Online booking for photographers
A two-hour shoot is a five-hour day once travel, backup and editing are counted, and only two of those hours are in the calendar.
A 120-minute shoot event type with a sixty-minute buffer after, two shoots a day as a cap, a deposit paid online, and the weather policy in the confirmation message.
The invisible hours, and the date that gets held for nothing#
Book three shoots on a Saturday and the editing arrives as a wall on Monday. Two a day with a real buffer is a sustainable week.
Separately, an enquiry that holds a Saturday without a deposit is not a booking. Cherry blossom and autumn weekends are the ones people ask about and the ones you cannot afford to hold for somebody who is still deciding.
The setup to start from#
A shoot is two hours on site plus travel, and the editing afterwards is invisible in the diary but very real in the week.
| Duration | 120 minutes |
|---|---|
| Minimum notice | 72 hours |
| Buffer | 60 minutes after, for travel and backup |
| Bookable up to | 180 days |
| Max bookings per day | Two shoots a day, so the editing gets done |
| Location | In person, location agreed after booking |
| Payment | Paid online, or a deposit that holds the date |
| Cancellation policy | Full refund 7 days before, 50% inside that |
Worth asking on the booking form: What is the shoot for? · How many people? · Preferred location · What happens if it rains?
Cherry blossom and autumn colour weekends sell out first and are weather-dependent. Take a deposit, say plainly what happens if it rains, and put that in the confirmation message where it is repeated in every reminder.
A deposit holds the date#
Take it online when they book. The date is only confirmed once the payment clears, and an abandoned checkout releases it. Charging for bookings
Write the rain policy down#
Put it in the event type’s confirmation message, which appears in the confirmation email and in every reminder. Say plainly whether rain means a reschedule or a refund, and it stops being an argument.
Cap the day and buffer the travel#
Two shoots a day, sixty minutes after each. The calendar then describes a week you can actually deliver.
Getting started#
- Sign in at app.marubox.jp with Google or Microsoft. There is no card and no trial clock.
- Create an event type with the settings above. Event types explained
- Connect your calendar so your shooting days never gets double booked. Google · Outlook
- Set your real hours, and close Japanese public holidays in one tick. Availability
- Put the link in your bio, or the widget on your site. Adding it to your website
Common questions
How do I take a deposit to hold a shoot date?
Set the event type to paid online and make the price your deposit. The date is confirmed only when the payment succeeds, so nothing is held for an enquiry.
What should my rain policy say?
Whatever you will actually do — most photographers reschedule rather than refund. Put it in the confirmation message so it reaches the client in the confirmation and every reminder.
How do I keep enough time for editing?
Cap shoots per day and set a buffer after each one. The calendar then stops selling you a Saturday you cannot deliver.
Set this up in about ten minutes
Business Box is free for as long as you like, with no card required — booking pages, Google and Outlook calendar sync, availability, Japanese public holidays and the website widget. Taking card payment for bookings is ¥1,200 a month, tax included, with no commission on what you sell.
Last reviewed 28 September 2026.