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12/30/2012 07:22:06 PM · #1 |
//anitaunderwoodphotography.com/
Well my site has been up and running for a few weeks now, just wondering if anyone would like to critic it. My latest additions was a job I did yesterday, they are under the family section front page from the boy being thrown in the air, plus the children's section on the 4th page the last 3 photos. I have a lot more to add and will get round to it.
So if anyone could let me know if I should just delete a few that aren't up to scratch or whatever, let me know.
Also if you could like it on FB that would be great. Not that I like FB, but if I get 30 likes, then, they will give me more publicity or something like that, I don't really know how it works.
Message edited by author 2012-12-30 19:23:28. |
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12/30/2012 07:45:32 PM · #2 |
Putting on my nitpickers cap...
I'm not thrilled with the boy being thrown in the air. It comes off as a little too heavy on the tonemapping for the image. The one right above it of the family walking down the path, I love.
I like the girl in the tree, and the jumping girl. The boy has too much obvious flash for my preferences. The b/w of the brother holding the sister is precious.
Site design looks good to me, and navigates easily. You put the "contact us" link in an easy to find location and you offered a number of different ways of being contacted, that's good.
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12/30/2012 07:50:05 PM · #3 |
Originally posted by Neat:
//anitaunderwoodphotography.com/
Well my site has been up and running for a few weeks now, just wondering if anyone would like to critic it. My latest additions was a job I did yesterday, they are under the family section front page from the boy being thrown in the air, plus the children's section on the 4th page the last 3 photos. I have a lot more to add and will get round to it.
So if anyone could let me know if I should just delete a few that aren't up to scratch or whatever, let me know.
Also if you could like it on FB that would be great. Not that I like FB, but if I get 30 likes, then, they will give me more publicity or something like that, I don't really know how it works. |
It seems typical of a new photographer, mainly in the realm of having a gallery for literally everything.
I think you need to decide what kind of photographer you want to be. Shooting families, kids, weddings, pets, and landscapes lets people know right off the bat that you're not a great photographer for their specific need because you're too generalized.
And it shows. In children, the second image is a snapshot that anyone can take with overprocessed eyes and bright red skin tones. In fact, there's a lot of snapshots in your people galleries.
Your pets gallery is probably the strongest -- you may want to specialize in that field if you're going to be charging people. IMO, you're not ready to be charging for weddings and portraits. A lot of your images have serious over-processing and other quality issues.
I know you have to start somewhere, but my best feedback would be to work on a specialty and hone your skills a bit more. If you really like shooting pets, I'd start there -- I think that's where your best images are going to come from (that have the most potential for making $$ -- I can't foresee you making a business out shooting landscapes).
Message edited by author 2012-12-30 19:54:32.
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12/30/2012 07:51:07 PM · #4 |
Originally posted by Yo_Spiff:
Putting on my nitpickers cap...
I'm not thrilled with the boy being thrown in the air. It comes off as a little too heavy on the tonemapping for the image. The one right above it of the family walking down the path, I love.
I like the girl in the tree, and the jumping girl. The boy has too much obvious flash for my preferences. The b/w of the brother holding the sister is precious.
Site design looks good to me, and navigates easily. You put the "contact us" link in an easy to find location and you offered a number of different ways of being contacted, that's good. |
Cool no worries, thanks for the feedback.
I wanted it to be as minimalist as possible, I can't stand websites that are hard to navigate around. |
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12/30/2012 07:56:54 PM · #5 |
Originally posted by kgeary:
Originally posted by Neat:
//anitaunderwoodphotography.com/
Well my site has been up and running for a few weeks now, just wondering if anyone would like to critic it. My latest additions was a job I did yesterday, they are under the family section front page from the boy being thrown in the air, plus the children's section on the 4th page the last 3 photos. I have a lot more to add and will get round to it.
So if anyone could let me know if I should just delete a few that aren't up to scratch or whatever, let me know.
Also if you could like it on FB that would be great. Not that I like FB, but if I get 30 likes, then, they will give me more publicity or something like that, I don't really know how it works. |
It seems typical of a new photographer, mainly in the realm of having a gallery for literally everything.
I think you need to decide what kind of photographer you want to be. Shooting families, kids, weddings, pets, and landscapes lets people know right off the bat that you're not a great photographer for their specific need because you're too generalized.
And it shows. In children, the second image is a snapshot that anyone can take with overprocessed eyes and bright red skin tones. In fact, there's a lot of snapshots in your people galleries.
Your pets gallery is probably the strongest -- you may want to specialize in that field if you're going to be charging people. IMO, you're not ready to be charging for weddings and portraits. A lot of your images have serious over-processing and other quality issues.
I know you have to start somewhere, but my best feedback would be to work on a specialty and hone your skills a bit more. If you really like shooting pets, I'd start there -- I think that's where your best images are going to come from (that have the most potential for making $$ -- I can't foresee you making a business out shooting landscapes). |
No I don't want to make money on landscapes, if you read my package section that's not my aim, but yes I see some valid points being brought up, if you let me know which images are over done I can work on that.
Message edited by author 2012-12-30 19:58:13. |
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12/30/2012 07:59:42 PM · #6 |
Originally posted by Neat:
Originally posted by kgeary:
Originally posted by Neat:
//anitaunderwoodphotography.com/
Well my site has been up and running for a few weeks now, just wondering if anyone would like to critic it. My latest additions was a job I did yesterday, they are under the family section front page from the boy being thrown in the air, plus the children's section on the 4th page the last 3 photos. I have a lot more to add and will get round to it.
So if anyone could let me know if I should just delete a few that aren't up to scratch or whatever, let me know.
Also if you could like it on FB that would be great. Not that I like FB, but if I get 30 likes, then, they will give me more publicity or something like that, I don't really know how it works. |
It seems typical of a new photographer, mainly in the realm of having a gallery for literally everything.
I think you need to decide what kind of photographer you want to be. Shooting families, kids, weddings, pets, and landscapes lets people know right off the bat that you're not a great photographer for their specific need because you're too generalized.
And it shows. In children, the second image is a snapshot that anyone can take with overprocessed eyes and bright red skin tones. In fact, there's a lot of snapshots in your people galleries.
Your pets gallery is probably the strongest -- you may want to specialize in that field if you're going to be charging people. IMO, you're not ready to be charging for weddings and portraits. A lot of your images have serious over-processing and other quality issues.
I know you have to start somewhere, but my best feedback would be to work on a specialty and hone your skills a bit more. If you really like shooting pets, I'd start there -- I think that's where your best images are going to come from (that have the most potential for making $$ -- I can't foresee you making a business out shooting landscapes). |
No I don't want to make money on landscapes, if you read my package section that's not my aim, but yes I see some valid points being brought up, if you let me know which images are over done I can work on that. |
If you're not looking to make money on landscapes then drop it from your website -- all that gallery is doing is confusing people.
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12/30/2012 08:04:00 PM · #7 |
Originally posted by Neat:
Originally posted by kgeary:
Originally posted by Neat:
//anitaunderwoodphotography.com/
Well my site has been up and running for a few weeks now, just wondering if anyone would like to critic it. My latest additions was a job I did yesterday, they are under the family section front page from the boy being thrown in the air, plus the children's section on the 4th page the last 3 photos. I have a lot more to add and will get round to it.
So if anyone could let me know if I should just delete a few that aren't up to scratch or whatever, let me know.
Also if you could like it on FB that would be great. Not that I like FB, but if I get 30 likes, then, they will give me more publicity or something like that, I don't really know how it works. |
It seems typical of a new photographer, mainly in the realm of having a gallery for literally everything.
I think you need to decide what kind of photographer you want to be. Shooting families, kids, weddings, pets, and landscapes lets people know right off the bat that you're not a great photographer for their specific need because you're too generalized.
And it shows. In children, the second image is a snapshot that anyone can take with overprocessed eyes and bright red skin tones. In fact, there's a lot of snapshots in your people galleries.
Your pets gallery is probably the strongest -- you may want to specialize in that field if you're going to be charging people. IMO, you're not ready to be charging for weddings and portraits. A lot of your images have serious over-processing and other quality issues.
I know you have to start somewhere, but my best feedback would be to work on a specialty and hone your skills a bit more. If you really like shooting pets, I'd start there -- I think that's where your best images are going to come from (that have the most potential for making $$ -- I can't foresee you making a business out shooting landscapes). |
No I don't want to make money on landscapes, if you read my package section that's not my aim, but yes I see some valid points being brought up, if you let me know which images are over done I can work on that. |
while i agree with some of this, not everything has to be done the same way as its been done before and creativity drives people forward not conforming to a standard set of rules or ways of doing things, while commercially this can be a source of standardising your income, if your creatively moving your not stagnating, so limiting yourself as well can remove some of the honing of your technical ability according to the mainstream it very much limits yourself and for people/customers looking for something different and individual your assessment is also limiting in its advice too... but i can appreciate where your coming from... |
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12/30/2012 08:06:41 PM · #8 |
| hey!....where's the boudoir section? |
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12/30/2012 08:09:57 PM · #9 |
Originally posted by smardaz:
hey!....where's the boudoir section? |
lol all in good time ;O) hehehe |
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12/30/2012 08:22:46 PM · #10 |
I think it's looking great Anita. Some fantastic photographs there. It's running very slow for me but everything is running very slow for me on my internet at the moment. Lots of storms here. If it is running slowly elsewhere then remember that you don't really need more than 72dpi-100-150 kb a pic.
I love the logo and typeface design. It's very classy but not too overboard and fancy. Your name is perfect for a photography company and the squares down the side is really nice and will look great on marketing.
I'm also in the camp that thinks you should narrow down your field/portfolios a bit. Get rid of 'landscape' and 'misc'. It's better to really have a small business focus really. If you attach a blog then you can put all your landscape and misc stuff there and link it. Maybe splitting and having two websites may work if you want to sell landscapes but otherwise keep the focus on the weddings/family/pets (you're so good at pets then even that might work as a spin off site)
Anyway, great work! |
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12/30/2012 08:28:58 PM · #11 |
Originally posted by rooum:
I think it's looking great Anita. Some fantastic photographs there. It's running very slow for me but everything is running very slow for me on my internet at the moment. Lots of storms here. If it is running slowly elsewhere then remember that you don't really need more than 72dpi-100-150 kb a pic.
I love the logo and typeface design. It's very classy but not too overboard and fancy. Your name is perfect for a photography company and the squares down the side is really nice and will look great on marketing.
I'm also in the camp that thinks you should narrow down your field/portfolios a bit. Get rid of 'landscape' and 'misc'. It's better to really have a small business focus really. If you attach a blog then you can put all your landscape and misc stuff there and link it. Maybe splitting and having two websites may work if you want to sell landscapes but otherwise keep the focus on the weddings/family/pets (you're so good at pets then even that might work as a spin off site)
Anyway, great work! |
much more balanced... and we have to remember wedding photography etc would not have evolved from dull technicality to the art form it has become at the hands of people while technically skilled have taken it beyond itself by not sticking to traditional and commercial ways of doing things the same way as the mainstream ;O) just a small but important point
commercial viability does not gaurantee success nor furtherment of an artist instead it merely brings it to a point where its income over evolution, and sooner or later will die at the hands of uniformity and technical ability.
Message edited by author 2012-12-30 20:31:27. |
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12/30/2012 08:30:50 PM · #12 |
Originally posted by rooum:
I think it's looking great Anita. Some fantastic photographs there. It's running very slow for me but everything is running very slow for me on my internet at the moment. Lots of storms here. If it is running slowly elsewhere then remember that you don't really need more than 72dpi-100-150 kb a pic.
I love the logo and typeface design. It's very classy but not too overboard and fancy. Your name is perfect for a photography company and the squares down the side is really nice and will look great on marketing.
I'm also in the camp that thinks you should narrow down your field/portfolios a bit. Get rid of 'landscape' and 'misc'. It's better to really have a small business focus really. If you attach a blog then you can put all your landscape and misc stuff there and link it. Maybe splitting and having two websites may work if you want to sell landscapes but otherwise keep the focus on the weddings/family/pets (you're so good at pets then even that might work as a spin off site)
Anyway, great work! |
ok good advice, the site works quick for me, but maybe I can reduce the files more, I think some of them are over 600kb.
I didn't think that the landscape and misc section would confuse people, but I suppose I could remove it, I just like the variety. Anyway, it's all new to me, not aiming on making loads of money with it, and my income is not dependant on our survival, it's more an outlet for me to hone in on my creativity.
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12/30/2012 08:31:08 PM · #13 |
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12/30/2012 08:34:34 PM · #14 |
Originally posted by Neat:
Originally posted by rooum:
I think it's looking great Anita. Some fantastic photographs there. It's running very slow for me but everything is running very slow for me on my internet at the moment. Lots of storms here. If it is running slowly elsewhere then remember that you don't really need more than 72dpi-100-150 kb a pic.
I love the logo and typeface design. It's very classy but not too overboard and fancy. Your name is perfect for a photography company and the squares down the side is really nice and will look great on marketing.
I'm also in the camp that thinks you should narrow down your field/portfolios a bit. Get rid of 'landscape' and 'misc'. It's better to really have a small business focus really. If you attach a blog then you can put all your landscape and misc stuff there and link it. Maybe splitting and having two websites may work if you want to sell landscapes but otherwise keep the focus on the weddings/family/pets (you're so good at pets then even that might work as a spin off site)
Anyway, great work! |
ok good advice, the site works quick for me, but maybe I can reduce the files more, I think some of them are over 600kb.
I didn't think that the landscape and misc section would confuse people, but I suppose I could remove it, I just like the variety. Anyway, it's all new to me, not aiming on making loads of money with it, and my income is not dependant on our survival, it's more an outlet for me to hone in on my creativity. |
you dont necessarily have to remove it, you can seperate it from your offered services to images available to purchase or even as a gallery of other works that are not part of the services.. this might be a valuable asset as it might give clients ideas for places and creatiuve requirements of styles based on those landscapes etc they might like to discuss as part of theirs... think about it that way?? if helpful! |
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12/30/2012 08:38:58 PM · #15 |
Originally posted by GAP2012:
you dont necessarily have to remove it, you can seperate it from your offered services to images available to purchase or even as a gallery of other works that are not part of the services.. this might be a valuable asset as it might give clients ideas for places and creatiuve requirements of styles based on those landscapes etc they might like to discuss as part of theirs... think about it that way?? if helpful! |
Yes all helpful thanks! |
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12/30/2012 08:54:09 PM · #16 |
Originally posted by Neat:
I think some of them are over 600kb.. |
Way too big. Get them down to below 200kb at least. |
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12/30/2012 08:59:29 PM · #17 |
Originally posted by rooum:
Originally posted by Neat:
I think some of them are over 600kb.. |
Way too big. Get them down to below 200kb at least. |
ok no worries , I have a lot of work to do now, thanks! |
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12/30/2012 09:23:18 PM · #18 |
Have only had time for a quick look but briefly -
Website critiques:
Take the wedding shot out of the family gallery
Get the grammar and punctuation correct - have someone else check it thoroughly if necessary
Easy to navigate, good contact page
Photo critiques:
Orange balloons draw the eye away from the people in most of these images
Some shots are overprocessed - HDR'd
Some shots have an overpowering flash look to them
Pets are one of your stronger suits
I think keeping those 'extra' galleries/images in a separate (prints for sale or something) area is a great idea
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12/30/2012 10:07:05 PM · #19 |
Originally posted by pamb:
Have only had time for a quick look but briefly -
Website critiques:
Take the wedding shot out of the family gallery
Get the grammar and punctuation correct - have someone else check it thoroughly if necessary
Easy to navigate, good contact page
Photo critiques:
Orange balloons draw the eye away from the people in most of these images
Some shots are overprocessed - HDR'd
Some shots have an overpowering flash look to them
Pets are one of your stronger suits
I think keeping those 'extra' galleries/images in a separate (prints for sale or something) area is a great idea |
Ok great, yes well English was never my strong point, do you want to re-write it, lol!
I know I do tend to over PP some photo's will work on that!
Thanks~ |
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12/31/2012 01:43:31 AM · #20 |
| Can't find you or the site in the facebook |
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12/31/2012 05:03:53 AM · #21 |
I'm not commenting on the images. I think I'm not qualified for that and that you're a much better photographer than I am. However, being a (amateur) webdesigner, I can comment on your website.
First impression: I have to wait because the webpage is loading images (normally for me a good reason to leave the page). Second thing I see is some large images, sliding from one to another, going back when reaching the last one...very distracting! Making a loop is fine but not with sliding back to the first one. The images themselves are not appealing to me as well; I know it's personal, but I think you have to show your best work at once, otherwise visitors might lose interest.
Another thing I think you should improve is the navigation. The only way to navigate is by images. I always recommend at least two ways of navigation. On this website I would have one with images and one vertical menu (either on the left side, or popping-up under Galleries). The fact that you can't see what the image thumbnails are standing for is irritating as well. Of course I can guess based on the subject of the image, but as a visitor I like to see at once what I'm looking for without the need of pointing each image with my mouse.
Once I'm clicking on one of the galleries, I have to wait because of the images loading . Might be the size of the images. As a rule your images should be 200kb max! (And even smaller for thumbnails). In the (sub)galleries I lose track of my position on the site. I can't see in which Gallery I'm in (show the name of the gallery all the time), there is no Go Back button and it is impossible to go to another Gallery directly. I have to click on Home and start all over again. Again, some side menu or a list of the other galleries on the bottom of the page would improve navigation quite well.
Once I click on one of the images to have a further view, I really have to wait a few seconds in order for the image to load (there's even the word 'loading' on my screen...I hate that). The same principal here, downsize your image to 200-300kb max! Underneath the image appears some navigation numbers and arrows; at first I think that's OK but once working with this 'navigation' I completely lose track and I have no clue were I am. Once I even changed to one of the images of another gallery I explored before, so there is some sort of mix up.
Personally I like to see some navigation line (like home > galleries > weddings > xxxx) where you can click on each part of it to navigate to that particular page of the website.
In general, I think your website has potential, but making a website without any written navigation (except for the topmenu) is not working well. Always make sure visitors can see where they are on the site, can find what they looking for and please don't let them wait loading images.
Message edited by author 2012-12-31 05:11:19. |
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12/31/2012 05:57:26 AM · #22 |
 Kroburg Lol is there anything you did like.
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12/31/2012 11:22:39 AM · #23 |
Originally posted by Tiberius:
Can't find you or the site in the facebook |
Nor I |
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12/31/2012 12:54:34 PM · #24 |
my comments are going to echo to the rest for the most part. i have a very fast internet connect in the images took longer than they should. had i checked this site at the office i would have left immediately, i have no patience for long load times.
one big problem i see and others have said so is that you show too much. do you want to photograph people and pets or make art? you have too many styles and it would be hard for me as a customers to know what to expect from you. you need to pick a main style and showcase it and then leave in a few others to give some variety, right now you have too much of a mix of everything.
the website layout is nice, clean, easy to navigate.
on your contact page there is no need to put the web address, people are already there :), i would also like to see you add more social media chicklets and make them more prominent so people see then. i didn't see the facebook icon and would have missed it had folks here no commented on it.
what i did was put on my website images i wanted potential clients to see and then place a Facebook and 500px chicklet to showcase my other work if they cared to see it. i'm not selling that aspect of my service so i didnt want it at the forefront.
hope this helps, good start, you just need to polish it all up.
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12/31/2012 05:09:54 PM · #25 |
Originally posted by Neat:
Kroburg Lol is there anything you did like. |
he thinks you should change everything, otherwise it's perfect. |
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