When establishing a partnership with a client as a photographer, it is important to come to an official agreement on what each party is responsible for. With Studio Manager, you can easily protect your business and intellectual property by creating professional looking contracts that your client can sign on any device.

Tip: Need help getting started with your first contract? We offer free sample contract templates! Check them out in your Studio Manager Dashboard under Templates > New Template > Contract.

Creating a Contract

If you frequently use the same type of contract in your photography workflow, we recommend setting it up as a contract template first by going to Templates > New Template > Contract.

When you’re ready to send a new contract to a client, create one in just a few clicks:

Go to Documents > Contracts > New Contract. Then, assign a new or existing client to the document.
If you have set up a contract template previously, confirm whether you’d like to start a contract from scratch or use a template.

Once you are taken to the document editor, you are ready to begin filling out and designing your contract! To add content to your contract, simply type right into it. You can further customize your contract’s content by using the formatting options located at the top.

Adding Client-Fillable Sections with Fields

Do you need to leave areas of your contract for clients to fill out themselves before they are allowed to sign the contract? You can allow this by adding a field to your contract! Fields are a perfect way to collect initials or extra information from a client.

To add a field to your contract:

Within the contents of your contract, click directly where you’d like to add your field. Then, select Insert Field.
In the blank field that appears, you can optionally fill out the following:
- Field name: Optionally label the blank field to give your client an idea of what they need to add (e.g. ”Client Address”).
- Field value: Optionally provide an answer within the field on behalf of your client (e.g. “Queen Elizabeth Park”). The field will be considered filled, but your client will still be able to replace the value with their own answer.

Automatically Filling Information with Variables

Do you need to add pre-existing information about your client or your business into your contract? With variables, you can easily auto-fill your contract with dynamic information, such as your contact’s full address, phone number, company name, and more.

To add a variable to your contract:

Within the contents of your contract, click directly where you’d like to add your field. Then, click Variables.
In the dropdown menu that appears, scroll and select the information you want to automatically populate into your contract.

Note: If your variable is blank when you add it, it means that our system cannot locate the relevant information within your client’s profile or your business details. In these cases, you will need to fill out the variable manually before it can be sent out.

If you are creating a contract template, you can even add your own custom variables! For more information on using variables, click here.

Managing your Signers

By default, you and your client will each have a dedicated signature field at the bottom of the contract. If you'd like to add a second signer, you can do so by going to the Signers section in the top left of the editor and clicking Add second signer.

If you want to remove yourself as a signer from the contract, simply click ••• next to your business name and select Remove signer. Keep in mind that a contract must always have at least one client as signer.

Activating Document Expiry and Reminders

If you are on an upgraded Studio Manager or Suite plan, you have the ability to set up Document Expiry and Document Reminders for your contract:

With Document Expiry, the contract will automatically cancel if it is not completed by the expiry date. Canceled contracts can still be viewed by the client but they can no longer be signed.
With Document Reminders, an email reminder will be sent out to the signer(s) who have not signed the contract within a certain timeframe. These reminders are automatic and cannot be modified.

Note: If you don’t see a calendar appear when setting up Document Expiry, you are likely editing a contract template rather than a contract. Since they are meant to be applied to individual contracts, you can’t select a specific calendar date for a template. Instead, apply your template to an individual contract to set an expiry date.

Sending a Contract

When you’re ready to send your contract, click Send Contract in the top right-hand corner to go to the email composer, where you can customize a message for your client. From there, you can choose to send the email containing the contract to your client immediately or schedule it for a later date.