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New website...CC please

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Boogie11

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I know that I need to invest in some pro lenses but I'm trying to the best I can with what I have. I just put this website up this weekend so that I can get a feel for marketing some photos that I shoot. Nothing ventured nothing gained.

I'm just looking for some constructive criticism on my efforts. I have learned a great deal from all the posters on this forum and value the knowledge that so many of you share.

Here is the link....

http://www.digitalconstruction.ca/
--
Rick P.
http://www.pbase.com/boogie11
 
--
Hi Rick,

Congrats on the website.
I am not a pro, not even close but I will give you my humble opinion:

If you want the site to look more serious and professional you should delete many of the photos that are simply not the best.

Having mediocre photos and, mainly, family photos in a website which pretends to sell pics seems amateur.

There are really excellent pictures in the site, however, which you should keep. This would upgrade the site a lot.
 
Here is my CC, offered in a constructive manner and just MHO:

1) Your Font is hard to read. Visitors should be able to directly read your titles, etc., without taking the moment to 'figure out' what the type style is being used.

2) Stick with the images that have a WOW factor. Check out Flkr to view other photog galleries to get a feel of what others display and vote as 'best of'.

3) Viewers usually get bored when looking at more than 30 images per category.
Limit your showcase to 30 WOW images per subject.

4) On your animal shots almost all have the same vantage point, your eye level. This is always discernable when looking at a large group of images from one photographer. Move your camera up & down to get varying vantage points.

5) Your watermark is too grabby. I learned this from these forums and changed mine in response to someone's CC. Read Smugmug's Help section on watermarks. They explain how to create them as well. I use my name and copyright symbol ( Num Lock, Func & Ctrl, 0169 gives © ) on three lines, top middle and bottom.

6) Many of your landscape shots are not 'level'. Many lean downward on the left side. I measured them to make sure it wasn't my eyeglasses.

Either you need a level on your flash shoe on top of your camera or you need to check the level on your tripod.

This can also be caused by your sitting position infront of your monitor when cropping. Either way investigate this and correct it.

All of this is MHO and offered in a constructive manner.

Before one runs one must walk, you have a very good start.
 
While I'm not saying any of your pictures are not good (I've not had time to look at them all, which bears out the point about too many images also), I agree very strongly that you must only ever show your best images. 1 or 2 below par images lowers the overall standard. So, be savage and remove any you are not sure of.
 
You asked for CC, so please don't be offended by my comments.

You've got WAY too many shots on your site (378?). Take a "less is more" approach. Choose the BEST 20 or so images, and make those SING with proper PP. And PLEASE, if you're going to post a water/sunset shot, FIX THE HORIZON! Almost all of your water/sunset images are crooked. While you're at it, do some further lens correction regarding barrel/pincushion. And get rid of that INSULTING copyright symbol overlay, smack in the center of each image.

You're trying to put your "life story" on the site, which I (and most visitors to your site) could care less about. Also, the image counter overlay is confusing as you click through the images (1 of 50, 1 of 51, 1 of 52, etc.). The counter doesn't buy the user anything. Lose it!

The site design and implementation is not good. It looks like HTML 101 from 15 years ago. Your choice of fonts and colors is poor at best. The navigation is rudimentary. There's no information about YOU on the site. And if you want to sell your prints, you need to BRAND yourself. "Digital Construction" makes you sound like a homebuilding contractor. And you're showing mostly nature images, which is confusing.

To fix the site, my advice would be to start over, from scratch. Take a look at the canned web templates (both Flash- and HTML-based) built into Lightroom and Photoshop. Also, take a look at sites like Zenfolio, and the customizable templates they offer. For something a little more advanced (yet easy to code), take a look at some of the Javascript solutions like Shadowbox or Lightbox JS (very cool Web 2.0-style Ajax pop-ups). You might even consider hiring a web designer - perhaps a student from a local college. Bottom line here is this: there's NOTHING compelling about your site. Right now, it's simply "bandwidth sludge".

Sorry to sound so blunt, but you asked for it! Good luck!
 
Am I back in 1990s? Sorry, but this is plain awful.

There are some great CSS templates floating on the internet, including jQuery (or other JS frameworks) that do not require any "credits", etc.
 
Well I agree with all the comments from the other posters.
Start again, buy a template, or get someone to help you.

Also people who use web based email cant contact you, as your system needs to open there email client.
 
spacesounds said:
You asked for CC, so please don't be offended by my comments.

You've got WAY too many shots on your site (378?). Take a "less is
more" approach. Choose the BEST 20 or so images, and make those SING
with proper PP. And PLEASE, if you're going to post a water/sunset
shot, FIX THE HORIZON! Almost all of your water/sunset images are
crooked. While you're at it, do some further lens correction
regarding barrel/pincushion. And get rid of that INSULTING copyright
symbol overlay, smack in the center of each image.

You're trying to put your "life story" on the site, which I (and most
visitors to your site) could care less about. Also, the image counter
overlay is confusing as you click through the images (1 of 50, 1 of
51, 1 of 52, etc.). The counter doesn't buy the user anything. Lose
it!

The site design and implementation is not good. It looks like HTML
101 from 15 years ago. Your choice of fonts and colors is poor at
best. The navigation is rudimentary. There's no information about YOU
on the site. And if you want to sell your prints, you need to BRAND
yourself. "Digital Construction" makes you sound like a homebuilding
contractor. And you're showing mostly nature images, which is
confusing.

To fix the site, my advice would be to start over, from scratch.
Take a look at the canned web templates (both Flash- and HTML-based)
built into Lightroom and Photoshop. Also, take a look at sites like
Zenfolio, and the customizable templates they offer. For something a
little more advanced (yet easy to code), take a look at some of the
Javascript solutions like Shadowbox or Lightbox JS (very cool Web
2.0-style Ajax pop-ups). You might even consider hiring a web
designer - perhaps a student from a local college. Bottom line here
is this: there's NOTHING compelling about your site. Right now, it's
simply "bandwidth sludge".

Sorry to sound so blunt, but you asked for it! Good luck!
Click to expand...
--
You were not only 'blunt' but quite rude.

In addition to repeating most of my observations, leaving out the helpful tips,
your posted tone simply bashes the original poster who politely asked for CC.

Your 'bandwidth sludge' remark is way below the line here at DPReview.
It is neither constructive nor true.

I think you owe the original poster an apology.
 
Nikonworks said:
You were not only 'blunt' but quite rude.

In addition to repeating most of my observations, leaving out the
helpful tips,
your posted tone simply bashes the original poster who politely asked
for CC.

Your 'bandwidth sludge' remark is way below the line here at DPReview.
It is neither constructive nor true.

I think you owe the original poster an apology.
Click to expand...
Sorry if I repeated some of your observations, but we actually started responding at the same time. In fact, at the start of my response, only one other response had been posted. I was interrupted and finished my response after you did, and I had not read yours yet.

The OP asked for CC. I gave him exactly that. He wants to sell his prints online, and I'm only trying to help steer him in the right direction. I did NOT bash the OP (read carefully what I wrote). I'm NOT going to tiptoe around the fact that the OP's site needs work - even starting over from scratch - and that he needs fix his horizons and lose about 90% of the shots that he's posted if expects to sell any. And I apologized for being blunt.

I'm sorry, but this is the real world. I work as a Creative Director. I hire Web designers and developers. I hire photographers. I look at other people's work all day long, and I'm paid to right on target with CC (and believe me, it can be pretty brutal out there!).

With a degree in Fine Arts, over 25 years of interactive design and production experience, a Madison Avenue global advertising and branding background, two Webby Awards, a One Show award, numerous WebAwards (among MANY others), I think I'm qualified to offer some valuable insight into what makes a site work.

Again, re-read my original post. I offered helpful tips (Lightroom and Photoshop Web templates, Shadowbox, LightboxJS, Ajax, Zenfolio, branding tips, etc.). Or perhaps these aren't really helpful tips after all? Is there something I'm not getting here?
 
It seems to load a ton of photos for no reason. It was still loading when I exited.

Learn to design your website with drill down menus where you can easily select a topic you are interested rather than being overwhelmed with so many shots all at once.

Your photos are not right-click protected.

Check out some of the professional sites at SmugMug for organizational ideas.

--
'Let my heart be broken by the things that break the heart of God.'
===============
Nikon D300 - MB-D10 - SB800 - TC-14EII TC-17EII TC-20EII
Nikon 24-70(2.8), 105VR(2.8), 70-200 VR(2.8), 300VR(2.8)
http://wretchedradio.com
 
spacesounds said:
Nikonworks said:
You were not only 'blunt' but quite rude.

In addition to repeating most of my observations, leaving out the
helpful tips,
your posted tone simply bashes the original poster who politely asked
for CC.

Your 'bandwidth sludge' remark is way below the line here at DPReview.
It is neither constructive nor true.

I think you owe the original poster an apology.
Click to expand...
Sorry if I repeated some of your observations, but we actually
started responding at the same time. In fact, at the start of my
response, only one other response had been posted. I was interrupted
and finished my response after you did, and I had not read yours yet.

The OP asked for CC. I gave him exactly that. He wants to sell his
prints online, and I'm only trying to help steer him in the right
direction. I did NOT bash the OP (read carefully what I wrote). I'm
NOT going to tiptoe around the fact that the OP's site needs work -
even starting over from scratch - and that he needs fix his horizons
and lose about 90% of the shots that he's posted if expects to sell
any. And I apologized for being blunt.

I'm sorry, but this is the real world. I work as a Creative Director.
I hire Web designers and developers. I hire photographers. I look at
other people's work all day long, and I'm paid to right on target
with CC (and believe me, it can be pretty brutal out there!).

With a degree in Fine Arts, over 25 years of interactive design and
production experience, a Madison Avenue global advertising and
branding background, two Webby Awards, a One Show award, numerous
WebAwards (among MANY others), I think I'm qualified to offer some
valuable insight into what makes a site work.

Again, re-read my original post. I offered helpful tips (Lightroom
and Photoshop Web templates, Shadowbox, LightboxJS, Ajax, Zenfolio,
branding tips, etc.). Or perhaps these aren't really helpful tips
after all? Is there something I'm not getting here?
Click to expand...
--
You didn't mention your 'bandwidth sludge' comment.

Let's move on and hope the OP gains something from our exchange of thoughts.
 
Thanks for the honesty. That is what I need.
I put that up just because I had that design on a disk from years back
and it was fast and easy. Now that I have the space and a few good ideas
I can design something more up to date drawing from the input here.

Thanks for looking and giving your honest comments.
--
Rick P.
http://www.pbase.com/boogie11
 
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