s the week!

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Better cutouts are the biggest story, but the new mobile sharing workflow should also make a noticeable difference for customers trying to get their photos from a receipt onto their phones.

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Keep creating magic,

Candy 🍬