As a photographer, it’s important to share photos with your clients in a professional way—it forms a powerful impression about the quality of your service.
Most of us deliver our photos with online galleries, because of their convenience compared to methods like email or physical media (such as USB drives). And while services like Dropbox or Google Drive provide basic file-sharing, they lack the visual appeal and control over download sizes that online galleries offer, which are specifically tailored to photographers’ needs for a polished client experience.
When deciding on the online gallery to work with, there are several factors that you should consider.
- Security. You should have privacy controls to restrict access to your photos, by password protecting your galleries.
- Storage. Since you’ll upload a large number of high resolution photos, the gallery should provide sufficient storage space at a reasonable price point. It should also provide flexibility for you to upgrade your storage according to your needs.
- Control over download sizes. You should be able to control the sizes of the photos that are made available for download, and offer different sizes that clients and guests can choose from—such as high resolution or web size.
With that being said, most online galleries only focus on helping you share photos after the event. We believe there’s a much better way to deliver photos for greater impact, especially for events, weddings, and high-volume headshot sessions.
And the better way is to share the photos with your clients and guests during the event, while you’re shooting.
There are a couple of limitations to how we deliver photos today:
- It’s too slow. People are the most excited to receive their photos while the event or wedding is happening, not days or weeks after it’s over. By delivering your photos slowly, you miss the opportunity to deliver the greatest impact.
- It’s too much work for guests to find their own photos, because they have to scroll through the whole gallery to pick them out. However, it’s also too much work for photographers to send the right photos to each guest, in a personalized way.
As photographers ourselves, we felt strongly that there has to be a better way to share photos with clients and guests. Hence, we built Honcho to address these two limitations.
- Honcho helps you deliver the photos instantly, during the shoot. This is done by uploading photos from camera to cloud (by tethering the camera to your phone), while you shoot.
- Honcho helps you share the right photos with the right people, with AI-powered face recognition. Your guests can easily find their own photos by uploading a selfie. Honcho then matches the right photos with the selfie and delivers them in a personalized gallery for each guest.
In this article, we show you how to use Honcho to elevate the way you share your photos with clients. You can also create a free account and start right away.
Upload Photos Instantly, From Camera to Cloud
Honcho allows you to upload photos in real time as you shoot, instantly generating an online gallery that you can easily share with clients and guests.
This is done by tethering your camera to your smartphone via the Honcho app, which automatically detects the camera. As soon as you capture a photo, it’s transferred to the app and uploaded to the cloud.
Once uploaded, these images can be accessed from any device—whether on a phone or laptop—using the mobile or web app.
Honcho relies on wired tethering for fast, dependable performance and works with any standard data cable. High-resolution images are typically transferred and uploaded within about five seconds.
You can also adjust the upload resolution, from full-quality images to compressed versions at 640px on the longest side. The smaller files, like the 640px images, are uploaded almost instantly.
What makes Honcho unique is that it doesn’t require any extra hardware. Unlike other tethering solutions, like CamRanger, which often need additional gear to extend the connection range, Honcho only needs your camera and phone, offering virtually unlimited range. This lets you move freely throughout a venue without worrying about losing connection.
Upload Post-Processed Photos After the Event
While Honcho lets you upload photos in real time, it also gives you flexibility to upload your photos after the event. Many photographers do both. They upload photos in real time for instant sharing with clients and guests, and they upload the post-processed photos after the event, as a final deliverable to their clients.
Uploading the edited photos to Honcho allows your clients and guests to use the face recognition feature to find their own photos, which is a powerful way to share the right photos with the right people, automatically.
To upload the edited photos, just drag and drop the files in the Honcho website. It can process a large number of photos simultaneously, and we offer cloud storage at different tiers, so you can scale up as needed.
You can control the download sizes by offering high resolution and web size downloads, and setting different resolutions for each option. Web size photos are perfect for quick sharing on messaging and social media platforms.
As a photographer, you’ve likely experienced the frustration of your photos not reaching the guests.
We understand that our main responsibility is to the client—whether that’s an event planner or a wedding couple—and it’s ultimately their decision when and how the photos are shared.
However, it’s common for clients to delay sharing the photos or not share them at all, leaving guests to contact you directly after the event, hoping to get their images.
We believe that the photos we capture hold value not just for the client, but for everyone who attended the event. These moments are important to the guests too, and they deserve access to those memories.
This isn’t about blaming the clients—they often have other priorities, and distributing photos might not be at the top of their list.
The real issue is the lack of a simple, efficient way to share event photos. That’s where Honcho steps in.
With Honcho, guests can instantly view and download photos from an online gallery. Since images are uploaded in real-time as you shoot, guests can access them while the event is still fresh in their minds.
While guests love seeing all the event photos, they also want a quick way to find their own. Previously, this meant scrolling through the entire gallery, which could be time-consuming.
Honcho solves this with a smart feature: guests upload a selfie, and the app’s face recognition finds their images and presents them in a personalized gallery. Each guest gets a curated gallery with only the photos they appear in, making the experience effortless and personalized.
One of the main reasons clients are hesitant to share photos with guests is due to privacy concerns. For example, wedding couples may want to keep certain intimate moments private, and event planners often choose not to publicly share guest photos to respect their privacy.
As a result, photos often remain undistributed, losing their value and impact over time.
Honcho tackles this issue with advanced privacy controls.
The first option allows you to password-protect the online gallery, restricting access to a select group. This feature is great for sharing photos with a small, chosen audience.
However, password protection can limit distribution when the goal is to share photos with all event attendees.
That’s where Honcho’s more innovative, guest-friendly solution comes in: blurring all photos in the gallery. Only the images identified through facial recognition are unblurred, meaning each guest can only view their own photos.
This allows you to share the full gallery with everyone while ensuring each guest only has access to their own photos. It’s a unique solution from Honcho that enables both widespread photo sharing and privacy protection at the same time.
Play Live Slideshows to Engage the Audience
We believe photography should go beyond simply documenting a wedding or event—it should be an immersive experience. Every feature we’ve discussed is designed to transform your photography services into something more than just capturing moments.
One of the best ways to create that experience? Live slideshows. There’s something truly captivating about seeing your photos displayed on a big screen. It energizes the room, sparks conversation, and elevates the overall atmosphere.
It’s also an incredible opportunity to showcase your work to a live audience. And when they need a photographer in the future, guess who they’ll remember?
Honcho makes setting up a live slideshow incredibly easy. Just open the gallery, click “More,” and select “Slideshow.” No extra software required.
You can also moderate the slideshow from the mobile app or any device. For instance, an assistant can moderate the slideshow from a laptop, viewing your photos in real-time without any manual file transfers. Depending on your workflow, you can choose whether to automatically publish new photos or keep them unpublished until you’re ready.
Print On-Site Without Manually Transferring Files
The features we’ve highlighted not only elevate your photography services but also open doors for upselling, enabling you to charge higher rates and increase your earnings per booking. One popular way to boost revenue is by offering on-site instant prints.
There’s something truly special about holding a physical print, and many clients love the idea of giving personalized keepsakes to their guests. These prints can serve as meaningful, customized alternatives to traditional party or wedding favors.
Typically, on-site printing can be cumbersome, involving manual file transfers from your camera to a laptop—a challenge during a busy event. Honcho streamlines this process by allowing wireless printing from any device, eliminating the need for manual transfers.
It also provides flexibility in managing prints. You can print directly from the mobile app or have an assistant handle it from a laptop. Since your photos are uploaded to the cloud in real-time, your assistant can instantly access and print them, making the entire process smooth and efficient.
Conclusion
There are many untapped opportunities in how we currently deliver photos. While other online galleries work well for post-event delivery, sharing photos instantly during the event can make a much bigger impact.
Honcho provides a powerful solution, allowing you to do more than just share photos instantly. With features like face recognition, guests can privately receive their photos. You can also run live slideshows and wirelessly print on-site, enhancing the entire event experience.
As photographers, we must think beyond simply documenting events. Events are about creating memorable experiences. If we focus only on capturing moments, we risk becoming irrelevant—especially in a world where everyone has a high-quality camera in their pocket.
It’s time to rethink how photography can elevate the event or wedding experience. By offering more value to your clients, you’ll not only grow your business but also set yourself apart from the competition.
Sign up for a free Honcho account today and see how it can transform your photography business.
