The new Arcadina: a practical guide for photographers who want to manage their business better

If you’ve known Arcadina for a while, you might still remember us mainly as a solution for creating websites for photographers. And although the online portfolio remains an important part of our service, the new Arcadina is much more than that. Today, our solutions for photographers bring together a range of tools designed to help you manage, sell, deliver work and save time in your day-to-day operations. That’s why we’ve put together this guide: to show you, step by step, everything you can currently do with Arcadina and how to start making the most of each tool according to the needs of your photography business.

Throughout this article, you’ll discover how to create a professional website, organise your client galleries to deliver photos privately, sell images from public galleries, set up a booking calendar so your clients can book sessions online, send digital contracts, manage invoices, prepare quotes, and use AI to make it easier to search for and sell photographs. The aim is not just to familiarise you with the first steps in Arcadina, but to give you a more comprehensive overview of how the platform has evolved in recent years. Because if your goal is to work in a more organised way, offer a more professional experience to your clients and open up new sales channels, the new Arcadina can become a key asset in growing your photography business.

 

Setting up and managing your digital photography business is much easier when you know everything the new Arcadina can do for you.

The new Arcadina: tools to manage and grow your photography business

 

 

To start working with the new Arcadina, the first step is to get to know all the business solutions for photographers available to you. If you discovered us years ago as a platform for creating photography websites, it’s normal that you still mainly associate us with that aspect. But Arcadina has evolved significantly and today is much more than just websites for photographers.

Currently, with our business solutions for photographers, you can create a more comprehensive, connected and professional workflow. From a single platform, you can build your online presence, deliver your work, sell photographs, organise bookings, manage documents and offer your clients a much more convenient experience.

Among Arcadina’s main services, you’ll find:

• Private client galleries, where clients can view, select, download and purchase their photographs or videos securely.
• Public galleries, designed as an online shop to sell digital photos, prints and other products from anywhere.
• A booking calendar for photographers, so your clients can book sessions, choose a date and make payments directly online.
• Online contracts for photographers, which you can create, send and manage from the dashboard, including digital signatures.
• Invoicing and quotes, to help you organise the administrative side of your business more easily.
• Professional website, with customisable designs, an integrated blog and everything you need to showcase your work with a polished image.

What’s more, the new Arcadina incorporates other tools to complete your workflow, such as AI for photographers in galleries, integration with WhatsApp Business, connection to Lightroom, Google reviews, domains, email, SSL security, multilingual options, 24/7 technical support and much more.

In short, at Arcadina we have evolved from being a web solution to becoming a platform designed to help you manage, sell and grow your photography business.

Arcadina technical support: personalised help to take your photography business forward

Once you have an overview of everything you can do with the new Arcadina, the next step is to start setting up each aspect of your photography business to suit your way of working. Not all photographers need to activate the same tools from day one, which is why it’s important to proceed methodically and make use of the resources available to you.

To help you with this process, in addition to this guide on getting started with Arcadina, we provide a comprehensive help section with practical articles, step-by-step explanations and answers to the most common questions. There you can find out how to get started with your website, create client galleries, set up your public galleries, activate the booking calendar, prepare online contracts for photographers, or resolve issues related to payments, design, domains, emails and integrations.

>> Arcadina Help. Where do I start?

And if at any point you need more personalised help, you can contact our technical support team. We’re available 365 days a year to answer your questions and help you move forward with confidence. If you’re already a customer, you can also write to us directly from your Management Panel and ask our team any questions, even at weekends and on public holidays.

Get to know the Arcadina Management Panel before launching your digital business

 

One of the most important first steps with Arcadina is to familiarise yourself with the Management Panel. This will be the hub from which you can organise the different areas of your photography business and activate the tools you need at any given time. From the dashboard, you can create and update your website, manage your client galleries, set up public galleries to sell photographs, activate your booking calendar, prepare online contracts, review sales, organise payments and work on your blog content. Everything is designed so that you can take control of your digital business without needing technical expertise.

In the side menu, you’ll find the main sections of the new Arcadina, such as:

• Client galleries.
• Booking or online reservations.
• Contracts.
• Sales.
• Website.
• Blog.
• General.
• Settings.
• Design.
• Account.

Each section serves a specific purpose within your workflow. For example, from Client Galleries you can organise the private delivery of photos; from Booking, manage session bookings and payments; from Contracts, send documents for digital signature; and from Sales, view the commercial activity generated through your public galleries, bookings or online orders.

You’ll also have more general sections to customise the design, configure your account details, adjust forms, manage languages, review domain options, emails and other important elements.

In the following sections, we’ll take a closer look at the main business solutions for photographers that you can manage via Arcadina, so you can better understand how each one works and how they can help you work in a more organised, professional and profitable way.

Client galleries to deliver and sell your photos privately

From the Shop and Client Area section, you can manage one of the most important parts of the new Arcadina: client galleries. This space is designed so that you can deliver your work privately, professionally and conveniently, offering each client an experience tailored to their photo shoot. Through the private galleries, you can create personalised access so your clients can view their photographs, select their favourite images, download files, make additional purchases or share the content with family and guests, depending on the settings you have defined.

You can also manage orders, track deliveries, organise pricing, create products, enable digital downloads, offer prints and tailor sales options to each type of session. In this way, photo delivery no longer relies on manual sending or scattered conversations but becomes part of a more organised and automated workflow.

Boost your sales by delivering images to clients. In addition to private galleries, you can also manage your public galleries from this same platform, which function as an online shop for selling photographs to any user. They are particularly useful for sporting, social, school or artistic events, or any project where you wish to openly sell images.

In public galleries, you can create and organise collections, set up payment and delivery methods, sell digital or printed photographs, define sizes and finishes, apply discounts, launch promotions and manage all orders generated from your online shop.

Thus, client galleries and public galleries become two complementary tools to deliver better, sell more and professionalise your relationship with your clients.

>> How can I sell my photos online and keep 100% of the profits?

Booking: online booking calendar to organise your photo sessions

The Booking section is one of the most useful tools in the new Arcadina for organising your schedule and selling sessions more easily. From this section, you can set up campaigns, photo shoots and photography services so that your clients can book directly from your website, without having to exchange several messages to agree on the date, time and terms.

With the booking calendar for photographers, you can publish sessions for sale on your website, define the duration of each photo shoot, set prices, specify the deposit or payment required to confirm the booking, and display all the information the client needs before booking. You’ll also be able to organise your schedule by day, week or specific time slots, limit the number of available slots, block dates when you’re unavailable, and avoid clashes in your diary. This way, every booking will be recorded in an organised manner and you can check at any time which sessions you have scheduled.

What’s more, Booking will help you automate part of your communication with clients, manage payments securely and receive notifications when a new booking is made. This is particularly useful for high-demand campaigns, such as Christmas, communions, family sessions, newborn, maternity, boudoir, personal branding or any other type of photo shoot you wish to offer online.

In short, Booking turns your website into an active booking channel, helps you save time on day-to-day management, and offers your clients a convenient and professional way to book their photo sessions.

Online contracts for photographers: digital signature and management from your dashboard

The contracts section is a good example of how the new Arcadina is evolving towards more comprehensive management of the photography business. As well as helping you showcase your work, deliver galleries or sell sessions, we also want you to be able to better organise the administrative and documentation side of each client.

From this section of the Management Dashboard, you can easily create online contracts for photographers using ready-made templates that you can then adapt to your own services, terms, rates and working methods. Once your contract is ready, simply send it to your client via the dashboard.

The client will receive an email with all the information and will be able to review the document and sign it digitally, without having to travel, print anything or exchange files via different channels. The whole process is more organised and centralised within Arcadina. Furthermore, contracts can be integrated with Booking so that, when a client books a session via your booking calendar, the relevant contract can be generated automatically. This will help you save time, avoid oversights and ensure that the terms and conditions are agreed for every shoot before the work begins.

This feature is particularly useful for wedding, communion, newborn, maternity, family photography, events, corporate shoots or any service where you need to set out dates, payments, delivery times, usage rights and general terms and conditions in writing. With online contracts, Arcadina helps you protect your work and offer a more professional experience from the very first point of contact with the client.

>> Arcadina’s contracts and bookings are now connected!

Sales: manage your photography business’s revenue and orders

As Arcadina allows you to generate revenue from various sources, the Sales section is a key feature of the Management Dashboard. From here, you can view and organise all the commercial activity of your photography business, whether it comes from client galleries, public galleries, the booking calendar or other services linked to the financial management of your business.

This section is designed to give you a clearer overview of what is happening in your business: orders placed, confirmed bookings, payments received, active customers, discounts applied and transactions relating to your products or services.

From Sales, you can access information such as:

• A summary of your latest sales, so you can quickly see how your business is performing.
• Statistics by period, very useful for identifying peak seasons, the most successful campaigns or the most profitable services.
• A list of customers, with their details and associated commercial activity.
• Management of discounts and promotions, which you can apply to specific campaigns or special dates.
• Configuration of online and offline payment methods, to suit your studio’s way of working.
• Settings relating to taxes, currencies, invoicing and other important aspects of sales.

Furthermore, with the addition of the new quotation service, Arcadina takes another step forward in the management of your photography business. You can now prepare commercial proposals in a more organised manner, present your services clearly and move towards more comprehensive management from a single platform.

In short, Sales helps you centralise the commercial side of your business, better control your income and make more informed decisions, regardless of which Arcadina tool was used to initiate each operation.

Website for photographers: showcase your work and attract new clients

From the Website section of the Management Panel, you can create and update all the content on your photography website. This is where you’ll showcase your work, explain your services, strengthen your personal brand and make it easy for interested clients to get in touch with you.

Although the new Arcadina has incorporated many business solutions for photographers, the website remains an essential component: it is your professional showcase, the place where your visitors discover who you are, what kind of photography you do and why they should trust you.

From this section, you can manage elements such as:

• Image and video galleries to showcase your portfolio, work by specialism, recent reports or featured sessions.
• Informative pages with customised text about your background, your working style, your studio or your professional offering.
• Hidden or landing pages, useful for specific campaigns, promotions, seasonal sessions, lead generation forms or exclusive content.
• Services sections, where you can explain your photo shoots, packages, coverage, delivery and key terms and conditions.
• Clear and well-structured price lists, designed to better guide your potential clients.
• Awards, accolades, publications or collaborations that reinforce your authority as a photographer.
• Client testimonials and Google reviews integrated into your website, to build greater trust.
• Customised contact forms, tailored to the different services you offer.

You can also customise designs, colours, fonts, menus, homepages and other visual elements so that your website reflects your photographic style. All content is editable and designed to help you build a professional, online presence without technical knowledge, yet with the flexibility to adapt your site as your business grows.

Blog for photographers: boost your visibility and connect with your clients

From the Blog section, you can create and publish content to help improve the visibility of your photography website, attract organic traffic and connect better with your potential clients. It’s a very useful tool for explaining your services, answering common questions, showcasing recent shoots, sharing tips and strengthening your position as a professional photographer.

What’s more, the Arcadina blog is integrated into your own website, so it maintains the same visual style as your brand. You can customise its design, organise articles by category, add images, link to your services and create content designed to improve your SEO naturally.

Within the Management Panel, you’ll also find other important sections for customising and managing your digital business:

• General, Settings and Account, where you can configure basic details, contact forms or reviews, account options and other administrative aspects.
• Design, where you can choose and adapt the designs for your website, blog, client galleries, public galleries and menu, as well as define colours, fonts, cover images and watermarks.
• Menu, where you can decide which sections to display, the order in which they appear, and how you want to structure your website’s navigation.

These sections complete the new Arcadina experience and allow you to fine-tune every detail so that your website, galleries, online bookings and other business solutions for photographers work seamlessly, professionally and in a way that suits your working style.

Launch your photography business with the new Arcadina in just a few steps

 

When launching your photography business with the new Arcadina, you’ll be able to configure various sections that will help you work more efficiently and offer a more professional experience to your clients. On the one hand, you’ll have tools designed to showcase your work, explain your services, present your rates and make it easy for visitors to contact you. On the other hand, you’ll have solutions designed to generate revenue, automate tasks and better manage every stage of your relationship with your clients: from the first booking to the final delivery of the photographs.

Thanks to private galleries, public galleries, the booking calendar, online contracts, invoicing, quotes and AI for photographers, Arcadina allows you to build a more comprehensive digital business tailored to your way of working.

Among the features you can activate, you’ll find:

• Professional delivery of work via customised private galleries.
• Direct sale of digital or printed photographs from public galleries.
• Configuration of products, rates, promotions and discount codes.
• Management of bookings, deposits and online payments via Booking.
• Creation of personalised quotes via the dashboard.
• Creation and sending of contracts for digital signature via the dashboard.
• Issuing invoices and preparing quotes for your clients.
• Use of AI to facilitate image searches in public and private galleries.
• Create pages to showcase services, pricing, portfolios and contact forms.

All of this is managed from an intuitive interface designed specifically for photographers, with no technical knowledge required. The idea is that you can start small, activate the tools you need most first, and continue to expand your digital business as your goals grow.

1# Private galleries: deliver your photo reports with a more convenient and professional experience

We’re kicking off our introduction to Arcadina with one of the platform’s most important features: private galleries. This service, also known as the private client area, allows you to deliver your photo shoots in a more convenient, organised and professional manner. Today, clients expect to be able to view their photographs on any device, select their favourites without having to travel, download files easily and make additional purchases whenever they need to. Private galleries for photographers are designed precisely to meet this way of consuming and managing images.

With this tool, your clients will be able to:

• View the photos or videos from their photo shoots on their mobile, tablet or computer.
• Select their favourite images for albums, prints, keepsakes or other products.
• Download their files conveniently from home.
• Purchase additional photographs, enlargements or even the entire gallery in digital format.
• Share download links with family, friends or event guests, subject to the permissions you have set.

What’s more, you’ll be able to organise each delivery more efficiently, reduce repetitive messages, manage orders better and open up new sales opportunities after every session. For weddings, communions, newborn shoots, family photography, school sessions, events or corporate photo shoots, private galleries help improve the customer experience and professionalise the entire delivery process.

In short, your private client area is designed to ensure that image delivery is no longer a manual task but becomes a smoother, more profitable and carefully managed part of your photography business.

>> Getting started. Client area

2# Public galleries: sell your photographs online automatically and around the clock

Incorporating public galleries into your photography business strategy will allow you to sell photographs online in a simpler and more automated way. Unlike private galleries, designed for personalised delivery to specific clients, public galleries function as an open online shop, where any user can access, search for images and make a purchase directly from your website.

This service is particularly useful for photographers covering sporting, social, school, corporate events, local festivals, conferences or any assignment with a large number of participants. After the event, you simply need to publish the images in a public gallery so that attendees can log in, find their photos, choose the product they want and make payment without needing to contact you.

From these galleries, you can sell digital photographs, prints, enlargements or other products, set prices, payment methods, delivery charges, promotions and discount codes. Everything is organised within Arcadina so you can track orders and manage your sales more conveniently. Furthermore, in the new Arcadina, you can activate AI for photographers in both public and private galleries. Thanks to this feature, your customers will be able to find their images much more quickly by searching via selfie or text, for example using a race number.

If you also specialise in artistic, decorative, nature, travel or urban landscape photography, public galleries can also help you showcase and sell your work to new audiences. In this way, your website ceases to be merely a showcase and becomes an active online sales channel.

>> Getting started with Public Galleries

3# Activate the booking calendar and automate the management of your photo sessions

Another of the first steps with Arcadina that is worth setting up from the start is the booking calendar. This service can become a key part of your digital business, especially if you offer sessions with limited dates, times and places. Thanks to the booking calendar for photographers, your clients will be able to choose the date and time for their sessions directly from your website, view the details of the shoot and make the payment or deposit online to confirm the booking. The whole process will be more convenient, faster and more professional, without the need for phone calls, constant messages or in-person visits to the studio to secure an appointment.

From the Management Panel, you can create different types of sessions, define their duration, set prices, configure available timeslots, block specific dates and monitor confirmed bookings at all times. This will help you avoid clashes, organise your schedule more effectively and have a clear overview of your upcoming work.

What’s more, Booking allows you to manage payments, send reminders and maintain more organised communication with your clients directly within the Arcadina platform. It’s a particularly useful tool for Christmas campaigns, communions, newborn, maternity, family sessions, boudoir, personal branding or any photography service you wish to offer online.

By automating the booking and sale of your sessions, you’ll save time, reduce repetitive tasks and offer your clients a much simpler experience from the very first contact.

>> Getting started with Booking

4# Manage contracts, invoices and quotes from the very first agreement with your client

Online contract management is another service offered by the new Arcadina that can help you work with greater security and organisation. Every photo shoot involves terms and conditions, dates, payments, delivery, usage rights, responsibilities and commercial documentation that should be made clear from the outset. From the Management Dashboard, you can use contract templates and customise them according to the type of session or service you offer. You can adapt text, client details, amounts, dates and any other important details before sending it.

Once ready, the client will receive the contract by email and can review and sign it digitally, without printing documents or forwarding files via other channels. The entire process is centralised within Arcadina, alongside all other information relating to each client.

What’s more, online contracts can be linked to Booking. When someone books a session via your booking calendar, you can set it up so that the relevant contract is generated automatically, ensuring that every booking is accompanied by the agreed terms and conditions from the outset.

The new Arcadina also incorporates tools to manage the financial side of the business, such as invoicing and quotes. This allows you to prepare commercial proposals, better organise agreed amounts, issue invoices and move towards a more comprehensive management of each service contracted.

With online contracts for photographers, alongside invoice and quote management, Arcadina helps you protect your photo shoots, reduce administrative tasks and offer a more professional experience from the start of every project.

5# Websites for photographers: showcase your work and attract new clients

Your photography website remains an essential part of the new Arcadina. It is your professional showcase, the place where potential clients discover your work, get to know your style and find the information they need to contact you. Unlike a physical studio, your website will be available 24 hours a day, every day of the year, showcasing your portfolios and generating new business opportunities even when you’re not working.

With Arcadina, you can create a stylish, personalised and easy-to-manage website, with no technical knowledge required. The content editor allows you to update images, text, pages, galleries, forms and services whenever you need to, adapting your website to the growth of your photography business.

One of the first steps will be to choose a design that fits your brand, organise your best photographs into galleries, put together a professional portfolio, and clearly explain the services you offer. You’ll also be able to create specific pages for weddings, communions, newborn photography, family photography, corporate photography, events or any other speciality you work in, including pricing, terms and conditions, examples of photo shoots and calls to action. The contact page will also play an important role. You can customise it with your details, location, opening hours, links and forms tailored to each service, so that interested clients can contact you quickly and provide the information you really need.

In this way, your photography website will not just be a business card, but the starting point for attracting clients, strengthening your brand and connecting with the other business solutions for photographers offered by Arcadina.

>> First steps. Website

6# Professional photography blog: gain visibility and connect better with your clients

To round off these first steps with Arcadina, it’s worth dedicating a section to a photography blog – a very useful tool for improving your online visibility and attracting qualified visitors to your website. Publishing well-structured articles will allow you to better explain your services, answer your clients’ frequently asked questions, showcase recent shoots and work on the SEO positioning of your photography business.

In the new Arcadina, the blog is fully integrated with your website’s design, so it maintains the same visual identity as the rest of your brand. This helps to offer a more consistent and professional experience to those visiting your site. What’s more, you can enhance each article with full-screen photographs, image galleries and links to your services, pricing, contact forms or public galleries. This way, each piece of content can help you not only to inform, but also to generate new opportunities for contact or sales.

If you specialise in different areas, such as weddings, communions, newborns, family, corporate, events or product photography, you can also organise your posts by category. This way, your visitors will find the content they’re interested in more easily, and search engines will better understand your website’s structure.

In short, a professional photography blog can become a great ally in strengthening your authority, keeping your website active and connecting better with clients who are looking for exactly the kind of photography you offer.

Enhance your photography business with the integrations of the new Arcadina

 

 

In this guide for photographers, we not only want to show you the main tools of the new Arcadina, but also the integrations that can help you complete your digital business and work in a more connected way. These integrations are designed to optimise your workflow, improve communication with your clients, measure your results more effectively, and offer a more professional experience via your website, your galleries or your online bookings.

Among Arcadina’s most notable integrations, you’ll find AI for photographers, which makes it easier to search for images in galleries using a selfie or text; WhatsApp Business, so your clients can contact you more directly; Lightroom, to streamline image management; Instagram, to display your social media content on the web; Google Analytics, to analyse visitor behaviour; and Google Reviews, ideal for building trust with new clients.

You’ll also be able to work with YouTube and Vimeo videos, connect your social media accounts, use your own domain and email, activate an SSL certificate, and take advantage of other features designed to make your online presence more comprehensive and secure.

Thanks to these integrations, your photography website will be more than just a showcase; it will be a platform better equipped to manage bookings, sales, deliveries, communication and online visibility all from a single interface.

Arcadina integrations to automate, connect and improve your workflow

In the new Arcadina, you’ll find integrations designed to better connect your website, your galleries and your daily workflow as a photographer. Here are some of the standout features you can activate to save time, improve your clients’ experience and boost your online sales.

• Artificial Intelligence: in public and private galleries, you can activate AI so your clients can find their images much more quickly. They can search by text, for example by entering a reference number, or via facial recognition using a selfie taken on the spot or an image uploaded from their device.
• WhatsApp Business: this integration allows visitors to contact you directly via an icon visible on your website. It’s a quick and personal way to answer queries, receive enquiries and maintain smoother communication with your clients.
• Lightroom integration: if you regularly work with Lightroom, you can export images directly to your galleries, blog, online shop or private client area. You can also import selections made by your clients, greatly streamlining the management of each session.
• Instagram galleries: you can display a gallery on your website featuring the photos you post on Instagram, maintaining a visual link between your professional portfolio and your social media.
• Google Reviews: this integration will help you display genuine reviews from your clients on your website and build trust with those who don’t yet know you.
• Google Analytics: this will allow you to analyse visits, see where your traffic comes from and better understand how users behave on your website.

In addition, Arcadina also features social media integration, an SSL certificate, YouTube and Vimeo videos in galleries, and other options designed to make your online photography business more comprehensive, secure and professional.

Discover the Arcadina Suites to work with all our services

 

If, after discovering everything you can do with the new Arcadina, you want to take it a step further, you can also explore our Arcadina Suites, a more comprehensive way to use all the platform’s services from a single environment.

The Suites are designed for photographers who not only want to create a professional website, but also manage client galleries, sell photographs online, organise bookings, send contracts, prepare quotes, issue invoices and make use of tools such as AI for photographers in their day-to-day work.

Instead of working with separate solutions, the Suites allow you to bring together in a single space the main tools your photography business needs: website, private galleries, public galleries, booking calendar, online shop, contracts, invoicing, quotes and integrations.

You can choose between Suite Pro, Suite Plus and Suite Ultimate, depending on the workload, storage and resources you need at any given time. This means every photographer can find an option tailored to their way of working, whether they’re just starting to organise their business better or already managing lots of sessions, clients and online sales.

>> Arcadina Suites: all the services your photography business needs

Take the step towards the new Arcadina and grow your photography business

As you can see, getting started with Arcadina is easier than it seems once you have a clear picture of everything you can do on the platform. This guide for photographers can serve as a starting point to familiarise yourself with the main tools, understand how they work together, and decide where to begin based on your business’s actual needs.

Professional photography has changed significantly in recent years. These days, it’s not enough just to show off great images: it’s also important to deliver work conveniently, sell online, organise bookings, manage contracts, prepare quotes, keep track of invoices and offer every client a smooth, professional experience. The new Arcadina has been created precisely to help you with this entire process.

What’s more, you don’t have to activate all the services from day one. You can take it step by step and choose the business solution that best suits you at any given time. Perhaps right now you just need a website to showcase your work, or maybe you already have a website with another provider and what you’re looking for is to manage your private galleries, sell photos from public galleries or automate your online bookings.

Whatever your starting point, Arcadina can adapt to the way you work and support you as your photography business evolves. The important thing is that you can better organise your day-to-day work, save time on repetitive tasks and offer your clients a more comprehensive experience from the first point of contact right through to the final delivery.

And to wrap up this guide for photographers, we’d love to know where you’re at. Which feature of the new Arcadina would you like to start using or set up more effectively for your photography business? We look forward to reading your comments.

Arcadina goes with you

Fulfil your dreams and develop your career with us. We offer you to try our web service free for 14 days. And with no commitment of permanence.

Arcadina is much more than a website, it is business solutions for photographers.

If you have any queries, our Customer Service Team is always ready to help you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We listen to you.