UserVoice suggestion declined?

WinsomeWorks

What causes a suggestion on UserVoice to be declined? I wrote one but then couldn't find it, and saw I still had a vote left... didn't know why, as I thought I'd used my last vote on creating that suggestion. Then I discovered I had gotten an email that said UserVoice "Suggestion declined". No reason or explanation.

I'm only asking because I'm not sure if I did something wrong, and don't know what kinds of things would cause a suggestion to be declined. It seemed like a reasonable one to me, and I couldn't find any similar suggestions after searching extensively. The suggestion had to do with adding a simple way to darken / lighten photos through "color effects". It was something I was told a long time ago would be happening, and every time I work on a gallery, I think about how handy it would be. (this is something different from auto-color) And yes, I know we have "PicNik" but that cuts down my file sizes, which is bad for large prints.

In fact, the only reason I didn't suggest this on UserVoice earlier is that I thought I had. But when I cleaned up my votes recently, I realized I had not ever suggested it there. I just want to be sure I didn't inadvertently goof up something as far as format, process, timing, etc. I don't see any notes about what is proper/improper as far as feature requests. But I had the page open for a long time while I was doing something else, before I posted the suggestion. Thanks for any help.

Andy

We're going to add more color controls in the future. But not exactly what you asked, so I returned your votes by declining your request. I'm sorry, Anna Lisa.

PS: Even when we do add what we're going to add (we hope), the exposure adjustments you are talking about are always best done by you, the pro, on your system. Before uploading to SmugMug.

WinsomeWorks

Editing photos ( exposure adjustment needs, etc )

Andy wrote: »

We're going to add more color controls in the future. But not exactly what you asked, so I returned your votes by declining your request. I'm sorry, Anna Lisa.

PS: Even when we do add what we're going to add (we hope), the exposure adjustments you are talking about are always best done by you, the pro, on your system. Before uploading to SmugMug.

Ok, Andy, that makes some sense-- no use wasting votes! I just wanted to be sure I didn't do something wrong. And I agree about exposure adjustments best being done on my system. Yes, of course. But why have any at all on SmugMug if people have no use for them?! They do, & that's why you have them! As I've explained before, there are all kinds of instances when someone (myself & a whole lot of others included) are unable to use their home system:

1. I myself only just recently learned how to do bulk editing, so the bulk color effects tools were crucial for me for certain instances when I needed a whole batch lightened, etc. Lots of other folks will never even get around to learning this, so that's why your tools on Smug are used so much. You gotta understand that yes, you have all kinds of tools for which people could use PS or LR or Bridge or a free tool or whatever. But not everyone here is an experienced pro, and everyone is on a different part of the learning curve for these programs. People do have great use for your sorting, arranging, keywording, captioning & color/light-editing tools here-- this is a big part of why some of us are here and not some other lousy limited site! Don't shoot yourselves in the foot.

2. I was traveling for the better part of 3 weeks and had no access to PS or any other familiar editing tools. We're allowed only one home copy, so that's stuck at home on a desktop. While away, I sold a number of prints that I needed to edit somewhere, and it was fabulous that I had the photos up on Smug & could do some editing that way & get the prints sent out in time.

3. When computers are down or people are swapping out hard drives or re-installing programs or trying to learn new programs, they will not always have access to their tools. That's another thing I ran into in the past 2 months. Right now I can't even find all my custom actions on my old HD. I have to switch to PS4, & it's gonna take me awhile to get oriented. Smug is a life-saver (ok, almost!) at times like this!

4. Yes, editing is "best" done at home if you have the right tools. But 1st--lots of people don't. 2nd-- if the tools you use at home are sophisticated (like PS), it can take a lot longer to take each shot that needs editing into PS. For many simple fixes, it's been much faster to do it here. I don't take most files into PS-- I'd spend all my time on the computer rather than behind the camera if I did that! Once I have more bulk skills/organization/renaming down, this may change. I edit stock shots one-by-one, & I have to do that to get them accepted/ i.e. make money! I have had to get all that down pat before getting into bulk edits for display, etc.

Anyway, if you're working on adding more adjustments, I must say the part that doesn't make sense to me is why we would not have the most basic of all adjustments-- darkening or lightening a photo. So I hope that changes. It just seems that in most cases, that's step #1. Even if it's only available to the member & not a customer (that's fine w/ me), most people would agree it's the most important one to have. (& isn't the #1 complaint on prints "too dark"?) Even crummy sites that have nothing else have exposure adj. PicNik would be fine if it would be quicker, not cut file sizes, and could be used in bulk. I doubt that's changing soon. Well, just my 2 cents, but sounds like it's too late. I hope not.

Andy

WinsomeWorks wrote: »

Ok, Andy, that makes some sense-- no use wasting votes! I just wanted to be sure I didn't do something wrong. And I agree about exposure adjustments best being done on my system. Yes, of course. But why have any at all on SmugMug if people have no use for them?! They do, & that's why you have them!

Because we have lots of users that are -not- pros. And have no editing stuff at all.

Andy

WinsomeWorks wrote: »

2. I was traveling for the better part of 3 weeks and had no access to PS or any other familiar editing tools. We're allowed only one home copy, so that's stuck at home on a desktop.

This is not true. You can have a copy on your desktop and a copy on your laptop.

WinsomeWorks

Andy wrote: »

Because we have lots of users that are -not- pros. And have no editing stuff at all.

Sorry, I'm not getting the gist here. That's exactly what I was saying. You have the stuff cuz people need it. They use it all the time. The only glitch is the most basic part isn't available here-- lighten/darken. I was trying to say this seems counter-intuitive. I dunno. I'm confused about your response.

Andy

WinsomeWorks wrote: »

Sorry, I'm not getting the gist here. That's exactly what I was saying. You have the stuff cuz people need it. They use it all the time. The only glitch is the most basic part isn't available here-- lighten/darken. I was trying to say this seems counter-intuitive. I dunno. I'm confused about your response.

We may get there. Technology is evolving all the time, Anna Lisa.

I was just saying that the photo editing tools on the site (Picnik and our photo tools color effects) are not meant for pros. Pros by and large edit on their own and upload photos that are ready. Or use proof & replace.

Like I said, technology is changing and we may have tools that'll do what you ask for one day. Thanks!

WinsomeWorks

Andy wrote: »

This is not true. You can have a copy on your desktop and a copy on your laptop.

My spouse has Photoshop at work. He's allowed one home copy. They had PS2 earlier, so we were still using that. They updated to PS4 awhile ago, so now that we've got a new HD, he installed PS4 on it... seemed the logical time for me to make the switchover. Yeah, so technically we could now put the old PS2 on the laptop, but it's a bit full for that. A couple wks ago we couldn't. But we can't put PS4 on the laptop-- one home copy only. At any rate, I didn't even have a laptop while traveling. I was doing a lot of bicycling-- not much use on a bike! Used a hotel computer now & then; did some basics. Used my brother's computer now & then; did some basics.... basically uploading & uploading & a little SmugMug editing. :-)

WinsomeWorks

obstacles for basic photo exposure correction

Andy wrote: »

We may get there. Technology is evolving all the time, Anna Lisa.

I was just saying that the photo editing tools on the site (Picnik and our photo tools color effects) are not meant for pros. Pros by and large edit on their own and upload photos that are ready. Or use proof & replace.

Like I said, technology is changing and we may have tools that'll do what you ask for one day. Thanks!

That's good to hear. I'll hope that it's sooner rather than later. I have a very hard time "getting" why technology would be the obstacle, however.... surely it isn't truly? If Smug's photo editing tools aren't meant for pros, and those other sites' tools aren't either (I mean, basically no site's free or almost-free online tools are, right?!) it's hard to see why they'd have the techno & we wouldn't?

I mean, it's fine if there's some real obstacle. Clearly none of us members knows what it is & it seems we're not supposed to. But it might be more helpful (if it's not really some big top secret thing) to be upfront about what it is rather than saying we don't have the techno. We'd feel more patient I think. After-all, it IS true that I was told a long time ago that it was "coming soon". I can't really help it that I believed that, and having used the techno elsewhere I of course figured there was some other reason we couldn't do basic lightening/darkening here besides technology! A basic concept here that seems to be lost in the discussion is that when we edit something here, we're not editing our only copy in the world! Pro or not (& some people would say I'm a pro because I'm making money off my photos-- I don't, because it's not currently my main source of income)-- we're just doing a quick edit on something that's gonna print or display, so few of us are gonna need a bazillion colorizing options, but we sure do need the most basic one: Exposure. If I didn't like what it did, I'd just scrap it & spend more time on it at home. It's not supposed to be the be-all end-all edit maybe, but that's not the point, whether I'm a pro, amateur, beginner or hobbyist. If techno is really the issue, I'll eat my words.

Andy

WinsomeWorks wrote: »

But it might be more helpful (if it's not really some big top secret thing)

We're a private company in a very competitive business. We do not talk much about upcoming stuff, at all. Thanks Anna Lisa.

WinsomeWorks

Okee-dokey. Oh well, I s'pose the other guys'll be glad to hear we don't have the techno. Not that they'd buy that, but whatever. I'm basically as confused as I ever was. Seems like in all the time we (& others) have spent talking about this thing since way back, someone probably could've just done it already. Will go sit on hands.

Andy

WinsomeWorks wrote: »

Okee-dokey. Oh well, I s'pose the other guys'll be glad to hear we don't have the techno. Not that they'd buy that, but whatever. I'm basically as confused as I ever was. Seems like in all the time we (& others) have spent talking about this thing since way back, someone probably could've just done it already. Will go sit on hands.

Anna Lisa, in the nearly 8 years I've been here and around SmugMug, I've learned a very important thing: it's never as easy as anyone thinks to get something done Hang in there!