Getting Started with PhotoRoads

PhotoRoads is built around a simple idea: your photos tell a story, and that story deserves more than a grid. A Road is a sequenced journey through your images — a cinematic experience your audience can scroll through at their own pace.

This guide walks you through everything from uploading your first photo to publishing your first Road.

Step 1: Upload Your Photos

Head to Dashboard → Upload. You can drag and drop an entire folder or click to browse.

PhotoRoads accepts:

JPEG and PNG (recommended for web)
RAW files — ARW, CR3, NEF, DNG

A few things worth knowing:

You can upload up to 8 photos simultaneously — the uploader queues everything automatically
EXIF data is extracted on upload, so your camera model, aperture, shutter speed, ISO, and GPS coordinates are stored automatically
For free accounts, the limit is 500 photos. Upgrade to Pro for 2,000 photos and a 10-day trial on your first upgrade

Once uploaded, your photos appear in the Gallery. Previews are generated in the background — they'll appear within a few seconds.

Step 2: Create a Road

Go to Dashboard → Roads → New Road.

Give your Road a title and a short description. The slug (the URL-friendly version of your title) is generated automatically, but you can customise it.

Your Road starts as a draft — it won't be visible to the public until you publish it.

Step 3: Assign Photos to Your Road

Open your Road from the Roads page. You'll see your full photo library on the left and your Road sequence on the right.

Click any photo to assign it. The order you assign them becomes the sequence your audience will experience — so think about the narrative arc. A good Road usually has:

An establishing shot at the start
A mix of wide and tight shots through the middle
A strong closing image

You can search your library by filename, camera model, or caption to find specific shots quickly.

Step 4: Publish

When you're happy with your sequence, toggle Public on the Road settings page and hit Save.

Your Road is now live at:

photoroads.com/road/your-slug

Share the link on social media, embed it in your portfolio, or link it from your PhotoRoads profile page at photoroads.com/your-username.

What's Next

Edit your profile — add a bio, avatar, and brand colour at Dashboard → Settings
Add captions — select any photo in the gallery and click Edit Metadata to add a caption that appears in the Road viewer
Set focal points — click Edit Metadata on a photo to set the focal point so your images crop correctly at different screen sizes

If you run into anything, the rest of the guides in this blog cover each feature in depth.