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DPChallenge Forums >> Photography Discussion >> Would love comments and suggestion if you have tim
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 11/13/2005 03:52:34 PM · #1
We moved and I am starting over with setting up a photography business. I decided to start from scratch on my site also. I would love to get comments/suggestions on the design, layout, portfolio (mainly the people shots) I have a heck of a time with making the skin tones look right online. I know this is asking alot but it would be greatly appreciated if anyone has the time. Pretty Please!!!

Bren Burrill Photography

Okay I'm sure everyone will have comments and a laugh about the title. I sure did. How the heck can the title be changed?

Message edited by author 2005-11-13 15:54:56.
 11/13/2005 03:57:38 PM · #2
Wow Bren! You don't need to change a thing in my opinion. Very clean site, loads fast, easy to navigate, and clear as to your business and pricing.

Looks pretty good to me. Great job.
 11/13/2005 03:59:03 PM · #3
Who's Tim? - And when did he go missing?
 11/13/2005 04:00:29 PM · #4
Great looking site! Very clean and professional. Your portraits are beautiful and the skin tones look good. Nice job.
 11/13/2005 04:03:49 PM · #5
Very nice site, nice interface.

When I click on the links on the 'portfolio' page, I should get taken to the correct place. For example, clicking 'portfolio' on the left, and then 'portfolio' again should take me to;

//www.brenburrill.com/gallery/showgallery.php?cat=514

But instead all these links take me to;

//www.brenburrill.com/gallery/
11/13/2005 04:15:12 PM · #6
I am using Firefox as my web browser and can't seem to see anything in your portfolio. Ok .. switched to IE and every time I click portfolio I get a forbidden error .. hmmm might be my firewall .. oh well sorry, can't seem to view anything there :( I do love the layout though!

Message edited by author 2005-11-13 16:16:58.
 11/13/2005 04:25:22 PM · #7
Thanks so much for all the help already. Didn't expect this many so quick.

jhonan I was wondering if I should link it to the actual page in the gallery but thought taking to the front page it might help when I start selling prints. I will figure a way to reword and redo the links.

mystopia I know when I used this program for stock photos I had some who couldn't view because of firewall settings. I am not sure what the fix on my end would be. If anyone uses photopost and knows a fix please let me know.

Thanks Sis and JB for checking it out and the comments. I have worked my butt off on this and still have a long way to go with adding the rest of my pictures to the portfolio. I decided I better stop and see if I am even on the right track or not.

Thank you all so much for taking the time to check things out for me.

11/13/2005 04:40:51 PM · #8
Hi, Bren. I think the site looks fantastic, but I did have the firewall problem in Firefox viewing the photos in your portfolio. When I disabled my firewall I was able to view everything. Other than that, it's terrific. :) And good luck!
 11/13/2005 04:58:42 PM · #9
Sorry Bren, i think it must be something to do with the Java? used to run the site but, i'm using Norton Internet Security 2004 and i can't see any pictures. If i turn off the firewall completly the site works fully.

Ohh and it's very good by the way :-)

Bob
 11/13/2005 05:04:39 PM · #10
Oh, just spotted a small grammatical error;

Originally posted by site:
You can come to me or I'll will come to you. If you feel more comfortable in your own surroundings or have a special place you would like to have the photos taken I'll will be more than happy to do this.


Change the word 'I'll' above to 'I'
 11/13/2005 05:13:49 PM · #11
Excellent site. Those are some amazing photos. Very professional looking, nothing to bright or distracting.
 11/13/2005 05:46:47 PM · #12
Thanks again for all the help.

Hi Judith...long time no see. You know we had the same problem when we used the program for SS. I wish I knew a solution?

Thanks again jhonan I'll go fix that right now. :)

Thanks Bob and Chelsea for looking and the nice compliments. I am so pleased to be getting such positive responses. It makes all the work worth it.
11/13/2005 06:25:01 PM · #13
The photos are uniformly high quality and very professional looking.

As for the site design, well It's maybe just a personal preference thing, but I really don't like the overall look of the portfolio site. It's got boxes within boxes within boxes ad infinitum, but no over-arching organization. It's got "Random Images" in two different places on the Home page. It has a "News" and a calendar box, which don't appear in the main menu. The first item under "Category" is "Portfolio", but the actual categories don't appear until you click on the work "Portfolio". I could go on...

Sorry if I'm being harsh, maybe this PhotoPost PHP is just a crappy tool and there's no way get a decent site out of it. But as a business site, I'd seriously worry about what the lack of organization says to your prospective clients. You have some excellent photos there that deserve a much better presentation.
 11/13/2005 06:40:59 PM · #14
Originally posted by magnus:
The photos are uniformly high quality and very professional looking.

As for the site design, well It's maybe just a personal preference thing, but I really don't like the overall look of the portfolio site. It's got boxes within boxes within boxes ad infinitum, but no over-arching organization. It's got "Random Images" in two different places on the Home page. It has a "News" and a calendar box, which don't appear in the main menu. The first item under "Category" is "Portfolio", but the actual categories don't appear until you click on the work "Portfolio". I could go on...

Sorry if I'm being harsh, maybe this PhotoPost PHP is just a crappy tool and there's no way get a decent site out of it. But as a business site, I'd seriously worry about what the lack of organization says to your prospective clients. You have some excellent photos there that deserve a much better presentation.


Not harsh at all Magnus. That is what I want to hear and the reason for posting here for comments and suggestions. Photopost is an excellent program and you have control over just about everything within it. It's the way I have it all set up. I will reread your comments tomorrow and see if I can't simplify it some. Thanks for your input.
 11/13/2005 07:01:09 PM · #15
Okay per Magnus suggestions I went ahead and changed some settings. I now have it where rather than having to click on the portfolio link in the gallery to see the different sections they all show on the front page. Yes or no?
 11/13/2005 07:07:44 PM · #16
Very nice layout and easy to get around (even for me LOL). You have a lot of choices for your clients and it's easy to see with in your website. Great job!

11/13/2005 07:33:32 PM · #17
Originally posted by SDW65:
Very nice layout and easy to get around (even for me LOL). You have a lot of choices for your clients and it's easy to see with in your website. Great job!


Thanks Scott. I could not believe your name when I looked at your profile. We have a very good friend named Scott Whiddon. In fact we were just talking about him a few minutes ago because he's a hugh Tampa Bay fan and we were watching the Tampa/Washington game. I wouldn't think Whiddon is a real common name and I never dreamed there could be 2 Scott Whiddons in this world. You'd have to know him to know why I'm saying that. :)
 11/14/2005 07:48:49 PM · #18
Bumping this to see if magnus and anyone else who might have time to check it out for me. I did some changes in the gallery as magnus
suggested. Thanks in advance to anyone who can give me suggestions on my site or photos.
 11/14/2005 08:07:52 PM · #19
I was going to wait for "tim" but he never showed up so I went ahead and checked it out. Hope you don't mind.

The flash part of the site is very nice. I'm not a fan of sound though and I don't know if you can get rid of it or if the user can turn it off. Otherwise, GREAT photos (prompted me to look in your DPC portfolio and subsequently add you to my fav's). The porfolio works fine except the slide show feature says I don't have permissions, etc. It matches your main site nicely, but I wish it wouldn't open in a new window. Overall very well done and looks to be very effective.

-Ken

ps: I don't believe all the other commenters actually had tim. ;-)
 11/14/2005 09:12:45 PM · #20
Originally posted by kpriest:
I was going to wait for "tim" but he never showed up so I went ahead and checked it out. Hope you don't mind.

The flash part of the site is very nice. I'm not a fan of sound though and I don't know if you can get rid of it or if the user can turn it off. Otherwise, GREAT photos (prompted me to look in your DPC portfolio and subsequently add you to my fav's). The porfolio works fine except the slide show feature says I don't have permissions, etc. It matches your main site nicely, but I wish it wouldn't open in a new window. Overall very well done and looks to be very effective.

-Ken

ps: I don't believe all the other commenters actually had tim. ;-)


Thanks for the laugh Ken and for checking it out for me. I laughed so hard I almost wet my pants right after I initially posted it. Guess I'll learn not to make my titles so long next time.

I had someone else comment on the sound at another forum. I keep my speakers turned down so I hadn't noticed it being annoying. I think I better fix that. I had also wondered about the gallery opening up in another window. I was just too lazy to make buttons for the top of the gallery but think I should take the time and do that. I'll have to check out what is wrong with the slide show. Thanks for letting me know this. I probably have something set wrong.
Thanks so much for nice comment on my photos and adding me to your fav's. That's a real honor.
 11/14/2005 11:53:54 PM · #21
HI Bren, your portfolio site is definitely looking better! In particular, having the categories listed on the first page is a huge help. Not only does it reduce the number of clicks to get to your photos, it also tells prospective customers right away what sorts of photos you have taken.

If you don't mind my continuing nit-pickyness, here are a few more suggestions for the portfolio site:
* It looks a little strange to have your name under every thumbnail and photo, since it's your site after all. Unless you're planning to have other people post photos, I'd remove the name fields.
* It doesn't look too good to have zero comments for every category. Maybe you don't want those columns on the portfolio front page until you actually have some comments.
* On the individual category pages, below each thumbnail is a table with five rows of text that takes as much space as the thumbnail itself. Think about what the page would look like with less text and more thumbnails. My vote is for no text at all, just fill the page with thumbnails. Even if you just pared the text down to a couple of rows, significantly more thumbnails would fit on each screen. And that increases the chances the customer sees a thumbnail they like.
* On the actual photo pages, there's a lot of stuff below the photo. The page would look much cleaner if with less clutter. I already mentioned about having the poster's name. The line "Additional Info" doesn't really make sense, it isn't a link and there's no additional info about the photo on the line below. The "Post a Comment" link is unnessecary if the comment field is right below it. The "Print View" doesn't seem useful, it's just an identical copy of the photo in another window. But the "Send as E-card" is very cool! Below that, the comment mechanism also looks a little crowded. For example, do people really need those different codes and legends?

Finally, a couple of suggestions for the main site:
* This may be browser-specific, but after clicking on "Portfolio" on the left panel on your front page, and the right panel changes to text listing Portfoloi, Client Proofs, etc., I don't see anything indicating that I'm supposed to click the word "Portfolio" in the right panel. Obviously I figured it out, but I think some less web-savy people might not (my mom, for instance!) Maybe you added link buttons (like in the left panel), or the word changed color on mouse-over?
* Also, it's slighly weird to have a Portfolio inside a Portfolio. Would it make more sense to call one of them a Gallery?

Okay, now I've got to stop being so picky! Best of luck with your business!
 11/15/2005 07:05:27 AM · #22
Thanks Magnus for all the suggestions. It will take a while to let them all soak in. lol I appreciate you taking so much time to help me out.
 11/15/2005 07:27:01 AM · #23
I like the site a lot
the only thing I found is when I looked at your pricing page
the page looks complete as it opens and I did not realize that there were more details to be seen by scrolling down

maybe bring the package pricing heading up a little so it shows at the bottom then people like me would realize there is more to see
 11/15/2005 07:38:02 AM · #24
another thing
when you open your portfolio page it flashes white before your background loads... you need to change your background color fron white to the correct grey

while checking you sorce code you have a few extra and <body> tags <br> <br><i> </head> <br> <b><body> <br> <br><head> <br><title>


bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000" link="#0000FF" vlink="#0000FF" alink="#0000FF" background="/gallery/images/greybg.gif">

you need to remove/fix the bold bits
11/15/2005 07:48:05 AM · #25
I think I have the same opinion as others have noted about the portfolio. It should be cleaner than it is now. You should not have user : bren, view, comments, last updates, login .. all these kinds of links. Keep it clean IMO
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