Session booking system in Photonesto: a photographer's guide

If you work as a photographer, you know perfectly well that session management is not just about taking photos, but also... a huge amount of paperwork. Constant phone calls, e-mails, appointment confirmations – all of this can consume a lot of time. Fortunately, thanks to the session booking system in Photonesto, you can simply breathe a sigh of relief and put the logistics in the hands of automation.

Instead of manually coordinating every detail, clients themselves can choose a convenient date for them, and your calendar will fill up without your involvement. The system consists of two simple parts: your configuration panel and the client page.

After logging into the session booking system in Photonesto, you enter the place where all the magic happens. You will find session type settings there, where you can create and customize offers for your clients – from newborn sessions to holiday ones.

Key configuration options:

Remember that you can also precisely set the session duration and the breaks between them. This is very useful when you want to have 15 minutes to clean the studio or take a breath after a session. Just set the session length to 45 minutes and a 15-minute break before or after, and clients will see available slots every hour. Simple and intuitive!

Go to the session booking system (booking) and log in - you can use the button in the upper part of our portal page and select the "Booking" option or go directly to https://booking.photonesto.com/

If we have successfully logged into booking – we will see the start screen.

To create a new session type, click on the green "Create" button on the left side of the screen and then the "New session type" option:

Next, we fill in basic data such as: session name and its duration:

We confirm the data with the "Create" button.

We have created a new session type - now it needs to be configured so everything works as you need.

In the "Session details" tab, enter the basic information regarding your session - its name, description, price, and the address where the session will take place.

After filling in all the information, we confirm the changes with the "Save" button.

This tab is dedicated to precisely setting the time – days and hours when clients will be able to book a session slot.

You can use your custom availability schedule - where you set available days and hours one by one, only for this one session, or choose a shared availability schedule, which is a template that you can use for every subsequent session you create. We recommend this option if you have similar availability of days and hours for every session created.

We will now focus on setting your available time for clients. You can set it in several ways. One of them is choosing specific days and hours during the week - this works well for sessions you offer over a longer period and at the same, fixed hours.

To this general availability template you can add exceptions - when you know for sure you won't have time for sessions:

On the other hand - you can set additional days, outside the template, when you have time to accept clients for a session:

Another way is setting specific days on which you offer session slots to clients:

For our holiday session, the last option will fit best, where we enter specific days with hours when we will be available for clients.

This is how it will look for the client:

After choosing the appropriate time for your availability, you should confirm with the "Save" button and go to the next tab.

Here we have all the settings that will reflect what the final booking calendar looks like, what hours will be displayed to clients, and how the calendar will behave during session booking by clients.

For every option in this tab, you can choose a time unit - depending on your needs: minutes, hours, days.

After filling in all the information, confirm them with the "Save" button.

There are three available options for accepting new session bookings:

- automatic acceptance (the system automatically accepts all submitted bookings),

- manual acceptance (you must confirm the booking yourself),

- manual acceptance up to a certain period of time (i.e. e.g. if you set "5 days", a client's booking for a session in 2 days from today will require your manual confirmation, while a booking for a date 14 days from today will be accepted automatically).

After choosing the right option, click the "Save" button.

Session bookings can be canceled by clients always or up to a certain point before the session (e.g. a few days before the session date, but not on the same day anymore), you can also set the possibility of canceling a session booking only by the photographer.

To confirm the changes, click the "Save" button.

If you collect payment for the session (or a deposit) during the booking - you can set it here. You should fill in the amount the client is to pay, the currency (there are over a dozen most popular ones to choose from), the payment title, and set the payment methods (you can read about how to configure payment methods HERE). You can enable all payment methods available to you or choose only some of them.

To save the changes, click the "Save" button.

You will find options here for e-mail reminders to clients about the photo session or an unpaid booking. You can also set automatic cancellation of bookings that are unpaid here - specifying the time after the booking is made when they will be canceled and filling in the content of the e-mail that will then be sent to the client.

Finally, click the "Save" button to keep the settings.

There is also a function to collect data from the client in the form of a survey – you can quickly integrate it with the booking process, gaining all key information in one place.

This is a great tool that gives you much more possibilities than just choosing a package. You can use it to collect key information even before the meeting, which allows for better preparation and personalization of the session.

Adding questions, you can choose from three client response options:

To add a new question, click the green plus button on the right, then enter the question and choose the type of answer provided from the options listed above.

After creating the entire survey, confirm the changes with the "Save" button.

When all settings have already been verified and everything is as it should be, the session must be published so that clients can sign up for the session. To do this, go back to the top part and click the "Publish" button.

We confirm the publication in the pop-up window:

And voila! We have it! The session is already visible to clients. The status published under the session name says so.

You can delete the published session, turn it off (e.g. if it is seasonal), and share it with others using a direct link (green "Share link" button).

Ready to look behind the scenes? Let's go to your command center and learn about more advanced functions that will allow you to forget about manual booking management.

Choosing the right schedule is the key to efficient calendar management. Photonesto offers two main types: custom and shared. Here are the main differences that will help you make a decision.

In short:

This is the ideal solution if you want to set a work schedule for only one, specific session type. Imagine that you are organizing special holiday sessions – their availability will differ from your regular work. Thanks to your own schedule, you can create unique days and hours for them that will be visible only in this one offer. This gives you full control and flexibility.

This option is a real time saver. It allows you to create one, global schedule that you can use in many session types at the same time. If you have a fixed work schedule, for example, from Monday to Friday between 9:00-17:00, you can set it once and then apply it to newborn, portrait, or family sessions. You save time and are sure that all your offers have the same range of your availability.

How to create such a schedule? Go to the main menu (upper right corner of the screen) and then select "Session type settings", the next step will be to select the tab on the left "Availability schedules". Now just click the "Create" button.

In the window that appeared, enter the name of this schedule and confirm it with the "Create" button in the window.

Next, go to this availability schedule to configure it.

The availability schedule configuration panel will appear; we will focus on the individual options one by one:

General availability template - here you need to mark the days of the week and enter the hours you work and are available to the client - the range of hours in which clients will be able to book sessions. It's worth using this if we work at fixed hours based on specific days of the week.

Exceptions to the availability template - we will focus on specific examples where we will simply present when it is worth using this function and how:

Example 1 - you accept clients from Monday to Friday between 9:00-17:00. However, on Thursday 19.03 you will not have time all day - you must enter this in the exceptions to the availability template. It's not hard! You click the "Add exception" button - in the pop-up window you enter the date and mark "all day", finally you confirm with the "Add" button. No one will be able to sign up for any of the sessions on this day.
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Example 2 - on Wednesdays you are available to clients from 9:00 to 17:00, but on 25.03 at 14:00 you have to leave and won't be in the studio for the rest of the day. You must add a new exception to the availability template - the hours when you won't be there - in this case from 14:00 to 17:00. Thanks to this, no client will book a session time then.

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Example 3 - you work only on weekdays, but you decide to give session slots to clients on Saturday 21.03. In such a case, you must add this time in the Availability on selected days section, clicking the "Add day" button. You enter the date and available hours. Confirm with the "Add" button.

When you finish configuring the availability schedule, you must save it - with the green "Save" button at the bottom of the configuration panel.

How to use such an availability schedule? While creating a session in the "Your availability" tab, choose "Shared availability schedule" from the first list and then choose the one you just created from the second list:

Finally, confirm the changes with the "Save" button.

Sometimes it happens that the photographer has to create a booking for a client. In such a case, head to the left side of the screen towards the large green "Create" button - then select the "New session reservation" option from the menu and choose the appropriate one from the list.

A window will immediately appear in which you will need to fill in the session data - such as date, time, and client data.

After filling in all the data, confirm the creation of the session with the "Create" button.

In the My sessions tab, you will find a list of all sessions that have been booked by clients. They are automatically sorted from the nearest session date. In this panel, you can filter bookings into "Awaiting confirmation", "Confirmed", "Past", and "Canceled":

Clicking on a specific session reservation, you can check its details:

If you create a session for a client yourself, it requires confirmation by the client, but you can also do it for them - specifically by entering the details of a given session and clicking "Confirm on behalf of customer":

The system will ask us to confirm this action - we click "Yes":

The session will be given the status "Confirmed":

You can also change the date of a submitted booking - just click the "Reschedule" button:

A window will appear to change the date and time:

You should choose the appropriate date from the calendar and enter the hour. If the new booking date is outside your working hours defined as availability for a given session, a message will pop up (it is only informative, it does not prevent changing the booking date):

If you choose a time when you already have another session - the system will throw a message and prevent changing the date:

In this window, you can also decide whether you want to send an e-mail notification to the client about the change of the session date:

After setting all the parameters, we confirm the changes with the "Change reservation date" button. After a successful change, we will see the new date in the session details:

Using the "Send to customer" button, you can copy the link to the booking and send an e-mail to the client:

You can edit the content of this specific message regarding exactly this session here or leave it as default - according to the template (you can change message templates in the main menu in the upper right corner of the screen in the "Email messages" tab).

From this panel, you can also cancel a booking - through the "Cancel reservation" button:

The system will ask if you are sure you want to cancel the booking, while allowing you to decide whether an e-mail is to be sent to the client. If you decide to send a message to the client about the session booking cancellation, you can edit such a message here - by clicking "Show message content":

To confirm the session cancellation, you just need to click "Cancel reservation and send". After successfully making the change, we will receive information about the booking status - Canceled.

You can also see the sessions booked by clients in the calendar view - use the "Calendar" tab:

The calendar has several views - whole month, week, and one day - you can switch between these views in the upper right corner:

The view above - as marked - shows the whole week, below is the view of the whole month and day.

From this view, you can also manage bookings - after clicking on the appropriate rectangle, a window will pop up with basic information regarding the session booking we clicked on:

You can go to a more detailed view from where you can manage the booking more precisely - simply by clicking the "View details" button.

From this view, you can also create new session bookings - just click on a "free" white/gray rectangle and select the "Create new reservation" option and the session for which we want to take a slot:

A window will open where you need to fill in the data - the same as if we were creating a session with the "Create" button on the left.

Do you need a preview for the entire upcoming day? From the day view in the calendar, you can generate a daily plan with one click. In it, you will find a list of all sessions along with full information, sorted chronologically. All data regarding your assignments are now in one, clear place – ready to save or print!

Just click the "Generate day plan" button:

From the same place, you can create a break from work. When are breaks from work useful? For lunch, dinner, rest, or any other need when you cannot accept clients. From here you can also create a longer break (more than one day) - called vacation.

A window appears where you should enter all data regarding the planned break - name, date, start and end time of the break.

After filling in the data, the break appears in the calendar:

In the case of a multi-day vacation, the calendar looks like this:

Now you don't have to worry about someone signing up for a session at this time. You can peacefully recover your strength :)

When you configure and publish everything, your offer will appear on the booking page. After entering it, the client sees a list of your services.

The booking process for the client looks like this:

Finally, the client receives a confirmation by e-mail, and you see the new booking in your calendar. Without phone calls, without e-mails and without confusion. Pure gain in time and peace!

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Thanks to Photonesto, you can devote more attention to what you do best – taking beautiful photos. The rest will do itself.