Online Services and Picture Sizes/Cropping (Smugmug)

[Dionysus]

I was using DeviantART to sell photos, and i upload as large a size as I can stand to upload. After I upload, and set it up to be available as a print, it shows me the possible sizes people can buy, and it's automatic.

For some reason, using the same size with smugmug, on almost every picture it shows that there will be cropping necessary at checkout, and the crops always cut into my pictures when fully expanded. Why is this a concern all of a sudden? I just figured it would automatically scale it down. Why would these files be just fine with DA, but all of a sudden need to be cropped on almost every size, for smugmug?

Hope I'm not being too vague, but don't really know how else to explain it.

 

[Big Mike]

If you (or they) are printing at sizes with different aspect ratios...then there will need to be cropping. 4x6, 5x7, 8x10...are all different aspect ratios.

Maybe DA doesn't bother to tell you and just crops the edges automatically...and maybe Smugmug tells you that it needs to be cropped.

 

[Overread]

it will depend what sizes you want the photos to print on.
From a crop sensor camera some sizes of print just don't work unless you crop or add black space to the top and bottom (of a landscape orientation shot).
for example 8*10 don't work without cropping
but you can print 8*12 from a crop sensor camera.

My guess is that devient art either printed to crop sized paper or they were more creative in adjusting the photo dimensions (at a risk of you losing quality of print)