Question by Private Message

Andy

ello Andy


I have used smugmug for about 2 years now and love the website.
I have used it primarily as a marketing tool (portfolio) and for it's
private galleries for displaying my client's proofs.

I would like you use it to actually sell photos from.

I had a little time to kill so I was checking out what was new with smugmug.

That eventually led me to your webiste.

Your photos are fantastic !! I love the infrared!

My question to you is regarding the selling of your photos and the available
sizes.

I have always had trouble deciding what sizes to offer since some are not
proportionate. ie 4 x 6 and 5 x 7 - the client would have to crop a portion
off to get the 7 x 5 - now that isn't too bad I guess if the client has any
smarts at all.

One option is to only offer sizes that are proportionate, 4 x 6 - 8 x12 etc
that would solve the problem but it would leave out 5 x 7's (size I
personally like) and 8 x 10 (a size public is used to).

I like the way you displayed your photos with your name, signature and
matte.
I went through the process of buying one of your photos and noticed that
some of your sizes weren't proportional and wondered how you deal with the
issue.

If a client picks a size that isn't proportional to your original then is
your matte cropped away, or your name missing etc.

The end result may not look very good if the client doesn't crop your photo
well and in some cases no matter what the client does based on the original
photo's proportions the end result will not look good.

Bottom line - how do you handle the difference in the proportions of the
sizes you offer.

Thank you.

First, many thanks for the very kind words about my work

It's not easy, the public is used to 8x10 and 5x7, but our cameras make 3:2 ratio, and they don't fit

and you'll find many different approaches and answers here. My newest stuff I'm only selling in only 3:2 ratios, or specific ratios for the size that suits. For my event work, I allow room for cropping of all popular sizes - 4x6, 5x7, 8x10, etc

I'll dig up some other threads for reference, too. And let's hear what the community has to say about this, too :ear

Andy

http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=40413