Client photo selection and the Lightroom list
Your client marks frames with a purpose icon (star, heart or album), adds notes and sends the selection, and you paste the list of file names into Lightroom.
Updated:
What the video shows, step by step
- This is what the client sees. They enter the password from the photographer.
- Below the cover is the material to choose from — the package covers 5 shots.
- The heart adds a photo to the selection. The first time, the client gives their email.
- The counter at the bottom keeps track of the package.
- Open a photo to add a note for the photographer.
- Two similar shots? The comparison view puts them side by side.
- Finally “Send selection” — the list goes to the photographer.
- In the photographer’s panel: the “Client selections” tab.
- “Copy for Lightroom” — file names to paste into the filter. Client notes are above.
- After editing, mark the selection as done — it leaves your to-do list.
How to turn on selection
Tick “selection gallery” when you create the gallery, or later in Settings (Ustawienia), under “Galeria do wyboru zdjęć” (photo selection gallery). For proofing material, it’s worth turning off downloads and turning on the watermark straight away — more in Downloads and watermark.
Below the switch, set what the client is choosing for: editing (proofs from the shoot), prints (a finished gallery where the client marks photos to print) or an album. With one purpose the client uses the heart. Each purpose has its own icon: star = editing, heart = prints, album icon = album. You can turn on one purpose (e.g. prints only), several at once (then each photo gets separate icons and one photo can go to, say, both the album and prints) or none — the client then simply hearts their picks. Changing purposes mid-selection doesn’t break anything: purposes no longer in the gallery are ignored. In Client selections you’ll see counts per purpose and can copy the Lightroom list separately for the album and for prints; the CSV has a purpose column.
A selection is private: the client signs it with their email, and the picks are visible only in the browser where they were made. Guests with the same gallery password won’t see what the couple chose — and can’t get into their selection even by typing their email (a verification link would go to that inbox instead).
Package limit: soft or hard
In the How many photos the package includes field (Ile zdjęć obejmuje pakiet), enter the number from your contract. An empty field means no limit.
- Soft limit (default). The client sees “23 of 20 selected” and can keep going. You see “+3 over package” and add the extra to your quote. This is often the moment the client decides to buy more on their own.
- Hard limit. Not a single photo can be selected beyond the package. For contracts with a fixed number of frames, e.g. an album of exactly 20 photos.
With a soft limit, once the package is exceeded, the client sees a message about extra charges. The default text says each additional frame will be billed as an extra and that you’ll confirm the price before editing. You can replace it with your own text or turn it off if you don’t charge for extra frames.
What the video shows, step by step
- Packages live in the gallery: Settings → Packages.
- Name, price, number of photos and the price of each extra one.
- Enter the deposit under “Client has already paid” and save.
- The client opens the gallery, chooses a package and gives their email.
- They pick photos. Mini covers 5 — the sixth one is an extra.
- The running settlement at the bottom: total, paid, balance due.
- When sending the selection, the client confirms the balance due.
- On your side, under “Client selections”: package, extra photos and the balance due.
What your client does
- 1. Opens the gallery and clicks the icon on the first photo: a star (editing), a heart (prints) or an album icon (album) — whichever you turned on.
- 2. Enters their email address (and, optionally, their name). That way you know whose selection it is, and the client can finish on another device.
- 3. Marks more frames. They can add a note to each one, e.g. “no retouching”, “black and white”, “for the album”.
- 4. The Selected only button shows just the selection — handy for a final check.
- 5. Clicks Send selection and confirms. You get an email.
The selection saves as they go — the client can stop and come back a week later. If they open the gallery on another device and enter the same address, we’ll email them a link that brings over their saved picks.
Several people can select from one gallery, each under their own address. You see them separately in the Client selections (Wybory klientów) tab.
When the client wants to change something
Once sent, the selection is locked. The client sees a message that it’s with you now, and a request to get in touch if anything changes. To unlock it, click Allow changes (Pozwól zmienić wybór) next to that selection. Picks and notes stay — the client only adjusts what they want to.
The Lightroom list
Every sent selection has a Copy for Lightroom (Kopiuj do Lightrooma) button. It copies the file names without extensions, separated by commas:
DSC_0412, DSC_0415, DSC_0433, DSC_0501
No extensions, because your Lightroom catalogue usually holds the RAWs. DSC_0412.jpg wouldn’t find DSC_0412.NEF, but plain DSC_0412 finds both.
- 1. In Lightroom Classic, open the Library module and the folder with the shoot.
- 2. Show the Library Filter bar (the
\key) and choose Text. - 3. Set it to Filename and Contains.
- 4. Paste the list. Lightroom shows only the selected frames — select them all and give them a flag or colour label, so you don’t lose the selection once the filter is off.
LibraryText filterFilenameContainspaste
Two traps. “Contains” matches fragments, so IMG_12 also finds IMG_120 and IMG_1234 — with short numbers, check the result before exporting. And if your file names contain spaces (e.g. “Anna and Peter 012”), Lightroom treats each word separately and shows too much. Names straight from the camera, or numbering without spaces, work most reliably.
CSV with notes, and thumbnails
Download CSV with notes (Pobierz CSV z uwagami) saves a file listing the selected photos with the client’s comments — it opens in Excel or Numbers. Show thumbnails (Pokaż miniatury) expands a preview of the selected frames along with the notes. The file name tells you where to look, and the thumbnail shows you which frame it is at a glance.