Slow cropping?

Painterskip

Hi,

I took photos at a dance recital and uploaded close to 1200 images that were first edited in LightRoom. I tend to crop so the image looks good and not according to 'standard' sizes. It wasn't until I joined SmugMug last week (Pro) that I realized that most people will order 4" x 6" images (or so I'm guessing)

So I've gone about the task of using the crop tool within SmugMug. I love the fact that I can set the aspect ratio, however, it typically takes between one and 4 minutes for the crop to finish and that's only if it doesn't return an error. When I DO receive an error, it returns me to the very beginning of the gallery and not the photo I was working on, which is very annoying. In fact, if I delete a photo in a gallery, I'm always sent back to the very beginning....seems silly to me.

Anyway...is cropping always this slow? I emailed about it and was told the following.....
"We're a bit slow tonight on the secondary processes (cropping/watermarking/rotating etc) due to a huge rush of uploads for the big holiday - rendering photos and video takes precedence - the sorcerers are on the case and we should clear this in a little while -"


As of this morning, things are still slow...I'm just wondering if the cropping is ever fast...maybe I should simply either crop to exact size b-4 uploading or allow the potential customers to crop...


Skip


p.s.
I have the dance gallery password protected because it's kids...not sure if that the correct thing to do....(A question for another thread)

Andy

Cropping is a very intensive process for us. It can take a bit of time. We have to crop, then regenerate 8 display sizes.

I would never crop that many images on SmugMug, I'd do my cropping in PS.

Painterskip

Thanks....since I had already uploaded them, I figured it might be easier than adjusting and resending...

SamirD

So let me get this straight, there's a crop tool right in the gallery? I think I saw this earlier today, but can't believe I've missed it for 5 years. When did this feature come about?

jfriend

SamirD wrote: »

So let me get this straight, there's a crop tool right in the gallery? I think I saw this earlier today, but can't believe I've missed it for 5 years. When did this feature come about?

Been there for as long as I've been affiliated with Smugmug (6+ years).

Andy

jfriend wrote: »

Been there for as long as I've been affiliated with Smugmug (6+ years).

And actually longer. I think we've had it since day one or near day one.

SamirD

I guess you learn something new every day. I can't tell you how many photos I've hidden from publishing or deleted from a gallery, wishing I had a quick way to crop just a little bit out. :bash

Thank you both for the confirmation!

SamirD

Oooo...related question that I forgot to ask, but thought of when I originally saw the tool. Does cropping affect the original or just display copies? Does it basically deal with originals like the Color Effect tool?

jfriend

SamirD wrote: »

Oooo...related question that I forgot to ask, but thought of when I originally saw the tool. Does cropping affect the original or just display copies? Does it basically deal with originals like the Color Effect tool?

As best I know, when you crop on Smugmug, the original is permanently changed. Since prints are made from the original, it kinds of has to be modified unless Smugmug kept two copies of the original around (one unmodified and one modified) which I don't think they do.

Allen

SamirD wrote: »

Oooo...related question that I forgot to ask, but thought of when I originally saw the tool. Does cropping affect the original or just display copies? Does it basically deal with originals like the Color Effect tool?

Why not make a 2nd copy and crop it? Then hide the original in case
you change your mind or need it.

SamirD

jfriend wrote: »

As best I know, when you crop on Smugmug, the original is permanently changed. Since prints are made from the original, it kinds of has to be modified unless Smugmug kept two copies of the original around (one unmodified and one modified) which I don't think they do.

That's kinda what I was thinking from Andy's post about re-generating images. It makes sense.

Allen wrote: »

Why not make a 2nd copy and crop it? Then hide the original in case
you change your mind or need it.

I might do that, but I'm not too concerned as I have an archive category where I also upload my originals. I can always copy the original again from that gallery or just re-upload it from my local drives.

I was mainly just wondering how SM treated the image. Thank you both for the responses!

Malte

jfriend wrote: »

As best I know, when you crop on Smugmug, the original is permanently changed. Since prints are made from the original, it kinds of has to be modified unless Smugmug kept two copies of the original around (one unmodified and one modified) which I don't think they do.

Yup, sad but true. But since customers can temporarily crop for printing, why can't we do it?

http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=149809

http://feedback.smugmug.com/pages/17723-smugmug/suggestions/379188-virtual-crop-retain-original-image-when-cropping

Malte

Andy

SamirD wrote: »

Oooo...related question that I forgot to ask, but thought of when I originally saw the tool. Does cropping affect the original or just display copies? Does it basically deal with originals like the Color Effect tool?

Hi Samir, you got lots of help in this thread. Just want to show you this:
http://www.smugmug.com/help/enhancing-photos

jfriend

Malte wrote: »

Yup, sad but true. But since customers can temporarily crop for printing, why can't we do it?

http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=149809

http://feedback.smugmug.com/pages/17723-smugmug/suggestions/379188-virtual-crop-retain-original-image-when-cropping

Malte

You can temporarily crop for printing when you order too. What you're requesting is not the same thing at all.

Malte

jfriend wrote: »

You can temporarily crop for printing when you order too. What you're requesting is not the same thing at all.

I was using the cart cropping example to illustrate "virtual" or reversible cropping.

Malte

SamirD

Andy wrote: »

Hi Samir, you got lots of help in this thread. Just want to show you this:
http://www.smugmug.com/help/enhancing-photos

Excellent! Thank you Andy. I think that covers every single cropping question besides thumbnails.

Andy

SamirD wrote: »

Excellent! Thank you Andy. I think that covers every single cropping question besides thumbnails.

Samir
http://www.smugmug.com/help/digital-photos

SamirD

Andy wrote: »

Samir
http://www.smugmug.com/help/digital-photos

I was just saying! But I guess somebody will find it handy. *runs off to play with new...er...old...cropping tool*