Wedding workflow
The Second Shooter Photo Handoff, Start to Finish
A second shooter's work travels twice: the files go to the lead, and a selection comes back for the second shooter's portfolio. Both trips go smoothly when they are agreed in writing before the day.
Updated 24 September 2026
Start with the plain fact, because it shapes the whole workflow.
On clientgallery.io a login is an optional team seat at $8 a month, and there are no roles. Without a seat, a second shooter gets no login and cannot upload into your client gallery.
The workflow that works is simpler than the shared-password workarounds people invent. The second shooter delivers their files to the lead. The lead edits and publishes one gallery. The second shooter gets their portfolio images back by a route the lead controls.
This page covers the handoff in both directions. The editing half, from clock sync to merging two cards into one set, is in two photographers, one client gallery.
Why one account and one publisher is the right shape
The client hired one studio and should receive one gallery under one name.
The person accountable for the edit should be the person who controls what the client sees. With one account and one publisher, that is always the lead.
Sharing the lead's login with a contractor breaks that. A login has no roles, so whoever holds it can change or delete any gallery on the account.
If the second shooter is really a business partner who delivers their own clients, this page is the wrong fit. Two businesses should run two accounts, at $10 a month or $110 a year each.
Agree the handoff in writing before the day
Most second-shooter disputes are about something nobody wrote down.
Put these points in the booking message or the contract you already use with second shooters. Plain words are enough.
| Point | What to decide |
|---|---|
| Delivery format | Raw files for the lead to edit, or culled and edited to the lead's look. Two different jobs, often two different fees. |
| Whole card or selection | If the lead is paying for coverage, the whole card, with capture times left intact. |
| File naming | A shooter code in every filename, so two cards never collide. |
| How the files travel | Cards handed over at the venue, a drive, or a file transfer the lead names. |
| Deadline | A date for the handoff, stated as a date rather than "soon". |
| Copies kept by the second shooter | Whether they keep a copy, for how long, and what happens to it after delivery. |
| Portfolio use | Which images the second shooter may show, where, and from what date. |
| Credit | How the second shooter credits the lead, and whether the lead credits them. |
This page gives no legal advice on who owns which images. The point of the written agreement is that the answer is settled between you before the images exist.
On the day: card custody
The riskiest hour of a second shooter's files is the drive home.
Agree who leaves the venue with which cards, and whether a copy is made before anyone leaves.
A lead who takes the cards at the end of the night controls the files from that point on. A second shooter who takes their own cards home is responsible for them until the deadline in the agreement.
Either works, as long as both people know which one is in force. The failure is the night when each assumed the other had the backup.
The inbound trip: files from the second shooter to the lead
The inbound trip happens outside the client gallery.
A client gallery on clientgallery.io delivers work to clients. It is not where a contractor drops files for you, and without a team seat there is no second login for them to do it with.
So the files travel the way the agreement says: the physical cards, a drive, or a file transfer of the lead's choosing.
When the files arrive, the lead checks three things before starting the edit:
- The number of files matches what the second shooter says they sent.
- The capture times look right against the lead's own card.
- Every filename carries the second shooter's code.
Then the second shooter's part of the job is done, and the lead merges both takes into one set.
Publishing: one gallery, no trace of the staffing
The lead publishes one gallery from the merged, colour-matched set.
The client sees one scrolling page, with a jump-to bar at the top if you sort the day into sections. Sections are a studio-side organising tool, so name them after parts of the day, not after the photographer.
Do not create a section called "Second shooter" in the client's gallery. It asks the client to understand your staffing, and it is not a private place to share anything with the second shooter, because the client sees it too.
If the lead works in Lightroom Classic, the two-way plugin publishes the proofs from the catalog and pulls the client's picks back into it. Unique filenames across both cards are what make each returned pick point at exactly one file. The details are in getting client picks back into Lightroom.
The return trip: portfolio images for the second shooter
Second shooters work partly for the portfolio. Handle the return trip deliberately, and after the client has seen their own gallery.
There are three routes, and one of them is a mistake.
| Route | What the second shooter gets | Use it when |
|---|---|---|
| Send the agreed files directly | The edited frames, as files | The agreement names a set number of portfolio images |
| A separate small gallery for the second shooter, downloads on | Their edited frames on one page, downloadable | You want them to see the whole selection in your edit and save it |
| The client's gallery link | Everything the client got | Never. It is the client's delivery, not yours to forward |
A separate gallery costs nothing extra. There is no per-gallery fee on the plan, and hosted galleries do not expire, so the second shooter's link keeps working when they update their website next spring.
A section share link is not the right tool for this particular job. It is view-only: no ZIP, no picks, no full-resolution download, no face search and no link back to the parent gallery. That is ideal for letting a vendor look, and useless for a second shooter who needs files. It also uses the client gallery's password and shows the client gallery's welcome note, which is the client's, not the second shooter's.
What the numbers look like
| Item | Figure |
|---|---|
| Logins per account | One flat price; optional team seats at $8 a month. No roles |
| Plan | $10 a month, or $110 a year |
| Extra gallery for the second shooter | No per-gallery fee |
| Photos per gallery (fair use) | 1,000, including photos filed in sections |
| Proofs per paid account | Up to 500,000 photos |
| Gallery expiry | None |
Two cards can push a wedding toward the 1,000-photo ceiling. Plan the split before upload night if the merged set is that large. The gallery hosts JPEGs and does not keep RAW files, so both photographers keep their originals on their own drives.
Sources
This page cites no external figure, price or policy, so there is no outside source to list.
Every clientgallery.io product fact on it was checked in the product code on 24 September 2026, and the team seat facts again on 30 September 2026: optional team seats at $8 a month and no roles; the plan price; the absence of per-gallery fees; the fair-use ceilings of 1,000 photos per gallery and 500,000 photos per paid account; galleries that do not expire; sections as a studio-side organising tool; the section share link being view-only and using the parent gallery's password and welcome note; and the two-way Lightroom Classic plugin.
The agreement points and the handoff steps are editorial recommendations, not legal advice.
Frequently asked
Can I give my second shooter a login to my client gallery account?
Yes, with an optional team seat at $8 a month, but a seat opens your whole studio and there are no roles. Usually the second shooter delivers files to the lead, and the lead publishes the gallery. Sharing your own login gives someone control of every gallery on the account.
Can a second shooter upload directly into the client's gallery?
Not without a team seat, and a seat opens your whole studio. Usually the second shooter hands the files to the lead by card, drive or file transfer, as agreed in writing. The lead merges both takes, edits them to one look and publishes one gallery.
How should a second shooter send files to the lead photographer?
However the written agreement says: the cards handed over at the venue, a drive, or a file transfer the lead chooses. Agree the format, whole card or selection, the filename code and the deadline before the day.
How does a second shooter get images for their portfolio?
After the client has seen their gallery, the lead sends the agreed frames directly or publishes a small separate gallery with downloads switched on. There is no per-gallery fee, so the extra gallery costs nothing. Never forward the client's own gallery link.
Can I use a section share link to send the second shooter their photos?
It is the wrong tool for that job. A section link is view-only, with no ZIP, no picks, no full-resolution download, no face search and no link back to the parent gallery, so the second shooter could look but not save. It also carries the client gallery's password and welcome note.
What if my second shooter is really a business partner?
Then run two accounts. Nothing separates one photographer's galleries from another's inside a single account. At $10 a month or $110 a year each, two accounts keep client lists, branding and billing apart.
Your client galleries, under your name
Branded galleries, client selections and a Lightroom Classic workflow. Start with your first gallery, then compare the current plan. Full-resolution delivery is a separate handoff with its own limits and conditions.
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