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Darwin's Quic Tips for Mastering Graduation Photography

Darwin's Quic Tips for Mastering Graduation Photography
Graduation season is a bustling time for photographers.

Capturing the essence of such a monumental event requires not just skill but also the right strategy. At NowCandid, we understand this well, which is why our GradPics Now program is designed to maximize both the quality and efficiency of your graduation photography services.

Here, Darwin, our long-time Photography Specialist with a wealth of experience in graduation events, shares his top tips to help you excel this graduation season.

1. Prioritize Speed Over Extensive Retouching

In the fast-paced environment of graduation ceremonies, the quick delivery of photos can significantly boost your sales. Darwin emphasizes that speed in making images available often trumps the detailed retouching of images in terms of sales impact.

Graduates and families appreciate quick access to their photos to share their special moments. Therefore, focus on capturing the best possible shots in-camera.

2. Stick to SRGB Color Profiles for Retouching

If retouching is necessary, Darwin advises saving images in an SRGB color profile. This ensures that your photos look consistent and vibrant across all viewing platforms, be it digital devices or prints, enhancing the overall appeal of your photos to clients.

3. Use Direct Flash to Enhance Image Quality

Proper lighting is crucial in photography, especially in the varied environments of graduation venues. Using direct flash can help mitigate common lighting issues such as facial shadows, ensuring your subjects are evenly lit and standout.

This simple technique can significantly improve the color and clarity of your photos, making them more appealing to your clients.

4. Be Prepared: Carry Extra Batteries and a Backup Camera

Always be prepared for the unexpected. Darwin recommends carrying extra batteries and a backup camera to all events. This ensures that you can continue shooting uninterrupted, even if your primary camera fails or batteries run out.

Being prepared is key to a smooth operation during busy events like graduations.

Darwin's Impressive Track Record

Darwin brings a vast amount of practical knowledge to the table, having managed the capture of over 35,152 graduation images in just the last two weeks of this season alone. His experience underscores the effectiveness of these tips in real-world settings.

Why Choose GradPics Now?

NowCandid's GradPics Now program is tailored to streamline the graduation photography process. By integrating Darwin's tips and our state-of-the-art technology, photographers can not only enhance their efficiency but also improve their sales potential.

The program supports instant uploading and sorting of images, enabling photographers to focus more on capturing great shots and less on post-event workflows.

Graduation season doesn't have to be overwhelming.

With the right tools and strategies, you can turn this busy time into a highly profitable and fulfilling part of your photography career. Embrace these tips, utilize GradPics Now, and capture the milestones with confidence and efficiency.

Ready to transform your graduation photography approach?

Join the many photographers who have already found success with NowCandid. Learn more about GradPics Now and schedule a session with Darwin to fine-tune your strategy. Let’s make this graduation season your best yet!

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Weekly Recap: Local Print Button & Other Small Changes 🧾🖨️🔎
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Weekly Recap: Local Print Button & Other Small Changes 🧾🖨️🔎

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Hey photo friends! 👋


Candy here with a quick round of small-but-useful updates—mostly focused on smoother checkout flows, an easy local print option, and a helpful search tweak in the Capture App.

🛍️ Retail Updates

🛑 Quic-Events download edge case prevented

  • Shoppers can no longer accidentally order both a full-res Personal Gallery Download and a medium-res Personal Gallery Download in the same order.

🧹 Manual checkout: trims trailing spaces

  • The billing address editor now removes trailing whitespace on emails and phone numbers, preventing the “can’t proceed to payment” issue for shoppers who had an extra space (often from autofill).

🧩 Packages: clearer image picker wording

The package item image-picker now uses cleaner language:

  • Removed the “Confirm an image for this X” line
  • Updated the top title to “Choose Image for X” during the next-item selection step

🖥️ Dashboard

🖨️ New “Print locally” button in lightboxes

  • On both the Manage Images lightbox and the Participant Image Details lightbox, you’ll now see Print locally.
    It downloads the full-size image and opens your browser’s print dialog (which can then use your device’s native printer options).

📱 Capture App iOS 4.22.1 (OTA)

🔎 Smarter Name Lookup search results

  • Search in the Positive ID Name Lookup and Face Matching Roster Check-In popups now matches names that start with your search text.
  • Example: typing “AL” finds Albert without also pulling up Hal.

(As usual, OTA update = restart the app or use Check for updates.)

That’s the scoop for this week!

Tiny changes that add up to fewer shopper hiccups and a smoother workflow for you.

Keep creating magic,
Candy 🍬

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

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 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
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🧾 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
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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

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  • • 🖼️ 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 🍬

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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