Overview
Senior photo sessions demand detailed organization due to their customization for yearbook entries, outfit variations, and location diversity. They must adhere to yearbook aesthetic and submission standards while accommodating shoots in varied environments like schools and studios. In this article, we will guide you through the typical job setup and introduce you to the concept of a Main Job for data management and Secondary Jobs for managing photos and job events.
- A: Photo shoots take place exclusively at the school
- B: Photo shoots take place exclusively at the studio (students from different schools are photographed on the same day)
- A + B: Combined:
Typical schedule: Volume shoots take place at the studio during summer break
After Summer break: Photo shoots for students with no studio and retakes take place at school.
Your workflow for all three scenarios: Utilize a "Main Job" for uploading and managing student data, while photos are uploaded and managed in distinct "Weekly" or "Secondary Jobs".
Here are the specific steps involved:
1. Your Main Job
There are a few tasks to complete in preparation for the shoot.
- Create a new job for the respective high school, name the job after the high school's name and Graduation year, and add "Main Job" to it, e.g., Richfield Highschool Seniors 2025 Main Job.
- Select the access type QR- Tagging with list of names.
- Upload and import your names list.
- If applicable, enable the yearbook selection and tick the box "Restrict selection to qualified photos. This setup ensures you can later assign a 5-star rating exclusively to photos deemed suitable for the yearbook, streamlining the selection of appropriate images.
There is no need to set any other settings in this job will remain in planning, The purpose of your Main Job is to
- Upload your names list, manage/add data if needed. Learn more here, Uploading Student Data into a Photo Job.
- Generate and print the QR cards. Make sure to create some extra blank cards as well.
- Enable the yearbook picture selection
- Create the yearbook export
You have created your Main Job for the organization. This job stores the students' data, and it will also be the job where you will later create your student data export.
2. Your Secondary Jobs
You will upload the photos of your Seniors in additional secondary jobs for two reasons:
⇾ First, this workflow allows you to set up a separate coupon for each job.
⇾ For each job, you can also set up a communication profile targeting only the parents and students for the respective shoot/studio session.
Based on the different settings for Senior photo shoots, onsite, or studio sessions, you have two options to upload your photos:
2.1. In-Studio Photo Shoots: Organization into weekly Photo Jobs
In this scenario, the studio typically handles appointment-based shoots from various schools on the same day.
With GotPhoto, you don’t need to sort those photos into their respective schools. The system will handle this for you. You can simply upload the photos of Seniors from different schools into the same, weekly job. Just follow these easy steps:
For each of these jobs
⇾ Create a new Photo Job for each week (e.g., “Studio Week 33 – HS Seniors“).
- Select the access type as QR tagging
- Set your Senior price profile, the job coupon, the communication profile, and the archiving data. Shipping will be automatically set to drop-shipping.
Photoshoot & Upload
⇾ For each student, photograph the QR card / tag the barcode of the student's school's data job. This way, the system will link the photos of each subject to their respective schools.
Pro Tip: Have the QR card PDFs of your schools handy on a laptop or handy, so that you can look them up quickly and photograph the QR card from the screen. Ask the parent and/or student to scan the QR code with their phone. This way, they can easily register for the job communication.
⇾ In these Photo jobs, you will upload all the photos from that week – regardless of the school. Then, follow the required steps to activate the access codes, unless you used barcode tagging.
2.2. Photo Shoots in School: Secondary Jobs for the same school
The second scenario is for your regular and make-up Senior photo shoots for one high school.
For each Senior picture day and Senior make-up day you have scheduled at school, create a secondary job for the school and name the job accordingly, e.g.,
- Richfield High School Seniors Studio July 2024
- Richfield High School Seniors 08-30-2024
- Richfield High School Seniors 09-13-2024
⇾ For each of these jobs:
- Select the access type as QR tagging.
- Set your Senior price profile, the job coupon, your communication profile, and the archiving data. Shipping will be automatically set to drop-shipping.
- Use the QR cards that you created in your Data job for all additional photo shoots for this job.
- In each Secondary Job, you will upload all the photos from the school's photo shoot. Then, follow the required steps to activate the access codes, unless you used barcode tagging.
3. Adding additional Students
In both scenarios, you may have additional students who were missing from your initial school roster. Here's how
If a subject comes to the photo day and is not listed in the existing master job data, photograph them using a blank QR card of their Data job. If you use barcode tagging, use an Entagged spare.
Important here: Don't add the student data in Photo Management of one of the secondary or weekly jobs. You want to keep all data for each school in the respective Data Job.
Here are the two workflows that you can apply:
3.1. You have quite a few students that are missing from a school's names list:
- Before activating the access code, compile a CSV file with the blank QR card details (student name, ID, contact info, and, crucial here, the access code). Upload this file to your Data Job through Manage Names > Upload a different list. Our system will seamlessly integrate these students into the existing student data for this High School.
3.2. You only have a few students, or you have already activated the access codes in your secondary job(s):
- Manually add the student data (name, student ID, contact details, …) to the Data Job's names list via Manage Names > Add Student.
- In your secondary job where you uploaded the photos, open the album, go to Manage Individual next to the subject's gallery ⇾ Link this access code to a student ⇾ Select the Data Job Names List ⇾ select the student's name ⇾ Link Student.
- If you used barcode tagging with the Entagged devise, update the spare data in the Data Job's names list via Manage names ⇾ Actions next to spare entry> Edit
Once added, the codes can be activated in your secondary job.
Are you wondering if the yearbook image selection will still work? It will! The system detects that the yearbook selection is enabled in your main job and will show the yearbook selection for all jobs where you uploaded your photos.
After the yearbook selection period has passed, you can create your student data export in your Main Job.
- Navigate to the Selling tab of your Main Job. Under Student Data Export, click Overview. Find additional information about this workflow here: Run a Student Data Export (PSPA)
The Takeaway
GotPhoto's Senior Workflow simplifies managing senior photo sessions for high schools by centralizing student data for both in-school and studio shoots. It starts with a "Main Job" for QR card management, yearbook selections, and data exports. "Secondary Jobs" for each photo session ensure tailored settings for efficient organization.