The Digital Download Thread (Tips, Questions)

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  • rainforest1155rainforest1155 Registered Users Posts: 4,566 Major grins
    edited August 2, 2006
    wetsands wrote:
    I guess then I would have to make a second gallery w/ the 600 x 400 size of the same images then for web ?
    thanks btw sebastian!
    Doing it like Jeffro suggested might be better, because there's one major flaw in the suggestion that images are 800x600 or smaller won't be watermarked.

    Sebastian
    Sebastian
    SmugMug Support Hero
  • AndyAndy Registered Users Posts: 50,016 Major grins
    edited August 2, 2006
    wetsands wrote:
    ^but how would you "offer" the the client the ability to purchase and download a web file. I don't want to sell them a "1 MP" image for the web for several reasons..
    1. the file is still large enough to make descent prints from
    2. I don't want them to screw up on the downsizing of the image to their desired size (ie from the 1mp 1350 x 800 to a 600 x 400) and have it look like crap..after all that will end up reflecting on me (plus i want them to be " a happy customer"..

    I hope the Folks here at the mug read this and begin offering web download options as well!!

    Anyway, I did set up 2 additional galleries with web images (400 x 266 & 600 x 400) but I can't get it to work..
    I zero'ed out all of the price slots except for the digital download slot but so far have been unable to get it to work... so Andy (or any other admin is out there HELP!).

    Your Original is 600px so you have to sell only Original size. You had "Low Res" priced, and that has to be at least 1Mpix. I changed your pricing, put the $5.99 on the Original for THAT gallery - please take a look. Log out, and buy a photo, go through the cart, except for the last step. I just bought the first image in your gallery, you'll get an email but you can ignore it as I've voided the charge and sale.

    OK?
  • wetsandswetsands Registered Users Posts: 42 Big grins
    edited August 2, 2006
    .
  • wetsandswetsands Registered Users Posts: 42 Big grins
    edited August 2, 2006
    ^
    thanks andy, that makes total sense.

    An off topic question though.. I rec'd an email a few days ago from the mug stating 12 images had sold in various size prints, it showed the specific images, but next to each one it said" payment not received"
    or something along those lines. What does that mean, that the credit card had not been processed yet or what?
    thanks again!
    jd
  • jcmxjcmx Registered Users Posts: 9 Beginner grinner
    edited August 2, 2006
    Yessss!! Time to move all my stuff to SmugMug! thumb.gif
  • AndyAndy Registered Users Posts: 50,016 Major grins
    edited August 2, 2006
    wetsands wrote:
    ^
    thanks andy, that makes total sense.

    An off topic question though.. I rec'd an email a few days ago from the mug stating 12 images had sold in various size prints, it showed the specific images, but next to each one it said" payment not received"
    or something along those lines. What does that mean, that the credit card had not been processed yet or what?
    thanks again!
    jd

    Check your control panel, pro print sales - if it says "not paid" that means we've not paid you, but the customer has paid us.
  • mrcoonsmrcoons Registered Users Posts: 653 Major grins
    edited August 2, 2006
    Thank You Smugmug!! This is great! :):
  • wetsandswetsands Registered Users Posts: 42 Big grins
    edited August 2, 2006
    Another question..
    If you include information like licencing / usage restrictions, contact info , etc.. to the file metadata of the 600x400 web files.. does that metadata stay intact when the customer downloads the files ( though i believe i forgot to do it this time i usually do include it on web bound images)..?
  • AndyAndy Registered Users Posts: 50,016 Major grins
    edited August 2, 2006
    wetsands wrote:
    Another question..
    If you include information like licencing / usage restrictions, contact info , etc.. to the file metadata of the 600x400 web files.. does that metadata stay intact when the customer downloads the files ( though i believe i forgot to do it this time i usually do include it on web bound images)..?

    All that metadata remains intact, even for the downsized files we create.
  • dbddbd Registered Users Posts: 216 Major grins
    edited August 2, 2006
    Andy wrote:
    It's a great question. To tell the truth, I don't know the recipe at all (if there even is one!). I'll bring it up with Don today. But maybe this example will help. These are 100% crops from the different resolutions. Remember, Originals wouldn't be touched at all, no matter what. This original file of mine has not been sharpened at all.

    EDIT: We are not compressing the 1Mpix or 4Mpix files at all. As to sharpening - same recipe as our display images



    First, thanks for the informative response.

    With priced digital downloads Smugmug has thrown us into a brave new world, kicking and screaming (and grinning and laughing).

    Now, I'm back to restate my request.

    With paper prints I knew what the difference was between my customer's choice of glossy or matte or between 4x6 and 8x12.

    With paper prints I could view the identical images my customer could view and decide whether those images could present a threat to full resolution sales. Then I could disable viewing of L or O images.

    My request: capability to download the 1 MPix and 4 MPix images. My motivation: to preview the actual customer deliverable image.

    This is not a complaint about resizing/encoding quality. You guys do great!

    With paper prints I would not make a request for such a free service. Paper, ink printer usage, handling, and postage must be paid for.

    With digital downloads, these tangible costs go away. Also, the bandwidth required is less than that of downloading the original to SM in the first place. I'm not asking for you to do a resizing I couldn't do myself, just to let me preview the available picture. If it is too good I might not sell 1 MPix, but instead generate my own 50 Kpix original to price without interfering with higher resolution sales.

    You've taken us into a brave new world, now Smugmug, come the rest of the way in yourselves by giving us the only tool we can use to evaluate individual quality of the deliverable product. We'll make plenty of mistakes in marketing digital downloads ourselves. Just keep us from making mistakes because we don't realize the quality of the product.

    Any time there is change there is learning to do. We'll learn to calculate pixel sizes of 1 MPix and 4 MPix images. Things seem to be shaking out OK.

    Thanks again

    Dale Dalrymple
    dbdimages.smugmug.com
    "Give me a lens long enough and a place to stand and I can image the earth."
    ...with apology to Archimedies
  • wetsandswetsands Registered Users Posts: 42 Big grins
    edited August 2, 2006
    Ok,
    my client purchased abunch of digital 600x400 but is unable to access them .. How can he download them! HELP!

    ps tghis is what he said...

    "for some reason when i put in my email and my password that i used in
    in
    order to download my pics it isnt working."
  • AndyAndy Registered Users Posts: 50,016 Major grins
    edited August 2, 2006
    wetsands wrote:
    Ok,
    my client purchased abunch of digital 600x400 but is unable to access them .. How can he download them! HELP!

    ps tghis is what he said...

    "for some reason when i put in my email and my password that i used in
    in
    order to download my pics it isnt working."
    Your customer is messing up his order password, but we'll help him he's written the help desk.
  • wetsandswetsands Registered Users Posts: 42 Big grins
    edited August 2, 2006
    thanks andy,
    u guys frickin rock! 1drink.gif
  • onethumbonethumb Administrators Posts: 1,269 Major grins
    edited August 2, 2006
    dbd wrote:
    First, thanks for the informative response.

    With priced digital downloads Smugmug has thrown us into a brave new world, kicking and screaming (and grinning and laughing).

    Now, I'm back to restate my request.

    With paper prints I knew what the difference was between my customer's choice of glossy or matte or between 4x6 and 8x12.

    With paper prints I could view the identical images my customer could view and decide whether those images could present a threat to full resolution sales. Then I could disable viewing of L or O images.

    My request: capability to download the 1 MPix and 4 MPix images. My motivation: to preview the actual customer deliverable image.

    This is not a complaint about resizing/encoding quality. You guys do great!

    With paper prints I would not make a request for such a free service. Paper, ink printer usage, handling, and postage must be paid for.

    With digital downloads, these tangible costs go away. Also, the bandwidth required is less than that of downloading the original to SM in the first place. I'm not asking for you to do a resizing I couldn't do myself, just to let me preview the available picture. If it is too good I might not sell 1 MPix, but instead generate my own 50 Kpix original to price without interfering with higher resolution sales.

    You've taken us into a brave new world, now Smugmug, come the rest of the way in yourselves by giving us the only tool we can use to evaluate individual quality of the deliverable product. We'll make plenty of mistakes in marketing digital downloads ourselves. Just keep us from making mistakes because we don't realize the quality of the product.

    Any time there is change there is learning to do. We'll learn to calculate pixel sizes of 1 MPix and 4 MPix images. Things seem to be shaking out OK.

    Thanks again

    Dale Dalrymple
    dbdimages.smugmug.com

    Good point. We'll have to think about how to do this in an easy and secure way. It probably won't happen soon, though, since it requires some thought.

    In the meantime, your best bet is probably to create a private gallery, stick a few photos in there, price them at $0.01 and buy them. There's no tax or anything, so you'll only pay a few cents.

    Sorry it's such a hassle, but should work without breaking the bank. :)

    Don
  • JeffroJeffro Registered Users Posts: 1,941 Major grins
    edited August 2, 2006
    dbd wrote:
    First, thanks for the informative response.

    With priced digital downloads Smugmug has thrown us into a brave new world, kicking and screaming (and grinning and laughing).

    Now, I'm back to restate my request.

    With paper prints I knew what the difference was between my customer's choice of glossy or matte or between 4x6 and 8x12.

    With paper prints I could view the identical images my customer could view and decide whether those images could present a threat to full resolution sales. Then I could disable viewing of L or O images.

    My request: capability to download the 1 MPix and 4 MPix images. My motivation: to preview the actual customer deliverable image.

    This is not a complaint about resizing/encoding quality. You guys do great!

    With paper prints I would not make a request for such a free service. Paper, ink printer usage, handling, and postage must be paid for.

    With digital downloads, these tangible costs go away. Also, the bandwidth required is less than that of downloading the original to SM in the first place. I'm not asking for you to do a resizing I couldn't do myself, just to let me preview the available picture. If it is too good I might not sell 1 MPix, but instead generate my own 50 Kpix original to price without interfering with higher resolution sales.

    You've taken us into a brave new world, now Smugmug, come the rest of the way in yourselves by giving us the only tool we can use to evaluate individual quality of the deliverable product. We'll make plenty of mistakes in marketing digital downloads ourselves. Just keep us from making mistakes because we don't realize the quality of the product.

    Any time there is change there is learning to do. We'll learn to calculate pixel sizes of 1 MPix and 4 MPix images. Things seem to be shaking out OK.

    Thanks again

    Dale Dalrymple
    dbdimages.smugmug.com

    GREAT request. That's the dilema I've been pondering, and have been unable to wrap my brain around. How do I know how good the image is, and what can be done with it....you seem to have the solution, and I'm sure Smug will figure out how to solve it.
    Always lurking, sometimes participating. :D
  • AndyAndy Registered Users Posts: 50,016 Major grins
    edited August 2, 2006
    Jeffro wrote:
    GREAT request. That's the dilema I've been pondering, and have been unable to wrap my brain around. How do I know how good the image is, and what can be done with it....you seem to have the solution, and I'm sure Smug will figure out how to solve it.
    In the meantime, you can do what Don's saying just above, one post.
  • TristanPTristanP Registered Users Posts: 1,107 Major grins
    edited August 3, 2006
    Andy wrote:
    Well, we'll keep the aspect ratio of your original file. So I can't give you exact dimensions. The 1000x1000 could be one example. 4000x1000 could be another. K?
    Duh. Thanks for clarifying what was a badly-phrased question. Of course aspect ratio matters. thumb.gif

    I guess a formula would be:

    For a 4MP download of a 4:3 ratio pic, it would be

    4,000,000 = 4x * 3x = 12x^2

    x = 577

    Final image will be ~2308 x 1731 pixels

    One more question that I didn't see answered (or just missed):
    Does smugmug take a cut of the digital download $? Is it the same % as for prints?
    panekfamily.smugmug.com (personal)
    tristansphotography.com (motorsports)

    Canon 20D | 10-22 | 17-85 IS | 50/1.4 | 70-300 IS | 100/2.8 macro
    Sony F717 | Hoya R72
  • DnaDna Registered Users Posts: 435 Major grins
    edited August 3, 2006
    TristanP wrote:
    One more question that I didn't see answered (or just missed):
    Does smugmug take a cut of the digital download $? Is it the same % as for prints?
    Yep, just the 15% of the profit. And of course there's no cost involved.

    Dna
  • AndyAndy Registered Users Posts: 50,016 Major grins
    edited August 3, 2006
    Dna wrote:
    Yep, just the 15% of the profit. And of course there's no cost involved.

    Dna
    nod.gif
  • javier.rinaldijavier.rinaldi Registered Users Posts: 210 Major grins
    edited August 3, 2006
    Coolness, I just added this feature over the weekend for a wedding I shot and I just had my first DD sale, thanks smugmug
    Jav


    Creator of: SmugManager

    "There's no dark side or the moon, really. Matter of fact it's all dark..."
  • AndyAndy Registered Users Posts: 50,016 Major grins
    edited August 3, 2006
    dbd wrote:
    uys do great!

    With paper prints I would not make a request for such a free service. Paper, ink printer usage, handling, and postage must be paid for.
    Just FYI, we'll never refuse a request for samples though :)
  • AndyAndy Registered Users Posts: 50,016 Major grins
    edited August 3, 2006
    Coolness, I just added this feature over the weekend for a wedding I shot and I just had my first DD sale, thanks smugmug
    clap.gifclap.gif
  • wdhpgxwdhpgx Registered Users Posts: 11 Big grins
    edited August 7, 2006
    wetsands wrote:
    ^but how would you "offer" the the client the ability to purchase and download a web file. I don't want to sell them a "1 MP" image for the web for several reasons..
    1. the file is still large enough to make descent prints from
    2. I don't want them to screw up on the downsizing of the image to their desired size (ie from the 1mp 1350 x 800 to a 600 x 400) and have it look like crap..after all that will end up reflecting on me (plus i want them to be " a happy customer"..

    I hope the Folks here at the mug read this and begin offering web download options as well!!

    Same here! I really want to be able to offer "web/email"-sized images (like 640x480 or maybe 800x600) for sale for relatively cheap, without worrying about them being purchased to make prints. As it is, the 1MP images are big enough to be used for prints.

    So yes - I, too, hope you guys can add a web-size download option. That would be perfect.
  • AndyAndy Registered Users Posts: 50,016 Major grins
    edited August 7, 2006
    wdhpgx wrote:

    So yes - I, too, hope you guys can add a web-size download option. That would be perfect.
    Just to be sure you understand, you can still upload any size you like, and sell it as "original."
  • jfriendjfriend Registered Users Posts: 8,097 Major grins
    edited August 7, 2006
    Further explanation
    Andy wrote:
    Just to be sure you understand, you can still upload any size you like, and sell it as "original."

    Since this wasn't completely clear to me the first time I read it, here's what you can do if you want to sell web-sized digital downloads.

    Create a gallery into which you only upload web-sized originals. Then set the price on the "original" size digital download to what you want to charge for web-sized downloads and disable print orders for this gallery (since the originals are too small for good prints).

    You cannot currently offer any other size along with the web-sized originals until Smugmug adds more direct support for a web-size download, but you can price and sell just web-sized digital downloads by uploading the web-size as the original.

    You may also want to remember that it's pretty easy for people to grab the web-size image through the browser when viewing your gallery if you aren't using watermarks.
    --John
    HomepagePopular
    JFriend's javascript customizationsSecrets for getting fast answers on Dgrin
    Always include a link to your site when posting a question
  • wdhpgxwdhpgx Registered Users Posts: 11 Big grins
    edited August 7, 2006
    Andy wrote:
    Just to be sure you understand, you can still upload any size you like, and sell it as "original."

    I did catch that, but as I understood it, that (uploading a "web-sized" file as "original") would then prevent me from offering any prints, as the file would be "too small". Yes?

    If I want to offer both web-sized downloads and prints, it looks like I would have to .. upload two entirely separate versions of the same file, one for prints, one for web. Which would be .. er, not good. Quickly hard to manage for me, and probably very confusing for the customers.
    jfriend wrote:
    You may also want to remember that it's pretty easy for people to grab the web-size image through the browser when viewing your gallery if you aren't using watermarks.

    Which is why I'd like to offer the web-sized downloads for actual sale, at a pricepoint that makes it easy for the customer to do the right thing, and for me to make a buck or two in the process.
  • CindyCindy Registered Users Posts: 542 Major grins
    edited August 7, 2006
    wdhpgx wrote:
    I did catch that, but as I understood it, that (uploading a "web-sized" file as "original") would then prevent me from offering any prints, as the file would be "too small". Yes?

    If I want to offer both web-sized downloads and prints, it looks like I would have to .. upload two entirely separate versions of the same file, one for prints, one for web. Which would be .. er, not good. Quickly hard to manage for me, and probably very confusing for the customers.

    Which is why I'd like to offer the web-sized downloads for actual sale, at a pricepoint that makes it easy for the customer to do the right thing, and for me to make a buck or two in the process.

    I agree completly. Please smugmug make this easy for us... perdy please. I'm not at all interested in the 1 m, 4m downloads.
    - I'd like to offer just 2 sizes: A web based 600 or 800 (longest side) by whatever and the origanal. Other sizes are just icing on the cake.
    - I'm also very confident that most if not all event shooters will agree with me that an option to price per image &/or bulk per gallery (event) for downloads would be super fab :-)
    Cindy Colbert (Utterback) • Wishing You Co-Bear Love, Hugs & Laughter!!!
  • AndyAndy Registered Users Posts: 50,016 Major grins
    edited August 7, 2006
    wdhpgx wrote:
    I did catch that, but as I understood it, that (uploading a "web-sized" file as "original") would then prevent me from offering any prints, as the file would be "too small". Yes?
    Yes.
    If I want to offer both web-sized downloads and prints, it looks like I would have to .. upload two entirely separate versions of the same file, one for prints, one for web. Which would be .. er, not good. Quickly hard to manage for me, and probably very confusing for the customers.

    Which is why I'd like to offer the web-sized downloads for actual sale, at a pricepoint that makes it easy for the customer to do the right thing, and for me to make a buck or two in the process.
    Thanks for the feature request!
  • wetsandswetsands Registered Users Posts: 42 Big grins
    edited August 11, 2006
    ^ that would be very helpful.. instead of the digital download options being limited to only "1 MP" & "4MP" sizes, to also include common web sizes at 72ppi like 400x 266, 600 x400, 800x 532 as well as screen saver size..what ever that maybe...
  • DTMPhotosDTMPhotos Registered Users Posts: 47 Big grins
    edited August 18, 2006
    Fwiw...
    18 months in business and 7 downloads sold before July using convaluted "email me" routine...

    18 days with SM capable dowloads and 5 sold already!

    Thanks so much for bringing this feature to our toolbox!

    Derek
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