Viewing 22 posts - 41 through 62 (of 62 total)
  • I done a photography website
  • grumm
    Free Member

    Thanks alexx, more good stuff. I’ve added some keyword stuff in the footer on the home page and had a play with the colours. I’m also trying out a logo a mate did for me but I can’t decide if I like it. It does seem to say ‘photography website’ more somehow but is maybe a little cheesy? I know my logo is carp btw, just a stopgap really.

    leffeboy – I often do a fair bit of tweaking I suppose – I find it very quick/easy to do in LIghtroom, it’s actually one of my favourite bits of the process. I rarely open PS. Shooting in RAW gives you lots of leeway to boost contrast and bring out richer colours without making things look weird ime. I also tend to add a slight vignette in LR to pretty much everything – not sure why but I just like the look.

    Might do a little blog post with some before/after shots on processing – not that I am an expert but I think I can improve pictures a lot with just a few simple tweaks.

    ART
    Full Member

    Another print .. sucker for landscapes me, so keep putting stuff up! You have a big range on there now no 4. in misc, really like that – should be flogging it to a mag or specialised! Lots of brilliant comments from people above, and would agree with the blog points. It’s always telling when a site has blog/news sections and they are months old. If you keep regular contributions going it brings some life and personality to a site that helps to connect you to potential buyers. IMH and completely lay O of course 🙂

    sniff
    Free Member

    Cracking pics and nice site.

    The first time I look at each of the galleries the second image fails to show in the slideshow. Once I go and click on it it then works the next time I see the slideshow (as it’s cached)- i reckon it is still loading the thumbnails of the other images before it has time to load the second pic. Increasing the time on each pics would prob fix.

    For info using Safari on a fast connection.

    Linking from this forum will boost your SEO.

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    leffeboy
    Full Member

    Might do a little blog post with some before/after shots on processing – not that I am an expert but I think I can improve pictures a lot with just a few simple tweaks.

    Thanks for that. Also that sort of thing on a blog, along with locations, info. about the ride is the sort of thing that makes a blog popular, increases it’s rank and gets your photos found (plus it’s the sort of thing I like to read). Just don’t forget to link back into your galleries as well, not just your home page, or the effect can be lost.

    I’ve added some keyword stuff in the footer on the home page

    Brilliant, that will be the “Landscape, Scenic, Architectural Photography based in Lancashire – covering Lancaster, Morecambe, Arnside, Silverdale, Kendal…” stuff. To really make it work though you want each of those keywords to be clicky and link into photos deeper in. For extra points you want to get rid of the space between your email address and those keywords so they appear without scrolling down – it really makes a difference.

    ok, off to find some info on Lightroom, see what you’ve started…

    theginjaninja
    Free Member

    Don’t like the logo tbh.

    Your work on Flickr is great but somehow gets lost here. I’d ditch the watermark. It’s such low res that you’d not get much out of each image.

    Too much text on the homepage for me. I’d keep it as simple as possible and have any info on your about page. I also have to scroll down on my laptop to see the bottom of the page. It looks a bit cluttered.

    I’d focus on displaying your work as well as possible and think about the business model after. Show your talents and I think you’ll attract more people.

    This is mine.. although I add too much to it I think. I change the landing image about once a month to try and keep it fresh as well as adding new content. I used indexhibit after finding WordPress a bit limiting for a portfolio site – great for a blog though.
    http://www.andymatthewsphotography.com/

    This is a friends which is of higher quality..
    http://www.garysmithphoto.com/

    Also as part of research for mine I compiled a list of other Architectural Photographers. Might be useful to see some other layouts.
    http://goo.gl/lists/LVKH

    grumm
    Free Member

    Thanks again everyone

    sniff I’ll have a play with that, ta

    The logo I have up now is one a friend knocked up for me but I don’t really like it – too cheesy I think.

    I will certainly get rid of the watermark – just will take me a bit to reupload all the pics and remake the galleries.

    leffeboy – think you can get a 30 day trial of LR.

    Andy – thanks for the comments. I have to say I find your site a little too minimalist for my tastes, and I don’t like having to scroll sideways. I think that stark kind of look probably suits architectural/design stuff – whereas mine is mainly landscapes which kind of seems to demand a ‘friendlier’ look, if you know what I mean. Pictures are excellent though.

    theginjaninja
    Free Member

    Andy – thanks for the comments. I have to say I find your site a little too minimalist for my tastes, and I don’t like having to scroll sideways. Pictures are excellent though.

    Yeah still undecided on the horizontal format but it’s work in progress. It is very minimal but then that goes with the market I’m aiming at. Thanks.

    digiphotoneil
    Free Member

    If you have a little time check out Zack Arias’ critique of some folks photo websites:

    http://www.zarias.com/category/critique/

    Its suprisingly helpful seeing what other folks haven’t done particularly well and what they look for in a good website.

    grumm
    Free Member

    Neil – cheers – ploughing through them now.

    Andy – you see to me a lot of those are overly flashy. Some of the photography is incredible, but a lot of them take a while to load and have confusing interfaces. IMHO.

    I also sort of feel like my website shouldn’t look too poncy, given that I am not a big time international photographer. Is that daft? 🙂

    sniff
    Free Member

    Agree 100% – keep the site simple and standard, let the pics do the talking.

    BTW your site works from iPhone which most poncy sites don’t. Too fancy means I just go somewhere else.

    jacko54321
    Free Member

    looks like a very profesional looking site, clear easy to navigate and some really good stuff on there

    grumm
    Free Member

    sniff – cheers, yeah just tried it on my ipod touch, not too bad at all really.

    Thanks jacko 😀

    Trying out a tweaked logo atm – slightly less cheesy? 🙂

    theginjaninja
    Free Member

    Andy – you see to me a lot of those are overly flashy. Some of the photography is incredible, but a lot of them take a while to load and have confusing interfaces. IMHO.

    Totally agree. Not saying they’re all good, just lots of other approaches which might help. Too many are done in Flash too.

    Agree with other sentiments that photos should take centre stage and design should fade into background.

    grumm
    Free Member

    I’ve updated mine a little – got rid of the watermarks and slimmed down the homepage slideshow.

    user-removed
    Free Member

    Looks good – I like the simple, clean layout and the logo is to the point.

    In terms of getting yourself noticed by the search engines, it’s worth making your user name a link to your site – I get about 50 hits a month from STW stalkers 🙂 Every hit counts!

    grumm
    Free Member

    Thanks – how do I go about doing that then? 😳

    user-removed
    Free Member

    Hmmm. Can’t remember 😳

    I must have done it post-hack, but after a quick look at my profile, I’ve no idea. Quick email to STW maybe?

    DezB
    Free Member

    That logo looks fine. Who’s going to be that bothered about a logo except people that have been asked to critique the site?
    Some lovely photies, I must say.

    By the way, you’re probably aware, but the camp fella from Changing Rooms is the top Google result! But you do appear on the first page of results which has to be good.

    grumm
    Free Member

    OK no worries user-removed, will try that 🙂

    Thanks Dezb – yup I’m aware of the camp guy, also someone from the RSPB. 🙂 But on the first page already isn’t too bad. It’s going to be getting anywhere near the first page of searches for ‘lancashire photography’ or whatever that’s going to be the tricky part.

    theginjaninja
    Free Member

    Don’t forget to add your Google Analytics code to track where users came from, keywords etc.

    grumm
    Free Member

    Yup ta, done that.

    712 visitors from STW! 🙂

Viewing 22 posts - 41 through 62 (of 62 total)

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