Photo Hosting

Use Photo Hosting in CampiumDB to upload, tag, and share camp photos with families in the portal and mobile app Gallery, including reports and facial recognition.

Overview

Photo Hosting stores and shares your camp photos through CampiumDB, including the Gallery in the mobile app and Photos in the parent portal. It serves camp administrators, designated photo staff, and families who want to view and download memories from each season.

Photo Hosting is organized by season and uses tags and optional facial recognition to help families quickly find their campers in large photo collections.

Camps do not pay for Photo Hosting access. Instead, parents pay a one-time fee per season for access to unlimited high-resolution photo downloads for that season.

Enable Photo Hosting

Enable Photo Hosting before you start uploading photos or directing families to the portal or app. A single module toggle turns on both the Photos section in the parent portal and the Gallery in the mobile app.

Turn on the Photo Hosting module

Go to Admin -> Site Settings → Modules in the admin portal.
Find the single module toggle labeled Photo Hosting and enable it for your site. This one toggle covers both the parent portal Photos and the mobile app Gallery; there is no separate Gallery module to turn on.
Refresh, and the Photo Hosting menu will now be available.

Give staff permission to upload photos

Open the staff member's profile in the admin portal.
Edit their permissions and enable Upload Photos.
Save the changes and ask the staff member to refresh or sign out and back in.

Limit Upload Photos permission to trusted staff or photographers so you can control which photos appear in the family-facing Gallery.

Upload photos to Photo Hosting

Use the Photo Hosting menu in the admin portal to upload photos by season and apply batch tags.

Open Photo Hosting

In the admin portal, go to Portal -> Photo Hosting → Photos.
Use the season filter at the top to select the correct Season for the upload (for example, Summer 2025).

Upload your photos

Click the upload option in Portal -> Photo Hosting → Photos.
Select one or more photos from your computer. JPEG, PNG, GIF, WebP, and iPhone HEIC / HEIF photos are supported. Campium converts HEIC and HEIF to JPEG during upload so previews and facial recognition can process them.
Only image files are accepted. PDF, video, and other non-image files are rejected with a message that only images can be uploaded to a photo gallery.
Confirm the selected Season is correct before you start the upload.
Keep the upload window open until the batch finishes. If some files were duplicates or failed, Campium reports how many of the batch were stored instead of treating every file as uploaded.
You can also upload photos via the app by going to the Gallery and hitting the plus icon towards the bottom right of the screen.

Add batch tags and let processing run

After selecting photos, apply batch tags such as cabin, age group, activity, or event name.
Start the upload and wait while CampiumDB performs automatic processing.
Processing may include resizing, watermarking, and preparing photos for the Gallery.

Review uploaded photos

When processing finishes, confirm that photos appear under Portal -> Photo Hosting → Photos for the selected season.
Check that tags, dates, and any watermarks look correct.
While a photo is still moving through the pipeline, the gallery keeps the thumbnail and shows a Processing or In review chip on the card. Hover In review when a reason is available.
A Rejected photo stays in the gallery as a placeholder without the image, so you can delete it without waiting for cleanup. Only rejected photos hide the thumbnail.

Uploaded photos may take a short time to appear for families in the portal and app while processing finishes. If you upload a large batch, expect a longer processing time. The gallery updates state chips as processing and review finish.

Manage photo tags

Tags help families filter photos by cabin, activity, event, or other categories.

Go to the Tags area

In the admin portal, open Portal -> Photo Hosting → Tags.
Confirm that you are working in the correct Season.

Create or edit tags

Add new tags that match how you talk about your camp (for example, Cabin Blue Jays, Lake Swim, Color War).
Edit existing tags if you need to rename or merge categories.

Apply tags to photos

From Portal -> Photo Hosting → Photos, select one or more photos.
Apply one or more tags so families can filter by these labels in the portal and app.

Create a short, consistent tag list at the start of the season. Consistent names such as Cabin Pine and Cabin Oak make it easier for families to find photos over time.

Review campers tagged by facial recognition

When facial recognition is on, staff can open Tagged Campers on a photo to see which campers Campium matched and remove incorrect matches.

Go to Portal → Photo Hosting → Photos and open the photo.
Click the people icon (Tagged campers) on the photo card.
In the Tagged Campers dialog, review each matched camper. When a match score is available, Campium shows it as a percentage under the name (for example, 99.4% match). That value is how closely the face matched the camper, not how sure the system is that a face was detected.
Remove any incorrect camper from the list, then click Close.

Older recognitions may show a blank score instead of a percentage. Blank means no stored match score is available for that row.

Set the default season for the portal

Set a default season so families land on the correct year when they open Photos in the portal or Gallery in the app.

Choose the default season

In the admin portal, go to Portal -> Photo Hosting → Photos.
Locate the option to set the default season for the portal and Gallery.
Select your current camp season (for example, Summer 2025) and save.

Families only see seasons where they have campers. Setting the default season controls which season appears first, but families can still switch to previous seasons they have access to.

Keep photos visible after a season goes inactive

By default, when you set a season to Inactive, it no longer appears in the parent portal Photos list or the mobile Gallery, even if photos are still stored for that season.

To keep an inactive season visible to families:

Open Seasons and edit that season.
Set Show Photos On Parent Portal When Inactive to Yes.
Save.

Active seasons always appear in those galleries. The setting only matters after the season is Inactive. For the full season close workflow, see Manage Seasons.

Photo Hosting reports

Photo Hosting includes reports that show how many photos you have for each group and camper.

Group Photo Count report

Use the Group Photo Count report to see how many photos exist for each group (for example, cabin, bunk, or session).

Check for groups with very few photos so you can capture more for them.
Share this with photographers as a reminder to reach under-photographed groups.

Camper Photo Count report

Use the Camper Photo Count report to track how many photos include each camper.

Confirm that most campers have a reasonable number of photos.
Identify campers with very few or no photos and adjust your coverage.

Run both reports mid-season and near the end of camp to make sure every group and camper appears in your galleries.

How families view photos

Families view photos differently depending on whether they use the web parent portal or the mobile app.

Parents pay a single fee per camper per season to unlock access to that season's gallery. Once they pay for a season, they can view and download unlimited high-resolution photos from that season at no additional cost.

Families use the web parent portal to browse season-based photo galleries.

Parents sign in to the parent portal with their family account.
From the main menu, they select Photos.

Choose a season

The portal shows the default season you set.
Families can switch to other seasons where they have campers, if available.

Browse by date or tag

Families scroll through photos organized by date.
They filter or browse by tags you applied in Photo Hosting → Tags, such as cabins or activities.

Use My Photos (when facial recognition is enabled)

When facial recognition is turned on and the family has opted in, they see a My Photos section.
My Photos shows photos CampiumDB believes contain their camper, based on the profile photo and facial recognition settings.
Open a camper under My Photos to view that camper's matched photos for the season.

Download all photos for a camper

After the family unlocks high-resolution photos for the season (the one-time season fee), the per-camper gallery shows a download status area.
When no bundle is waiting, they see Download all photos with helper text: We'll bundle every photo on this page and the rest of this season, then email you a download link.
Click Download all photos. The gallery switches to preparing copy: We're putting your photos together. We'll email a download link when they're ready. Campium also emails the family when the zip is ready (subject Your camp photos are ready to download).
When the bundle is ready, the gallery shows how many photos are ready and Download your photos (or separate Part 1, Part 2, … links for a large multi-part download). Links work for 12 hours.
After the link expires, the gallery shows That download link has expired. with Request again. If the build failed, it shows a short reason and Request again.
If a download is already preparing, Campium does not queue a second job and keeps the preparing message on the gallery.

Download all photos appears only on a camper's My Photos gallery after high-resolution access is unlocked for that season. It is not available from date or tag browse views. The bundle includes active facial matches for that camper and season. Families can re-download or re-request from the same gallery without waiting for another email. Very large galleries may fail with a message asking them to contact the camp for help.

Families only see photos for seasons where they have registered campers. If a parent does not see photos, first confirm that their camper is enrolled in the season you are expecting.

Facial Recognition

Facial recognition helps families find photos that appear to include their camper. It compares a saved profile photo with uploaded photos and suggests likely matches.

Facial recognition requires a separate module toggle. In Admin -> Site Settings → Modules, enable the Facial Recognition module in addition to the Photo Hosting module. Facial recognition only works when this module is on and the family has opted in for the camper.

Facial recognition is approximately 85% accurate. Families should still browse the full gallery, since some matches will be missed and some suggested matches may not be correct.

How families opt in

Families choose whether to use facial recognition for each camper.

Upload a clear profile photo

The family adds a clear, front-facing profile photo of the camper in their profile.
The photo should show only the camper's face, with good lighting and no heavy face paint or masks.

Enable the facial recognition checkbox

The family reads the facial recognition explanation in the portal.
They check the opt-in checkbox to allow CampiumDB to use the camper's face data for photo matching.
After they save the choice, a short status message can appear under the checkbox (for example, that the photo is enrolled, that a clearer headshot is needed, or that a profile photo is missing).

When enabled, CampiumDB uses the profile photo and checkbox setting to look for that camper in new photos going forward.

Important behavior and limits

Facial recognition works on new photos only. It does not scan photos that were uploaded before the family opted in.
The My Photos section appears when facial recognition is enabled and enough matches exist for that camper.
When a family opts out, CampiumDB removes the stored face data and stops scanning new photos for that camper.

Facial recognition does not work retroactively. If a family opts in mid-season, CampiumDB only scans photos uploaded after opt-in, not earlier batches.

Troubleshooting

Use these common questions and answers to resolve Photo Hosting issues quickly.

Glossary

Photo Hosting — The CampiumDB area where staff upload, organize, and manage photos by season.
Gallery — The mobile app view that shows season-based photos to families. It is powered by the same single Photo Hosting module toggle, not a separate module.
Photos (parent portal) — The web portal section where families browse and download camp photos.
Tags — Labels such as cabins, activities, or events that help organize and filter photos.
My Photos — A view in the portal and app that shows photos CampiumDB believes contain a specific camper, based on facial recognition.
Default season — The season that appears first when families open Photos or the Gallery; families can switch seasons they have access to.

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