A Few Pricing Questions

SkipRowland

since i haven't quite mastered navigating/search the forums, i hope you don't mind helping me with a few things that have probably been answered elsewhere...

1) i've set my portfolio prices for every product, but when i open custom pro pricing for a gallery, all the prices are blank.

2) when i go to my site, but don't log in, the only products available are wallets and a few photo gifts.

3) i can't figure out how to set up a package of prints for sale. is this possible? if not, how do the pros handle this?

4) is there anyway to offer coupons and other discounts to be used at the end of the purchase?

tia,
skip
www.skippix.com

Andy

Welcome to Dgrin

SkipRowland wrote:

1) i've set my portfolio prices for every product, but when i open custom pro pricing for a gallery, all the prices are blank.

Right - if you want to specify pricing that's different from your portfolio pricing, you need to set it for that gallery. Follow the instructions here:
http://www.smugmug.com/help/print-pricing

2) when i go to my site, but don't log in, the only products available are wallets and a few photo gifts.

You've likely got low-resolution originals. Here's a list of our minimum print resolutions:
http://blogs.smugmug.com/pros/2006/01/09/new-minimum-print-resolutions/
Products won't be available unless your file(s) meet this minimum.

3) i can't figure out how to set up a package of prints for sale. is this possible? if not, how do the pros handle this?

4) is there anyway to offer coupons and other discounts to be used at the end of the purchase?

We don't have packages or coupons yet, but they are on our list for the future.

Holler back with any more questions, we're here to help!

SkipRowland

Thanks, Andy!

The resolution is my problem. Which brings me to another question...

My intention was to upload minimally edited images with proofing set to 7-days; that way, I'd only spend time editing the images that people actually want to buy. Since I want to be able to offer every thing from 5x7 up to 20x30, will all my priced products show up if I upload a file that meets the minimum 20x30 requirements?

Also, I understand that the site and services are constantly evolving, growing, and improving, which is why I decided to go on and jump in. In the meantime, though, how do other pros handle package requests and discounting? I've got some ideas, but I'd like to hear back from some of those who've already figured out the work-arounds and blazed some trails.

TIA,
Skip
www.skippix.com

Andy

SkipRowland wrote:

Thanks, Andy!

The resolution is my problem. Which brings me to another question...

My intention was to upload minimally edited images with proofing set to 7-days; that way, I'd only spend time editing the images that people actually want to buy. Since I want to be able to offer every thing from 5x7 up to 20x30, will all my priced products show up if I upload a file that meets the minimum 20x30 requirements?

Yes, and I recommend a JPG compression of say, photoshop 8. This should give you a fairly small file, easing the uploading.

Also, I understand that the site and services are constantly evolving, growing, and improving, which is why I decided to go on and jump in. In the meantime, though, how do other pros handle package requests and discounting? I've got some ideas, but I'd like to hear back from some of those who've already figured out the work-arounds and blazed some trails.

Yes, I would, too

SkipRowland

Ok, I've been doing some testing, and my initial results are showing that if I take my out-of-camera image (which is 72dpi and 48"), and size it to 175dpi and 12", then save it at level 5, I'll wind up with about a 300kb file that is acceptable for every product on the menu! I'm going to test this a bit more, but I think it's going to work.

The issue for me is time-consumption. I shoot events where I can wind up with 50-800 images, and I really need to get them online as fast as possible. My PhotoShop action had been set to 72dpi and 600px, which is where I ran into problems. The action runs fast, but the images are too low-res. Hopefully, changing the sizing step of the action won't slow it down too much...

Thanks again, and, if nobody else adds anything to this thread about the other issue (packages & discounts), I'll start another thread about that, specifically.

Cheers,
Skip
www.skippix.com

Dna

SkipRowland wrote:

The issue for me is time-consumption. I shoot events where I can wind up with 50-800 images, and I really need to get them online as fast as possible.

So why bother running them through photoshop ?
Set your compression in the camera one notch down and depending on the camera, you'll end up with a file around 1.5 - 2 Mb that can be printed from. Set a batch to upload overnight and got to bed ....
Then set your proof delay if you want and you can massage it in photoshop and replace it.

That's what I do ... www.lsvphotos.com.

Dna

Mike Lane

Dna wrote:

So why bother running them through photoshop ?
Set your compression in the camera one notch down and depending on the camera, you'll end up with a file around 1.5 - 2 Mb that can be printed from. Set a batch to upload overnight and got to bed ....
Then set your proof delay if you want and you can massage it in photoshop and replace it.

That's what I do ... www.lsvphotos.com.

Dna

Or maybe consider shooting in RAW+Small JPG (assuming you have that option of course), and then upload the small JPG and then process the RAW when you get notification that an order has come in.

I may do that if I ever were to shoot event photography :uhoh

Dna

Mike Lane wrote:

Or maybe consider shooting in RAW+Small JPG (assuming you have that option of course), and then upload the small JPG and then process the RAW when you get notification that an order has come in.
I may do that if I ever were to shoot event photography :uhoh

Not really an option when you shoot around 1500 in 6 hours and you have 3 cameras at the event ...

But still a good idea.

Dna

Mike Lane

Dna wrote:

Not really an option when you shoot around 1500 in 6 hours and you have 3 cameras at the event ...

But still a good idea.

Dna

Just out of curiosity, why is it not an option? Is it because adding the jpg would add too much data or something? Or is it maybe a filename issue? Honestly, I'm a bit perplexed as to why Raw + jpg wouldn't be good for that situation. You know, in case I'm ever doing that

Dna

Mike Lane wrote:

Just out of curiosity, why is it not an option? Is it because adding the jpg would add too much data or something? Or is it maybe a filename issue? Honestly, I'm a bit perplexed as to why Raw + jpg wouldn't be good for that situation. You know, in case I'm ever doing that

I shoot full size with more compression, so that I can get 2000+ on a 2Gb card.
It's for lifesaving so you are on a beach or knee deep in water and you don't really want to change cards if you can help it.
The files are sorted into clubs and uploaded and that's it. I don't have time to process several thousand raw files.

For events where I have more time and less photos, I shoot raw, process with Capture One into 2 sizes and then upload the large size. Both sizes are burnt to cd and given to client. Large for their magazine printing, small for their website. They advertise my website in the magazine for prints from the night.

Simple.

Dna

Mike Lane

Dna wrote:

I shoot full size with more compression, so that I can get 2000+ on a 2Gb card.
It's for lifesaving so you are on a beach or knee deep in water and you don't really want to change cards if you can help it.
The files are sorted into clubs and uploaded and that's it. I don't have time to process several thousand raw files.

For events where I have more time and less photos, I shoot raw, process with Capture One into 2 sizes and then upload the large size. Both sizes are burnt to cd and given to client. Large for their magazine printing, small for their website. They advertise my website in the magazine for prints from the night.

Simple.

Dna

Okay I see it's a size thing in one case and a preference thing in another. To each his own. I'd probably (but who knows) shoot raw+small jpg for both shoots (unless burst rate was a requirement ), store them on an external drive so space wouldn't be an issue, and then upload the jpg and process the raw when the orders came in. The only change may be if I expected a ton of images to be purchased. Anyhow, thanks for the info. It's always good for n00bs like me to learn how people do things and why.

lynnesite

Mike Lane wrote:

Okay I see it's a size thing in one case and a preference thing in another. To each his own. I'd probably (but who knows) shoot raw+small jpg for both shoots (unless burst rate was a requirement ), store them on an external drive so space wouldn't be an issue, and then upload the jpg and process the raw when the orders came in. The only change may be if I expected a ton of images to be purchased. Anyhow, thanks for the info. It's always good for n00bs like me to learn how people do things and why.

As a completely-commercial shooter, I think this might be a good idea for me, to speed up my post-event proof processing. Raw + JPG maybe medium, I think, when using the delayed proofing feature. Then maybe a quick pass for the JPGs through DxO, batched, only if the light was iffy, and a sharpening action and they'd be ready to go. I shoot up to 1200 frames without uploading to the computer, albeit not in surf but dust and dirt...but I have a method for switching cards quickly that's working. thanks for the idea, Mike! I'll have to do a test to see the jpg quality, it has been two years since I left the format behind, in camera anyway.