Solo photographer workflow

You shoot, you process, you deliver. No editor on the back end. This workflow is the default for freelancers, event photographers, and most wedding photographers.

Scenario¶

One photographer with one or more cameras. Files need to land in a personal backup, sometimes a client folder, sometimes an agency or newsdesk. The setup needs to handle that without becoming complicated when you switch from one location to the next or one type of job to another.

Recommended setup¶

• One camera FTP profile pointed at ZenTransfer — never changed
• Same setup across all cameras safely use ZenTransfer with a multi-camera configuration
• Several destinations configured in your dashboard, only one or two enabled per job
• Per-job metadata templates — easily change the metadata for this job, keep your copyright and credit always on
• Phone hotspot or dedicated 5G for connectivity in the field

Before the job¶

1. Open the dashboard on your phone
2. Disable destinations from previous jobs
3. Enable only the destinations for today
4. Set the active metadata template for this assignment
5. Confirm the camera connects (one test frame)

It takes about a minute to check everything works before the job starts.

Field shooting with personal backup¶

The simplest configuration: enable one personal cloud destination (Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive) and shoot. Every frame is delivered to your cloud drive of choise. Even if the job doesn't need real-time delivery, you finish the day with an off-site copy already in place and you can access everything on your mobile phone from wherever you are.

Working with Lightroom¶

Enable Adobe Lightroom as a destination and shoot. Files appear in your Lightroom catalog seconds after you transmit from the cameras. Use Lightroom on your phone, iPad, or laptop to edit and post the images.

Cull-then-deliver¶

When you don't want every frame fanning out to a destination — only your picks:

1. Set the destination toggles so auto-transfer is off for the destinations you'll deliver to manually
2. Files you send from your camera appears in the ZenTransfer Browser
3. Rate, flag, and color the images (or simply delete the rejects)
4. Filter to see only your selected shots
5. In the Transfer panel, choose destinations and send

Switching clients mid-day¶

Two assignments in one day with different destinations:

• Finish job A — verify deliveries, then disable job A destinations
• Enable job B destinations and switch the active metadata template
• Shoot job B

No camera configuration change needed — the same FTP credentials feed all jobs.

Second-shooter contributions¶

If an assistant or second shooter needs to contribute:

• Easier: create a guest upload link — they drag-drop in a browser, no account needed
• More integrated: add an additional FTP login user from your dashboard (up to 10) and give them their own credentials

Either way, the files go through your pipeline and reach your destinations.

Upload from your iPhone or Android phone¶

If you also shoot with a camera that lacks FTP support:

• Connect a card reader to your phone
• Use the ZenTransfer app for iPhone or Android to upload photos
• ZenTransfer applies metadata and fans out to all enabled destinations

Common configurations¶