Key steps to get started:
0 Follow the Launch your business card
1 Set up your account
2 Set up your email address
3 and personalize the emails sent by Fotostudio
4 Personalize your contracts
5 Organize payments: deposits, balances, online payment
6 Manage session types and pricing
7 Automate emails and task creation with workflows
8 Set up your calendar for online booking

0. Follow the Launch your business card

On your dashboard, the Launch your business card turns the steps of this guide into a checklist, with your progress:

• Try the client journey: create a session in your own name, with your email address, then send yourself a quote. You see exactly what your client receives.
• Switch to live mode: your account starts in training mode. You can try everything (quotes, invoices, payments) and none of it counts. Complete your legal details (legal form, company number, VAT), then leave training mode: your documents become real and the training documents are deleted.
• Send your first offer: create a session for your client, then send them a quote or the choice of your packages.
• Your types of sessions, Add your logo, Send from your own address, Adjust your packages.
• Optional: Share your link and Get paid online.

🎁 As soon as your first offer reaches a client, we add a free month to your account.

1. Set up your account

You can view and edit all your account details in My account, via your avatar at the bottom of the menu.

Here you will find:

My profile:

In this section, you can enter your details (first and last name, email, phone, profile photo, etc.), change your account password and your regional settings.

My profile > Preferences:

The text editor, the menu theme (Ink or Bright), the menu layout and your home page.

My company:

Here you fill in the fields used to issue your contracts, quotes and invoices: business name, bank account number, VAT number and the address of your registered office.

My brand:

Your logo, colors and font, used in your client area, your emails and your documents. The screen has four sections: Brand, Client area, Client dashboard and Emails (layout and signature). This section lets you:

• customize the client interface (a private page where clients can view documents such as quotes, contracts, invoices, questionnaires) with your logo and your main brand color
• manage visual identities (menu at the top right of the screen)
• personalize the signature of the emails sent via Fotostudio

2. Set up your email address...

By default, emails sent from Fotostudio come from no-reply@fotostudio.io, limited to 30 emails per day. When your client replies, they see your email address, so the reply goes straight to you.
We still recommend setting up your professional address, because a personalized address improves your credibility and the deliverability of your emails (they are less likely to end up in spam).

You can send your emails from your professional address, either by connecting your Google account or by setting up your own email server.

• To connect Google: go to My account > My Google account and click "Sign in with Google". It's simple and it also syncs your calendar.
• To set up an email server: go to Messaging > Settings > Sending/receiving server, choose "Use my own email server (SMTP)" in the "Sending Method" list, then enter your provider's details (server, port, email, password).

3. ...and personalize the emails sent by Fotostudio

Email templates (Templates > Emails) let you personalize all the automatic messages sent by Fotostudio (quotes, contracts, invoices…): tone, formal or informal address, style… You can also create your own templates to save time and avoid rewriting the same messages over and over.

4. Personalize your contracts and invoices

In Templates > Contracts & terms of business, create your own contract or use a template provided by Fotostudio. You can freely adapt the text and variables to your business. You can also have a specific contract for each session type.
Thanks to variables such as {firstname} or {shoot_date}, your contracts adapt automatically to each client. Once sent, the contract can be signed online very easily.

In Accounting > Settings > Theme of estimates and invoices, you can customize the theme used for your invoices and quotes.

5. Organize payments: deposits, balances, online payment

💰 Deposit

By default, Fotostudio generates a 30% deposit invoice as soon as a contract is signed. You can enable online payment so your clients pay right away.
Prefer a different amount, or no automatic invoice?
Customize all of this in payment plans (Modules > Payment plans): fixed amount or percentage, or even no deposit at all.
You can also assign a payment plan to each session type (e.g. 30% for a studio session, 100% for a mini session…) when you set it up (see step 6).

🧾 Balance

To invoice the remaining amount, go to the session's "Estimates and invoices" tab.
You can automatically generate the final invoice according to the payment plan, or create a free-form invoice.
📌 Tip: always work from the session record to benefit from the automations (rather than from the contact record, which is best kept for special cases such as product orders).

💳 Online payment

You can offer online payment in Modules > Online payment or Accounting > Online payment.
Benefits: instant payment, immediate confirmation of the session, no need to check your bank account.
📉 Note: Stripe/Mollie/PayPal charge a fee. You can disable online payment for certain session types or for a specific invoice.
🔧 Other payment methods (bank transfer, check, cash…): enter your instructions in the "Others" field so they appear on the invoice (e.g. bank details).
All payments can be recorded manually from an invoice to keep your accounting up to date, with Actions > Add payment.

6. Manage session types and pricing

Set up your sessions

Shoot types (wedding, boudoir, corporate, etc.) let you organize your sessions and apply default settings to them: contract, terms of business, payment plan, workflow, usual location, etc.
You can create and manage your types in Shoots > Shoots types. Each type has a name + color so your calendar is easier to read.

A type's record is organized into four blocks:

• The type: name, color, usual duration
• When the client books: contract to sign (signable online), terms of business (shown on quotes/invoices), payment plan (e.g. 30% / 70%), online payment and automatic confirmation
• Organization: workflow (automated emails/tasks, more in the next step), usual location (handy for studio sessions) and travel time
• What the client sees: visual identity, VAT, and whether the type can be booked on your online slots

Save time by setting up your prices

In Shoots > Prices, you can save your services, products and options.
A product is something sold outside the session: albums, prints, ...
An option can be an extra hour, a choice of several backdrops, etc.
For each price, enter a name, a description (shown on quotes and invoices), a price including tax and the VAT rate. You can link each price to one or more shoot types, so you find them easily when creating quotes or invoices.
Add an image too if you want your catalog to look more visual for your clients.

7. Automate emails and task creation with workflows

Workflows, in the Shoots > Workflows menu, let you automate tasks such as sending emails or SMS, or creating reminders in your calendar, at key moments of a session.
Click New workflow and give it a name, for example Maternity if you want to automate everything related to maternity sessions. You can start from a Fotostudio template, from one of your own workflows or from a blank page.

The workflow is shown as a timeline of five moments:

• When the shoot is created
• On confirmation
• Before the shoot
• Shoot day
• After the shoot

At each moment, add an email, an SMS or a task, with its timing (e.g. 2 days before). The "Try with a real date" button shows you the calculated dates.

Examples of automatic actions in a workflow

• Confirmation email → Sent automatically after the contract is signed or the deposit is paid, to officially confirm the session.
• Reminder SMS → Sent 1 to 3 days before the session to remind the client of the time, address and practical details.
• Questionnaire → For example, a form to fill in right after the session is created, to better understand the client's expectations or constraints.
• Automatic balance invoice → Scheduled a few days before the session, or right after, depending on how you work.
• Task for the photographer → For example "Prepare studio props", "Check the balance is paid". These tasks land on your task board (Calendar > Tasks) a few days before they are due, and in your calendar.

8. Set up your calendar for online booking

Mini sessions

Mini sessions let you offer several short slots on the same day (ideal for Christmas, for example).
In Shoots > Mini sessions, the Add button opens a 5-step wizard: session type, pricing, contract and payment, slots, launch. For the slots, you choose the date(s), the number of slots, their duration (e.g. 20 min) and the break between two slots (e.g. 10 min): Fotostudio creates all the slots in one go.

You then manage your slots in All slots (button at the top of the Mini sessions page): add slots, copy them to other dates, block or free one.

This module lets you quickly organize sessions in batches, without having to create them one by one.

Online booking

Online booking works on a weekly schedule, in Shoots > Online booking.
You choose the days, the hours, the bookable session types and the break between two bookings.

You can also set:

• a minimum booking notice ("Bookable no later than", e.g. 48h)
• a limit of sessions per day
• under the Settings button: automatic release of unfinished slots, and blocking slots when your personal calendar is busy

Each session type can have its own link, or you can use a global link to embed on your website. You'll find all your links in Home > My links.

Catalogs

The Catalog module lets you create different types of sessions (Christmas mini session, maternity, family…) with their prices, collections and options.
You can attach discount codes and payment plans (deposit, full payment…) to them.

The catalog integrates automatically with mini sessions and online booking. The client first selects the session type, then chooses the offer that suits them.

Updated on: 24/10/2026