Getting started

This walkthrough takes you from a brand-new workspace to a customer viewing (and paying for) their photos. It mirrors the onboarding checklist you’ll see the first time you sign in.

Signing up

Creating a studio takes two short stages: first your account, then your studio.

1. Create your account. On the sign-up page, either choose Continue with Google or Continue with Apple, or enter your name, email and a password and click Create account. With a password, we email you a link to verify your address. Open it (it works for 3 days), then sign in. If it doesn’t arrive in a few minutes, check your spam folder. If the link has expired, sign in with your email and password to get a new one. Google and Apple sign-ups go straight on to the next stage.

No Apple button? Sign in with Apple can be turned off for a while (it is while a new Apple developer account is set up). When the button isn’t there, use Google, or an email and password.

If the verification email wasn’t meant for you, its This wasn’t me link opens a page where you press This wasn’t me — cancel it to cancel that sign-up. Opening the link alone changes nothing. It works only while the account is still unverified and unused.

2. Set up your studio. The Set up your studio page has these parts:

• Studio name and Studio URL — the URL is the address your clients visit (yourstudio followed by the platform address). It must be 3 to 40 lowercase letters, numbers and hyphens, starting with a letter and ending with a letter or number, with no two hyphens in a row. A few names are reserved, as is anything starting with demo-. The page tells you straight away if it is taken.
• Plan — pick a plan and Monthly or Annual billing. On plans that allow it you can add a custom domain here too. Prices are on Pricing & overages, and how trials work is in the Account & billing FAQ.
• Have a promo code? — type a code and click Apply. A code from a link you followed is already filled in. This box isn’t shown for the Free plan.
• Payment method — paid plans ask for a card so the trial can turn into a subscription; you aren’t charged during the trial. Some promo codes make the card optional, and the page says so when they do. The Free plan asks for no card.

If you leave part-way, sign in later and you’ll be offered Finish setting up your studio. Sign-ups can also be switched off on a particular environment, in which case the page says “Signups aren’t open here yet.”

The first steps

When you first sign in as a workspace admin, your dashboard shows a Get started checklist that tracks what’s left before you’re ready to deliver and get paid. Five items count toward finishing it: inviting a customer, publishing a shoot, setting up your watermark, uploading your logo, and adding a subscription payment method. The rest are optional: connecting Stripe or Square, creating a package, receiving your first order, setting your business address, inviting your team and setting up a custom domain. You can Skip any optional item or dismiss the whole checklist.

This walkthrough focuses on the core path to your first delivery:

1. Set your watermark — so previews are protected the moment you upload.
2. Create and upload a shoot — a set of images for one customer or session.
3. Add a customer to the shoot — so they can see their gallery.
4. Configure billing — connect the account that collects customer payments.

You can do these in any order; the dashboard checklist tracks the full set.

1. Set your watermark

Open Settings → Watermark and choose how previews are marked:

• Text watermark — your studio name or any short string; set its opacity and color.
• Logo watermark — upload a logo (a transparent PNG works best); set its size, position, and opacity.

Every watermarked preview in your workspace uses this mark, so you only configure it once (you can change it any time). See Watermarking for details and tips.

2. Create and upload a shoot

A shoot is one batch of images tied to a customer or session.

1. Go to Shoots, click New shoot, and give it a name.

2. Choose how the customer gets the photos, using the Access & pricing selector in the shoot form:

   • Watermarked (default): customers preview watermarked images and unlock the originals after paying — per photo or by package.
   • Flat fee: customers preview watermarked images, then pay one price you set to unlock the whole shoot at once.
   • Pre-paid / Contract: watermarking is skipped; the customer gets the full-resolution files directly (use this when they’ve already paid you).

   See Customer access tiers to choose.

3. Open the shoot’s media panel and click Upload files. Watermarked shoots are processed automatically in the background — previews show up as each file finishes. iPhone HEIC/HEIF photos are converted to JPEG on every shoot (watermarked or prepaid), so customers always get files that open everywhere.

4. For a watermarked shoot, set what’s for sale before you add a customer. There are two ways to sell, set per shoot:

   • Packages (default) — a set for one price (e.g. “10 edited images”). Attach an existing package, or create one inline, from the shoot’s Packages section. See Packages.
   • Individual photo pricing — check Individual photo pricing (à la carte) on the shoot, then type a price on each photo in the shoot’s media panel. Customers buy exactly the photos they want, and a photo with no price isn’t for sale. You can also attach packages that cover a set number of photos alongside it; a whole-gallery package can’t share a shoot with individual photo pricing.

   Without either, a watermarked gallery has nothing to purchase and the customer is stuck on the previews. (Pre-paid shoots skip this step, and flat-fee shoots use one price for the whole shoot instead.)

3. Add your customer

In the shoot’s Assigned customers section, pick a customer you already have, or click Add new customer and enter their email address — a brand-new customer is sent an invitation email to sign in. Once they’re assigned to the shoot, it appears in their gallery, where they can:

• Browse watermarked previews,
• Select the images (or package) they want,
• Pay, and
• Download the full-resolution originals.

Everything works in a mobile browser — your customers don’t install anything. You can also add and invite customers from the Customers page; see Managing customers.

Install the workspace on your phone

Your customers never need to install anything, but you can. Open your workspace on a phone or tablet and your browser will offer to install it — Add to Home Screen on iPhone and iPad, or Install app in Chrome. It then opens full-screen from your home screen like any other app, without the browser bars.

Two things worth knowing: the installed app carries your studio’s name, and its icon is your favicon or logo when you have uploaded one. It still needs a connection to load shoots and media — installing gives you the app-like way in, not offline access to your galleries.

4. Configure billing

So you can actually get paid, connect your own payment account:

• Payment setup — connect Stripe or Square under Settings → Payment processor. Customer payments route directly to you; Tobren takes no cut.

Separately, your own Tobren subscription (what you pay us) is covered under Pricing & overages.

Your dashboard

Once you’re set up, the Dashboard (workspace admins) shows how the studio is doing:

• Analytics — revenue, usage and top customers, switchable between 7d, 30d, MTD and YTD.
• Billing & Projections — your month-to-date storage and download (egress) costs and the rate per GB. A custom tag appears next to the rate if your workspace has a custom rate.
• Upcoming shoots — what is coming up, with a View all link.
• Missed purchases (last 30 days) — shown only when it has something to say. It counts customers who tried to buy but couldn’t finish checkout, and what that would have been worth. Use it as a nudge to check the shoot’s gallery access and pricing. If your workspace is suspended it points you to resolve billing instead.
• Recent orders and Recent customer activity — the latest purchases, and views, downloads and purchases from your customers.

What’s next

• Set up what customers buy → Packages
• Protect previews well → Watermarking
• Deliver on your own domain → Custom domains
• Questions about your plan → Account & billing FAQ