Minimum Res Requirement vs Common Sense Workflow

largelylivin · July 31, 2007

I know this doesn't apply to everyone, but I expect that all the Event shooters can appreciate it.

Finally, I struggled through my workflow and eventually came up with a solution that works, until I hit the minumum resolution requirement and the Photo Delay Feature. Before I start, I know memory is cheap and disk space is almost as cheap, and I appreciate that there are no storage limitations on SmugMug.

I take 200-400 pictures every weekend "on Spec" and intended to get them all processed and uploaded before dinner time on Monday. I have a pretty damn good computer system, essentially the best you can have without going to dual processors (soon i fear) and RAID drives. The process and upload times were killing me.

Suddenly it hits me like Homer Simpson, "Duh?" Why am I processing and uploading hundreds of 10M pixel files when only a couple are goiing to sell?

Last week I started shooting RAW+JPEG, only using a 2MB JPEG. I processed and uploaded all the JPEGS in record time, way before dinner on Monday, and set the Proof Delay feature. Plan, of course, when I do sell those couple of pics I'll reprocess and reupload from the RAW. Damn, its almost a feature!

Except, now I realize that the "minimum resolution" requirement is preventing me from selling anything over an 16x20 AND they cannot buy a Hi-Res download. Honestly, I don't think that I am going to miss out on very many big print sales, but I am going to lose out on Hi-Res download sales! And, a customer just bought 4 low-res downloads without me getting a chance to intervene and "proof" them like I wanted to.

Worse yet, when my download customers, who only had the option of a 1 MB download, go to print from the file they might be pretty disapointed in its quality.

CHANGE REQUEST FOR PRO ACCOUNTS:

Implement customization option that allows Pro users to override minimum resolution requirement when Proof-Delay is set.

Simple. Unlikely to result in accidental low-quality prints because its limited to Pros.

Andy · July 31, 2007

Hi,

We can't change that, I wish we could

I shoot many events just like you.

I shoot RAW, then make a JPG from it with batch actions. These JPGS I make them 1920 on the longest side, which is big enough to sell any print. I save them with JPG7 quality in photoshop. I have files from my Canon 5D that are about 350kb. Easy as pie to upload. The whole thing is automated.

Does this help?

largelylivin · July 31, 2007

Its those damn horizons!

Andy wrote:

Hi,

We can't change that, I wish we could

I shoot many events just like you.

I shoot RAW, then make a JPG from it with batch actions. These JPGS I make them 1920 on the longest side, which is big enough to sell any print. I save them with JPG7 quality in photoshop. I have files from my Canon 5D that are about 350kb. Easy as pie to upload. The whole thing is automated.

Does this help?

Well, at least I know that you understand the problem. My problem is with uncontrollable horizons that force me to level and crop every single picture. With 2MB files everything goes so much faster that I can do 200 pics in about 3 hours (at least good enough for previews).

I guess I'll try going to the next larger size JPEGs.

It is wonderful having a camera that let's you shoot RAW+JPEG. It eliminates a huge time-consuming step.

DBE · July 31, 2007

Andy wrote:

Hi,

We can't change that, I wish we could

I shoot many events just like you.

I shoot RAW, then make a JPG from it with batch actions. These JPGS I make them 1920 on the longest side, which is big enough to sell any print. I save them with JPG7 quality in photoshop. I have files from my Canon 5D that are about 350kb. Easy as pie to upload. The whole thing is automated.

Does this help?

OK I'm new at this whole SM thing and I have question regarding the resolution of my pics. I shoot with a Nikon D50. I shoot it the fine mode. My pics are 2.5MB on avg and they are 3000 x 2000pix. I use Photoshop to rotate my pictures and thensavethem at the highest JPEG setting. I then upload. I figured at that resolution my customers should be able to print fairly large pictures clearly.

Am I not doing this correctly? I shoot candids and sports. ( I treat my landscape differently and will post on that topic when I actually get those online.)

Should I buck it up to RAW + JPEG and put a delay on the printing??
At 2.5MB per shot it took 1 1/2 hours to upload 94 images.

Thanks in advance.

Dan
www.DBEPotography.net
www.emmerman.smugmug.com

mattmcc · July 31, 2007

I'd recommend you look into lightroom. You can import all your pictures, run quick tweaks on each one including crop and rotate, and then export as jpeg. You can always come back to the original raw if you need to go into greater touching up. For exporting proof size, just choose 72 dpi or so.

Matt

Minimum Res Requirement vs Common Sense Workflow

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