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Proof delay and cropping - major bug
jcdill
Registered Users Posts: 225 Major grins
Last week I uploaded almost 1000 images from a horse show. Because of the large number of files and my relatively slow broadband (I can only get slow DSL at my location), I uploaded the images at a smaller resolution (smaller pixel dimensions) than the actual file size.
I have proof delay set, so when photos are ordered, I process the image and then upload a full-size image, for best print quality.
Well, today this caused a HUGE problem. The customer had selected a crop to select only a portion of the photo, near the lower right side. When I uploaded the larger file, the crop MOVED. Because I use the Smugmug "Publish" plugin in Lightroom, after I had uploaded my processed file, the image I saw on the proof review page didn't change, until AFTER I clicked to submit the order to the printer. Then the results page showed me an entirely different crop.
This was entirely unexpected.
Apparently you record the buyer's cropping information as a specific number of pixels (rather than as a percent of the image), and you fix the crop location at a specific pixel (rather than as a percent of the image), so that when a larger file is then uploaded to fulfill the order, the effective area that is cropped is smaller, and the area selected moves up and to the left.
There are several things you should do fix this problem:
1) At the VERY LEAST, when the customer sends the order to be printed you should double check that the file size hasn't changed from what the file size was when the order was placed, and if it has changed then you should alert the photog to check the cropping BEFORE you send the order to the printer.
2) A much better way to address this problem is to take the buyer's cropping info and store it as percent values instead of pixel values. If the crop starts at a point 20% below and to the right of the top left pixel, and you store this start position as 20%/20% instead of a fixed pixel location, then the crop will always start in the same location when a larger file is uploaded to fulfill the order. Similarly, if the area selected is 50% of the height and width of the image, and a larger file is uploaded to fulfill the order, the resulting crop will still be 50% of the height and width, and thus the same section of the image as before. If you can't change how you store this info, then you should at least store the filesize that was present when the crop was set, and then you can recalculate the crop size and placement appropriately when a larger file is uploaded.
Then, when I emailed support and asked them to see if they could stop the order from being printed, the email I got back said that the order is sent on to the printer automatically but there may still be time to stop it before it gets printed and sent out, and "let me know if you want me to cancel the order at the printer". WTF!?!?!? I just TOLD you what I wanted you to do! How could you possibly think that letting the printer mail my client an improperly cropped photo could ever be the right thing to do? Since it took you several hours to answer my email, it was monumentally poor customer service to further delay taking action to ask me again what I want you to do! JUST DO IT LIKE I ASKED YOU TO DO. I'm not sitting at my computer for hours on end breathlessly waiting for your reply. I'm out, doing other things, and this added several hours more delay between when I first discovered this problem and when I was able to answer the second email - and who knows how much longer it will take you guys to GET AROUND TO READING MY ANSWER before you can contact the printer. To say I am very displeased about this process is putting it mildly.
I have proof delay set, so when photos are ordered, I process the image and then upload a full-size image, for best print quality.
Well, today this caused a HUGE problem. The customer had selected a crop to select only a portion of the photo, near the lower right side. When I uploaded the larger file, the crop MOVED. Because I use the Smugmug "Publish" plugin in Lightroom, after I had uploaded my processed file, the image I saw on the proof review page didn't change, until AFTER I clicked to submit the order to the printer. Then the results page showed me an entirely different crop.
This was entirely unexpected.
Apparently you record the buyer's cropping information as a specific number of pixels (rather than as a percent of the image), and you fix the crop location at a specific pixel (rather than as a percent of the image), so that when a larger file is then uploaded to fulfill the order, the effective area that is cropped is smaller, and the area selected moves up and to the left.
There are several things you should do fix this problem:
1) At the VERY LEAST, when the customer sends the order to be printed you should double check that the file size hasn't changed from what the file size was when the order was placed, and if it has changed then you should alert the photog to check the cropping BEFORE you send the order to the printer.
2) A much better way to address this problem is to take the buyer's cropping info and store it as percent values instead of pixel values. If the crop starts at a point 20% below and to the right of the top left pixel, and you store this start position as 20%/20% instead of a fixed pixel location, then the crop will always start in the same location when a larger file is uploaded to fulfill the order. Similarly, if the area selected is 50% of the height and width of the image, and a larger file is uploaded to fulfill the order, the resulting crop will still be 50% of the height and width, and thus the same section of the image as before. If you can't change how you store this info, then you should at least store the filesize that was present when the crop was set, and then you can recalculate the crop size and placement appropriately when a larger file is uploaded.
Then, when I emailed support and asked them to see if they could stop the order from being printed, the email I got back said that the order is sent on to the printer automatically but there may still be time to stop it before it gets printed and sent out, and "let me know if you want me to cancel the order at the printer". WTF!?!?!? I just TOLD you what I wanted you to do! How could you possibly think that letting the printer mail my client an improperly cropped photo could ever be the right thing to do? Since it took you several hours to answer my email, it was monumentally poor customer service to further delay taking action to ask me again what I want you to do! JUST DO IT LIKE I ASKED YOU TO DO. I'm not sitting at my computer for hours on end breathlessly waiting for your reply. I'm out, doing other things, and this added several hours more delay between when I first discovered this problem and when I was able to answer the second email - and who knows how much longer it will take you guys to GET AROUND TO READING MY ANSWER before you can contact the printer. To say I am very displeased about this process is putting it mildly.
JC Dill - Equine Photographer, San Francisco & San Jose http://portfolio.jcdill.com
"Chance favors the prepared mind." ~ Ansel Adams
"Light thinks it travels faster than anything but it is wrong. No matter how fast light travels, it finds the darkness has always got there first, and is waiting for it." ~ Terry Pratchett
"Chance favors the prepared mind." ~ Ansel Adams
"Light thinks it travels faster than anything but it is wrong. No matter how fast light travels, it finds the darkness has always got there first, and is waiting for it." ~ Terry Pratchett
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