aspect ratios - print sales

jimh

I don't do weddings or events, I guess you'd have to call me an 'art photographer'. I've sold prints on FAA for years, but would rather be selling off of SmugMug. The big issue is aspect ratios. For wall art you don't want any cropping, but by default, SM offers prints at various sizes, only one of which gets the whole image. (Some of my photos aren't even standard ratios, which is worse).

What I want to do is restrict print purchases to aspect ratios that fit the photo. But that doesn't seem to be easily done, here.

Would I have to go through my hundreds of photos one-by-one and select the products to make available? Is there a print vendor that prints at arbitrary sizes? Is there any other way to effectively sell 'art prints' at SM?

Hikin' Mike

I'm a nature/landscape photographer and I have different pricelists based on aspect ratio. The 'Portfolio' and 'Pro' plan offer price lists.

denisegoldberg

Usually you assign galleries to a price list although you can override at the photo level.

If you have a Portfolio account you can have a single active pricelist.
If you have a Pro account you can have as many active pricelists as you want or need.

You can find set-up information on this help page: https://help.smugmug.com/set-up-photo-pricing-for-sales-Skh7egPJNHz.

I encourage you to identify a set of sizes that work for (most) of your photos. Do not offer the photos at every size available.

jimh

Give me a clue here - I need a different price list for every aspect ratio? And to do that I need a "Pro" account?

denisegoldberg

@jimh said:
Give me a clue here - I need a different price list for every aspect ratio? And to do that I need a "Pro" account?

If you want to limit the size options for each photo or type of photo you will need multiple price lists.

Do you not have an aspect ratio that works for most of your photos? I have a very limited set of sizes that I offer on my site, and while I do have multiple price lists that's not because I offer different aspect ratios. Most of my galleries are attached to a single price list.

You stated that

by default, SM offers prints at various sizes, only one of which gets the whole image.

If you have a Portfolio or Pro account that's not true. You are in control of what sizes you offer.

Have you gone through and identified what aspect ratio / sizes works for your photos?

You haven't shared your web site here so it's difficult to know what types of photos you plan to sell.

jimh

This is me:
www.jimhphoto.com

I have many different aspect ratios; some are non-standard. With 500+ photos I'm looking for a way to accomplish this that won't take up all my remaining years :-)

Would I need to create a 2x3 price list, and a 5x7 price list, and an 8x10 price list, etc. and then assign them to photos one by one?

denisegoldberg

@jimh said:
Would I need to create a 2x3 price list, and a 5x7 price list, and an 8x10 price list, etc. and then assign them to photos one by one?

No. You can create a price list that has options for 2x3, 5x7, and 8x10. Once price list can have many sizes. Create a price list for your photos that only includes the sizes that match the aspect ratio. Right now it looks like you are selling all sizes and all products. Why are you offering compact camera sizes for photos that clearly don't fit those sizes? Do you want to sell the keepsakes and phone cases?

I recommend assigning the price list at a gallery level, not a photo level.

As an example, here are the sizes I offer:

I sell paper prints and metal prints in the same sizes. The aspect ratio of my photos fits the sizes that I offer.

jimh

I've just left everything at defaults - no, I don't want any 'products' other than prints, or any odd sizes. I intend to straighten this all out, I'm just trying to figure out whether that's even possible, and if so how to do it in a reasonable amount of time.

In the example you're showing me, all those sizes are 2x3 aspect ratio. But you said you have several aspect ratios in your price list. How do you restrict each photo to just the aspect ratios that fit?

All my photos sell at the same price, so I'm not seeing why I'd need a separate price list per gallery. And all my galleries contain photos of various ratios.

FAA makes it so easy; their prints are automatically sized to match the image's aspect ratio, you don't even need to think about it. Really, aspect ratios are just a legacy from the darkroom days. Too bad we can't seem to get rid of them.

denisegoldberg

@jimh said:
In the example you're showing me, all those sizes are 2x3 aspect ratio. But you said you have several aspect ratios in your price list. How do you restrict each photo to just the aspect ratios that fit?

My photos are all the same aspect ratio other than those I've posted from my phone - but the phone photos are not for sale.

Hikin' Mike

I don't do my price list by gallery. My galleries are set up by location. My default price list is 2:3. Some images are cropped 4:5, 1:2, or 1:1 and price list accordingly.

jimh

So Mike, you have a 2:3 price list which you set for all your galleries - but for individual photos with different ratios, you have other price lists?

I can do that, although with 500+ photos online it would be a tedious job. Apparently unavoidable if I really want to start selling here.

Hikin' Mike

@jimh said:
So Mike, you have a 2:3 price list which you set for all your galleries - but for individual photos with different ratios, you have other price lists?

Yes. Wasn't too hard for me as most are 2:3.

jimh

Mike and Denise, thanks for your help, I think I get the idea. Now I just have to summon up the energy to go through all my photos here and set this up... and another $200/year to let me have multiple price lists... ouch.

Shinrya

@jimh said:
and another $200/year to let me have multiple price lists... ouch.

^This!

jimh

@Shinrya - yes this is just wrong. And it's also the only useful feature I'd get for the extra money - the others don't matter to me.

I'm sort of taking a deep breath here and wondering if moving to another gallery site with better print options would actually make more sense for me and not really be any more work. That is, if there is such a site... I 've concluded that no gallery/POD site of today really does everything right...

jimh

I must be missing something. I created a new price list, and added all the print/canvas/metal options - none of the 'keepsakes', desk art, iPhone cases. I checked "make this my active price list" and I see the star next to it in the list of price lists. But when I go to my gallery and click 'buy' on a photo, all the options are still there; it's like my pricelist never changed. I thought all I had to do was check the box. How do I actually change the active price list?

Hikin' Mike

@jimh said:
I must be missing something. I created a new price list, and added all the print/canvas/metal options - none of the 'keepsakes', desk art, iPhone cases. I checked "make this my active price list" and I see the star next to it in the list of price lists. But when I go to my gallery and click 'buy' on a photo, all the options are still there; it's like my pricelist never changed. I thought all I had to do was check the box. How do I actually change the active price list?

You need to be logged out.

jimh

Thanks Mike - I wouldn't have guessed that in 1,000 years.

colourbox

It's a pain to keep logging out and back in to see how it looks, but I think someone on this forum posted a tip that all you have to do is open a separate browser window or tab that is set to Private Mode so that it doesn't pick up your login cookies, and use that to preview how the cart when looks logged out. Work in the normal logged in window, preview in the Private Mode window.

denisegoldberg

@colourbox said:
It's a pain to keep logging out and back in to see how it looks, but I think someone on this forum posted a tip that all you have to do is open a separate browser window or tab that is set to Private Mode so that it doesn't pick up your login cookies, and use that to preview how the cart when looks logged out. Work in the normal logged in window, preview in the Private Mode window.

You can always use two different browsers, one logged in and one logged out. For example, I am often logged in to my SmugMug site on Edge and logged out on Chrome.

Hikin' Mike

@denisegoldberg said:

@colourbox said:
It's a pain to keep logging out and back in to see how it looks, but I think someone on this forum posted a tip that all you have to do is open a separate browser window or tab that is set to Private Mode so that it doesn't pick up your login cookies, and use that to preview how the cart when looks logged out. Work in the normal logged in window, preview in the Private Mode window.

You can always use two different browsers, one logged in and one logged out. For example, I am often logged in to my SmugMug site on Edge and logged out on Chrome.

Yep, that's what I do.

cederic

I'm only on a cheap nasty account but even printing for myself I'm only offered very limited aspect ratios. In particular it's frustrating trying to print anything in my camera's native 4:3 format because very few sizes are available - I don't really want to print 40x30 inches just to get 4:3.

I've also noticed that all of the print ratios are given in inches. In the UK printers use centimetres; I'm actually better off printing (and offering prints to friends/family) from UK printers that can offer me (e.g.) 40x30cm prints.

(Came onto dgrin to provide this feedback and this thread was right at the top so..)

Shinrya

@cederic said:
I'm only on a cheap nasty account but even printing for myself I'm only offered very limited aspect ratios. In particular it's frustrating trying to print anything in my camera's native 4:3 format because very few sizes are available - I don't really want to print 40x30 inches just to get 4:3.

I've also noticed that all of the print ratios are given in inches. In the UK printers use centimetres; I'm actually better off printing (and offering prints to friends/family) from UK printers that can offer me (e.g.) 40x30cm prints.

(Came onto dgrin to provide this feedback and this thread was right at the top so..)

I've noticed this too. I could have sworn though that Smugmug checkout used to switch to metric measurements for viewers in the EU or UK. I just checked again now using a VPN to UK, FRA & GER and nope....all measurements still in inches.