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Weekly Recap: More Virtual Group Control, New Sports Backgrounds & Better BGR Tools 🏈✨

Weekly Recap: More Virtual Group Control, New Sports Backgrounds & Better BGR Tools 🏈✨
Hey photo friends! 👋

Candy here with another weekly recap! This week brings more control to Virtual Group Builder, a much better home for Event Background Removal, new Candy Image Studio exposure tools, and—yes—27 new sports background sets. 😎

Let’s jump in!

🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Virtual Group Builder Additions

Ask and you shall receive... sometimes! We’ve gotten some good feedback on Virtual Group Builder, and this week several new controls are here to make layouts easier to fine-tune:

↕️ Force subjects onto different rows

  • While dragging a subject, new Add to Row buttons appear over the other rows. Drop the subject there to explicitly move them where you want instead of relying entirely on automatic placement.
  • Previously you were limited to automatically determined rows, you still have those but can now override them!

🔍 New logo size slider

  • Adjust your corner logos to be smaller or larger than the default.
  • Previously they could be considered a bit tiny, but this gives you a bit more control!

🌫️ Individual cutout fade control

  • The Subject Inspector now has its own cutout fade intensity slider, separate from the global setting, so you can fine-tune individual subjects when needed.
  • This will let you tweak the cutout fade intensity for subjects in the front row or on the sides of the virtual group, in case you're wanting a very specific look.

👥 Smarter merged-participant image selection

  • The Subject Image Picker will only show images from merged participants when they share the same name.
  • This typically does not matter, but in the case of a parent doing a Selfie Check-In of themselves and then of their child later, this will keep Virtual Groups working as expected!

Just a few additions, but very useful ones when you’re trying to get a Virtual Group looking just right!

Drag and drop subjects into other rows for more control than ever!

New options to more quickly space out your subjects!

When viewing subject details, adjust them by individual!

Control the size of your logos!

🏈 27 New Sports Background Sets

Alright, shoutout to the random guy who told me (me being Candy, in case you forgot!) that he didn’t like the backgrounds. We heard you! 😂

This week we’ve added 27 new sets of sports backgrounds, including a brand-new Sports – Locker Room background category.

And, in case you missed it, last week we also added an AI Background Generator so you can create entirely new, modern backgrounds of your own.

A quick reminder... you already have a lot of control over which backgrounds your customers actually see:

🎨 Edit the default backgrounds in your Offers

📤 Upload your own custom backgrounds at both the Offer-level and Event-level

🤖 Generate new backgrounds of your own with AI

🏈 Choose from our (now growing) collection of built-in choices

We have a TON of default backgrounds—and yes, many have been around for a while—but you’re never locked into using them. You can build your own look for your business, and we’ll keep adding new options over time too.

✂️ New Dedicated Background Removal Page

Event Background Removal now has its own dedicated Dashboard page, accessible from the Event Sidebar. It is not longer just a popup!

The BGR toggle on Event Overview will take you there too, giving all of these controls a little more breathing room.

On the new page, you can:

✅ Enable or disable Background Removal

🖼️ Manage your Event Backgrounds

🎨 See your Offer Backgrounds with a direct link to the Offer

📊 See how many cutouts have finished and how many are still processing

⏳ Watch a live progress bar while Background Removal is working

📂 See all valid Event folders and which ones are marked for Background Removal

And if your Event is a new Event: ✂️ You can mark an existing folder for Background Removal even if it already contains images!!!

🎨 Candy Image Studio: Better Exposure Fixes

🌙 New Fix Underexposure node

  • Helps recover images that came out too dark.

☀️ Fix Overexposure greatly improved

  • The existing overexposure tool has been reworked for more reliable results.

Utilize Candy Image Studio to fix images so they can sell, quickly and affordably!

🏈 Jersey Jotter Progress Tracking

New Jersey Jotter progress bar

  • When Jersey Jotter is active and still has unprocessed images, its dedicated page now shows processing progress—similar to Candy Culler and the new Background Removal page.

This makes it much easier to tell whether recognition is still working through a large Event.

🛍️ Retail Improvements

Titled Luxe Prints now work with package prefill

  • Packages can now automatically prefill eligible Titled Luxe Print products just like other supported products.

🖼️ Titled Luxe Print package rendering fixed

  • Fixed an issue where these products could render incorrectly inside packages.

🤖 AI-generated backgrounds now render correctly on products

🎨 Selected backgrounds now stay visible through the final product step

  • Fixed an issue where the chosen background could sometimes disappear on renders when reaching quantity and finish steps.

📝 Several product descriptions updated

  • Some product descriptions have been refreshed for better clarity.

🖼️ AI Edit + BGR Assignment Fix

👥 BGR versions of AI edits now keep direct participant assignments

  • If the original non-AI image was directly assigned to someone, its Background Removed AI-edited version will now correctly inherit that relationship.

📦 Order Details Fix

📝 Package captions now display correctly

  • Fixed cases where Order Details did not show caption information for certain products contained inside packages.

📱 Capture App 5.9.1 – iOS OTA

📸 Photo Booth fix for iPad

  • Fixed the Photo Booth gallery strip being cut off on certain iPad models.

That’s the week!

More Virtual Group control, a much stronger Background Removal workflow, some useful exposure tools, and plenty of fresh sports backgrounds to work with.

And if you still don’t like the backgrounds... now you’ve got plenty of ways to show us how it’s done. 😉

Keep creating magic,

Candy 🍬

Related articles

Weekly Recap: Express Checkout Confirmations, Capture App Speed Testing, and a New Lightroom Classic Plugin
Feature Updates
May 8, 2026

Weekly Recap: Express Checkout Confirmations, Capture App Speed Testing, and a New Lightroom Classic Plugin

10
 minutes read
Hey photo friends! 👋


This week’s updates are all about clearer customer actions, smoother retail performance, and new tools that speed up upload workflows. Plus, a strong round of Capture App polish (iOS & Android OTA) and some important Dashboard + Marketing fixes.

Let’s jump in. ✨

🛍️ Retail: Fewer Mis-clicks, Better Previews, Faster Feel

✅ Express Checkout confirmation (all express checkouts)

All express checkout flows now show a confirmation popup that clearly displays the shipping address selected, with options to place the order or go back. It also includes an invalid address popup.

Previously, people would sometimes purchase without double checking their express-checkout-method's default shipping address. So, this change is designed to reduce address mistakes and improve customer experience!

Confirmation popup now clearly displays shipping address confirmation.

🧠 Better UI + performance improvements

  • Improved local rendering (performance, memory usage, and task handling) — originally aimed to improve the retail experience on low-end devices, but it should make most devices feel faster!

  • Native “leave page” confirmation on supported browsers/devices (desktop + Samsung back button) when navigating away from an event page (refresh/back).

Leave page confirmation

🖼️ Clearer package download expectations + better pickers

  • Personal Gallery Downloads on store sheet and package editor now show “+X Images” in the configurator when there are more than 4 images—so customers don’t think they only get what’s previewed.

Personal Gallery Download "+X Images"

    • Personal Gallery Download products inside packages can now be clicked to preview contents.

    • Desktop product/package image pickers are now two columns (like mobile), allowing larger image preview during selection.

    Larger two column image previews

      • Image Filters landing popup now includes “Browse all photos without a filter” so customers who think they must pick a filter know they can also just browse!

      Image Filters landing popup

      🧩 Retail fixes worth noting

      • Fixed a slashed discount amount showing on week 3 when there is no higher amount.
      • Fixed a GalleryGuard edge case that could close the retail site on some Android devices that support mobile context menus when long-pressing.
      • Fixed a race condition where a Group-by-Face gallery loaded from URL params could show default results instead of the filtered view.
      • Fixed an edge case where manually assigned images marked as group could behave like non-group images on retail.

      📱 Capture App OTA: 5.6.1 & 5.6.2 (iOS & Android)

      🌐 NEW: Network Speed Test (5.6.1)

      A new Network Speed Test button is available in Resources. Tap Run Test to check download speed, upload speed, and latency to NowCandid servers (so results may differ from Google/Ookla). It’s a quick test (downloads 5 MB, uploads 2 MB) and is useful for diagnosing weak or congested service during events.

      Mbps is a standard measurement for connection speeds, and 1 megabit per second (Mbps) is 0.125 Megabytes per second (MB/s). So 8 Mbps is 1 Megabyte per second, max. For example, with images that are 10 Megabytes in size, a speed of 8 Mbps would take a minimum of 10 seconds to upload. When speeds are very slow, image uploads may be impossible due to uploads timing out and restarting. In these cases, open the app when you have a stronger connection and all your images will start going up!

      Network Speed Test

      🎪 Photo Booth + Selfie Check-In Station UI upgrades (5.6.2)

      • Photo Booth landing page updated to be more user-friendly (always-visible scrollbar, updated text, sticky go back/continue buttons, red/green emphasis, and a popup explaining why Continue is greyed out).
      • Selfie Check-In Station landing page updated with red/green Go Back / Begin buttons.
      • New dropdown icon beside Group Photo toggle (when an event has PhotoTags) to better display there are additional options to assign PhotoTags.
      • Fixed edge case cancel/continue behavior on Selfie Check-In Station when no contact info was entered.

      🧩 NEW: Lightroom Classic Plugin (Official)

      We’ve launched an official Lightroom Classic plugin to upload images to NowCandid events directly from Lightroom Classic.

      Key notes:

      • Lightroom Classic only
      • Same image rules apply (color profile, DPI, etc.)
      • Uses Capture App login
      • Only events within 60 days of event start date show in the selector
      • Image Details → Logs will show “Uploaded from NowCandid Lightroom Plugin”
      • Docs include guide/download/installation: https://app.nowcandid.com/docs/tools-more/lightroom

      Lightroom Classic Plugin

      Upload from NowCandid Lightroom Plugin

      🖥️ Dashboard: Upload & Roster Clarity + Small UX Wins

      • Event roster upload and PhotoRoster upload now warn about every unrecognized column, making it easier to spot misspellings (especially for optional columns).
      • Participant list page download now puts additional contacts into columns instead of rows.
      • Participant list download now puts merged contacts into their own row if they have different first/last names.
      • Image upload naming cleanup:
        • spaces/parentheses now automatically become underscores (e.g., Image (2)Image_2)
        • names ending in z now get a trailing underscore (e.g., ImagezImagez_)
      • Candy got even better at using the new Docs for responses.
      • Password reset now shows a clear “Your link has expired” screen (links expire after 24 hours).
      • Fixed participant filter inside another participant’s manual assign/unassign page not working properly.
      • Participant Details PhotoTag assignment UI: merged participants no longer incorrectly show PhotoTags as assigned.

      Upload Roster now warns about every unrecognized column.

      📣 Marketing Fixes

      • Fixed edge cases where galleries that were only AI-edited images could cause follow-up email marketing issues and show as 0 images on Participant List.
      • Fixed Day0 marketing edge case not starting if gallery is just AI-edited images.
      • SMS gallery links now include “View photos:” before the gallery URL to reduce confusion where some users thought the gallery link was an unsubscribe link.

      That’s the week! 💫

      Between the Lightroom Classic plugin, the Capture App’s new Network Speed Test, and retail improvements that reduce confusion (and improve performance), this week was packed with practical wins you’ll feel right away.

      Keep it sparkly,

      Candy

      Weekly Recap: NowCandid Docs Are Here (60+ Pages), Capture App 5.6, and Smarter Retail + Dashboard Tools
      Feature Updates
      May 1, 2026

      Weekly Recap: NowCandid Docs Are Here (60+ Pages), Capture App 5.6, and Smarter Retail + Dashboard Tools

      8
       minutes read
      Hey photo friends! 👋


      This week’s updates are packed with improvements that make your day-to-day workflow smoother—especially if you like clear answers, fewer edge cases, and cleaner experiences across Capture, Retail, and the Dashboard.

      The headline this week: NowCandid Docs are officially live inside the Dashboard—and they’re already huge. Let’s jump in. 💫

      📚 NEW: NowCandid Docs (Built Into the Dashboard)

      We’ve launched official, up-to-date NowCandid documentation directly inside the Dashboard. Just click “Docs” in the sidebar to open it.

      Here’s what makes it special:

      • One dedicated place for everything: programs, workflows, Capture App, JerseyJotter, Candy Culler, and more
      • Over 60 pages of documentation already (with screenshots and even some videos)
      • Regular updates, with a timestamp on each page showing when it was last updated
      • Smart Docs search (use the search button at the top of the Docs sidebar)
      • Mobile supported: works fully inside the Mobile Dashboard app
      • Clickable images: click any image to preview it bigger
      • Table of contents + feedback: on larger screens, you’ll see a right-side table of contentsand a “Give Feedback” button to report missing info, typos, or confusing sections
      • Private by default: you can share a docs link, but the viewer must be logged in to access it

      Preview of New NowCandid Docs
      NowCandid Docs Image Timeline page preview
      NowCandid Docs Jersey Jotter page preview

      🍬 Candy got smarter (because Docs exist)

      Candy now pulls from the new Docs when answering questions—so she can:

      • Share direct links to guides
      • Pull relevant screenshots and videos
      • Give more accurate, up-to-date help

      Also, the Candy Navigation Assistant now uses docs search as the fallback destination if it can’t find a page you’re looking for—often with your question prefilled!

      📱 Capture App 5.6 (iOS & Android) — Not OTA

      Capture App v5.6 is now available for iOS and Android (this is not an OTA update).

      What changed:

      • Fix: Android “Update Available” popup now correctly links to Google Play, not the Apple App Store
      • Feature: The app now rejects images under 1,000 pixels with an error popup (similar to the color profile error). The Dashboard already enforced this, but this prevents rare edge cases—like a camera outputting low-res images during capture.

      🛍️ Retail Improvements (Better behavior, clearer checkout)

      A few retail updates landed that improve clarity and fix edge cases:

      • BGR + PhotoTags fix: Background removed images in PhotoTag events will now show correctly even if the originals are marked invisible
      • Pay Later badges removed from the store sheet (the “Pay Later Options Available in Checkout” messaging still appears in package configurators for packages $30+)
      • Z-cropped images now show faceboxes (and the faceboxes are adjusted to the z-crop, too)
      • Checkout completion screen now shows your Business Logo (if you’ve added one)
      • Updated “Your order is complete” copy to note:
        • retouching may delay orders
        • physical products typically arrive in 7–14 business days

      🖥️ Dashboard Updates (Clarity, savings, and better reporting)

      • Positive ID edge case fixed: Manually assigned images now show up correctly in an additional contact’s gallery
      • Client Outreach SMS savings: Non-standard encoded apostrophes now auto-convert to standard apostrophes to reduce segment costs
      • Auto Editor access fix: Resolved an issue preventing some users from accessing Auto Editor
      • New Candy Image Studio node: Traditional Black & White (distinct from the Black and White Film Print node)
      • Reports pages upgraded: Added titles and descriptions for better clarity
      • Participant List: Unmarketable Participants filter
        • You can now filter to show only unmarketable participants—or hide them
        • The download sheet now includes an “Unmarketable” column (Yes/blank)
        • “Unmarketable” can include opt-outs/unsubscribes, invalid contact info, etc.

      🍬 Candy UI improvements

      Candy received a bunch of UX upgrades, including:

      • Click images to preview larger
      • New table rendering
      • Scroll fades
      • Type without having to click/focus the input first

      📱 Mobile Dashboard Improvements (No app update needed)

      • Fixed sidebar scrolling triggering “pull to refresh”
      • You can now slide/pull from the side to open the sidebar—no need to scroll to the top and tap the sidebar button

      That’s the week! 💫

      This release is all about reducing friction—with official docs inside the Dashboard, a tighter Capture App, better retail behavior for BGR and z-crops, and Dashboard refinements that improve accuracy, clarity, and even lower messaging costs.

      Keep creating magic,

      — The NowCandid Team 🍬

      Keep More of What You Earn with NowCandid™
      NowCandid 101
      April 28, 2026

      Keep More of What You Earn with NowCandid™

      5
       minutes read

      A lot of platforms are happy to look affordable at first—and expensive later.
      We prefer the opposite.

      NowCandid™ is built to support photographers long-term, which means our pricing is designed to be easy to understand, easy to plan around, and easier to live with as your volume grows. When you’re running real events—schools, sports, graduations, leagues—the last thing you need is a platform that nickel-and-dimes you for the core tools required to deliver and sell images.

      The Simple Part: Two Fees, No Subscriptions

      With NowCandid, your costs are straightforward:

      • 5% e-commerce fee
      • 3% payment processing fee

      That’s it.

      There’s no subscription fee and no onboarding fee, so you’re not paying monthly just to keep your account active—or paying extra just to get started.

      The Important Part: No Surprise Add-Ons

      Many platforms charge extra for the features that actually make your events run smoothly. NowCandid includes the tools high-volume photographers rely on without tacking on separate line items.

      Here’s what you don’t pay extra for:

      • No fees on sales tax collected
      • No extra charge for background removal
      • No extra charge for automatic exposure correction
      • No extra charge for image storage
      • No extra charge for automated SMS + email marketing tools
      • No extra charge for white-labeling
      • No extra charge for Face Matching™
      • At least 20 years of image hosting included

      That’s the difference between a platform that adds tools later and a platform that includes the tools up front.

      Why This Matters for Real Photographers

      When the platform includes the tools you actually need, two good things happen:

      1) You keep more margin on every order

      If your costs don’t balloon as you scale, more of every sale stays with you—without you having to raise prices just to cover software overhead.

      2) Your workflow gets simpler

      You don’t have to stitch together multiple services (and multiple bills) to accomplish basic event goals like:

      • identifying subjects
      • delivering galleries quickly
      • protecting images
      • marketing via text/email
      • selling through a modern checkout

      Those pieces are part of the core system—because they’re not “extras” in real event photography.

      The Takeaway

      NowCandid is built to support photographers—not squeeze them. Our pricing model is intentionally structured so that the platform remains sustainable for your business as you grow, and so that more of what you earn stays with you.

      If you want a platform that’s designed for high-volume reality—and doesn’t charge extra for the essentials—NowCandid is built for you.

      Pricing Disclaimer

      Pricing, fees, and included features listed in this article are accurate as of the original publication date and may change over time. For the most current pricing and terms, please contact our team.

      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

      What’s a Rich Text element?

      The rich text element allows you to create and format headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, images, and video all in one place instead of having to add and format them individually. Just double-click and easily create content.

      A rich text element can be used with static or dynamic content. For static content, just drop it into any page and begin editing. For dynamic content, add a rich text field to any collection and then connect a rich text element to that field in the settings panel. Voila!

      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.

      • List One
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      • List Three
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