Photography client portal
One branded link where clients approve the estimate, confirm the shoot time, follow progress, message you, pay, and download their photos and video. You work from the studio side of the same project, so both of you always see the same thing.
Your studio
Your client's portal
The client side
Projects, progress, proposals, payments, and media in one branded place. Real ShootPortal screens.
What it is
Many photography portals are a gallery with a password. That covers the last step. A full client portal covers everything before it too.
In ShootPortal, every job is one project record. You see the studio side: stage, notes, uploads, payments. Your client sees the same project through the portal, in plain language, with the actions that are theirs to take.
Nothing is copied between systems. When you upload the final edit, it's in their portal. When they approve the estimate, the project moves forward on your board. That shared record is what makes it a portal rather than another inbox.
Setting one up yourself from separate tools is possible, and our guide on how to create a photography client portal walks through the options.
Send a request from your form, or open the project you created for them.
Read the estimate, approve it or ask for changes, download the PDF.
Accept the shoot time you proposed, or suggest another.
Approve each deliverable or send written feedback.
Deposit and balance by card through Stripe Checkout.
Single files or one ZIP, whenever they need them again.
The usual way
Most photographers piece the client experience together from tools the client already has. Each one works on its own. Together they leave the client doing the organizing.
The estimate is in one thread, the shoot time in another, and the revision notes are buried under a reply-all.
A cloud folder for photos, a different link for the video, and a third when the client asks for smaller files.
Payment arrives through a separate app that has no idea whether the files went out.
Clients can't see where their project stands, so they ask. You stop editing to answer.
Gallery site, invoicing site, scheduling link. Clients forget which one holds what.
Every handoff happens on someone else's branded screen, not yours.
Why centralize it
When everything about a job lives on one project, the experience feels calmer for the client and lighter for you.
Estimate, shoot time, files, and receipts sit in one place, months later too.
Clients see the current stage, and email notifications tell them when something needs their attention.
The payment request lives next to the work it pays for, with card checkout one click away.
Every step happens on a portal with your logo and colors, at your address.
Branded access
Clients sign in to a portal that looks like your studio. Set it up once in the guided setup and every project inherits it.
Buttons, highlights, and headers pick up your color. Your logo sits at the top of every page.
Choose the portal theme that suits your work. A dark theme flatters moody wedding or film work; light suits listings.
Every studio gets yourname.shootportal.app. Connect your own domain, such as portal.yourstudio.com, with DNS verification.
Client notifications can be sent from your own domain.
Project info & stage updates
Your board uses working labels. The portal translates each one into a client-friendly stage, so a client always knows what's happening and what's next.
You see
Your client sees
Some stage changes happen automatically. For example, you can have a project move to Delivered as soon as the final payment clears.
Talk and get paid
Clients message you from the project, and you reply from the studio. The conversation stays with the job, so a question about the second location is never separated from the estimate it refers to. Email notifications, from ten editable templates, let clients know when there's something to approve, confirm, review, or pay.
Request payment from the project and clients pay by card through Stripe Checkout, straight into your own Stripe account. Take a deposit when the estimate is approved (a percentage or a fixed amount), then the balance later, or ask for the full amount. Clients get email receipts, and you can mark cash or check payments as paid.
1. Estimate approved
Scope, price, and terms agreed before you drive anywhere.
2. Deposit paid
A percentage or flat amount secures the date.
3. Media uploaded
Client can preview and review; downloads stay locked.
4. Balance paid
Card payment online, straight to your Stripe account.
5. Downloads unlock
Full-resolution and MLS files become available.
Galleries & deliverables
Photos, video, tours, and documents arrive in the same portal the client has used since the estimate.
Delivery
Upload photos into folders, video files, YouTube embeds, Kuula 360 tours, 3D models from Matterport, Polycam, Sketchfab and others, plus documents. Clients approve each item or send written feedback, then download Print (original full-resolution) or MLS (2048px) versions, one at a time or as a ZIP. If you want, downloads unlock once the final payment clears while previews stay viewable.
Video review
For video work, clients leave time-stamped comments that can be pinned to a spot on the frame. You reply in threads, resolve notes as you fix them, and upload numbered versions, so "the bit near the end" becomes "0:38, left side of frame."
What your client sees
A 22-second look at the client side: the branded landing page, their projects, progress at every step, media, and downloads.
Real ShootPortal screens from a live account. Client details are blurred. No sound.
Before and after
Here is the same commercial headshot job, run through scattered tools and then through a client portal.
Without a portal
With a ShootPortal client portal
Try it with one real client and see which week you prefer.
Set up your client portalWho benefits
For photographers & videographers
Your side of the portal is the studio: a pipeline of every project with the client record attached.
For your clients
Clients don't need to learn your tools. They follow the steps that are theirs to take.
How clients get in
Here is exactly how access works, for your client and for the people they share files with.
Each client has their own account on your portal. New clients can create one when they send a request from your public form.
Need a business partner, agent's assistant, or marketing team to see the files? Send an "anyone with the link" page or an email invite, one-time or reusable, with an expiry date. They view without an account.
You decide which media sections a client sees and whether downloads wait for payment.
Fit check
ShootPortal is built around the job: quote, shoot, review, pay, deliver. Some studios need things it doesn't do.
ShootPortal's client portal
Handles
Use a specialist tool for
Weighing gallery-first tools against full business portals? Our comparison of the best photography client portals covers both. Shooting listings? See how the portal fits the full real estate photography software workflow, and our guide on how to deliver real estate photos.
Built by a working drone photographer
ShootPortal was built by Jackson Bridges. Founder & Developer of ShootPortal · Owner of Swift Aerial Media · FAA Part 107 Certified Drone Pilot. It was made to run real jobs: requests, quotes, reschedules, revisions, payments, and deliveries.
Pricing
Simple pricing
$29/month
Or $24/month billed annually. One flat Studio plan with the full feature set: no per-listing or per-delivery fees. Card payments from your clients go through your own Stripe account at Stripe's standard rates.
FAQ
It's a private, branded place where a client follows their project with you. In ShootPortal that covers the whole job: approving the estimate, confirming the shoot time, messaging, reviewing and approving media, paying, and downloading files.
No. It works for any photographer or videographer who quotes, schedules, and delivers jobs: commercial, brand, headshot, events, drone, or real estate. The Print and MLS download sizes and 3D tour embeds are there when listing work needs them.
Yes. Add your logo and brand color, pick a light or dark theme, and use your yourname.shootportal.app address or connect a custom domain like portal.yourstudio.com. It's a branded portal rather than a full white-label product.
The client on the job signs in to their portal. Anyone else, such as a colleague or business partner, can view files through a share link without an account.
Yes. You request payment from the project and the client pays by card through Stripe Checkout, into your own Stripe account. Stripe's standard processing fees apply. Deposits on approval are optional.
Clients send a preferred date with their request, then you propose a time. They accept, decline, or suggest another time in the portal. They don't pick from open slots on their own.
Start a 14-day free trial with no credit card. Sign up with Google or a five-field form, and the guided setup walks you through branding, services, and connecting Stripe. You can skip steps and come back later.
Keep reading
Your client portal is the part of your business clients actually touch. We compare what clients can do inside HoneyBook, Dubsado, Moxie, SuiteDash, Aryeo, ShootPortal, and more.
What clients actually expect from a portal, how to plan and brand one, the honest pros and cons of a DIY setup, and a step-by-step walkthrough for building it with dedicated software.
A practical, step-by-step process for handing listing photos, video, and tours to agents: how to organize files by property, which delivery method to use, and how to tie delivery to payment.
Set up your branded portal, send your next estimate through it, and let the client take it from approval to download.
14 days free. No credit card required.
