Website Review - DPChallenge Forums

04/03/2011 12:32:23 PM · #1

I'm going to make another push at doing photography now that I've re-acquired almost all of my equipment. I had to sell it all at the beginning of the recession.

Was wondering if you can critique my new website:

www.kevingearyphotography.com

I know the portfolio doesn't have enough pictures in it...some of the images are just placeholders until I get some material to put in the slider on the home page as well as the portfolio.

I didn't want to put any of my old work in it...I want to start fresh.

smardaz

04/03/2011 12:38:24 PM · #2

Seems nice,clean and fast. Looks good, the only thing i don't like is the gallery with the squished thumbs, but thats just personal taste, when i first saw it i thought the page errored out

04/03/2011 12:45:41 PM · #3

Originally posted by smardaz:

Seems nice,clean and fast. Looks good, the only thing i don't like is the gallery with the squished thumbs, but thats just personal taste, when i first saw it i thought the page errored out

Squished thumbs?

By squished do you mean they are close together? They're perfect square thumbs and the images aren't stretched, so I'm not sure what you mean by squished.

Should I make the thumbs larger?

Message edited by author 2011-04-03 12:46:37.

smardaz

04/03/2011 12:46:33 PM · #4

Originally posted by kgeary:

Originally posted by smardaz:
Seems nice,clean and fast. Looks good, the only thing i don't like is the gallery with the squished thumbs, but thats just personal taste, when i first saw it i thought the page errored out

Squished thumbs?

i didn't know how else to describe it, you have several image thumbs that look like slices of the full shot in your gallery.

Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR II

04/03/2011 12:48:02 PM · #5

Originally posted by smardaz:

Originally posted by kgeary:

Originally posted by smardaz:
Seems nice,clean and fast. Looks good, the only thing i don't like is the gallery with the squished thumbs, but thats just personal taste, when i first saw it i thought the page errored out

Squished thumbs?

i didn't know how else to describe it, you have several image thumbs that look like slices of the full shot in your gallery.

Isn't that what a thumbnail is?

Should I just make them bigger?

smardaz

04/03/2011 12:53:42 PM · #6

Originally posted by kgeary:

Originally posted by smardaz:

Originally posted by kgeary:

Originally posted by smardaz:
Seems nice,clean and fast. Looks good, the only thing i don't like is the gallery with the squished thumbs, but thats just personal taste, when i first saw it i thought the page errored out

Squished thumbs?

i didn't know how else to describe it, you have several image thumbs that look like slices of the full shot in your gallery.

Isn't that what a thumbnail is?

Should I just make them bigger?

heh heh like i said it's just my personal taste, i think it would prob look better once there are more images there

Adz

Nikon D80

04/03/2011 12:54:39 PM · #7

I really like all the information and how it is laid out on the website.
Really simple to understand and nice to have a clear pricing list where there's no confusion.

ETA: One critique is that the "I can't wait to speak with you....." at the bottom of the homepage is quite feint, I might make it a bit bolder if you can.

Message edited by author 2011-04-03 12:57:56.

Chinarosepetal

Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III

Canon EF 180mm f/3.5L Macro USM

04/03/2011 12:58:35 PM · #8

The thumbnails are squished for me too - only a couple of millimetres in width - they look very odd.

04/03/2011 01:01:21 PM · #9

Originally posted by Chinarosepetal:

The thumbnails are squished for me too - only a couple of millimetres in width - they look very odd.

Hmm...

OK...you are second person to mention so I think I'm going to switch out the portfolio style to a slider-type that displays large images.

Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR II

04/03/2011 01:01:47 PM · #10

Originally posted by Adz:

Ok, I can do that.

Adz

Nikon D80

04/03/2011 01:10:31 PM · #11

Originally posted by kgeary:

Originally posted by Adz:
I really like all the information and how it is laid out on the website.
Really simple to understand and nice to have a clear pricing list where there's no confusion.

ETA: One critique is that the "I can't wait to speak with you....." at the bottom of the homepage is quite feint, I might make it a bit bolder if you can.

Ok, I can do that.

Much better :-)

fldave

Pentax K5II

Pentax DA 18-135mm F3.5-5.6ED AL [IF] WR DC

04/03/2011 01:16:45 PM · #12

Very clean and quick; I don't get the extreme squishing as others have mentioned, but the thumbs are square and open to full size. I agree with

Adz about the type at the bottom of the page being light, but also the "I provide personal and corporate photography for people who appreciate quality" at the top is not bold enough.

I like the personal approach, very friendly and conversational, but don't make it too simple... ("You book me, I do my thing") as you are representing yourself as a professional as well.

Edit to add using Firefox, as per the "squished" thumbs...

Message edited by author 2011-04-03 18:29:47.

Chinarosepetal

Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III

Canon EF 180mm f/3.5L Macro USM

04/03/2011 01:23:46 PM · #13

The squished thumbs look like this - is it a browser compatibility issue? (or did you mean them to look like this?)
//i51.tinypic.com/9r0jma.jpg

Canon EF 180mm f/3.5L Macro USM

04/03/2011 02:34:11 PM · #14

Originally posted by Chinarosepetal:

The squished thumbs look like this - is it a browser compatibility issue? (or did you mean them to look like this?)
//i51.tinypic.com/9r0jma.jpg

That's definitely an error.

What computer/browser are you using?

Message edited by author 2011-04-03 14:34:52.

Chinarosepetal

Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III

04/03/2011 03:43:37 PM · #15

Originally posted by kgeary:

Originally posted by Chinarosepetal:
The squished thumbs look like this - is it a browser compatibility issue? (or did you mean them to look like this?)
//i51.tinypic.com/9r0jma.jpg

That's definitely an error.

What computer/browser are you using?

IE7 - Using Chrome I can see what it's supposed to look like now!

Dr.Confuser

Nikon D800

Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8G ED

04/03/2011 04:58:33 PM · #16

Originally posted by kgeary:

Is it just me or do the highlights look blown?

[Sorry just messing with you. :) ]

Site looks great in Safari. Crisp, clean. Everything I clicked on seems to work with only a couple work-in-process glitches. Look and feel of the SmugMug print stuff is a bit jarring coming from the white to the black background. On Contact page "Phone and Addy" is a little to informal for my taste. Seriously, nice work.

Message edited by author 2011-04-03 17:02:01.

karmat

Apple iPhone 7

Canon EF 70-200mm f/4.0L USM

04/03/2011 06:08:06 PM · #17

Under "Personal, Professional Photography" it says this --

All photo retouching and finishing is included. There are no hidden costs, guaranteed. The booking fee covers my time and talent only and does include the cost of prints.

But just above that you talk about no "credit towards prints." So, does the fee I pay include prints, if so, how many (because I couldn't find it), or should there be a "not" between does and include?

SEG

Nikon D7100

Nikon AF Nikkor 85mm f/1.8D

04/03/2011 06:29:14 PM · #18

Originally posted by Dr.Confuser:

I agree with this statement. Everything about your site looks very elegant and professional. This needs to be changed to reflect that.

Message edited by author 2011-04-03 18:30:02.

04/03/2011 06:42:03 PM · #19

Originally posted by karmat:

Sorry...good catch! Yes...it should say, "does not".

Fixed.

Message edited by author 2011-04-03 18:43:33.

04/03/2011 06:43:43 PM · #20

Originally posted by SEG:

Originally posted by Dr.Confuser:

Originally posted by kgeary:
I'm going to make another push at doing photography now that I've re-acquired almost all of my equipment. I had to sell it all at the beginning of the recession.

Was wondering if you can critique my new website:

www.kevingearyphotography.com

I know the portfolio doesn't have enough pictures in it...some of the images are just placeholders until I get some material to put in the slider on the home page as well as the portfolio.

I didn't want to put any of my old work in it...I want to start fresh.

On Contact page "Phone and Addy" is a little to informal for my taste.

I agree with this statement. Everything about your site looks very elegant and professional. This needs to be changed to reflect that.

Fixed.

04/03/2011 06:44:35 PM · #21

Originally posted by Dr.Confuser:

Originally posted by kgeary:
I'm going to make another push at doing photography now that I've re-acquired almost all of my equipment. I had to sell it all at the beginning of the recession.

Was wondering if you can critique my new website:

www.kevingearyphotography.com

I know the portfolio doesn't have enough pictures in it...some of the images are just placeholders until I get some material to put in the slider on the home page as well as the portfolio.

I didn't want to put any of my old work in it...I want to start fresh.

Is it just me or do the highlights look blown?

[Sorry just messing with you. :) ]

Site looks great in Safari. Crisp, clean. Everything I clicked on seems to work with only a couple work-in-process glitches. Look and feel of the SmugMug print stuff is a bit jarring coming from the white to the black background. On Contact page "Phone and Addy" is a little to informal for my taste. Seriously, nice work.

I think you're right about the white to black smugmug transition. I'm going to make smugmug clean and white as well. Thanks.

Tamron AF 18-270mm F/3,5-6,3 Di II VC LD Aspherical [IF] macro for Canon

04/03/2011 06:44:35 PM · #22

Originally posted by Dr.Confuser:

I think you're right about the white to black smugmug transition. I'm going to make smugmug clean and white as well. Thanks.

Nokia N900

04/09/2011 11:10:28 AM · #23

Honestly, it's probably the best done web site I've ever seen here. It looks clean and is accessibly well done.

My technical complaint: on the homepage you have a href="#"; really this should be a span with an onclick event and CSS that sets the cursor: pointer (just like you do on //kevingearyphotography.com/portfolio/ ). You could also replace *-red-button background images which CSS which might be easier long term--if it weren't for MSIE.

Something that'd be a bit neater is if on the homepage, rather than clicks, you could swipe/drag as well--but that could be overkill while you're still trying to focus on the content and starting up services again.