Set up the account before preparing the first large school or daycare gallery. Decisions about access, files, products, payments and communication affect every gallery you create later.
1. Choose a Pro or Pro+ plan
Volume Portrait features are available on Workspace Pro and Pro+ plans. You can pay monthly or annually.
Volume businesses often operate in different ways, so contact the Queensberry team if you would like to discuss your planned workflow before committing to a large job.
2. Decide how families will access photographs
Choose between:
- Unique student collections with a User ID and Password for each student.
- One shared gallery containing all photographs, organised with categories.
Unique collections provide more controlled access and take families directly to the photographs assigned to their student. A shared gallery is easier for the photographer to set up, but parents must browse and identify the right photographs among everything made available in it.
Learn how to prepare the student collection CSV.
Learn how to set up one shared gallery.
3. Plan products, print sizes and packages
Decide what you will sell before the main shoot. Individual portrait print sizes should suit the aspect ratio of your files. Class-photo designs may use dedicated Class Photo or School Photo products with a different finished shape.
Create packages before adding them to the price list, and test whether package image population should be enabled for the way the gallery is organised.
Build a Volume Portrait price list.
4. Prepare and test the files
Use a consistent naming, editing, colour and export process. Order test prints before the first full production run, especially when the job includes class-photo designs, borders, names or school colours.
Read the file-preparation and class-photo printing guide.
5. Set gallery defaults and watermarking
Configure the relevant Image Gallery Defaults so new galleries begin with the intended design, price list, privacy and watermark settings. Defaults reduce repetitive work, but check every gallery before release rather than assuming they are still appropriate.
If you use a watermark, test its size, position and opacity on both individual and group photographs. The purchased file or product should use the intended unwatermarked production image.
6. Connect Stripe and review tax settings
Connect Stripe so payments from Workspace sales can be processed to your business. Confirm that the account, bank and business details belong to the correct legal entity.
Review the tax settings in Workspace and obtain advice from your accountant or tax adviser about the rates and registration rules that apply to your business. Do not copy another studio's settings.
How to set up Stripe for Workspace.
How tax and Workspace sales are handled.
7. Create the Login Portal
If you use unique student collections, create a branded Login Portal with the School Login Link widget. You normally need only one Login Portal because each student's credential combination identifies the correct collection.
Create and test a school gallery Login Portal.
8. Plan pre-registration and family communication
Decide whether the school will distribute the Login Portal and credentials or whether you will import caregiver data and communicate through gallery emails and a Gallery Sales Workflow.
Set up pre-registration, CSV importing and family emails.
9. Build a representative test gallery
Before the first full school gallery, test a small but realistic example containing individual portraits, shared photographs, packages, crops, credentials, delivery settings and an order.
