Connecting a photo booth live

With Live Upload you connect a photo booth, camera or computer directly to your event. Every photo the device sends appears in the gallery and on the photo wall within seconds — no manual uploading needed. The connection works over FTP/FTPS (the device pushes photos to us) or over WebDAV (you mount the event like a network drive).

Who needs this?

Live Upload is for hosts/owners who run a photo booth or an FTP-capable camera at the event. Only the host can create and manage accesses. Operators matter when you hand out an access with the “Full event” scope. Moderators are only indirectly affected: moderation still applies to live uploads — unless an access deliberately bypasses it (see “Skip moderation”).

Opening the Live Upload area

Open your event’s admin area. If you are in the gallery, tap your profile menu at the top right and choose Management → Admin portal. See also Reaching your event admin.
In the sidebar, click Settings (route /admin/settings).
Switch to the Live Upload tab at the top. Direct link: /admin/settings?tab=live-upload.

How the tab is laid out

From top to bottom you will find these areas:

Connection card — this goes into your device

At the very top is the card “Connection — enter in your camera or photo booth”. It shows the three values that belong in every photo booth or camera — each with a copy button:

Server — the address (host) the device connects to.
Port — the connection port.
Security — either “FTPS (TLS)” (encrypted, recommended) or “FTP (no TLS)”.

Below it sits the WebDAV box “Mount as drive (WebDAV)” with its own WebDAV URL and copy button. With this you open the event on a computer like a network drive — upload, browse and delete (deleted files go to the recycle bin).

“How it works & compatible devices” fold

Collapsed by default. It explains the flow in three steps and lists compatible devices:

Photo booths: dslrBooth, Breeze and Darkroom Booth have FTP upload built in.
Cameras with FTP: Canon EOS R, Nikon Z and Sony Alpha can push straight from the menu — set image transfer to JPEG.
Computer: Mount the event as a network drive via WebDAV (Cyberduck, WinSCP, rclone).

“QR code straight to the photo” fold

Appears only if your event supports QR deep links. Many booth apps show a QR code per printed or displayed photo that leads straight to that exact photo in the gallery. To do this, you enter a link template with a filename placeholder in the booth software.

The template has the form …/your-username/FILENAME. The placeholder syntax depends on the software:

Photobooth App: {filename}
Darkroom Booth: %file%
dslrBooth can only show its own FotoShare QR. Use a static QR code to the gallery there instead.

Each access also has a QR copy button (“Copy QR link template for this device”) that copies the finished template with the correct username.

Creating an access

Scroll to “Create new access” (lock icon).

Enter a Label (required). Example: “Photo booth entrance”. Without a label the “Create access” button stays disabled.
Choose Permissions. The dropdown offers three scopes:
- Upload only — the device can never delete anything. It sees an empty folder over FTP/WebDAV.
- Own uploads (recommended) — the default. The device sees only its own photos; deleting on the booth moves the photo to the event recycle bin.
- Full event — browse and delete everything (operators only).
Optional: Display name in the gallery (max. 50 characters). Empty = the label is used. Uploads appear under this name — handy for smart albums and filtering by booth.
Optional: expand Advanced options for the extra settings (see below).
Click Create access. A green panel then shows the fresh credentials once, large.

Advanced options

Password (optional) — leave empty to generate one automatically. A custom password must be 10–64 characters, contain only printable ASCII (no spaces or accented/special characters) and use at least 4 different characters. Otherwise it is rejected.
Skip moderation (photo wall booth) — uploads from this access are published immediately without review. The access list then shows the “moderation bypassed” warning. Only enable this deliberately for photo wall booths.
Turn subfolders into albums — if the device uploads to /Reception/photo.jpg, the album “Reception” is created automatically. Nested folders create multiple albums (the photo lands in each). Generic camera folders like DCIM or IMG are ignored.

Saving the fresh credentials

After creating (and after every password rotation) a green one-time panel shows Username and Password, each with a copy button. Enter these along with Server, Port and Security into your device and confirm with “Done, I saved it”.

The access list — “Access credentials (N)”

This lists all active accesses. At the top right, the “Show revoked” link leads to revoked accesses (only visible when some exist). If there is no access yet, you see a hint to create the first one below.

Each row shows:

Avatar/logo (if set) or a video icon.
Username (monospace) with a copy button; active accesses also get the QR copy button.
Password masked as ••••••••••. The eye icon reveals it on demand; a copy button then appears.
Label and optionally “appears as …” (display name), plus the amber “moderation bypassed” warning if applicable.
Activity: “last active …” or “no uploads yet” and the number of uploads.
Scope badge (blue): “Upload only” / “Own uploads” / “Full event”.
Status badge: active (green) / paused (amber) / expired (red).

Actions per access

Edit (pencil) — opens the edit dialog (see below).
Pause (active accesses only) — stops the device. A prompt “Pause access?” appears — the device stops uploading until you resume it.
Resume (paused accesses only) — reactivates the device.
Revoke (trash) — revokes the access for good. Prompt “Revoke access?” — the device can no longer upload. Revoked accesses disappear from the main list but remain in the revoked dialog for traceability.

Edit dialog

The pencil icon opens “Edit access” (subtitle = username). Here you adjust:

Label
Display name in the gallery — existing uploads switch to the new name immediately.
Permissions (scope, same three options)
Checkbox Skip moderation
Checkbox Turn subfolders into albums
Display logo — upload an image (JPEG/PNG/WebP) as the uploader avatar for all uploads of this access. A small × removes it. The logo takes effect immediately.
Section Set a new password — password field (empty = automatic), then Set new password with a prompt. The old password stops working immediately; the device stays offline until you enter the new one. The new password then appears in the green one-time panel.

At the bottom you close with Cancel or apply with Save.

Revoked accesses

The “Revoked accesses” dialog lists accesses that can no longer connect. They are kept for traceability — who was allowed to upload, and when. Each entry: username, label, “created …”, “last used …”/“never used” and the “revoked” badge. If there are none, it reads “No revoked accesses.”

Partner devices (edge case)

If you run the event with a photo booth partner/reseller, the “Connected partner devices” section may appear. These devices belong to the partner and currently upload into your event. Via Disconnect you can detach a device anytime; it stays with the partner, who can only reconnect it with your consent.

What takes effect immediately vs. only with “Save”?

Immediately: creating an access, password rotation, setting/removing a logo, pause/resume, revoke, disconnecting a partner device.
Only with “Save” (edit dialog only): label, display name, scope, moderation bypass, folder albums.

Troubleshooting

Photo does not appear in the gallery: without “Skip moderation” the photo waits in moderation. Also check whether the access is paused, expired or revoked, and whether Server/Port/Security in the device are correct (FTPS vs. FTP).
Password “no longer works”: after a password rotation the old one is invalid immediately. Enter the new password in the device — until then it stays offline.
Eye reveal fails: old access without a stored password → set a new password in the edit dialog.
Custom password rejected: 10–64 characters, printable ASCII only, no spaces, at least 4 different characters.
Files not visible over FTP/WebDAV: scope “Upload only” shows an empty folder (by design); “Own uploads” only the own photos.
Duplicate filenames: a short photo ID is inserted automatically (IMG_0001.aB3xY9.jpg) — no data loss.
Per-photo QR does not work with dslrBooth: dslrBooth can only show its own FotoShare QR — use a static QR to the gallery there.
Partner device no longer binds: after disconnecting, the partner can only reconnect with your consent.

Best-practice tips

One access per device — for targeted pausing and revoking.
Keep “Own uploads” as the default; “Full event” only for trusted operators.
Set a display name → clean smart albums and filters by booth.
Enable “Skip moderation” only deliberately for photo wall booths; otherwise keep moderation on.
Use “Turn subfolders into albums” for booths with a station/folder logic.
Set the camera to JPEG transfer.
Prefer FTPS (TLS) if the device supports it.
Set a logo per access so uploads appear with a brand or booth avatar.

Set up the photo wall — bypass booths feed the live wall
Moderation — non-bypassed uploads land here
Albums manager — smart and folder albums
Recycle bin — WebDAV deletions
AI processing — people smart albums
Feature settings and Pricing & upgrade — unlock the feature
Guests: Photo wall and Albums