Tag Archives: email

How to email photos, animated GIFs and videos from DSLR Remote Pro

Guests can email photos, animated GIFs and Canon M50 slowmo videos and other videos* they create in  DSLR Remote Pro 3.11.3. If Internet access during the event is poor, you can send the emails later.

Update March 2021: This post has been replaced by a new tutorial

This post explains  how to email images from a touchscreen photo booth running DSLR Remote Pro. You will also learn how to tell the program about your email server settings, brand and customize the emails you send.

Let’s run through this in more detail, starting with the setup wizard:

Run the Photobooth Setup Wizard

Start DSLR Remote Pro and run the Photobooth Setup Wizard (1). Choose which options to offer guests at Step 2 (2). In this example guests can choose between still photos and boomerang (aka burst) GIFs (3). You can offer video  (or photos and video) instead at this point.

Check the option Email photos (4) .

DSLR Remote Pro setup wizard step 2 screen
Checking the box Email photos at Step 2 of the setup wizard ( DSLR Remote Pro 3.11.3)

Select any other options you need before clicking on <Next> and completing Step 3 of the wizard.

You can set up your own booth with this sharing screen using just the 3 step wizard:

Showing email sharing screen created by the d Breeze DSLR Remote Pro 3.11.2 Photobooth Setup Wizard Breeze DSLR Remote Pro 3.11.2
Email sharing screen created by the Photobooth Setup Wizard (DSLR Remote Pro 3.11.3)

Setup the email server settings

The first time you email from DSLR Remote Pro you need to set up the  email server settings:

Select File (5) then Photobooth Settings (6) to access these settings

This will display the Photobooth Settings screen.

Go to the Output Settings (8) and check Email (9). You can then select Email Server Settings screen at (10)

To send an email you need to specify the host name and port number of your email server. Most email servers also require a username and a password. For additional security check Use SSL for secure email.

The values of Host, Username, Password, Email and Port (11) you enter on the Email Server Settings screen are specific to the email provider you are using.

Before you move on, check everything works by sending a test email to your own email address (12). DSLR Remote Pro displays Email sent successfully (13) when this message has been sent. Check that you receive the test email.

Remember to click OK (14) to save your settings as you leave this screen.

Including your name with the email address

To include the name of the sender with the email address enter the name followed by the email address enclosed in angle brackets e.g. Sue’s Blog <demo@breezesys.com>.

Here the sender name is ‘Sue’s Blog’ and the email address demo@breezesys.com (DSLR Remote Pro 3.11.3)

Logging guest email addresses & sending them after the event

You can keep a log of email addresses used by guests, providing valuable data for your own or corporate client’s use.

If an event Internet connection is flaky or non-existent you can save the email details and send them later.

See the program help files for more details

Be aware that

  • The port number is usually 587 when using SSL secure email or 25 otherwise (but check the port numbers used by your ISP).
  • Emails look more professional when sent from your own  domain.
  • Most free email services require the sender’s email address to the be the same as the email account specified by the username and password.
  • Gmail users should set access for less secure apps to Turn on in your Google account settings otherwise GMail will refuse to send the email.

Customize and brand your email messages

Use the standard email message

You do not have to customize the message sent with your photos and animated GIFS. If you use the standard settings in DSLR Remote Pro all emails will include the image(s) captured in the booth and the text Your photo booth photos taken on 14 August 2018 (or whatever date the images were taken).

Customizing the email subject and message

The emails guests send can be a powerful marketing tool for your business. Make them work for you by customizing the message sent with your image(s). Use Breeze tokens, your own text, images and html in the Email Settings screen.

Select File, then Output Settings, then Email settings to reach this screen:

Select File, then Output Settings, then Email settings to customize emails sent from DSLR Remote Pro

The first time you see the email settings screen it contains the default message DSLR Remote Pro sends with your emails. Edit this to meet your needs.

DSLR Remote Pro Email Settings screen showing default settings
Default Email Settings screen in Breeze DSLR Remote Pro 3.11.3

You can change the both the subject and content of the emails sent with guest images.

Reduce the time and bandwidth taken to send and receive emails by choosing a suitable maximum image size.

Breeze tokens can be used to generate the date, event name and much more. See the full list of tokens.

Creating a standard email template using the {eventName} token

{eventName} is a special Breeze token which can be shared between Breeze programs. You can use {eventName} in your emails and print layouts to save time customizing your booth for each event.

Here I have both changed the text and used {eventName} to customize the email subject (17), plain text (18) and html (19) versions of the content. I also changed the message seen by guests if they type an invalid email address (20).

When the email is sent Images from {eventName}  will be replaced by Images from Sue & Chris’s Big Party. The text sent with the email will also say Having a great time at Sue & Chris’s Big Party. These are my images from the Breeze Booth on 14 August 2018.

{eventName} can also be used in print captions, and as part of folder and file names. For my next event I just need to change {eventName}  to John & Jane’s Wedding ….

Note: %L is another Breeze token, which will be replaced by the date the images were taken.

How do I enter and change {eventName}  for each event?

Start DSLR Remote Pro, click on File then Photobooth event info… to reach the Photo Booth Event Info screen
Photo Booth Event Info screen in DSLR Remote Pro 3.11.2
Photo Booth Event Info screen with {eventname} set to Sue & Chris’s big Party (DSLR Remote Pro 3.11.3)

You may have spotted Event Strings on this screen. You can  use  {eventString1} to {eventString5} in the same way as {eventName} .

Why do I need to send both plain text and html?

The emails  DSLR Remote Pro sends from your booth may be viewed on lots of different devices including Apple and Android smart phones, tablets and PCs. Most modern devices can read html emails; we also send a plain text version in case the html version cannot be read.

Thank you for reading this post. I have covered how to send emails from DSLR Remote Pro, outlined how to brand and customize the emails, create your own standard template which is automatically updated for different events, and tell the program about your email service provider.

If you are ready for more, Steve’s video is a great introduction to using tokens. You can also learn more about customizing emails in the program help files.

If this post is helpful to you, please share it with others in our industry.

* DSLR Remote Pro 3.11.3 was released today 15 August 2018, and is a free upgrade for anyone whose license was issued in the last year. This release introduces the ability to share videos captured in video booth mode, including Canon M50 slow mo videos.  Please note that emailing large attachments during events will slow the booth down.

Update 16 August: You can run this new script alongside DSLR Remote Pro 3.11.3  to rotate and resize videos and add an optional overlay and soundtrack before videos are shared. We expect to include these features into DSLR Remote Pro in a future release.

© Breeze Systems 2018