Capture
ATTENDEE
Equivalent to a Subject in Commerce & Studio.
CAPTURE
Fotomerchant's Capture hardware device attaches to the camera allowing for instant transfer of your .jpg images to cloud storage. This device requires no laptop tether or post-shoot data matching. Sold with a reader for scanning and matching subjects as they arrive to be photographed. Capture also allows for facial registration of unknown subjects for event-based work where the selfie uploaded is then used to identify the subject and all their details are transferred to our Commerce platform for instant sales.
CONSOLE
The online portal for in-depth Capture features and device management.
EVENT
Equivalent to a Session in Commerce & Studio.
GALLERY CARD
A 'business card'-sized card with editable branding on one side and an uneditable unique QR code on the other. Gallery Cards act as a key for an unknown subject. They can be scanned by a Reader to have images added to a gallery and then scanned by a customer's phone for instant access to their own personal gallery.
Commerce & Studio
STUDIO APPLICATION
Post-production for images captured by a studio. Features include background removal, auto head sizing, group naming, rejecting images, pose tagging along with filtering features. Shoot directly into Studio using Capture or manually import either data or data & images.
ACCESS CODE
Used for a Session that needs to permit access via one single password for everyone; it can be either a pre-pay session or a proofing session. It is often referred to as the Global Access Code.
ADMINISTRATION: SUB-ACCOUNTS
These are used to provide individuals access to the Studio's Commerce account via their own unique login. We offer a variety of access roles each with a different level of access as listed:
- Administrator: Has the same access as the master account and can do everything the account owner can do.
- User: Can see all clients, sessions, catalogs, products, packages, etc. Basically, the only thing a "User" can't do is access the Administration and Account section.
- Accounts Person: Is able to see the financial data throughout the system but is not able to create, edit or delete anything.
- Job Manager: Is able to manage clients, sessions, catalogs, products, packages, etc. This is ideal for users who will be creating and editing client sessions. They are NOT able to see any financial reporting data.
- Job Viewer: Can view all things related to a job but can not change anything. They are NOT able to see any financial reporting data.
CATALOG
A list of products, packages, and associated product and image options and services offered by a photography studio to end customers in the shopping environment. In some cases, the prints are fulfilled by a lab, which we call 'direct fulfillment. In other cases, the photography studio prints the order themselves with an in-house lab, we refer to this workflow as 'being vertical'.
COMPOSITE PRODUCT
A product with multiple image nodes and/or text nodes. Also called “Multinode Products”.
Examples of products that might fit this use case:
- Greeting cards
- 3 pose collage
- Trader card
- Memory Mate
COMPOSITE GRAPHIC
Add an image showing a visual representation of the composite product.
COMPOSITE PRODUCT IMAGE NODE (COMPOSITE IMAGES)
The image nodes inside a composite product. Common Composite Product Image Node names are “Left Pose", "Center Pose", "Right Pose” or “Top Player Image", "Bottom Player Image", and "Team Image”.
DIGITAL DOWNLOAD
Photographers can sell the digital image file directly to the end customer, with immediate delivery or choose to hold files. Resolution size options are available from 0.1 megapixels up to 50.00 megapixels, or even have the option to send the exact studio-provided image. Digital delivery can include background selection, watermarking, license agreements, and a license file for the customer.
The customer will receive an email with a link to download the file once it has been generated, this can also be sent via SMS if the feature is turned on.
DIGITAL BUNDLES (PRODUCTS)
An extension of selling a single digital file, a product called a Digital Bundle. This is a single pose product delivered on a set number of pre-defined backgrounds i.e. One pose on 6 backgrounds chosen by the Studio. There is no minimum or maximum backgrounds allowed, this is up to the studio to decide what to offer.
DIGITAL BUNDLES (PACKAGE HACK)
The end result is still 1 pose delivered on multiple backgrounds, this variation simply allows the customer to select the backgrounds they want instead of pre-determined ones by the Studio. The total number of backgrounds allowed is set by the studio.
DIGITAL GALLERY
This allows delivery of all the subject's personal images as digital files with a one-click purchase, it will exclude any group image or shared public gallery images. These are delivered via the same method as the single digital download product.
DIRECT FULFILLMENT
When using a lab for direct fulfillment, orders are placed using supplier products to be fulfilled. The labs each have a unique portal for managing their products which can be available to either specific customers, or all customers.
GALLERY
A container for images that has data such as gallery title, password, description, and privacy settings. Galleries can be unassociated with any subject and all subjects will see them if it is set to Visible. Alternatively, a gallery can be associated with a subject and will only be available to them privately.
GROUP PHOTO
Images inside the group photo tab will automatically be considered a "group" and obey tag rules in place. Images inside galleries can also be tagged as a group and sold with shopping rules in place.
Group photos in the group tag will only be shown in the shopping cart if they have a subject identified. Whereas a gallery containing group-tagged images with public access will be shown to anyone logging in with their subject password to see without having been identified in any group photos.
JOB
We refer to a job as a session. However, labs and photographers often refer to a photography session as a “job”. Also, called a “shoot” or “event”. If a photographer used a program like PhotoLynx or Drums at the school to capture the 800 student images along with student data, the output PhotoLynx refers to as a “job”.
LAB
A company that prints photos and performs other photo finishing-related services for photography studios. In addition to printing a photography studio’s orders, labs may also provide sales and marketing-consulting services to the photographers they service.
LAB PORTAL
Administration site used by lab administrators to manage photographer accounts, lab products, retail price list templates, orders, and other settings.
MAKEUP DAY
Some studios offer makeup day shoots to schools, this might be to photograph absent students or those who did not like their initial image and requested a make-up day re-shoot. Makeup day images can run in parallel to the original picture day or replace it entirely.
PREPAY
Orders placed before a photoshoot occurs are referred to as “prepay” orders. These are considered to be any session where photos are not shown for selection in the shopping cart. Prepay orders can continue after picture day up until the time the studio wishes to either stop taking orders or switch to proofing orders.
PROOF
School photography workflow where photographers take photographs of all students in a school. They typically send paper flyers and/or emails/messages to parents for ordering. This is referred to as “Proof” because the watermarked images students take home on the paper flyer are referred to as “proofs”.
Another typical pattern within a Proof workflow is a free shipping cutoff date. If parents order by a certain date, they can choose to have prints delivered to the school and pay no shipping. After the school delivery/free shipping cutoff date, parents must pay a shipping fee to have their order delivered to their home.
REORDER or PROOFING ONLINE (POST-PAY)
Orders placed using image galleries are frequently referred to as reordering, proofing, or postpay. Also… School photography workflows where photographers typically receive most of their orders through prepaying orders can then post galleries online to allow parents to “reorder” more prints.
SUBJECT
A person being photographed by a studios photographer, often at a school, or event. Subject data can include first name, last name, phone, email, grade, teacher, and more.
Other
FOLIO
A website solution offered by Fotomerchant.
ELEMENTICE
A hardware system for professional photographers. Acquired by Fotomerchant in June 2021.
PHOTOLYNX
PhotoLynx is the company that built the school photography software programs FLOW, PLIC, ImageMatch, and Blueprint. These software products can work in a variety of ways when needed. However, there can be limitations with various options. Fotomerchant has no direct relationship with PhotoLynx.
PHOTOGRAPHER
An employee of a photography Studio or a sole proprietor.
PICTURE DAY
The day when a photography company comes to a school to take underclass photographs is often called “Picture Day” or "Shoot Day".
SCHOOL PORTAL
Access by a school administrator or yearbook advisor to access records of yearbook pose selection and orders placed for a particular session.
SIMPLEPHOTO
An eCommerce system for professional photographers. Acquired by Fotomerchant in January 2021 and still in operation.
SPEC
An industry term for a type of photography sales workflow. SPEC typically means photo sheets are printed in advance of purchase, these proofs are then sent home in the hope the parent will buy all of them, they send back what they do not want with payment for what they do keep.
STOREFRONT
An entry point for a studio's customers. The storefront can include a list of public gallery links and a small access box used to enter the access code or password necessary to view private galleries. Photographers will add a link to their storefront on their website or provide this information to the school or subject directly.
A STUDIO
A photography company is often referred to as a “studio” or a “photography studio”. There may be many photographers and other employees in a photography studio from post-production to printing and sales.
TIMESTONE
School shooting software product and print rendering software. Fotomerchant has no direct relationship with Timestone.