Sorry, I don't know how to PM someone.... couldn't find it! So, hopefully it'll get seen here. Well, hmmm, the above solutions present a whole host of problems. First of all, I really wasn't able to create the book at all with this rotation problem going on. I mean, to do anything at all, I'd need to have my photos at the correct orientation in their frames on the page-- because at that point, I'd want to crop them certain ways, change frame sizes, arrange on the page, etc. I don't see how you would do all that for me! I only had one project, and this problem was happening on all its pages-- as I said, I only got to 2 or 3 pages because it became so impossible to work with.
Secondly, I'm not sure what you mean by replacing "problem" photos on SmugMug. None of the photos had any problem-- I don't know what the problem is! I think the problem was the worst with any photo that happened to be vertically oriented. But, goodness, especially with portraits, anyone is going to have gazillions of vertically oriented photos they'll want to use. And furthermore, if I were to replace certain photos, what would I replace them with? There's no problem with them until I try to use them in MyCanvas. In most cases, I'm simply using original files that were unloaded from my camera card to folders on my computer as jpgs. Then I've uploaded them to SmugMug. That's it. I edit some photos as PSDs in PS (CS2) and then save as Jpgs and put them back in the same folder & upload them. As far as I know though, none of the photos I had trouble with had been edited.
Now and then I may have photos that need to be rotated in SmugMug-- i.e., I shot it vertically and for whatever reason, it remained horizontal when taken from the camera card. So I might simply rotate it in SmugMug once it's uploaded there. Again, though, I don't know that this was the case w/ any photos in question. So, I'm just not clear on what "replacement photos" I'd use.
But at any rate, there's really no way of working on a project like these books if you can't work with the photos themselves. Another thing people will want to do when they're arranging pages & photos is zoom in or out. If the photo is all distorted, there's no way to see what it will look like.
Ok, I'll find my username and let you know, if someone can tell me how to PM someone (guessing that means private mail, right?) I've just never run into the need to do that on DGrin before.... Thanks! (ps-- actually I think I used the same name I have here-- WinsomeWorks)
--Anna Lisa
Anna Lisa,
We refreshed your SmugMug albums on MyCanvas and it appears that it fixed the rotated thumbnail and image problems. You'll just need to drag the updated thumbnails back onto your pages to see the corrected images. If you see any other rotated image problems please PM or email me and we'll take a look.
MyCanvas books and collages
I just wanted to give a bit of feedback to the My Canvas folks, and inquire of any wedding photographers who may have tried them for albums.
I just put together a book (in two hours, since that $30 coupon was discovered just before it expired), and found I needed way more time to learn the software than I was given. The backgrounds didn't go away (lilies or some type of stem) when I put my own backgrounds in, and the help section was not coming up when I clicked on it. I wanted to do nine or sixteen detail shots on a page, but found no layouts to allow it. I agree with the others about thumbnail sizes, and having an option for them to be hidden once used would be good. Don't worry about people not building a book because they have to name it. You are after a pro market with your prices and stated quality, and pros make a lot of books. They need to name them right away to find them later.
Pricing seems fine for the basic book, but quite high for the premium. If you want to compete with album makers that cater to wedding photographers, such as Asuka or Zookbinders, you could offer a laminated photo cover in larger than 8X8 (thats a parent album, not a couple's), offer presentation boxes with anything over $100, not an extra $50 for the sleave thing if the book is already over $300.00. (how about a less -expensive- to -make presentation box, like Asuka offers with every product? ) We just can't make much of a profit with such a high initial cost to the photographer. And I hesitate to order a premium book without seeing it at a trade show or somewhere...I searched and searched for reviews of your product but only found it was an ancestry site before, and no pro photographers had posted any reviews of the quality of the printing and binding. Since I trust Smugmug, and the little book to test you out is only costing me $8.00 in shipping, I'll give it a go. But since my problem with some bookmakers has been the quality in full-bleed double-page panoramas, an 8X8 book isn't going to totally reassure me before using it for a larger wedding album.
Most of my younger couples want laminate photo covers in larger sizes, or a leather cover with the name and date in a choice of font style on the lower right. If choosing a photo opening on the cover and leather "frame", I present it to them with a plate easel for display. Just a thought for you.
Please e-mail your clients that their order was received. It's unnernving to give credit card info on line and get no acknowlegment of an order.
I did receive a shipping notice, but it had no link to the UPS site next to the tracking number. Perhaps you could add that as well.
I'd love to hear if anyone has received a premium book from My Canvas, especially in comparison with other pro album makers. Thanks!
All good points Smurfy, I am in the same position as you. Waiting to see how my test album rates as far as quality, shipping times etc.
I agree they need a better order confirmation process after the sale. I am hoping I get a notice with tracking number when it is shipped.
I think they have some growing pains right now and they are doing their best to sort that out. So far communications here on DGrin have been very good. Their websites help system is lacking. I sent a query that was not answered for several days and when I replied to it said that it could not process my request because it came from an incorrect email address...I just gave up on that as I had my question answered here...something needs to be sorted out there for sure.
I have positive feelings about this company. Hopefully they can pull it off and offer an alternative to the Blurb, MPix style of books.
Pricing on the high end books does present a bit of a problem for my clientele. I service the lower end market mostly and they would never spend $700 on an album which is the minimum I could charge after expenses. I think I would go with Asuka at this price level.
The branding needs to have the option to be removed before I would use them for clients as well, this is good for consumer products but not for anyone re-selling them to customers. I don't want to have to explain why I just charged them $700 for a book that cost me $350.
All good points Smurfy, I am in the same position as you. Waiting to see how my test album rates as far as quality, shipping times etc.
I agree they need a better order confirmation process after the sale. I am hoping I get a notice with tracking number when it is shipped.
I think they have some growing pains right now and they are doing their best to sort that out. So far communications here on DGrin have been very good. Their websites help system is lacking. I sent a query that was not answered for several days and when I replied to it said that it could not process my request because it came from an incorrect email address...I just gave up on that as I had my question answered here...something needs to be sorted out there for sure.
I have positive feelings about this company. Hopefully they can pull it off and offer an alternative to the Blurb, MPix style of books.
Pricing on the high end books does present a bit of a problem for my clientele. I service the lower end market mostly and they would never spend $700 on an album which is the minimum I could charge after expenses. I think I would go with Asuka at this price level.
The branding needs to have the option to be removed before I would use them for clients as well, this is good for consumer products but not for anyone re-selling them to customers. I don't want to have to explain why I just charged them $700 for a book that cost me $350.
Montec, Smurfy and others, thanks for your feedback. It's always good to hear what is important to the community and I'm glad many of you are giving us a test drive. We've been working hard to produce a quality product/service but also know that we can always improve on it. Better order confirmation and online help are just some of the things we'll continue to improve on. We're also looking at ways to help the pros meet the demands of your customers with regards to pricing, layouts, branding, etc... But please do continue to send us your feedback, we take it very serious. You also can always get feedback to us faster thru our feedback link at the top of our Book Editor.
I don't see the extra cost for expediting a shipment. How much extra cost is there? I'm waiting to receive the first one to see if I need to make any changes for the half dozen or so I'll be ordering. I hope it gets here quickly. It did ship today. Thanks.
I don't see the extra cost for expediting a shipment. How much extra cost is there? I'm waiting to receive the first one to see if I need to make any changes for the half dozen or so I'll be ordering. I hope it gets here quickly. It did ship today. Thanks.
I must say I am a bit concerned about this as well. I ordered Blurb book after I ordered this one and I have already received it. I have no idea where this one is in the process.
I just received my first photo book. Great quality printing and a quick turn around.
But as a canadian customer, I have to say we are very disappointed by our experience with UPS. To accept delivery of the $50 book (including the $9 shipping), we had to pay UPS a $20 brokerage fee!
I have made several purchases from the US, so I would not have been surprised being charged by Customs Canada to recover the sales taxes (13%), but in this case the UPS brokerage fee was exhorbitant.
It's a nice book but definitely not worth $70. This experience will surely make us think twice about using a U.S. company for photo finishing.
Does Smugmug have plans to affiliate itself with a canadian firm in the future?
But as a canadian customer, I have to say we are very disappointed by our experience with UPS. To accept delivery of the $50 book (including the $9 shipping), we had to pay UPS a $20 brokerage fee!
You must get items shipped by Air, not Ground. Air shipping by UPS does not incur the huge brokerage fees as ground shipping does. I learned this lesson the hard way, $20 items and $30 brokerage fees.
I don't see the extra cost for expediting a shipment. How much extra cost is there? I'm waiting to receive the first one to see if I need to make any changes for the half dozen or so I'll be ordering. I hope it gets here quickly. It did ship today. Thanks.
You can go to your cart and view the standard shipping price then recalculate it for expedited shipping.
mycanvas sharing
Blurb offers a feature where I can offer my finished projects to other people, for a profit to me. Similar to smugmug's pro pricing, acutally. I don't see it with mycanvas, but is it available? If not, is it possible to get? After doing all that work to create a book, I'd like to be able to share in the profit of referring people to the product. Would be especially nice for wedding photogs I'd think.
I am trying very hard to make some calendars for Christmas. The features offered are great. But I keep having trouble with my images disappearing. I am trying to set images as background images and sometimes they show up, and sometimes they just end up being blank white pages. Sometimes they USED to show up, but then later they don't. I can't figure out what's going on, and it makes me sad :P
I am trying very hard to make some calendars for Christmas. The features offered are great. But I keep having trouble with my images disappearing. I am trying to set images as background images and sometimes they show up, and sometimes they just end up being blank white pages. Sometimes they USED to show up, but then later they don't. I can't figure out what's going on, and it makes me sad :P
Please PM me your MyCanvas username and we'll take a look.
We are currently exploring a pro offering and would like to get input from pros with clients. How can we best reach out to the pro on SmugMug to get this input? How many of you would like to create products for your clients vs. allowing your clients to create products from the photos you have taken for them?
Please let me know if you are willing answer some questions or take a survey to help us better understand what you would like in such an offering?
Blurb offers a feature where I can offer my finished projects to other people, for a profit to me. Similar to smugmug's pro pricing, acutally. I don't see it with mycanvas, but is it available? If not, is it possible to get? After doing all that work to create a book, I'd like to be able to share in the profit of referring people to the product. Would be especially nice for wedding photogs I'd think.
This is currently not available, but we definitely want to offer this in the future. I don't have an ETA for it, but it is on our todo list.
As well, I supposedly imported all of my photos, but they are not all available to me. And I cannot figure out how to import the galleries that are missing.
And, further to the bug report above, the program just shut down on me and I had started making calendar 2 (ie lost work this time). Should I switch from safari to something else?
Anyone else with these instability issues?
I just received my first photo book. Great quality printing and a quick turn around.
But as a canadian customer, I have to say we are very disappointed by our experience with UPS. To accept delivery of the $50 book (including the $9 shipping), we had to pay UPS a $20 brokerage fee!
I have made several purchases from the US, so I would not have been surprised being charged by Customs Canada to recover the sales taxes (13%), but in this case the UPS brokerage fee was exhorbitant.
It's a nice book but definitely not worth $70. This experience will surely make us think twice about using a U.S. company for photo finishing.
Does Smugmug have plans to affiliate itself with a canadian firm in the future?
My experience has been that UPS is one of the worst to use to get things from the U.S. to Canada from a cost perspective. Unfortunately, most of the U.S. based suppliers I use seem to use UPS and most don't offer the USPS option. Also, I agree with Montec that Ground is worse than Air.
I ordered a book and a large poster using the promo codes to test out the MyCanvas services. (with the discounts, how could I not try it out!!)
I really loved the templates that I was able to use to make the book. And the paper quality was very nice. I wasn't as pleased with the outside of the book. It doesn't seem to be stuck on very well at the spine and detracts from the higher quality of what's inside. I showed it off to some friends who have seen other books I have made and they had pretty much the same comments. Also, it didn't seem to be as carefully packaged as the other book making company I've used.
It was nice to see my photos in as large a size as the poster I made. I did a 24X36 poster portrait style and put two of my sunrise photos on it (one above the other). The print was very nice. There does seem to be some sort of shadow around each picture that I first thought might be an intentional drop shadow, but I don't think so. It just sort of stops part way at the bottom of each photos. I'm still very happy with the poster though. I can't wait to frame it and hang it up on my wall!!
I was going to try out a calendar, but I think unfortunately the cost of shipping will deter me from using the service again. As I mentioned, it's not something specific only to MyCanvas, but to many of the U.S. based suppliers I use.
I've heard the same thing about UPS - air rather than ground and you avoid the extra brokerage fees.
When having used equipment sent, USPS has been great. But I have had big delays with USPS ground for photo delivery from Smugmug. However, when I use the International 2 day option, and the package ships FedEx, all is smooth and quick.
The company I work for ships everything we make, and almost all of it internationally. We use FedEx. UPS almost always causes problems, particularly for customers shipping things to us from the US - customs delays are almost guaranteed!
I think the only way to cope with shipping in to Canada is to place large orders so that the cost is distributed over many items, and to choose air shipping. If you are only making one of, then several companies within Canada provide these services (Costco, Don' Photo, London Drugs, etc.) Of course, the ability to slurp them from Smugmug is missing.
As well, I supposedly imported all of my photos, but they are not all available to me. And I cannot figure out how to import the galleries that are missing.
And, further to the bug report above, the program just shut down on me and I had started making calendar 2 (ie lost work this time). Should I switch from safari to something else?
Anyone else with these instability issues?
ann
Try the following when galleries aren't showing up:
Customize the gallery that is not showing up by setting external links to "yes".
If you see your galleries but no photos are coming in set Hide owner to "no"
MyCanvas feedback
I just thought you'd like to know that my MyCanvas calendar I ordered came out *amazing*... it doesn't come out in this quick photo, but all the pictures look fantastic and the calendar paper quality and such is awesome!
I'll be ordering half a dozen more for Christmas gifts .
Comments
Anna Lisa,
We refreshed your SmugMug albums on MyCanvas and it appears that it fixed the rotated thumbnail and image problems. You'll just need to drag the updated thumbnails back onto your pages to see the corrected images. If you see any other rotated image problems please PM or email me and we'll take a look.
Kelvin
I just wanted to give a bit of feedback to the My Canvas folks, and inquire of any wedding photographers who may have tried them for albums.
I just put together a book (in two hours, since that $30 coupon was discovered just before it expired), and found I needed way more time to learn the software than I was given. The backgrounds didn't go away (lilies or some type of stem) when I put my own backgrounds in, and the help section was not coming up when I clicked on it. I wanted to do nine or sixteen detail shots on a page, but found no layouts to allow it. I agree with the others about thumbnail sizes, and having an option for them to be hidden once used would be good. Don't worry about people not building a book because they have to name it. You are after a pro market with your prices and stated quality, and pros make a lot of books. They need to name them right away to find them later.
Pricing seems fine for the basic book, but quite high for the premium. If you want to compete with album makers that cater to wedding photographers, such as Asuka or Zookbinders, you could offer a laminated photo cover in larger than 8X8 (thats a parent album, not a couple's), offer presentation boxes with anything over $100, not an extra $50 for the sleave thing if the book is already over $300.00. (how about a less -expensive- to -make presentation box, like Asuka offers with every product? ) We just can't make much of a profit with such a high initial cost to the photographer. And I hesitate to order a premium book without seeing it at a trade show or somewhere...I searched and searched for reviews of your product but only found it was an ancestry site before, and no pro photographers had posted any reviews of the quality of the printing and binding. Since I trust Smugmug, and the little book to test you out is only costing me $8.00 in shipping, I'll give it a go. But since my problem with some bookmakers has been the quality in full-bleed double-page panoramas, an 8X8 book isn't going to totally reassure me before using it for a larger wedding album.
Most of my younger couples want laminate photo covers in larger sizes, or a leather cover with the name and date in a choice of font style on the lower right. If choosing a photo opening on the cover and leather "frame", I present it to them with a plate easel for display. Just a thought for you.
Please e-mail your clients that their order was received. It's unnernving to give credit card info on line and get no acknowlegment of an order.
I did receive a shipping notice, but it had no link to the UPS site next to the tracking number. Perhaps you could add that as well.
I'd love to hear if anyone has received a premium book from My Canvas, especially in comparison with other pro album makers. Thanks!
I agree they need a better order confirmation process after the sale. I am hoping I get a notice with tracking number when it is shipped.
I think they have some growing pains right now and they are doing their best to sort that out. So far communications here on DGrin have been very good. Their websites help system is lacking. I sent a query that was not answered for several days and when I replied to it said that it could not process my request because it came from an incorrect email address...I just gave up on that as I had my question answered here...something needs to be sorted out there for sure.
I have positive feelings about this company. Hopefully they can pull it off and offer an alternative to the Blurb, MPix style of books.
Pricing on the high end books does present a bit of a problem for my clientele. I service the lower end market mostly and they would never spend $700 on an album which is the minimum I could charge after expenses. I think I would go with Asuka at this price level.
The branding needs to have the option to be removed before I would use them for clients as well, this is good for consumer products but not for anyone re-selling them to customers. I don't want to have to explain why I just charged them $700 for a book that cost me $350.
Monte
Montec, Smurfy and others, thanks for your feedback. It's always good to hear what is important to the community and I'm glad many of you are giving us a test drive. We've been working hard to produce a quality product/service but also know that we can always improve on it. Better order confirmation and online help are just some of the things we'll continue to improve on. We're also looking at ways to help the pros meet the demands of your customers with regards to pricing, layouts, branding, etc... But please do continue to send us your feedback, we take it very serious. You also can always get feedback to us faster thru our feedback link at the top of our Book Editor.
I would LOVE feedback from anyone that makes a calendar.
Markham
www.twitter.com/markhambennett
Cheers,
John
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Yosemite-and-Bay-Area-Nature-Photography-by-John-Harrison/190152125697
Happiness is shooting a Nikon outside and posting on SmugMug!
I just went and created one, Wow! best calendar software interface I have used to date.
Still need to get that used images indicator worked out tho...for someone as thick as me I easily forget what images I have used
Monte
We're making good progress on building the images used indicator as well as being able to display larger thumbnails.
Thanks again for the feedback.
http://www.happyvalleyphotography.com
I must say I am a bit concerned about this as well. I ordered Blurb book after I ordered this one and I have already received it. I have no idea where this one is in the process.
Monte
But as a canadian customer, I have to say we are very disappointed by our experience with UPS. To accept delivery of the $50 book (including the $9 shipping), we had to pay UPS a $20 brokerage fee!
I have made several purchases from the US, so I would not have been surprised being charged by Customs Canada to recover the sales taxes (13%), but in this case the UPS brokerage fee was exhorbitant.
It's a nice book but definitely not worth $70. This experience will surely make us think twice about using a U.S. company for photo finishing.
Does Smugmug have plans to affiliate itself with a canadian firm in the future?
You must get items shipped by Air, not Ground. Air shipping by UPS does not incur the huge brokerage fees as ground shipping does. I learned this lesson the hard way, $20 items and $30 brokerage fees.
Monte
You can go to your cart and view the standard shipping price then recalculate it for expedited shipping.
Blurb offers a feature where I can offer my finished projects to other people, for a profit to me. Similar to smugmug's pro pricing, acutally. I don't see it with mycanvas, but is it available? If not, is it possible to get? After doing all that work to create a book, I'd like to be able to share in the profit of referring people to the product. Would be especially nice for wedding photogs I'd think.
http://www.photosbycynthia.com/
Please PM me your MyCanvas username and we'll take a look.
So is there any other offer at this time? I see that the coupon expired on the 20th.
30D 70-200 f2.8 IS, 400 f5.6, 50 1.4, sigma 18-200 3.5-6.3
Right on their website! Until Dec 24, save 20% on all products.
http://www.photosbycynthia.com/
Please let me know if you are willing answer some questions or take a survey to help us better understand what you would like in such an offering?
Thanks, Kelvin
This is currently not available, but we definitely want to offer this in the future. I don't have an ETA for it, but it is on our todo list.
Markham
www.twitter.com/markhambennett
We don't currently have any plans for this, sorry. We would like to but we have our hands full as it is working with US based suppliers.
www.twitter.com/markhambennett
See this post for details.
ann
My Galleries My Photography BLOG
Ramblings About Me
http://www.photosbycynthia.com/
And, further to the bug report above, the program just shut down on me and I had started making calendar 2 (ie lost work this time). Should I switch from safari to something else?
Anyone else with these instability issues?
ann
My Galleries My Photography BLOG
Ramblings About Me
My experience has been that UPS is one of the worst to use to get things from the U.S. to Canada from a cost perspective. Unfortunately, most of the U.S. based suppliers I use seem to use UPS and most don't offer the USPS option.
I ordered a book and a large poster using the promo codes to test out the MyCanvas services. (with the discounts, how could I not try it out!!)
I really loved the templates that I was able to use to make the book. And the paper quality was very nice. I wasn't as pleased with the outside of the book. It doesn't seem to be stuck on very well at the spine and detracts from the higher quality of what's inside. I showed it off to some friends who have seen other books I have made and they had pretty much the same comments. Also, it didn't seem to be as carefully packaged as the other book making company I've used.
It was nice to see my photos in as large a size as the poster I made.
I was going to try out a calendar, but I think unfortunately the cost of shipping will deter me from using the service again.
-- Lisa P.
http://www.pictureyourlifephotography.com
When having used equipment sent, USPS has been great. But I have had big delays with USPS ground for photo delivery from Smugmug. However, when I use the International 2 day option, and the package ships FedEx, all is smooth and quick.
The company I work for ships everything we make, and almost all of it internationally. We use FedEx. UPS almost always causes problems, particularly for customers shipping things to us from the US - customs delays are almost guaranteed!
I think the only way to cope with shipping in to Canada is to place large orders so that the cost is distributed over many items, and to choose air shipping. If you are only making one of, then several companies within Canada provide these services (Costco, Don' Photo, London Drugs, etc.) Of course, the ability to slurp them from Smugmug is missing.
My Galleries My Photography BLOG
Ramblings About Me
Try the following when galleries aren't showing up:
Okay, will check those things.
Problems I reported yesterday are not here today - things are working beautifully.
Thanks for the support.
ann
My Galleries My Photography BLOG
Ramblings About Me
I just thought you'd like to know that my MyCanvas calendar I ordered came out *amazing*... it doesn't come out in this quick photo, but all the pictures look fantastic and the calendar paper quality and such is awesome!
I'll be ordering half a dozen more for Christmas gifts
We just got back my calendar I created and it is really great huh?!
Looks like we are going to make it more prominent on SmugMug. Just need MyCanvas now to allow customers to choose their own month start date!
www.twitter.com/markhambennett