Client unhappy with crop

[ottor]

Sold 3 from my homepage (smugmug) - she chose 3 photos from my gallery, and wanted 8x10's... paid for them, and when I went to place the order, the crop selection was pretty poor.. I tried my best to place the crop where it would look best, and sent them out...

Now she's a little unhappy in that the photos that she chose, weren't the ones that she rec'd.. (true).. Told her I'd refund, but she said that wasn't necessary ... however, any ideas on how to avoid this in the future?

Most of my sales are either 8x10 or 11x14... is there a certain size that I should upload? - I understand the 'why', but not sure how to handle the odd situations like this when they "Crop" up...

Any advise would be appreciated...

tks,

 

[mariusz]

try to print full frame to avoid cropping! 8x12 etc

 

[Overread]

Also if you can't print fullfame, or find that most people want sizes like 8*10 then display those sizes (already cropped) on your website - thus letting them get a look at exactly what they are going to purchase.

 

[Big Mike]

I think that clear communication is key here. If someone orders an 8x10 while looking at a 2:3 image...they need to know that it will need to be cropped. You might even put that right on your website where they are viewing the images.

On my site, I use Photocart to show clients the images and let they purchase prints etc. I have it set so that when they choose a print size, the preview image automatically changes to that ratio. It might not be exactly accurate because it just crops to the centre...but I think it's enough that it gives the client an idea of what it will look like. Plus, there is a disclaimer right there that tells them that what they see might not be exactly what they get.

It's not always an option, but you can sometimes 'stretch' and image when a certain crop just isn't working. The latest version of Photoshop has a neat feature called 'Content Aware Scaling'. (and I think this is also available in other software). It doesn't always work as you want, but the idea is that it analyzes the images and stretches the parts that probably won't look too weird when stretched. So using this, you might be able to save an image that would otherwise be ruined by an 8x10 crop.

Of course, the moral of the story is that maybe you shouldn't shoot so tight...because you might want to leave room for different crops.

 

[Christie Photo]

I think that clear communication is key here.

More words of wisdom from Big Mike.

I don't know how much of this you do, but it's a simple thing to email an image for approval if there are going to be ANY changes. Unless you have a really high volume, it's an easy fix.

-Pete

 

[ottor]

Youre right .... and I'm learning every day..

Tks for the advice..