Blog

05/09/2024

What’s changing? Microsoft are ending support for “basic authentication” (i.e. giving us your username and password) when sending emails. Instead, they want everyone to use a more modern approach where you log into your Microsoft account to authorise Light Blue to send emails. This applies to all Microsoft email services, including Exchange, outlook.com, and hotmail.com. […]

29/07/2024

We’ve just released Light Blue 2024.1.1, which is a minor update that adds new features and fixes bugs reported since we launched Light Blue 2024.1. It includes the following changes:

18/07/2024

You know that great feeling. You complete a job and it’s ticked all your ideal photography client boxes: easy communication, shared values and approaches, great results and prompt payment. If only you could replicate this week in, week out. Finding a consistent client base for your photography business can be tough. But it’s crucial for […]

20/06/2024

Your clients are one of your most powerful marketing tools. Their happiness with your photography service is priceless. And what they say about it can have a huge influence on your success. Indeed, research shows 9 out of 10 people trust what a customer thinks about a business more than they trust the business itself. […]

08/05/2024

We’re pleased to announce a new update that helps you to get more from Light Blue’s powerful online scheduling feature, gives you more options for accepting payments from your clients, and improves dozens of other features. Convert incomplete bookings into confirmed shoots Light Blue’s scheduling calendars make it really easy for clients to book shoots […]

08/05/2024

Reviewing incomplete online bookings Our scheduling calendars are very popular with lots of photographers because they make it really easy to book shoots and appointments with clients. When scheduling a shoot that includes a contract and/or booking fee, clients have up to 15 minutes to complete their booking, after which their slot is made available […]

01/05/2024

“To achieve great things, two things are needed: a plan, and not quite enough time.” Wise words from composer Leonard Bernstein. And when you’re running a photography business, they’ll resonate even more. Juggling long-term planning with the day-to-day demands of clients, shoots and admin eats time. But there are ways to lower your business’ appetite […]

30/04/2024

Advanced Custom Fields (ACF) is a popular WordPress plugin that’s used by a lot of WordPress themes. A recent ACF security fix has affected the way that the plugin handles HTML that’s been inserted by users, and that can cause embedded content to not work as expected. If you’ve embedded one of Light Blue’s contact […]

14/03/2024

Our Android app has been available to all of our subscribers since January, and now it’s no longer in the prerelease section of the Google Play Store: you can find it by searching for us on the Play Store, or by clicking this link 🎉 Our prerelease testers have been sending us great feedback about […]

19/02/2024

We launched the first version of Light Blue 15 years ago this month and WOW, what a 15 years it’s been. Light Blue’s founder, Tom, reflects on how far we’ve come since 2009. It’s an understatement to say that Light Blue has been so much more successful than we ever imagined, used by thousands of […]

19/02/2024

We’ve just released a minor update for our iOS app, which should start to appear in the App Store shortly. This update includes the following new features and bug fixes:

30/01/2024

Gmail and Yahoo have recently announced changes to how they will deal with incoming emails. These changes will come into effect in 2024. The short version of this post is that you don’t need to worry about this if you’re sending emails from Light Blue via our email servers. If you’re sending emails via a […]

17/01/2024

We’re delighted to announce that our Android app has been approved for the Google Play Store 🎉 The feedback from our prerelease testers has been great so, now that it’s available via the Play Store, we’re inviting everyone who’s said they want to start using our Android app as soon as possible to try it […]

10/01/2024

Light Blue is at the heart of your business, and using our Zapier integration allows you to use it for all of your day-to-day work while taking advantage of industry-leading apps and services in a totally automated fashion. Zapier is a service that connects the various apps that you use and automates those connections for […]

09/01/2024

We’ve just released Light Blue 2023.1.3, which is a minor update that adds new features and fixes bugs reported since we launched Light Blue 2023.1. It includes the following changes:

21/12/2023

We’re still here to help over the festive season, but we’re also going to be taking a bit of a break so won’t be answering emails quite as quickly as normal between Christmas and New Year: Wishing you all the best, Tom & the Light Blue team

20/12/2023

The Light Blue Android app is very nearly ready for release! We’ve been prerelease testing the app with a small number of early testers and their feedback has been really positive. Now that we’ve had a chance to deal with all of the issues discovered by these first testers, we’ve expanded our prerelease testing to […]

20/11/2023

Spreadsheets and sums. Never as much fun as cameras and creativity. But when you’re running a photography business, there’s no escaping the financial responsibilities. Alongside nurturing clients, planning shoots and managing your diary, you also need to maximise profitability. Are as many pennies as possible being spent wisely? Is some belt-tightening required? Here we’ll share […]

23/10/2023

As a photographer, taking exquisite images for your clients is a must. But it’s an exceptional experience that will bring them back for more. We all know it’s more efficient and less expensive to tempt an existing client to book again than it is to find a new one. So how you can make that […]

25/09/2023

We’ve just released Light Blue 2023.1.2, which is a minor update that adds new features and fixes bugs reported since we launched Light Blue 2023.1. It includes the following changes:

13/09/2023

Over the next few weeks, Apple are going to be releasing major upgrades to macOS and iOS. iOS 17 is going to be released on 18 September. macOS 14 Sonoma is being released on 26 September. We’ve been testing the current versions of our macOS and iOS apps on the prerelease versions of macOS 14 […]

18/08/2023

Is your usually healthy balance sheet looking a little under the weather? Maybe bookings numbers are down or your usual expenses have crept up as the cost-of-living crisis continues to bite? Then your photography business may benefit from a comprehensive cost critique. A thorough investigation into exactly what’s going out of your account on a […]

18/08/2023

Choosing the best online booking platform is a key decision to make within your photography business. You want a platform that creates a seamless process for your client to find a suitable time and make their booking; you don’t want them to get frustrated at any stage and deciding not to press ‘confirm’! And from […]

20/07/2023

It’s safe to assume that you didn’t choose to run a photography business because you want to spend lots of time doing admin, right? With one simple change Loudoun County Newborn, Family, and Birthday Portrait Photographer Jess Lynn and her admin assistant Annie are now able to spend more time with their families, focus on […]