Selects and the client link

A select is one culling project: you upload the shoot, choose what goes into the link, and send your client one link where they keep or skip photos on their phone. Their picks come back to the select, where you design the album from them, download them or send another round.

Creating a select

1. Click the arrow beside New album in the sidebar and choose New select (on a phone, tap New, then New select).
2. Type a Name, for example "Priya & Arjun — Wedding", and press Create select.
3. The select opens on its Upload step, where you add a function for each event and upload each camera's photos (see below).

Selects come with your studio's plan: the photos you upload count toward its limit (see Plans and storage). A new account starts with a 7-day free trial with room for 2,000 photos.

The four steps

Every select page shows four steps across the top: Upload, Culling, Client link and Design album (marked Beta). The page opens on whichever step is next, and you can go back to an earlier step at any time.

Step 1: Upload

A new select asks What did you shoot? Each event of the shoot is a function: Save the date, Engagement, Haldi, Mehendi, Sangeet, Wedding, Reception, or a name of your own with Custom name…. Functions keep the events apart in your client's link, where each function is its own section.

Every function is a card with its name as the title and its cameras under it: Camera 1, Camera 2, Camera 3… one row for each camera that shot it. A row says the camera's name, how many photos it holds and the folder they came from, with its buttons at the end. You build the same structure as on your computer: the function is the event (Wedding), each camera row is one photographer's or one camera's folder (Wedding/Arun, Wedding/Vijay).

1. Click an event, for example Haldi. It becomes a function with its own card and a Camera 1 row.
2. Press Choose folder on Camera 1 and choose the folder on your computer, external drive or NAS that holds that camera's photos — for example D:/Priya & Arjun/Haldi/Arun. Everything inside it uploads, at any depth: DCIM/100MSDCF, 101MSDCF and so on. You can also drop the folder on the row.
3. Shot with a second camera? Press Add Camera 2 under the rows and choose that camera's folder.
4. Add the next function under Add another function, and do the same for it.

• Each camera keeps its own photos in its own time order. Pixamatch never mixes two cameras' photos by their clocks, so a camera whose clock was wrong never moves photos around. Your client sees the same: the function, then Camera 1's photos, then Camera 2's.
• While something is going on, or a camera needs an answer, a word beside its name says so: Reading folder, Uploading, Waiting, Stopped, N not uploaded or Two cameras found. A camera that is simply uploaded shows its photo count and its folder.
• Click a camera's name to rename it (for example to the photographer's name). The ⋯ at the end of a row has Rename camera, Choose single photos, Remove all N photos and, for an empty camera other than Camera 1, Remove this camera.
• Chose the wrong folder? ⋯ → Remove all N photos deletes every photo of that camera from Pixamatch after you confirm (the photos on your computer are not touched). It is not offered once the function has picks or a client link; then delete photos one by one from Open photos.
• Two cameras in one folder? When a camera's photos turn out to come from two different camera bodies, the row asks: These 900 photos came from 2 cameras, with each camera model and its count. Split by camera gives each camera body a row of its own (nothing uploads again); Keep together leaves them as they are.
• In Chrome or Edge, a camera remembers its folder on this computer: Check for new photos reads it again and uploads only what is new (Chrome may ask once to allow reading the folder). Photos already uploaded are recognised by name and size without being read again, and the row ends on one line, for example "No new photos in Vijay — 113 already in." or "12 new photos uploaded · 113 already in." In other browsers, Choose folder asks for the folder each time.
• In the desktop app, Choose folder keeps watching that folder: photos already in it upload, and photos copied into it later upload by themselves, even with the window closed. Settings → Desktop lists the folders being watched.
• On a phone, each camera has Choose photos instead.
• Just one function and one camera? On a new select, drop its folder in the box under the events; everything goes into Camera 1 of one function named after the select.
• Files with the same name from two cameras (DSC_0001.JPG) both upload; a file is skipped only when the very same photo is already in the function, and the line at the end says which camera holds it.
• Only photos upload. Videos, camera files (XML, THM, LRV…) and the hidden files a Mac or a NAS leaves beside photos are left out, and the row says how many in one line, for example "Left out 12 videos and 40 other files — they are not photos."
• A big folder from a NAS or an external drive takes a moment to read: the row says Reading the folder… 4,210 files found so far until the upload starts. Stop under it gives up on that folder.
• Click a function's name to rename it. An empty function — no photos, and no picks or client link made from it — can be deleted with the bin on its card, as long as another function is left.
• Click a function's thumbnails, or Open photos in its ⋯ menu, to see its photos without leaving the select: each camera's photos under its own heading (Camera 1, Camera 2…), in the order they were taken. Click a photo to see it full screen (← → to move, Esc or Space to close). To delete one photo, use the bin on it (hover on a computer; always shown on a phone) and confirm — it cannot be undone. Photos are only added through the camera rows.
• Two functions can upload at the same time. The cameras of one function upload one after the other: a camera waits ("Starts when Camera 1 finishes") while another camera of the same function is uploading. Don't upload this camera takes a waiting camera out of the line.
• While a camera uploads, its row shows how many are done, about how long is left and a big Stop button. Stop answers straight away ("Stopping…"), works while the folder is read, while Pixamatch checks which photos are new and while photos upload, and also stops the cameras of that function waiting behind it. The row then says how far it got, for example "Stopped — 120 of 400 uploaded.", and Upload the other 280 finishes it later without choosing the folder again (until the page is reloaded; after that, Check for new photos or Choose folder does the same, skipping what is already in). The upload box in the bottom-right corner has the same Stop, on every page.
• Uploads keep going when you move to another step or page of the studio. Closing the tab or the browser stops them; Pixamatch asks before the tab closes.
• The Culling step waits until every photo is in: a link made in the middle of an upload would leave out the photos still on their way. While a camera uploads, or for a short while after while Pixamatch gets the photos ready ("Getting your photos ready"), Culling is greyed out and a select you open again shows the Upload step. It opens by itself, usually within a minute or two of the upload ending. This also holds when the photos are being uploaded from another tab or another computer.
• If some photos did not upload (they failed, or you pressed Stop), the link can still be made: Pixamatch first asks "15 photos did not upload. Cull without them?" — Go to upload to send them, or Cull anyway.
• JPEG, PNG, WebP, TIFF and RAW files (.arw, .nef, .cr3, .cr2, .dng, .orf, .raf, .srw) are accepted. HEIC/HEIF photos and Panasonic RAW (.rw2) are refused with a hint to export them as JPEG (or DNG) first.
• Photos that did not upload are shown under their camera with what happened and what to do, for example "3 photos did not upload. The internet connection dropped while sending. Press Retry." Retry N tries them again; Skip them hides the message.
• You can add more photos at any time; the cull works on the whole set. Press Next: Culling when the photos are in.

Step 2: Culling

The Culling step asks "What goes into the link?" and offers two choices:

• Keep all photos — groups them into stacks and sends them all, and your customer picks their favourites. Nothing is thrown away; every photo stays in the link, with similar frames stacked so the client decides one moment at a time.
• Remove bad photos — drops blurred, soft and duplicate frames and sends the rest. Nothing is deleted: the removed photos stay in the select, they are only left out of the link. You set "Keep the best N photos" by typing a number or with a slider from Tight to Loose. The client can still skip more. This choice is hidden if Pixamatch has turned AI culling off. See "Smart Cull (Smart Select)" for how it chooses.

One function per link. A select with two or more functions asks Which function goes into this link? under the two choices, and each link holds one function. Your client picks from fewer photos, each function's selection finishes on its own, and when you copy the originals they land in a folder named after that function (see Copy originals to folder below). The step opens on the first function nothing has been sent for yet; a function still uploading says Still uploading, and one that already has a link says Sent before. When the next function is in, come back to Culling and send it the same way. Every set of picks goes into the select's one album. Links made before this can hold several functions; they keep working, and a re-run into one keeps its functions.

Limit how many your client can pick. A select with two or more functions shows this switch under both choices. Turn it on and type the most your client may pick from the function in this link, for example Wedding 120; leave the box empty for no limit. On the client's page the function shows its count ("♥ 12 / 120"), and they cannot press Send until it is within the limit. This limit takes the place of the studio's overall pick limit for that link. The select remembers each function's limit for its next link, and a re-run into the same link can change it.

Shot with more than one camera? Each camera's photos are in their own camera row of the function (see Step 1), and each keeps its own time order — Pixamatch does not line cameras' clocks up or mix their photos, so a camera whose clock was wrong never moves photos around. Similar shots stack only within one camera.

With Keep all photos you also see Grouping similar shots, which asks "How many should your client pick from?". Above the slider is the answer, for example 412 photos to pick from, and under it how many stacks that makes, for example "1,240 photos → 96 stacks". Slide left for Fewer to pick (whole moments stack together) and right for More to pick (only near-identical photos stack). Every photo still goes into the link either way — a stack is one tile your client opens to see its photos.

The quick way: Pixamatch looks at your photos and picks a Recommended setting for this select: the loosest one where no stack holds more than 12 photos. It is already set when the step opens, so you can press Generate link (at the top of the step, or at the bottom) straight away. The line under the top button says "Uses the recommended grouping · 412 to pick from".

Fine-tuning: move the slider and the stacks regroup at once, and the count above it changes. The Fewer to pick end stops where different moments would start to merge into one stack. Once you move it, Pixamatch remembers your setting for that select ("Uses your grouping · 520 to pick from"); Back to recommended (412) returns to the recommended one. The slider stays at the top of the screen while you scroll down to look at the photos.

• Biggest stacks lists the five largest stacks with their photo counts. Click (or tap) one to see its photos full screen; the first photo (marked Cover) is the one your client sees on the stack.
• Tick Expand stacks to see the photos of those five stacks right there, one row per stack. If the photos in a row look like the same shot, the setting is right; if a row mixes different moments, slide toward More to pick. Pixamatch remembers the tick on this computer or phone.
• Under them, What your client opens shows every photo the way your client's grid will, a tile per stack. A function shot on several cameras shows each camera under its own small heading. Stacks never mix two functions or two cameras.

The link is made with exactly the grouping you see. While photos of the select are still uploading, Generate link waits ("Waiting for photos still uploading"): a link made then would leave them out.

• A looser setting can join a whole run of one stage into one big stack. That shows first in the biggest stacks.
• If some photos have not been grouped before (older uploads), the panel says so. They show as single photos in the preview and are grouped when the link is made.
• If Pixamatch has set your studio to skip photos without a face, the panel says how many are left out of the link.

New links are protected with a PIN by default (Pixamatch sets this default for your studio): your client types a 6-digit code to open it. Under Advanced options, untick Protect with a PIN to make one link without it.

Every link caps how many photos your client can keep: 250 unless Pixamatch sets another number for your studio (Send another round can set its own cap).

Every link opens in the Grid, where your client sees many photos at once. They can switch to the Loupe with the One photo at a time button at the top, and back with Grid.

Press Generate link (or Remove bad photos & review). Pixamatch runs Smart Select first to find the bursts. For Keep all photos this usually takes seconds, and photos never grouped before can take a few minutes. Remove bad photos usually takes seconds too, and a few minutes on a large set.

Step 3: Client link

After Remove bad photos this step starts as Review & send: three questions over every photo of the shoot (Did it miss a moment? Same moment twice? Does the number fit?); the link card below appears once you press Send to client.

The link card shows the link, its status ("Waiting for your client", "N of M picked so far" or "Submitted · N kept") and these buttons:

• WhatsApp — opens WhatsApp with the link (and PIN, if set) ready to send. WhatsApp asks you who to send it to. The chat shows a preview card with the link's name and your studio; a link with a PIN never shows a photo in it.
• Copy link, QR, Open, and Share on a phone.
• The link's ⋯ menu: Rename link, Watermark on / Watermark off (when your studio has a watermark), Reopen for client (on a submitted link), Re-run cull into this link, Cull again, remove bad photos or Cull again, keep all, and Delete link. Each item has a short line under it saying what it does; an item you cannot use says why.

Your watermark on downloads. When your studio has a watermark (see "Setting the watermark"), every photo your client downloads from the link carries it: the single-photo Download in full screen and the ZIP of their picks. While they pick, they see the photos clean. A new link starts with it on unless your studio admin turned that off on Team; switch it off for one link under Advanced options → Watermark downloads before you generate, or later from the link's ⋯ menu. The link card then reads "Watermarked downloads". Links made before this feature send clean downloads until you switch them on. It marks downloads only; it does not stop a screenshot.

Generate another link (top right of the step) makes a new link. Only the newest link is shown; older ones fold under Previous links (N). After Remove bad photos the step first reads Review & send: you answer three questions over every photo of the shoot, putting back what the AI missed, trimming doubles and fitting the number, then press Send to client or Finish without a client (see "Smart Select").

Culling again makes a new link; the link you already sent keeps working. Re-run cull into this link keeps the same link and PIN but replaces what the client sees. If the client has already decided some photos, Pixamatch asks first because their choices are cleared. You cannot re-run or delete a link that has been submitted; use Reopen for client instead (see below). Deleting a link stops it opening for your client; anything they picked but did not submit is lost, while your photos and submitted picks stay.

What your client sees

Your client needs no app and no account. They open the link on their phone or computer. If the link has a PIN, they type it and press Unlock; a wrong code shows "Incorrect passcode".

The page is headed with the select's name and your studio's name. The ⋯ menu at the top right changes the order (Suggested, Time taken, Time uploaded or File name).

The link opens in the grid: your client taps the ♥ on the photos they love, and the stack chip on a burst shows its similar frames. Chips under the grid show All, only their picks (Selected) or the rest (Not selected). The switch at the top moves between the grid and the Loupe.

On a computer the Size slider above the grid sets the thumbnail size; on a phone they choose 2, 3 or 4 columns.

Every photo in the link has a number, in the corner of its tile and at the top of the full-screen view (for example No. 57). The numbers are the same on every phone and never change when someone sorts or filters, so two people looking at the same link — a bride and a groom on a call — can say "take 57". The other frames of a burst read 57·2, 57·3 and so on. ⋯ → Go to number opens the photo with that number (type 57, or 57·2 for a burst's second frame). Their picks show the same numbers. Re-run cull into this link numbers the photos again.

The function in the link (for example Haldi) is a section of the grid with its name as a heading. A link made before one function per link can hold several: each is then its own section, chips at the top jump straight to a function, and while scrolling the current function's name stays pinned at the top. A function shot on two or more cameras shows each camera's photos under a small heading of its own (Camera 1, Camera 2, or the name you gave the camera), and full screen says which, for example "Wedding · Camera 2 · 3 / 80". Photos always stay inside their function and their camera, whichever order is chosen. Links made before camera folders existed keep their order.

Tapping a photo opens it full screen:

• On a phone they swipe left or right to move between photos, tap ♥ Select (or double-tap the photo) to pick the photo on screen, pinch to zoom, and swipe down (or tap ✕) to go back. The buttons always stay on screen.
• On a computer they click a photo, move with the arrow keys, press Space to select and Esc to close.
• A burst shows its frames along the bottom. On a phone they slide the strip of frames: the frame under the marker is the one on screen, and ♥ Select picks it. They can pick several frames of one burst, and each picked frame shows a small ♥ on the strip. On a computer each frame has its own ♥. Back in the grid the burst shows as picked whichever frame they chose; tapping its ♥ then opens the burst, so they can see which frames are picked and change them.
• ★ Super like, beside ♥ Select, marks the photo on screen as one of their favourites (on a computer, the S key). It selects the photo too. Tapping it again takes the star back and keeps the photo selected; un-selecting the photo drops its star. A super-liked photo shows a ★ on its tile in the grid, and once there is one, a Super liked chip under the grid shows only those.
• Swiping in full screen only moves between photos; it never keeps or skips anything.

The first time your client opens a photo full screen on a phone, a few practice cards show how it works: tap ♥ Select (or double-tap) to pick, slide the strip to see similar shots, and swipe left for the next photo. Nothing done on a practice card counts. They can tap Skip tutorial, and on a phone replay the cards from ⋯ → How it works in the grid.

In the Loupe, the ⛶ button (or the F key) opens the same full-screen view. On a computer the browser's own bars hide too. Phones keep them, because Android shows a notice over the bottom of the screen when a page goes full screen, right where ♥ Select sits.

In the Loupe view the client sees one big photo with the other frames of its burst beside or under it. On a phone the frames are the same strip they slide in full screen:

• On a phone they swipe right to Keep or left to Skip, and tap ? for Unsure.
• On a computer they use the buttons or the arrow keys: right for Keep, left for Skip, up for Unsure. Z undoes.
• On a phone, Also keep under the strip keeps the frame on screen as well, and Compare shows every frame of the burst side by side. Long-pressing (or right-clicking) a photo or frame offers Like this one as well.
• Filter chips (Kept, Skipped, Unsure, Undecided) help them check their progress.
• Every key on a computer is listed in Keyboard shortcuts; ? in the Loupe shows them too.

The first time your client opens the Loupe on a device, a few practice cards show how it works: swipe right to keep, swipe left to skip, ↺ to undo, ? for not sure, and pinch to zoom (on a computer, the arrow keys, Z and clicks). Each card waits for the right action, and nothing done on a practice card counts. They can tap Skip tutorial, and replay the cards any time from ⋯ → How it works.

Their picks are saved as they go; the top of the page briefly shows Saved after each one. Two people can pick on the same link at once, each on their own phone: whatever one selects or super-likes shows up on the other's screen within a second or two, with no need to reload. When either of them presses Send, the round is sent with both people's picks, and the other phone moves to the sent screen. When they are done they tap Send (it counts their picks, for example "Send 42 picks"). Photos marked Unsure are not sent, so they should decide them first. If they are over the link's cap, the button reads "Remove N to send" until they deselect some. Sending with nothing picked asks "You haven't selected any photos. Send anyway?".

Clients often just stop when they are done. So, once per visit, the page asks "Done picking?" and offers Send when they have at least one pick and look finished: every photo decided, the grid scrolled to the end, or 90 seconds without touching anything. Not yet closes it.

Before sending, Review in the grid's bottom bar (in the Loupe, the heart count at the top) opens Your Picks: every photo they kept, with a bin button on each to take it out and a ★ button to super like it (the top says how many they super-liked). Tapping a photo opens it full screen, where they swipe through their picks and can tap ♥ Selected to un-select one.

After sending they see "Sent to" followed by your studio's name, a View your picks button and, unless Pixamatch has turned downloads off for your studio, a button to download the photos they kept. When the link carries your watermark, a line under the button says the downloads carry it. Tapping a pick opens it full screen, read-only. Their super likes keep their ★.

In both places a picked burst shows the frame they chose, and full screen has a Download button that saves the photo on screen as a file named after the original (for example "DSC_0042.webp"). It is hidden when downloads are turned off for your studio.

The PIN screen, the Review panel and the sent screen carry small Privacy · Terms links to Pixamatch's Privacy Policy and Terms of Service; they open in a new tab so the client's picks stay put.

Step 4: Design album

This step is where the album is made, and it opens once a set of picks exists. It lists every submitted set of picks the select has — each round your client sent, each function's picks, and the photos a Remove bad photos run kept when you pressed Finish without a client (a run still on its review screen is not a set yet) — with a tick box, the number of photos and how many were super-liked. Tick the sets that belong in the book and press Design album with N photos: the album is made from those photos only and opens in the designer. A set you leave unticked (a round the client is still narrowing down, say) stays out.

Once the album exists the step shows its card — how many photos it holds, Open designer and Preview — and the list again, so more picks can be added later: tick a set and press Add N photos to the album. A set already in the album is ticked for good and reads In the album; photos are only ever added here, never taken out, so nothing placed on a spread disappears. Take a photo out of the album in the designer. The album product is in beta, which is why the step and the Albums page carry a Beta mark.

The picks

Submitted picks appear on the Client link step as a card with the number of photos kept, and how many of them your client super-liked (★). For each set of picks you can:

• Copy originals to folder — copies the original files of the picks (the RAW and JPEG files on your computer, not the web copies) into a new folder. See Copy originals to folder below. On a computer it is the first button on the card; on a phone it is Copy originals, and it points you to the desktop app, since a phone browser cannot reach your folders.
• Design album — opens the Design album step with this set ticked (see below). Once the album exists the button reads Add to album for a set that is not in it yet, and Open album for one that is. The picks arrive with web copies only; an original-quality export reads their originals from your shoot folder (see Originals in Albums and the designer). Photos you add to the album in the designer never change the client's picks: their count, Download ZIP and Lightroom XMP stay as the client sent them.
• Edit picks — change the picks yourself. It opens every photo of the select, one tile per moment, with the picks ticked: the AI's picks carry AI, the moments that only just missed carry Next best, and the ones your client saw but did not pick say Not picked. Tick a tile (or press P on it, or in the full-screen view) to add it with its stack, untick to take a pick out. A wrong tick is undone with Ctrl+Z (⌘Z on a Mac) or Undo at the bottom, and a super-liked pick comes back with its ★. Each function counts the picks against its number, for example "Picked 43 / 40". The client's link does not change. A photo you add joins the select's album if it already has one; a photo you take out stays in the album's photos (it may be on a spread already), so take it out in the designer if it should go.
• Send another round — a fresh link over just these photos so the client can narrow them down again. Tick Cap how many they can keep to set a cap (it starts at 60% of the photos); Protect with a PIN is on by default. Create link & copy makes it.
• Download ZIP — the kept photos.
• From the ⋯ menu: View photos, Copy originals to folder, Download super likes (a ZIP of just the ★ photos, when there are any), Lightroom XMP, Preview album as client (once there is an album) and Delete these picks. Lightroom XMP gives each pick a star rating named after its original: 4 stars for a pick, 5 stars for one your client super-liked, so Lightroom's rating filter shows the favourites alone.

In View photos, the photos your client super-liked carry a ★, and Super liked at the top shows only those (the download button and Copy originals to folder then take only those too). A photo with a stack badge (for example "3") has similar shots: click the badge, pick a frame and press Use this shot to swap it in; a ★ moves with it.

Copy originals to folder

Copy originals to folder (on the picks card, in its ⋯ menu, on the Submissions page and at the top of View photos) finds the original files of the picks on your computer and copies them into a new folder. Choose:

• the folder where the shoot's original files are (the desktop app remembers it for this select);
• File types: RAW + JPEG copies every file with the photo's name (the RAW, the JPEG and anything beside them, such as an .xmp or a HEIC); RAW only copies just the RAW files (NEF, CR2, CR3, ARW, DNG, RAF, ORF, SRW); JPEG only copies just the .jpg / .jpeg files. A pick that has only the other type in the folder is skipped and listed before anything is copied, with Copy RAW + JPEG instead to take everything. The choice is remembered on this computer;
• Copy or Move, whether to bring the Similar shots of each pick, and (desktop app) Write .xmp sidecars next to the files for Lightroom (4 stars for a pick, 5 for a super like; similar shots brought along get no rating).

The new folder is named after the date and the link, for example 2026-10-09-Sharma wedding · Haldi (you can change the name before copying), so each function's picks land in a folder of their own. Inside it, the files keep the subfolders they were found in.

In the desktop app, every folder a camera of this select is pointed at on this computer is searched too, so picks from Camera 2 are found even when the shoot folder remembered for the select is Camera 1's. Files are matched by name. Photos uploaded from a folder also carry their subfolder (for example camera_a/DSC_0001.NEF), so the same name from two cameras stays apart. When a picked name is still found in more than one folder (a card counter that started again, two cameras, a backup card, an edited export next to the originals), Pixamatch checks those few files: the one identical to the file you uploaded wins, and its RAW or JPEG twin comes with it; otherwise the capture time decides. Two copies of the same file (a second card slot) bring only one. If the files still cannot be told apart, every copy is copied and listed as not told apart so you can check them.

It needs the Pixamatch desktop app, or Chrome or Edge on a computer.

While your client is still picking, their picks show up under the link as they go (the page refreshes every few seconds): how many they have picked and super-liked, the latest ones, and whether they are picking right now or when they last picked. View all shows every pick so far and Download so far downloads them.

Clients often stop when they are done without pressing Send. Use these picks sends the round for them, exactly as if they had pressed it: you choose whether to include the photos they marked unsure, and the picks become a set you can promote to an album, download or send another round from. Their link closes, and the next time they tap or open it they see that their picks were sent.

Client pressed Send by mistake

⋯ → Reopen for client on the submitted link opens the round again. The client uses the same link and PIN, sees every photo, and everything they kept, skipped or marked unsure is still marked — nothing to resend, just tell them to open the link again. Their picks show under the link as they go, and when they press Send (or you use Use these picks) you get one set of picks, not two.

Reopen is not possible once you have used Send another round on those picks, or changed them with Edit picks — the menu says so. In that case use the new round, or Cull again for a fresh link over all the photos.

Same-day edits (beta)

Same-day edits are a beta for members: they come with every paid plan (Starter, Studio, Pro). On the free trial, without a plan, or once a plan has run out, Studio → Same-day edits says they are for members and why; sets made earlier can still be opened and sent.

A wedding is on a Sunday and the couple wants a status or a story that evening. Same-day edits give you a few highlights back edited, in your own colour style, without anyone opening Lightroom. Same-day edits have their own section: Studio → Same-day edits (in the sidebar on a computer, under You on a phone) lists every set, newest first, with whose wedding it is. Start one there with New same-day edit and pick the couple, from the Same-day edits tab on the customer's page, or on a phone with New → Same-day edit. No select is needed on the wedding day: the set belongs to the customer. Either way you upload the photos straight into it from your phone or your computer: it does not wait for the card to be uploaded or culled, and the photos stay in the edit only (they are not added to the select).

Set up once (Studio → Same-day edits → Grade & watermark): pick the grade every new set starts on, and its strength. A grade is your colour style (these were called looks before). Six starter grades are there from day one: Clean, Warm film, Bright & airy, Moody, Matte and Black & white, so you can send photos before you have added your own. Your usual grade is shared by everyone in your studio.

1. Press New same-day edit on Studio → Same-day edits and pick the couple, or on the Same-day edits tab of the customer's page.
2. Add your best photos. Press Choose photos and pick them from your phone's gallery (or the camera's app), or from a folder on your computer. A set holds up to 200 photos. The row under them shows the grade the set will get, your usual one; Change picks another for this set only, previewed on a sample photo, with Strength (Light, Medium, Full) and the watermark switch.
3. Press Edit N photos. The photos upload and each appears as it is finished, a few seconds each.
4. Check them. Tap a photo that is too dark, too bright or the wrong colour. On a phone it asks one thing at a time: Brightness (Darker, Now, Brighter), then Warmth (Cooler, Now, Warmer), then Tint (Green, Now, Magenta). Tap the version that looks best, and tap again to go further. Done works at any step. On a computer the three rows sit side by side. Before shows the photo as you uploaded it, Back to auto undoes your changes, and the bin takes the photo out of the set.
5. Press Send to customer once the uploads are in. You get a link with WhatsApp and Copy link buttons; WhatsApp opens on the customer's number when you saved one. Your customer sees nothing before you send.

• The order of the edit. Brightness and colour are corrected first, then the grade goes on, the way an editor works. Your studio's watermark goes on last, so the grade never colours it.
• Your studio's watermark. When your studio admin has set one (see "Setting the watermark" below), it goes on every photo of a new set; the grade row of a new set says so, and Change has an On / Off switch. On a set, ⋯ → Watermark on or Watermark off switches it later; every photo is edited again. The logo or text and the corner are the studio's, so a set cannot change them. The choice tiles in step 4 show the photo without it.
• What the automatic fix does. It finds the faces. A photo is only changed when the skin in it is clearly too dark, too bright or an odd colour (for example green or magenta under LED lights); a photo that already looks right is left alone. A photo with no face is only brightened when nothing in it is bright. It is careful on purpose, so check the dark and the mixed-light photos yourself in step 4.
• Size. Each photo is uploaded at 2,160 pixels on the long side: twice the width of an Instagram story, so it stays sharp on a phone, even zoomed in. The edits are not print files: albums and prints still come from your originals.
• Photo types. JPEG and PNG from any device. On a computer, RAW files work too (the camera's built-in preview is used). An iPhone hands its photos over as JPEG. A file the browser cannot open is listed with a reason; Retry sends failed uploads again.
• What your customer sees. A page with the sent photos of that set only. A tap opens a photo with Save, and Share on phones that support it, which hands the photo straight to WhatsApp or Instagram. Save all downloads a ZIP.
• Deleting a customer takes their same-day edits with it (their selects and albums stay). A set made on a select before same-day edits had their own section stays with that select, and is still listed on Studio → Same-day edits.
• After sending you can still fix a photo, change the grade (⋯ → Change the grade, where Use this grade for every new set also makes it your usual one) or download everything (⋯ → Download ZIP); the link stays the same and shows the new edit. Photos you add with + after sending are marked Not released and stay off the customer's page until you press Release them. Hide link closes the customer's page until you send again. ⋯ → Delete this set removes its photos, the edits and the link.

Adding your grade

On Studio → Same-day edits → Grade & watermark press Add your grade (the same dialog opens from Change on a new set). A grade is shared by everyone in your studio.

From your edited photos — the easy way

1. Press From your edited photos.
2. Pick 3 to 40 originals from one wedding you have already edited: the camera's JPEGs or RAW files, as shot.
3. Pick the same photos as you exported them from Lightroom. Keep the file names the camera gave them, so the two sides match (an export named DSC_0012-Edit.jpg still matches DSC_0012.NEF). The dialog counts the pairs as you go.
4. Give the grade a name and press Learn the grade. About half a minute later it shows two of your photos three ways: as shot, edited by Pixamatch in the new grade, and as you edited them. Keep this grade or Try other photos.

Pixamatch learns what is the same on every photo — your curves, your colours, your tones — and leaves out what differs from photo to photo (the exposure and white balance you set each one to; the automatic fix does that part on the wedding day). It reads colour only: not masks, sharpening, grain or a vignette. Photos cropped in Lightroom are found inside their originals; one that cannot be matched is left out with a reason. If the photos were edited two different ways, it says so: pick photos edited alike for a truer grade.

Advanced: a preset or a LUT file

From a Lightroom preset: press Download the reference image (a square of colour tiles), import it into Lightroom, apply your preset with vignette and grain off, export it as a JPEG (quality 100, sRGB, no resize, no crop) and upload the export. A grade carries colour and tone: the tone curve, HSL, colour grading, calibration. It does not carry sharpening, grain, vignette, clarity, texture or masks. A preset with a vignette is refused with a message, because the vignette would spoil the colours; a preset with grain is accepted and the photos come out without the grain.

From a LUT file (.cube): upload a 3D LUT with up to 65 points a side. Use one made for ordinary photos (sRGB). A LUT made for video or log footage looks too strong on a photo, and one with a different input range is refused.

Your own grades can be renamed and deleted from the same dialog; the starters stay.

Setting the watermark

A studio admin sets the watermark once, on Team → Your watermark. It goes on same-day edits and on the photos clients download from a client link. Designers see it on their sets but cannot change it.

1. Choose Logo or Text.
2. Logo: press Upload logo and pick a PNG with a transparent background, up to 5 MB. It is saved straight away; empty edges around it are trimmed. A picture without transparency is refused, because it would put a box on every photo. Text: it starts with your studio's name; type up to 40 characters.
3. Choose the corner: Bottom left, Bottom centre or Bottom right. The sample photo shows the result.
4. Press Save watermark.

The size is the same on every photo: a logo is 15% of the photo's width (smaller when it is tall), text is about 3% of a portrait photo's height, both a small margin from the edges. Text is white with a soft shadow, so it reads on bright and dark photos. A change applies to photos edited from then on; a set already edited keeps its photos until they are edited again (switch its watermark off and on, or change its grade). Remove turns the watermark off for new sets and for client downloads.

Put it on photos clients download (on the same card) decides whether new client links start with the watermark on. It is saved as soon as you switch it, and each link can still be switched on its own (see "Step 3: Client link").

Managing selects

The Selects list shows every select with its stage: Add photos, Ready to cull, Waiting on client (your client is picking), Picks are in (design the album from them, download them or send another round) or Album made. A card's ⋯ menu has Open, Rename, Close event… and Delete. On the select's own page, the ⋯ menu has Rename, Open photos (or Open Haldi photos and so on, one per function), Open album, Close event… and Delete select. A select's functions no longer open the old photo-set page; a link or bookmark to one opens the select instead. Deleting a select permanently removes its photos, links, picks and any album made from it. Close event… does the same for a delivered event but keeps the select in the list, marked Closed, as a record — type its name to confirm. Both free the space on your plan at once. While old photos are being deleted, the select page shows "Photos kept until …" under its status; see "Plans and storage". A studio admin also sees the username of the team member who made each select.