2023 Year in Review: Zno Cloud’s Best New Features for Photographers
2023 is coming to an end. Looking back on this year, Zno Cloud has been a game changer. An incredible number of new features, backed by popular demand, were added. These changes in 2023 have transformed Zno Cloud into a more comprehensive and user-friendly platform. To everyone who has joined Zno Cloud this year, we would like to extend a heartfelt welcome and thanks! We’re excited for you to join us as we look back at all the amazing things Zno Cloud is achieving in 2023. What was New in 2023 Zno Cloud is constantly innovating to elevate your photography business to the next level. In 2023, Zno Cloud has brought many exciting new features that would make your workflow simpler, saving time and money while allowing you to earn more. Here are all the updates for Zno Cloud in 2023: Zno Designer™ Choose Your Album Themes As a cloud-based album designer, album themes are now available for every photography style: wedding, newborn & maternity, boudoir, family, seniors, quinceañeras and pets. With pre-designed album themes at your fingertips, you can build an entire album in seconds that capture the mood and wow your clients. Export your Albums to Third Party Labs You can use Zno Designer™ to design and export your albums to print with any lab in the world at any plan level. Even on the free plan, 3 exports are included for trial. Support Adobe RGB 1998 Color Profile In Zno Designer™, Adobe RGB 1998 color profile is also available when you export a project. This definitely gives you more color export options! Export Specific Page Range Zno Designer™ provides two methods to specify the page range when exporting your third-party lab album spreads: use a slider to select your pages or manually input the page numbers. Customize Your Auto Fill Albums to Third Party Labs When designing third-party lab albums in Zno Designer™, you have two options to customize your Auto Fill. The default mode is the system intelligently arranging photos into spreads. Or you can use custom mode and specify the photo range you want in one spread. Zno Proofer™ Support Online Album Proofing Zno Proofer™ is natively built into Zno Designer™. No downloads, no uploads, no jumping back and forth between album design software, proofing software and emails for client feedback. Clients mark and comment online for you to review and update directly in Zno Designer™. Proof Your Albums with Unlimited Plan The Unlimited Plan includes both exporting album designs to third-party labs worldwide and online proofing, which is ideal for professional photographers! You can send unlimited online proofs directly to clients for feedback, and make updates quickly and directly in Zno Designer™. Since it is cloud-based album designer software, you don’t need to download or upload, all comments are tracked on each spread in the software. Zno Gallery™ Sign Out & Sign In In Zno Gallery™, your clients now can sign out and sign in again. This is a small feature but it is critically important when they enter the wrong email address. Sell Digital Downloads As a cloud-based online photo gallery for professional photographers, you can now sell pictures for money in Zno Estore™ with Zno Gallery™ from single photos to the entire online photo gallery. You can set your size options and set your own price. When the download purchase is confirmed, the photos without watermark will be delivered to your client. Zno Estore™ Support Offline Payment In addition to partnering with Paypal to provide easy and safe payment transactions, you can also use offline payment to enable the acceptance of cash, checks, or any other payment method. Fulfill Your Orders with Your Favorite Lab Zno Cloud provides you the choice to fulfill your print products from the print lab that you want. When you customize prints, wall arts and albums as well as choose self fulfillment in your Zno Estore™, you can fulfill orders from third party labs, such as WHCC, Miller’s, nPhoto and Bay Photo Lab. Support Additional Pages for Your Albums More pages means more earnings. Zno Estore™ is always looking for ways to make your studio more profitable. Instead of being stuck with a fixed number of pages in an album, your clients have the flexibility to design an album with additional pages. Batch Assign a Price Sheet to Collections To increase your productivity, now you can batch assign a price sheet to various collections. Besides, you can also decide whether you want to turn on or keep the store status of these collections when assigning. Use the Self Fulfillment to Sell Custom Products You can set your own price and shipping method for clients with zero commission from Zno Cloud. It benefits your clients to have a seamless shopping experience and simultaneously grows your photography business. Sell Custom Mix and Match Products To better increase your revenue, you can sell your own custom mix of products in Zno Estore™ now. You can offer a product catalog of digital downloads, albums, prints, wall arts and more from different print labs and vendors all over the world. Zno Slideshow™ Optimize Slideshow Clarity As the world’s best slideshow maker, Zno Slideshow™ leads the way in image rendering clarity. Your clients will now have the best experience when viewing slideshows made with their photos. About Zno Cloud Looking ahead, Zno Cloud plans to add more new features in 2024 to meet the changing industry needs and further enhance your photography business in the new year. Whether you need to design albums, display and share online client galleries, sell digital downloads and print products, create slideshows or edit your photos, Zno Cloud can support you as an ALL-IN-ONE Cloud-based platform. Sign up for a free account and start exploring all the features!
A Guide for Photographers: 8 Ideas for Taking Successful Family Photography
Every stage of life has several moments that are worthwhile to capture through photography. Nowadays, many clients invest in family photography. This can range from newborns to children to parents and grandparents, you can capture those moments for your clients to create the perfect family portraits. Doing family photography is really fulfilling and meaningful since it can showcase the unique story of a family. However, what makes for doing family photography well? As an example what’s the best way to interact with your clients? This article will give you some ideas to run a family photography business. Communicate Beforehand with Clients Before you shoot, you need to communicate with your clients. This ensures you can customize your session to your clients’ unique story, get to know the relationships between family members, their personalities, preferences, and the special moments they wish to capture. For instance, some clients prefer a more traditional formal family portrait, while others prefer a naturally bright and vibrant family portrait. What’s more, you can advise your clients to coordinate their outfits before the photoshoot so that everyone in the photo is wearing the same or similar colors. Taking into account the location of the shoot, you can also let your clients choose clothes that match the background and season. Choose the Right Location When selecting the right location for your clients, take their interests into consideration. It could be a specific scene that is memorable to the family, a lovely park, or a comfortable indoor scene. In outdoor scenes, you can utilize the surroundings by using trees, buildings or natural landscapes as background elements. Encourage interaction between family members to capture more natural, relaxing moments. If you are in a bright and spacious indoor scene, try to use as much natural light as possible and arrange the family’s favorite furniture or decorations as background for the shoot according to their style and preferences. Find the Best Time for Photography Avoid shooting in the middle of the day when the light is harsh and shadows are low. Instead, schedule it for when the family members are most at ease and the lighting is at its optimum, such as before sunset or just after sunrise. Early morning and late afternoon light is soft and even on the face, and nobody squinting into the sun, which is often the best time of day to take premium photos. In addition to considering the time of day, you also need to consider the season in which you are shooting. The seasons of spring, summer, fall, and winter each have their own unique charms, so you can choose your family’s favorite season for your family photography. Make Photography Process Comfortable It can be beneficial to capture authentic moments by chatting with your clients during the shoot, making family members laugh and smile by telling jokes or playing games, and encouraging them to relax. Natural interactions between family members often convey the most sincere emotions and connections, and these unintentional moments make for the most precious photos. Interact with Children Often the best photos of children happen within the first half hour of the shoot, so working with children requires patience and the shoot should not be too long. To make the shoot enjoyable, you need to put yourself in their shoes and engage with them. You can bring some attractive props such as their favorite toys, snacks, etc. If they feel comfortable during the shoot, then they are likely to behave better. Consider Different Combinations Make sure to capture a variety of combinations and poses, including full family shots, individual portraits, and shots of smaller family units. For example, by doing one for children, couples, fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, grandparents and children into small groups, your family has a wide range of choices when selecting their favorite photos. Let Clients Choose Their Favorites Involving family members in the photo selection process makes them feel like they have contributed to the creation of the photo. This sense of involvement enhances their satisfaction with your photography service and makes them more likely to recommend you to others! To speed up your workflow, simply create an online photo gallery and let them choose their favorite images. In Zno Gallery™, which is an online photo gallery, you can share, deliver, proof, and let your family download their photos. With a beautiful layout and high-resolution images, your family will be astounded by your superb photography skills and their beautiful shots! Encourage Clients to Print Emphasize the importance of print products to your clients. Print products provide a tangible and lasting way to preserve their memories. As a unique piece of home decoration, prints can bring a cozy atmosphere to a home environment. In addition to this, selling print products can increase your revenue stream and help boost your photography business. Zno Estore™ is a cloud-based online store, which is natively built into Zno Gallery™. You can easily sell print products such as photo albums, wall art, prints with online photo gallery images. Not only do you get to set your own prices, but you also get the benefit of 0% commissions, even with the free plan! Whether it’s laughter, hugs, or heartwarming moments, family photography captures the most precious feelings between family members. Through preparation and patient communication, you can create moments that are both beautiful and authentic for each family member by allowing them to exude their most natural and happy moments in the photos. About Zno Gallery™ Showcase your best family photography photos with an online photo gallery! Winning cover and gallery looks created by professional designers. Send elegant metric-driven invitations automatically to your clients, who are sure to be impressed by your stunning work. Sign up for a free account and start your family photography business with Zno Gallery™ now!
Holiday Season Preparation Checklist & Tips for Professional Photographers
The holiday season is a prime time for you to showcase your talents and increase your income. Being well-prepared beforehand is essential if you want to succeed during this busy and challenging time. If you’re not prepared, then you may feel stressed during this busy season. Here are some tips to help you get ready for the holiday season. Update Your Portfolio Before the holiday rush, take some time to update your portfolio with something holiday themed. This is great for showcasing your photography skills and style while attracting potential clients. You can do this by adding some online photo gallery collections with holiday-related themes to your portfolio. Whether you specialize in wedding, family, newborn, or pet photography, your exquisite holiday portfolio will attract and impress your clients. Zno Gallery™’s premium layout allows your clients to appreciate your work in a really beautiful way. Not only can they view every holiday photo from your online photo gallery collections, but they can also pick out their favorite ones to send feedback, download, or share. Knowing what kinds of pictures your clients wish to shoot is really helpful for your subsequent photography process. Create Email Templates For photographers who need to send frequent emails for photo deliveries, you can streamline your communication with your clients by creating customized holiday email templates, saving you time while boosting your productivity. You can create an email template once, and then use it with ease the following time when you send an email invitation to your clients. If you use an online photo gallery for photo deliveries, then you can create email templates directly from it. You can write messages that convey holiday cheer as well as photo messages in the templates and just make minor adjustments each time you send an email to a different client. Review Your Products and Prices Holidays are also a great time for shopping, and in addition to shooting gorgeous photos, your clients are likely to visit your online store and order holiday-related prints as gifts. Therefore, it is especially important to review the products available in your store as well as the prices before the holidays. You can increase your sales and exchanging pictures for money by adding some popular products to your online store. You should also set aside some time to review your photography price list and make sure that all of the prices are up to date. If you need to increase your margins to elevate your revenue but it’s too much of a hassle to modify each price, then Zno Estore™’s Apply Bulk Markup feature is perfect for you. You’ll save a lot of time and effort by adjusting the pricing of any size and specification quickly inside a single product. Sell Holiday Packages You can provide some holiday packages to meet the unique demands of various clientele over the holidays. For instance, you can consider bundling popular products together, such as photo prints and digital downloads, and selling them to your clients at a more favorable price to encourage them to order products they may have overlooked. Alternatively, after finishing the shoot, promote small gifts like customized holiday cards that showcase their photos to your clients. Regardless of the format, offering bundled services can help you grow your photography business by drawing in more prospective clients. Marketing Your Excellent Work It’s important to run a marketing photography campaign before the holidays. You can utilize social media platforms, emails, and your website to share your stunning holiday-themed photos. To attract more potential clients, you can encourage satisfied clients to share their positive reviews and their memorable holiday photography experience with you on social media. Get Your Gear Ready You definitely don’t want to spoil your client’s wonderful holiday memories with equipment problems, so make sure your camera, lenses, flash, and tripod are in working order before starting holiday photography sessions. Clean and calibrate lenses, check camera settings, prepare sufficient batteries and memory cards, and make sure all equipment is in good condition to prevent failure at critical moments. About Zno Gallery™ If you want a place to showcase your premium work and wow your clients, then try Zno Gallery™! It is Zno Cloud’s online photo gallery for sharing, delivering, proofing and letting your clients download images. In addition, you can turn your online photo gallery images into print, wall art and album sales with Zno Estore™, which is natively integrated with Zno Gallery™. Sign up for a free account and prepare for your holiday season!
4 Quick Ideas for Starting Your Destination Photography
This post was last updated on July 4, 2024. It’s difficult to resist pulling out your camera to take a photo when you come across stunning scenery on the road. Beautiful authentic scenery needs to be treasured, and your clients also want to record themselves with it, which is why destination photography has grown in popularity recently. Destination photography refers to a type of photography where the photographer travels to a specific location to take photos, with the destination usually chosen by your clients. This kind of photography is particularly popular in the fields of weddings, engagements, and events. Here are 4 essential ideas and tips for your destination photography. Find Those Cliché Spots in Every City As a professional photographer, it’s your responsibility to capture images that delight your clients and leave them with wonderful vacation memories. Consequently, picking a good site for shooting is crucial. You can choose some cliché spots as they are already proven to be popular and thus more likely to be liked by your clients. In addition, when your clients post photos of the city’s well-known attractions on social media, they will undoubtedly attract more people’s attention and likes, thereby increasing the exposure of your work. So how do we discover these places? You can search for your destination city’s tags on social media to see which places are regularly geotagged in people’s shots. Another way is to communicate with other local professional photographers in photographer communities to get the low down on the best spots. Furthermore, it is also a good idea to consult the destination tourism bureau’s travel guide, which always lists some safe bets for cliché spots. Invest In Traveling and SHOOT Those Locations It’s best to have a good understanding of your destination in order to get your perfect shots before you book clients. Sometimes you can choose a city you like to travel to at your own expense, and go to the destination in advance to check out the location and take test shots. The following is a useful guide: Determine your preferences Determine the theme and style you want to shoot before traveling. This will help you choose the ideal shooting location. Research your destination Use the Internet and social media to learn about the geography, climate, culture, and other aspects of the destination in advance, as well as learn about other photographers’ shooting suggestions at this place. Contact with locals You can also learn from locals. They can provide some invaluable local insights and photography tips. Use a map Mark the location you want to shoot, and become familiar with the traffic, surrounding environment and safety conditions of the destination to ensure your safety during the shooting time. After taking gorgeous shots of your destination, don’t forget to organize them into your portfolio or online photo gallery. Zno Gallery™ is a client gallery that fully meets your needs! You can organize your photos by city collections and show them to your clients. They can not only immediately check, download, and purchase the photos they like, but they can also connect with you via online proofing, helping you to better understand your clients’ preferences. Showcase Your Amazing Work Take out your camera, press the shutter, and make a fantastic photo. Your excellent work should be viewed by people all over the world, not just your clients. You can showcase your amazing work to potential clients through an attractive layout on your personal website and impress them with your great photography skills. In addition, you can also update your photos on social media such as Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and others, and use appropriate tags and keywords to gain more exposure for your posts, which is beneficial to the growth of your photography business. Prepare A BRIEF In Advance Destination photography requires a lot of time, work, money, and other charges. So it’s critical to communicate details with your clients in advance. Here are a few basic questions to ask your clients before the shoot. You can choose based on your own personal habits: 1. Which destination did you have in mind? The most crucial thing is to choose the destination because it will influence all your following efforts. You can even recommend some popular spots in your clients’ preferred destination so that they can enjoy your thorough service. 2. What is the exact date that you want to do the shoot? It only makes sense to book your trip if a specific date can be confirmed. And to prevent emergencies, you also should arrive at the destination 1-2 days in advance to check out the location. 3. Is there a particular spot that you want to visit? You should prepare a list for your clients of the shots they would like to obtain and communicate how they will look in advance. This helps your clients imagine themselves in the photos and encourages them to look forward to the rest of their trip. 4. What’s your photography style preferences? Have you previewed my work? To ensure client satisfaction, it’s important to be in the same page about your style of photography. This is best done by having in-depth conversations with them and showcasing your amazing work. 5. Do you plan to include family, friends, or other people in your photos? If there are additional individuals in the photo, such as family members or friends, the scene’s composition will need to be altered to account for the extra headcount while still capturing genuine moments. 6. What is the purpose of your photos? Whether for personal collection, social media sharing, or other occasions, different uses will affect the style and plan of your shoot. Knowing how your clients will use the photos always results in a better job. About Zno Gallery™ Zno Gallery™ is a stunning client gallery for photographers to showcase, share, and sell their photos with 0% commission. You’ll be able to present your clients with your amazing shots that they can proof online. Start free with your online photo gallery right now!
What Should Photographers Ask Wedding Clients Before Shooting?
Wedding photographers are always facing the most nervous situations compared with other photographers since they’re responsible for capturing the tangible memories of one’s big day and if it is missed, the moment will never reappear again! How to avoid arguments with clients and elevate their experience for second booking? It is important to have sincere communication with the bride and groom about what they want and what you can provide by a questionnaire. Doing so will help achieve consensus of what to expect from all parties on shooting day. Since every photographer has their own personal photography techniques and habits, the information you want to learn from clients may be different. For reference, we selected several common questions to ask your clients before shooting day. 1. What’s your wedding photography style preferences? Have you previewed my work? It’s key to talk about your talented artwork with your clients. You must have wowed them before they chose you for their big day and trust that you can provide amazing photographs that they’ll look back on for years. However, they may be attracted by selected photos or a series of photos with unique styles you’ve tried. So it’s important to to find out what they liked and the photographs they hope to get. 2. Could you share your love story? It’s a great topic for you and your clients to get to know each other. It will also give you some inspiration to capture some meaningful pictures. 3. Any type of wedding celebration or specific shots you want to get? Preparing a list of specific shots they would like to get is necessary. Furthermore, it gives your clients the opportunity to think about the events of the day and any group of family and friends shots they like to include. It will overall improve their experience and set their expectations. 4. Could you share the scenery design and determined timeline of your wedding? Ask for all details of the wedding to show your professionalism. It will also help you to arrange your work knowing the venue, the lighting, etc. 5. Do you have extra time to take shots before or after the wedding? This determines whether you need to take all the photos before and during the wedding or if you can have enough time after the wedding to complete your shooting list. 6. How many guests are invited to your wedding? Could you share some important members of your wedding party and guests? The newlyweds are the absolute protagonists at the wedding. However, the precious moments they share with their family and friends are also worthwhile to be captured. These should be considered in your shoot list. 7. Will I be the only one shooting your wedding? Could you tell me about other vendors such as wedding planner or videographer? If they have other vendors, you’ll need to be in contact with them as well for ensuring you’re able to work together. 8. Are there any ritual or custom activity of your family tradition or culture that I should pay attention to? The tension with wedding photography is that once you miss a moment, that moment will never come back. Beautiful moments are reserved for photographers who are prepared well. 9. Which editing style do you prefer? Do you need services as retouching, color adjustment, or other corrective adjustment? Some may want to show their perfect profile while others want to keep it natural and real during the special moments. By listening to what they want most, then you will be able to provide them the best service. 10. Any other wedding photo expectations other than what we’ve discussed before? What clients expect could vary, so ask what they look for in these photos exactly. Also, it is a great chance to learn and plan for some meaningful photos that are part of their story. About Zno Gallery™ Zno Gallery™ is a cloud-based online photo gallery tool for professional photographers to deliver images in a professional manner and allows clients to proof online. Create your amazing online photo gallery right now. There is a 0% commission integrated Zno Estore™ to help you sell digital downloads and print products in seconds. Start for FREE.
The Best Album Designer Software You Can Choose to Create Photo Albums Online
For professional photographers, the debate over keeping traditional print product sales as part of their business model can be a divisive one. However, for wedding, boudoir and newborn photographers, print products such as photo albums, wall arts etc. represent a revenue stream that can’t be ignored. Professional album design software removes obstacles in your design workflow, like archiving photos, repeated typography and administrative tasks, all while integrating sales into your business. Design Photo Albums Anywhere When it comes to starting your album design, staying in front of your desk until design is done seems hassled but necessary. However, cloud-based Zno Designer™ offers a new solution to balance the busy demands of daily life. As a part of Zno Cloud all-in-one software platform, Zno Designer™ stores all of your work in the cloud. So whenever you need to continue your album design or make customer-suggested edits, you can enter the Zno Designer™ workspace on any internet browser. No installation is required so there are no device requirements or file space limitations. You can finish your album design on any computer anytime and anywhere. As an added bonus, every additional design element you’ve uploaded, such as stickers, photos, layouts etc. are archived in your workspace – with no storage limit. If you change to a different computer, your design process won’t be affected at all. You won’t be trapped, struggling to install and update another program that’s taking up resources that you need to manage your files. You are always using the latest version at no extra cost so you can simply focus on what you need to do. Revise and Get Approval in Minutes A photographer can deliver a perfect album design, but clients always have edits – which is easy if you can make all the edits perfectly the first time around – but that never happens. To address this, Zno Designer™ is integrated with a professional online proofer, Zno Proofer™, to provide a smooth and efficient workflow from design to proofing. With Zno Proofer™, you can share your album designs with your clients online and you can receive their comments and make edits – in one centralized location. All you need to do is send your clients the unbranded link and they can comment directly on each spread. All of your clients’ comments and requests are shown next to each spread in Zno Designer™. You can update the album design and send the changes back to your client immediately – all in one spot. And since these features are cloud-based, you save time without having to export the designs and reupload them again and again. It’s seamless, all in one place. A More Simple and Effective Way to Design The biggest difference between a professional album designer software and a regular photo organizer such as Lightroom are the special functions. To meet the needs of professional photographers, we have added these functions to increase efficiency and lighten the design workload so you can create more and more beautiful photo albums. As a professional album designer software, Zno Designer™ helps move the design process forward. Smart Layout The smart layout function provides a revolutionary leap forward in album design – so much so that even a novice can finish an album in minutes. Just upload the photos, drag and drop the photos you want on the spread and click the “smart layout” button. Zno Designer™ will do all the design work for you. The designs are flexible and can be edited, just adjust the shapes and sizes with a few simple clicks. No matter how many photos you drag at once, the software will create a wonderful layout. Pre-designed Templates Zno Designer™ provides free-to-use, pre-designed templates at your fingertips. The templates, and additional decorations, come in popular themes such as wedding, newborn & maternity, boudoir, family, seniors, quinceaneras and pets. You can choose from background colors, a wide variety of layouts, matching stickers, and even text or short phrases, in our templates to help you easily create albums that wow your clients. These features are all customizable so you can change the details to suit your clients’ needs. Print Wherever You Want Zno Cloud has collaborated with various print labs and included their product sizes and specs into our software so you can export your designs and order from your favorite lab – without any margin of error. Zno Designer™ provides you the tools to design and print your albums anywhere you want. You also have the option to add custom sizes to create your own personal print products. About Zno Designer™ Zno Cloud is an all-in-one, cloud-based platform for photography studios looking to make their workflows seamless while elevating their business. You can use Zno Designer™’s cloud-based album designer software for albums, books, wall arts, prints, calendars, cards and more. Try amazing Zno Designer™ for FREE!
