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Your first event

The day before

1. Create the event: give it a name, and say what guests call the spot (for example “Santa” or “the photo booth”). Add Where for sunrise and sunset, or tick This shoot is indoors. An event has no dates of its own; its days come from its time slots.
2. Decide how long galleries stay open, from 1 to 30 days. After that, photos are deleted for good.
3. Want bookings? Add time slots in Schedule and share the booking link. Walk-ins still fill the gaps.
4. Picked the wrong date? Open the event’s schedule and tap Edit event date on the iPhone (on the website, Move this day… beside the day’s numbers). Time slots, bookings and breaks move together, and booked families get an email.
5. Print the QR sign, or plan to use a spare iPad as a check-in kiosk.

At the event

1. Open the Live screen in Chrome or Edge on the computer you tether to, and click Watch folder. Pick the folder your tethering software exports finished JPEGs into.
2. Guests scan the QR code or check in on the kiosk. They wait anywhere and watch their place in line on their phone. When they’re nearly up, they get an email, and a text if they asked for one.
3. Press Start on the guest you’re photographing and shoot. Every JPEG that lands in the folder uploads to their gallery.
4. Press Complete session. Their gallery link goes to their email, and the next guest steps up.

If the Wi-Fi drops

Keep shooting. Photos wait on your computer and upload as soon as the connection is back. The upload panel on the Live screen shows how many are waiting.

Photos taken with nobody started

They’re held on the Live screen instead of going to the wrong guest. Assign them to someone, or ignore them.

Opening and closing an event

Today’s event

New check-ins join today’s event, and Live shows it on its own. You don’t pick it: the event happening today is today’s event, from the morning of its day. An event is happening today when it has time slots today, or (with no time slots) a date and hours that include today. Creating an event never puts it on Live early, so families can’t join a December line in October. Home, Events and Live always show the same event.

• Two events on one day: the one happening now is today’s event (from about an hour before its first time to an hour after its last), otherwise the next one up that day, otherwise the one that finished last. To run the other one, choose Open event on its row in Home’s Today card. It stays today’s event until midnight. That’s the only place you switch; Live never has an event menu.
• Nothing today: Home, Events and Live say “No event today” and name the next event. Your studio page shows no “Live now” card, just your upcoming events. The check-in page says “Next event: name, day. Check-in opens that day.” and nobody can join a line, including with Add a walk-in.
• An event on another day: its page has Edit event and Schedule, time slots and breaks, with a quiet note such as “Live opens on Sat, Dec 6”. An event with no date says “Add a date to run this event”: give it a date or time slots in Edit event.

On Live, under Up next (walk-ins, families who have checked in, and bookings due within 5 minutes or late), Later today lists every booking still to come today that hasn’t checked in, earliest first, with the party size, the booked time, what they owe and, for Santa events, their notes for Santa. They have no place in line and get no “you’re up next” alert until they check in or their time is 5 minutes away; then they move up into Up next. Live’s counts read like “3 in line · 4 later today”, so a quiet moment never looks like the end of the day.

Guests already in a line stay in it. If you switch to another event, anyone still waiting in the earlier one shows at the end of Up next on the iPhone (on the website, open that event from the event menu at the top) so you can finish them.

Check-in open or closed

On the website, use the Check-in switch at the top of the Live screen (or the tag beside the event name) to close or reopen it, for example during a break or near the end of the day. The iPhone app has the same switch on Live, and Apple Watch has it on the event page. Closing check-in only stops new walk-ins: everyone already in line is still photographed, and families with a booked time keep their spot. A close lasts for the rest of that day: check-in is open again the next day.

Ending the event

End event is on Live (website and iPhone) and on Apple Watch whenever there’s an event today, whether check-in is open or closed. It asks first, with Not yet to back out. Ending closes check-in, and times later today can’t be booked. On a multi-day event only the rest of today closes: its later days aren’t affected and it’s back on Live on its next day by itself. Home, Events and Live show “Event name · Event ended” with a summary, such as “Event ended · 20 families photographed”, the photos, any no-shows and anyone still in line.

If families are still in line or booked later today, it asks again with three choices, each saying exactly what happens: Not yet (nothing changes; the event keeps going), End and keep them in line (or “End and keep their bookings”, or “End and keep everyone”: the event ends, and Live stays usable so you can finish them) and End and mark as no-shows (they show as No-show in Guests; start one if they turn up after all).

Ended by mistake? Choose Reopen event on Home, Events or Live. It asks first, then check-in reopens and families can join the line again.

Close check-in when the line is full

Each event has Close check-in when the line is full (on by default) in Event setup and in the iPhone app’s Edit event, next to Walk-ins. While check-in is open, Quick Gallery works out when today’s line will finish. When that’s more than 10 minutes past the event’s end time (its last time slot, or its planned end), check-in closes for new walk-ins for the rest of the day. The check-in page says “The line is full for today. Thanks for coming by.”, your studio page’s Live now card says “Line full for today”, and Live shows an amber notice, “Check-in closed automatically: the line now runs to 3:12 PM”, with Reopen check-in.

• How the finish is worked out: half a family for whoever you’re photographing, then each family in line now, fitted into the gaps before each booking still to come today. A booking stays at its time and takes its slot. Whoever is left goes after the last booking.
• How long a family takes: About how long is each family? (5 minutes unless you change it) until 3 families are done today, then the average time you’ve actually spent per family today (between 2 and 30 minutes). Test guests count like real families.
• It never reopens by itself. Reopen check-in (or the switch) opens it, and then it won’t close itself again for 15 minutes.
• Bookings are never blocked, and your own Add a walk-in still works: it notes that the line runs past the end time.
• An event with no end time (no time slots today and no planned window) never closes by itself.

Someone without a phone? Choose Add a walk-in on Live. Enter their name, email and how many people are in the photo, and ask whether they’d like a text when it’s their turn and whether a few photos can go in your portfolio. They join the end of the line, as if they’d checked in themselves.

Any tethering app

Quick Gallery doesn’t replace your tethering software. It watches one folder and uploads every finished JPEG that appears in it. Anything that can save or export JPEGs into a folder works:

• Lightroom Classic: use the Quick Gallery plugin. It applies your preset and exports each frame for you.
• Capture One: export with a recipe into the watch folder. See Using Capture One.
• Your camera maker’s software (EOS Utility, Nikon Camera Control and others): set it to save JPEGs into the watch folder.

Keep RAW files out of the watch folder. It should only ever get the finished JPEGs you want guests to see.

Rather edit first?

Set the event to Photo delivery → After I edit them in Event setup. Shoot to your memory card and press Start and Complete for each guest; guests hear their photos are being edited. Afterwards the Lightroom plugin sorts the card into a collection per guest by when each photo was taken, and you send every gallery at once. See Edit after the event.

Kinds of event

New event starts with What kind of event?: mini sessions (booked times, or booked times and walk-ins), Santa sessions (booked times, booked times and walk-ins, or walk-ins only), a walk-in pop-up, or something else. Picking one fills in the settings below it. Every setting stays visible and you can change any of them. New event starts on the kind you made last.

• Walk-ins. Off means booked times only: the check-in page says the event is by booking only and links to your studio page. You can still add a walk-in yourself with Add a walk-in.
• Booking ahead. Families pick a time. It still needs time slots in Schedule.
• Line texts. The “You’re up next” text and email. Off means nobody is notified automatically; Ask to come up now still works, by email.
• Notes for Santa. See Notes for Santa.
• Reminder before a booked time: off, 1, 2 or 3 hours before, or the day before. See Reminders.
• Where guests go and Alert guests when they’re: this event’s own spot (“Santa’s chair”) and alert place. Blank uses your studio’s, from Settings.

Change any of these later in Event setup → Kind of event (on the iPhone, on the event’s page). The kind stays as a label; changing a setting doesn’t change it, and families already booked aren’t affected. Events made before kinds existed show “Booked times and walk-ins”.

Reminders

With a reminder set, each booked family gets an email before their time: “Your studio: see you at 10:20 AM”, with the event, the date and time, and where to go. Families who booked after the reminder time had already passed (say, 30 minutes before a 3-hour reminder) don’t get one, and neither do families who have already checked in. Reminder texts, for families who ask for them, start once the reminder message is approved by the text carriers; they count against your texts.

Notes for Santa

On Santa events, the booking form, check-in and Add a walk-in have an optional For Santa section: each child’s first name and age, what they’re hoping for this Christmas, something they’re proud of, and anything Santa shouldn’t mention.

• The booking email links to a page where families can add or change their notes until 24 hours before their time. After that the notes are locked so Santa can get ready; a family with no notes can still add them when they check in on the day.
• You see them on Live (a “For Santa” line under each guest, and Later today for families booked later today who haven’t checked in), on the guest’s details, and on their booking in Schedule.
• Notes never appear in galleries, emails or on the Apple Watch, and they’re deleted within 72 hours after the visit.

Photo delivery

Each event has one of three choices, in Event setup → Photo delivery (on the iPhone, when you create the event or on its page). You press Start and Complete for each guest with all three.

• As I shoot: each photo lands in the guest’s gallery seconds after you take it, and Complete emails them the link.
• After I edit them: Complete emails that their photos are being edited (with the date, if you set one). Afterwards you send every gallery at once from Lightroom or Event setup → Photo delivery.
• Through my own gallery service: for photographers who deliver through Pixieset, ShootProof and the like. Complete sends each family a thank-you email with your own message, plus a thank-you text if they asked for texts. Their Quick Gallery page thanks them for coming and says you’ll send their photos; no gallery opens here, even if photos are uploaded by mistake.

Complete always works. On an As I shoot event with no photos yet, Complete asks whether to mark the guest done and email that their photos are being edited. Their gallery then waits in Event setup → Photo delivery, where you can add their photos and send it later.

Guests and galleries

Do guests need an app?

No. Everything happens in their phone’s browser: checking in, seeing their place in line, and saving their photos.

Who sees a gallery?

Only people with its private link. Guests can choose to let you use their photos in your portfolio; you can see who said yes on the Clients page.

Whose name is on it?

Yours, first. Add your logo, studio name and social handles in Settings, and they lead every gallery and email, with a small “Powered by Quick Gallery” at the bottom.

Notified and Ask to come up now

When a guest reaches the place in line you set (Settings → Defaults → Notify guests when they’re, 3rd by default, or the event’s own setting in Event setup → Kind of event), they’re notified: their waiting page says they’re up next, they get an email, and they get a text if they asked for texts. This happens once per guest, automatically. Guests who checked in less than 2 minutes ago aren’t sent one, because their page already says it.

Running ahead? Open a guest in line (on the website, the ⋯ menu beside them in Up next) and choose Ask to come up now. Pick one of your messages or write your own, and send it to that guest, and to the next one or two behind them if you like. It goes by text to guests who asked for texts, and by email to everyone else. Their waiting page then says “Come on up now.” You can send it more than once.

Text alerts

• Guests get texts only if they tick the text box when they check in or book. It’s never ticked for them. Its words follow the event: Text me when it’s my turn (and a thank-you after), or, on a booking form once reminder texts are on, Text me a reminder before my session and when it’s my turn or Text me a reminder before my session (and a thank-you after). With line texts and reminders both off, there’s no box.
• They get one text when they’re nearly up (the moment they join the line, if they’re already that close), one each time you ask them to come up now, and, on events delivered through your own gallery service, a thank-you after Complete. The thank-you uses your message if it fits one text with no links; otherwise a short default thanks them and says your studio will send their photos soon.
• Change the words in Settings → Text messages (in the iPhone app, More → Text messages). You write the middle; every text starts with your studio name and ends with “Reply STOP to opt out.” Links and emoji are removed, and each text has to fit in 160 characters.
• Send me a test text sends the message to your own mobile. It counts as one text.
• Pro includes 200 texts a month, starting fresh on the 1st. Per event includes 150 texts for each event pass. Guests who reply STOP get no more texts from Quick Gallery’s number.
• Out of texts? Guests still get the email and the alert on their waiting page. The dashboard warns you when 80% of your texts are used.

Need more? Get more texts in Settings → Billing: 200 for $10, charged to your saved card. Bought texts never expire and are used after your monthly texts.

Planned breaks

Add a break in Schedule (on the website, or Events → Schedule, time slots and breaks in the iPhone app): give it a name and a time, for one day, a range of days or every day of the event. Times inside a break can’t be booked.

• Bookings already inside a new break are never cancelled. They stay booked and show on the break as “still booked”. Choose Keep their times to leave those times bookable.
• With Tell guests in line on, waiting pages say “Lunch, back at 1:00” (with your break’s name and time), wait times include the break, and nobody is notified until it ends. Ask to come up now still works during a break.

Daylight and sunset

Shooting outside? When you add time slots, Quick Gallery shows sunrise, golden hour and sunset for the shoot’s place, and warns you about slots that start before sunrise or end after dark. It’s a heads-up, never a block.

• The place comes from the event’s Where in Event setup, or your Settings → Studio → Where you usually shoot. If neither is set, it asks Where is this shoot? A nearby town is close enough.
• Shooting inside? Tick This shoot is indoors and the warnings go away.
• Town search uses a list of US and Canadian towns built into Quick Gallery. Place names from GeoNames (geonames.org), CC BY 4.0.

Camera clock reminder

Cameras’ clocks drift, and Lightroom sorts photos to guests by the time they were taken. In the iPhone app, the first Start of each event day asks you to take one photo of the camera clock with your camera. Later, in Lightroom, choose Set Camera Clock from Selected Photo on that photo. Turn the reminder off in Settings → Lightroom plugin, or tap Stop asking. The camera clock is always in More on the iPhone, and in Event setup and on the Live screen on the website.

The iPhone app

The iPhone app is for shoot day. Sign in with your Quick Gallery email and password. It can:

• run the line on Live: open or close check-in, start, pause and complete guests, add a walk-in, and end the event
• show your check-in QR code, the camera clock, and kiosk check-in on the device
• show guests, their messages, and Ask to come up now
• create an event, add time slots and breaks, and show daylight and weather
• change your text messages and main settings, and close your account

Booking, payments, photo delivery, reports, clients and your plan are set up on the website. Photos still upload from your camera computer.

Weather in the iPhone app

The app can show the weather where you are: on Home, on Live, and in a forecast with the next hours, sunset and golden hour. It warns you when rain is likely while your event is running.

• It uses your phone’s location only while the app is open, and only if you allow it. The location goes to Apple Weather, not to Quick Gallery.
• Turn it on or off in More → Settings → Weather, or for location in the iPhone’s Settings app.

Apple Watch

The Apple Watch app comes with the iPhone app. It shows who you’re photographing and who’s up next, and lets you start, pause and complete guests, open or close check-in, end or reopen today’s event, and show the camera clock. It shows today’s event on its own (or “No event today” and the next one); to switch events, use Home on the iPhone. When the line is full it says “Check-in closed (line full)”.

• Signing in: open it on your watch while your iPhone is nearby and signed in, and it signs in by itself.
• No iPhone nearby? The watch shows a QR code and a 6-digit code. Scan the QR with your iPhone, or type the code in More → Settings → Sign in Apple Watch in the app or at quickgallery.app/watch.
• The watch has its own limited sign-in. It can’t change settings, billing or your account.

Payments

Choose how families pay you in Settings → Payments: Connect Stripe or Collect payments on my own. Set each event’s session price, deposit and walk-in price in Event setup → Pricing.

On the Pro plan, with Stripe connected, you can charge a deposit or the full price when guests book, take the balance or a walk-in payment at check-in, and accept tips. The money goes straight to your Stripe account. Quick Gallery takes no fee from these payments; Stripe’s standard processing fees apply. You handle refunds, disputes and any sales tax for your clients.

Collecting on your own, families see your price and “Pay at the event” when they book, on your studio page and in their emails, with your “How families can pay you” note (for example “Cash, card or Venmo @harperlane”). Nobody enters a card. On the day, Live and the guest’s details show what each family owes; tap Mark deposit received or Mark paid when they pay you. Reports show this as “Collected on your own”, apart from Stripe. These payments are between you and the family.

Put booking on your own website

Families can pick a date, a time and pay without leaving your own site (Shopify, Squarespace, Wix, Showit, WordPress and others). Apple Pay and Google Pay work too.

• One event: in Event setup → Booking or Schedule, choose Add to your website.
• All your sessions: in My studio page → Share your studio, choose Add to your website under Your studio page.
• Pick Embed (recommended: it grows to fit and scrolls into view at each step), Simple embed (for site builders that remove scripts) or a Book now button (for builders that block embeds), and a theme: Match your website (the default: dark text on a light site, light text on a dark one), Light, Dark or Match the visitor’s device. Then Copy code.
• Paste it into your site’s code or embed block: Shopify › Online Store › Customize › Add section › Custom Liquid · Squarespace › Code block · Wix › Embed HTML · Showit › Embed code · WordPress › Custom HTML. On a site you build yourself, paste it into the page’s HTML.
• After booking, families see a confirmation on your page and Open your page opens their own booking page in a new tab. Check-in and galleries always open in a new tab.
• With booking off, the embed says times aren’t open yet. Turn on Booking ahead to take bookings.

Take booking payments through Shopify

If you sell on Shopify, families can pick a time in your booking embed and then pay the full price on your store’s normal checkout: a regular Shopify order, with Shopify Payments, discount codes, gift cards and taxes as usual. Their date, time, name and booking reference ride along on the order. There’s no Shopify app to install.

1. Make one product in Shopify for the event, at the session price (for example “Santa photo session”). One product covers the whole event, however many days it runs. Make sure it’s active and on your Online Store.
2. In Settings → Payments → Shopify, enter your store address (yourstore.myshopify.com or your own domain) and choose Save. Your webhook URL appears below it; choose Copy.
3. In your Shopify admin, open Settings → Notifications, scroll down to Webhooks and choose Create webhook. Event: Order payment · Format: JSON · URL: paste your webhook URL · Webhook API version: the latest one. Then Save.
4. Under the list of webhooks, Shopify shows “Your webhooks will be signed with …”. Copy that code, paste it into Signing secret in Settings → Payments, and choose Save. The card then says Connected.
5. So cancellations and refunds sync too, create two more webhooks with the same URL: Order cancellation and Refund create.
6. In Event setup → Pricing, choose Shopify checkout, paste the product’s link from your store and choose Find product. If it has options, pick one. Then Save pricing.

• Families pick a time, add their details and choose Continue to checkout. We hold their time for 15 minutes while they pay. Booking embedded on your Shopify store puts the session in your store’s cart; anywhere else it opens your store’s checkout.
• Walk-ins who join from the QR code on their own phone pay the same price on your Shopify checkout, which opens in a new tab. Their spot is saved for 15 minutes, and the check-in page shows their place in line as soon as they’ve paid. If you allow it (the Walk-ins can pay at the set instead box in Pricing), they can choose to pay at the set. Families who join on the check-in iPad always pay at the set; Live shows what they owe, with Mark paid.
• Once Shopify says the order is paid, the booking is confirmed, the family gets their Quick Gallery confirmation email, and your iPhone gets the booking and payment notifications. In Guests and Schedule it shows as Paid on Shopify with the order number. Reports count it under Paid online.
• If someone pays after their hold ran out, they still get the time if it’s free. If someone else took it, the booking waits on Home under Needs attention and we email you: refund or move them in Shopify, or choose Add to that time.
• Quick Gallery can’t refund Shopify orders. Refund or cancel in Shopify; with the cancellation and refund webhooks set up, the time opens up again here and the booking shows under Cancelled bookings. Families who paid on Shopify cancel through you.
• The price shown when booking comes from Shopify. If you change it there, choose Find product again in Pricing. Shopify’s own fees and taxes apply; there are no deposits or balances in this mode.

Guided tours

Pop-up tips that point out each part of a screen. They run on your next new event, or every new event, depending on Settings → Help and guided tours. Replay one any time (you’ll need to be signed in):

• Event setup · 6 stops · 1 minReplay
• Live screen · 5 stops · 1 minReplay
• Schedule · 4 stops · 1 minReplay
• Reports · 3 stops · 30 secReplay

Closing your account

Go to Settings → Close account on the website, or More → Settings → Close account in the iPhone app, and enter your password.

• Your subscription ends that day. Payments already made aren’t refunded.
• Your events, guests, galleries and photos, your studio page and your settings are deleted. Guest gallery links stop working.
• We keep records of payments for accounting and disputes. Your Stripe account for client payments stays yours.

Export your clients first as a CSV from the Clients page if you want to keep them. More in our Privacy Policy.

Anything else: hello@quickgallery.app.