Foto Owl is a photo sharing platform that helps photographers share their photos with face recognition—so that you can send the right photos to the right people.
Here’s how it works. Guests can upload a selfie, and Foto Owl will identify the photos which match the selfie with face recognition, and deliver them in a personalized gallery. It’s a quick and efficient way to distribute your photos.
That said, we believe there is a limitation to Foto Owl—you can only share your photos after the event or wedding. In fact, that’s a limitation to how we deliver photos today. It’s too slow because people are the most excited to receive their photos while the event is happening, not days or weeks after it’s over.
By delivering your photos slowly, you miss the most important window of opportunity to create the most impact.
As photographers ourselves, we believe it’s critical to share your photos as quickly as possible, especially for events, weddings, and high-volume headshot sessions. Hence, we built Honcho as a Foto Owl alternative, to help us do that.
The concept behind Honcho is simple but powerful. It helps you deliver your 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.
This maximizes the impact of your photos because you’re sharing them when people are the most excited to receive them. And by allowing anyone to find their own photos with AI-powered face recognition, you share the right photos to the right people.
When you start using Honcho in your business, you will see the impact on your bottom line:
- You get to charge higher prices because you’re offering a value-added service.
- You stand out from the competition, making it easy for your clients to choose you instead of them.
- You generate loads of leads while you’re shooting your events, because guests are coming up to you to ask about your service.
In this article, we show you how to use Honcho as a Foto Owl alternative to elevate your photography services. You can also create a free account and start right away.
In addition, you can join our affiliate program and earn up to USD$88.50 for every new customer that you refer to us. That’s a generous commission!
Upload Photos Instantly, From Camera to Cloud
Honcho enables you to upload photos in real time as you take them, automatically generating an online gallery that’s easy to share with clients and guests.
By tethering your camera to your smartphone through the Honcho app (available on both iOS and Android), the app instantly detects your camera. As soon as a photo is captured, it’s immediately transferred to the app and uploaded to the cloud.
Once uploaded, the images are accessible from any device, whether a phone or laptop, via the mobile or web app.
Honcho uses wired tethering for fast, reliable performance, and it’s compatible with any standard data cable. High-resolution images typically transfer and upload within five seconds.
You also have the option to choose the upload resolution, from full-quality images down to compressed versions at 640px on the longest side. The smaller files, such as 640px images, upload almost instantly.
What sets Honcho apart is that it requires no additional hardware. Unlike other tethering solutions, like CamRanger, which often need extra equipment to extend the connection range, Honcho only requires your camera and phone, and offers virtually unlimited range. This allows you to move freely around the venue without worrying about losing connection.
Upload Post-Processed Photos After the Event
In addition to enabling real-time photo uploads, Honcho also allows you to upload images after the event. Many photographers opt for both—sharing photos instantly during the event for clients and guests to access immediately, and then uploading edited, final versions later as polished deliverables.
Uploading edited photos to Honcho lets clients and guests use the face recognition feature to easily find their own pictures, simplifying the process of sharing the right photos with the right people.
Uploading is easy—just drag and drop the files onto the Honcho website. The platform processes large batches efficiently, and with flexible cloud storage options, you can scale up as your storage needs grow.
You can also customize download options, offering both high-resolution and web-sized images. Web-sized photos are perfect for quick sharing on social media or messaging apps.
As a photographer, you’ve probably experienced the frustration of guests not receiving their photos after an event.
We understand that our main responsibility is to the client—whether it’s an event planner or a wedding couple—and it’s ultimately their decision when and how to share the photos.
However, it’s not uncommon for clients to delay sharing photos, or sometimes not share them at all. This often results in guests reaching out to you directly after the event, hoping to get their pictures.
We believe the photos we capture are valuable not only to the client but to everyone who attended. These moments hold meaning for the guests as well, and they should have access to those memories.
This is not to blame the clients—they often have other priorities, and distributing photos may 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 comes in.
With Honcho, guests can instantly view and download photos from an online gallery. Since images are uploaded in real time, guests can access them while the event is still fresh in their minds.
Although guests might enjoy browsing all the event photos, they also want an easy way to find their own. In the past, this meant scrolling through the entire gallery, which could be tedious.
Honcho solves this with a smart feature: guests upload a selfie, and the app’s face recognition technology finds their photos and presents them in a personalized gallery. Each guest receives a curated collection of only the images they appear in, making the experience seamless and personalized.
One of the main reasons clients hesitate to share photos with guests is privacy concerns. For example, wedding couples may want to keep certain intimate moments private, while event planners often refrain from sharing photos of guests to respect their privacy.
As a result, many photos remain undistributed, reducing their value and impact over time.
Honcho tackles this issue with advanced privacy controls.
One option is to password-protect the online gallery, restricting access to a specific group. This works well when sharing photos with a select audience.
However, password protection can be limiting if the goal is to share photos with all event attendees.
That’s where Honcho’s innovative, guest-friendly solution comes in: blurring all the photos in the gallery. Only images identified through facial recognition are unblurred, allowing each guest to view only the photos they appear in.
This approach lets you share the entire gallery with everyone while ensuring each guest can only access their own photos. It’s a unique feature from Honcho that offers both widespread photo sharing and privacy protection at the same time.
Play Live Slideshows to Engage the Audience
We believe photography should be more than just capturing moments at an event or wedding—it should be an immersive experience. Every feature we’ve introduced is aimed at enhancing the experience of your photography service and making it more impactful.
One of the best ways to create an immersive experience is with live slideshows. There’s something captivating about seeing your photos displayed on a big screen—it excites the crowd, sparks conversations, and adds to the event’s atmosphere.
It’s also a fantastic way to showcase your work to a live audience. And when someone in the audience needs a photographer in the future, who do you think they’ll remember?
Honcho makes setting up a live slideshow effortless. Simply open the online gallery, click “More,” and select “Slideshow.” There’s no need for extra software.
You can control the slideshow from the mobile app. Alternatively, an assistant can moderate it from a laptop, viewing your photos in real time without any manual file transfers. Depending on your workflow, you can choose to automatically publish new photos or hold them until you’re ready.
Print On-Site Without Manually Transferring Files
The features we’ve highlighted not only enhance your photography services but also create new upselling opportunities, allowing you to charge higher rates and increase your earnings per booking. One popular way to boost revenue is by offering instant on-site prints.
There’s something special about receiving a physical print, and many clients love the idea of offering personalized keepsakes to their guests. These prints can serve as meaningful, customized alternatives to traditional party or wedding favors.
Traditionally, on-site printing is cumbersome, requiring manual file transfers from your camera to a laptop, which can be challenging to manage during a busy event. Honcho simplifies this by eliminating the need for manual transfers and enabling wireless printing from any device.
It also offers flexibility in managing prints. You can print directly from the mobile app, or an assistant can handle it from a laptop. Since 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
As event photographers, we have to change the way we deliver photos today. The traditional method of sharing photos days or weeks after a wedding or event results in missed opportunities—to create excitement, enhance the event experience, and market our photography businesses. Sharing photos instantly during the event has a much greater impact.
Honcho offers a powerful Foto Owl alternative, enabling you to do exactly that—and more. With features like face recognition, you ensure that guests can easily find their own photos. You can also run live slideshows and wirelessly print on-site, elevating the entire event experience.
As photographers, we must look beyond simply documenting events. Events are about creating unforgettable experiences. If we only focus on capturing moments, we risk becoming less relevant—especially in an age where everyone has access to high-quality cameras on their phones.
It’s time to rethink how we can create amazing experiences for events and weddings with our photography. By delivering more value to your clients, you not only grow your business but also stand out from the competition.
Sign up for a free Honcho account today and discover how it can transform your photography business.
In addition, you can join our affiliate program and earn up to USD$88.50 for every new customer that you refer to us. That’s a generous commission!
