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DPChallenge Forums >> Photography Discussion >> Smugmug problems
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 05/02/2006 07:14:47 PM · #1
I've been using smugmug for my photos for a little while now and I've loved them until now. I don't like how they have to crop photos that I want prints of. It's very frustrating. I either have to allow the crop or I get white borders on two sides of the print. Is there something I can do to fix this problem? Resize the photos prior to loading them perhaps? Thanks for any help with this problem.
 05/02/2006 07:35:17 PM · #2
What you are describing is a problem with an aspect ratio - if you upload a shot with a 3:4 aspect ratio, there is no way it can be printed at a 2:3 aspect ratio (as in 4x6) without either cropping some of the pixel detail or living with a white border. It's mathematically impossible....

Smugmug does give you the option to change the crop prior to submitting a print order - have you tried that?

I usually leave enough pixels in the frame to handle 4x6 up to 8x10 ratio, knowing that what's in the frame for a 4x6 will be different than a 5x7 or 8x10. A 4x6 print is much more rectangular than the other sizes, and that's where your problem likely is. Unfortunately, there isn't anything that any site can do to alleviate this - it has to be handled when you compose and take the shot in the camera.

Edit: typo

Message edited by author 2006-05-02 19:35:52.
 05/02/2006 08:44:21 PM · #3
Most of the time, I upload full size uncropped photos and let the customer pick the size and crop that they want. That is ... for my "casual customers". (those that I've generally never met)

For my business customers, I ask them to tell me what pictures they like and what size they want. For anything 5x7 or larger, I do touch-up work and then crop and upload them separately into a prints folder.

I also generally submit the order for them. For two reasons:

1) If I submit the order, smugmug doesn't take a percentage of the sale.
2) THEIR ORDERING PROCESS STINKS as far as large orders are concerned.

I ordered $400 worth of prints the other day, it took me an hour and a half to submit the order, and I have a high-speed connection! I pity anyone trying to submit a large order over dial-up.

So... I love smugmug. But I don't care for their ordering process.

What would be ideal to me ... is if the customer submitted the order, and the order came to me FIRST before being fulfilled. I could then upload full size images, adjust cropping, etc. And then allow them to print and ship. That way no mistakes in cropping are made, and if any touch-up work needs to be done, it is done as part of the process instead of having to request that they tell me what they want to order.

And then, some kind of offline ordering process would work - or at least, don't keep re-displaying the entire contents of the cart every time someone needs to adjust size, paper type or crop. It just takes way too long.

05/02/2006 08:53:49 PM · #4
there is a way:
if you search digital grin, there is a piece of code you can implent in the photos description that will add a shopping cart, from there the customer can click on the shopping care which is linked to your pay pal account, then pay pal sends you a email asking if you watn to acccept the oerder, from there you accept, print your photos and send the the buyer,

05/02/2006 08:58:39 PM · #5
... opps sorry

Message edited by author 2006-05-02 20:59:46.
 05/03/2006 05:33:14 PM · #6
Originally posted by A1275:
What you are describing is a problem with an aspect ratio - if you upload a shot with a 3:4 aspect ratio, there is no way it can be printed at a 2:3 aspect ratio (as in 4x6) without either cropping some of the pixel detail or living with a white border. It's mathematically impossible....

Smugmug does give you the option to change the crop prior to submitting a print order - have you tried that?

I usually leave enough pixels in the frame to handle 4x6 up to 8x10 ratio, knowing that what's in the frame for a 4x6 will be different than a 5x7 or 8x10. A 4x6 print is much more rectangular than the other sizes, and that's where your problem likely is. Unfortunately, there isn't anything that any site can do to alleviate this - it has to be handled when you compose and take the shot in the camera.

Edit: typo


Yes, I know about the option to crop or not, but I didn't know if there was something I could do so that I could get the whole photo printed without cropping or the white borders.
 05/03/2006 06:23:04 PM · #7
Originally posted by A4wheelin:
Yes, I know about the option to crop or not, but I didn't know if there was something I could do so that I could get the whole photo printed without cropping or the white borders.


Think of it like this, what you are trying to do is make a square fit into a rectangular box. There isn't anything you can do except crop or have white borders on the print, unless you choose a different print size which more closely matches your aspect ratio.

What you want to do is keep this in mind when you compose your shots. Leave some room on each outside edge (rather than "filling the frame" on the LCD monitor) and plan to crop during PP. You can resize your image (similar to the process for re-sizing for challenge entries) only you pick a print size instead of a pixel count.

My own workflow consists of cropping the frame to what I think is best, and then going back to make sure nothing important will get left out at each image size I think it might get printed at. After awhile, you'll develop an eye for this and it won't be as many steps.

It's just one of those things that we all have to deal with. Your camera manual should tell you what aspect ratio your camera defaults to, and you can plan from there.

Good luck!
 05/03/2006 10:25:14 PM · #8
Originally posted by A1275:
Originally posted by A4wheelin:
Yes, I know about the option to crop or not, but I didn't know if there was something I could do so that I could get the whole photo printed without cropping or the white borders.


Think of it like this, what you are trying to do is make a square fit into a rectangular box. There isn't anything you can do except crop or have white borders on the print, unless you choose a different print size which more closely matches your aspect ratio.

What you want to do is keep this in mind when you compose your shots. Leave some room on each outside edge (rather than "filling the frame" on the LCD monitor) and plan to crop during PP. You can resize your image (similar to the process for re-sizing for challenge entries) only you pick a print size instead of a pixel count.

My own workflow consists of cropping the frame to what I think is best, and then going back to make sure nothing important will get left out at each image size I think it might get printed at. After awhile, you'll develop an eye for this and it won't be as many steps.

It's just one of those things that we all have to deal with. Your camera manual should tell you what aspect ratio your camera defaults to, and you can plan from there.

Good luck!


Thanks. I'll have to just figure it out I suppose.
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