My Photography Website

clare65 · Apr 7, 2012

First of all, sorry for my absence... I lost the forum URL and I am revising and the lot. I got put off by photography shortly after I joined this forum too because I didn't feel that good at it, but I showed my mum a photo I had taken the other day and she gave me the confidence to at least make a website for my best shots... Here is the link:

[FONT=arial, sans-serif]
[/FONT]Clare Stokes Photography - Home[FONT=arial, sans-serif]

I don't know what else to add to it, so I will have a look around other people's websites on here to see. I quite enjoy building websites so that won't be a problem!

I still need to add photos to it though but it will be updated at some point... Probably a lot over the summer anyway. I also don't know what to 'do' with my photos? [/FONT] :lol:

I have the Barclays bike one on there under Urban Scenery which I am proud of and my sister wants a big copy to hang up in her new flat for her 21st, which is nice.

But anyway, I thought I would give you the link and I would appreciate any feedback at all, as well as on the photos. Thank you!

Clare

Plank · Apr 7, 2012

I am an amateur photographer that has much more to learn about photography, but in my opinion you have some great shots! If you want your photographs to be properly critiqued on here I suggest you post some of your work in the "Photo Galleries" section of the forum. As far as your website, I suggest maybe adding some more text or something to fill the empty space on the bottom of the homepage. It just seems pretty "bare" to me. Remember, any text on your website can potentially bring in viewers off search engines such as Google. Adding "key words" to your text such as your name, what you do, and your location will be beneficial to you. You should probably add your e-mail address or place a contact form somewhere on your website as well. I too have a website created with weebly, i'll soon be upgrading to premium so I can do away with the unattractive "Create a free website with weebly" footer on the bottom of my pages. Personally, the biggest thing I need to change on my site is organization. I have far to many text links that consume much of the viewers time, most people are not going to sit there for 10minutes looking at everything. I once read somewhere that you have 30 seconds to impress your viewer, this is absolutely true. I don't think your website faces this problem just yet though, I easily looked at all of your pictures in a short amount of time. If you like, please stop by my page and maybe you can get some ideas for your own... - Home

Cheers,
Bryan

Austin Greene · Apr 7, 2012

I'll say a few things.

First, people on these forums will not follow links to photos, you will need to post the photos directly on the forums. Most people see posting links as your advertising your website more than your actual photos.

Second, your website is A) bland, and B) clunky/hard to use. If it takes more than two clicks or menu's for someone to start seeing photos, they'll never even give it the time of day.

Third, the absolutely worst thing you can do in photography is listen to critique by relatives or friends. Most people could literally leave the lens cap on, take a shot, and their family would still rave about it.

Fourth, I'm not saying you should give up photography, but you need to re-evaluate why you like shooting. Honestly, the photos I saw were nowhere near professional, most just looked like something a half-step up from your average snapshot. It would be considered inappropriate by many to try and sell them. Do you like shooting for the sake of shooting, or are you looking to just make an extra buck. It would seem to me that your return to photography was monetarily based if the first thing you did was build a website.

Fifth, and last, you need to FIX THAT WATERMARK. Its HUGE, just plain ugly, and really detracts any artistic value from your photos.

Bitter Jeweler · Apr 7, 2012

cgipson1 · Apr 7, 2012

I hate slideshows like that.. they force me to look at stuff I have no interest in. A topic with a list of thumbnails lets me pick what I want to look at... far better IMO!

Also very slow.... and I agree the watermark is not needed! Especially at that size.. no one is going to try to steal your photos! We find that most people use a watermark like that because it makes them feel more professional.... not realizing it is the opposite of professional. A PRO exhibits their work to emphasize it's quality, a watermark like yours distracts from the image. The only time I advocate intrusive watermarking is for proofs being shown online to a client, so that the client can't screenshot them.

Plank · Apr 7, 2012

togalive said:
I'll say a few things.

First, people on these forums will not follow links to photos, you will need to post the photos directly on the forums. Most people see posting links as your advertising your website more than your actual photos.

Second, your website is A) bland, and B) clunky/hard to use. If it takes more than two clicks or menu's for someone to start seeing photos, they'll never even give it the time of day.

Third, the absolutely worst thing you can do in photography is listen to critique by relatives or friends. Most people could literally leave the lens cap on, take a shot, and their family would still rave about it.

Fourth, I'm not saying you should give up photography, but you need to re-evaluate why you like shooting. Honestly, the photos I saw were nowhere near professional, most just looked like something a half-step up from your average snapshot. It would be considered inappropriate by many to try and sell them. Do you like shooting for the sake of shooting, or are you looking to just make an extra buck. It would seem to me that your return to photography was monetarily based if the first thing you did was build a website.

Fifth, and last, you need to FIX THAT WATERMARK. Its HUGE, just plain ugly, and really detracts any artistic value from your photos.

I couldn't agree more with this. Family and friends are going to tell you what you want to hear, and a false sense of confidence could hurt you in the long run. I would rather someone give me their honest opinion and tell me how I could improve. In my other post I mentioned, "in my opinion you have some great shots!". This being said, keep in mind that i'm an amateur. My criticism should be taken lightly as well, and I can tell you that they are not "professional" grade images. I suggest OP reevaluate where he/she stands in the photography world because you have to earn the "professional" title. Watermarking is okay but there is a difference between a watermark and just being flat out obnoxious. I personally don't watermark my photos on my website because I feel the watermark often takes away from the image and i'm not paranoid about image thieves taking my amateur work.

clare65 · Apr 8, 2012

togalive said:
First, people on these forums will not follow links to photos, you will need to post the photos directly on the forums. Most people see posting links as your advertising your website more than your actual photos.

I am not 'advertising' my website like you say, I merely wanted opinions on the website in general, and I appreciate the feedback everyone has given me.

Second, your website is A) bland, and B) clunky/hard to use. If it takes more than two clicks or menu's for someone to start seeing photos, they'll never even give it the time of day.

If you could give me constructive criticism on how to improve this then I will be grateful. I thought it was easy to use personally as you just need to glide the mouser along and the menus pop up. But if you have any advice on improvement I will appreciate it.

Third, the absolutely worst thing you can do in photography is listen to critique by relatives or friends. Most people could literally leave the lens cap on, take a shot, and their family would still rave about it.

I don't listen to their critique. I don't want to be a 'professional' photographer like you guys, I will never get there and after these comments I am feeling rather pessimistic and hurt especially... Wondering why I came looking for help because you all seem to think I want the professional title. I just wanted a website to showcase my work. Previously I had (and still do...) images on deviantart but I found it messy and I wanted my own site for my own photos. I have a website for another hobby aspect of mine and it is nice to have an online gallery. I always show relatives and family and friends my work but I don't expect them to critique. My family don't even understand the hobbys I am involved in and if they didn't like something then they would say.

Fourth, I'm not saying you should give up photography, but you need to re-evaluate why you like shooting. Honestly, the photos I saw were nowhere near professional, most just looked like something a half-step up from your average snapshot. It would be considered inappropriate by many to try and sell them. Do you like shooting for the sake of shooting, or are you looking to just make an extra buck. It would seem to me that your return to photography was monetarily based if the first thing you did was build a website.

Not true, as mentioned above. I have always liked taking photos and a couple of family members did too. Why do all of you like taking photos? I do it for the same reason... I feel like I am being told not to like taking photos anymore?

Fifth, and last, you need to FIX THAT WATERMARK. Its HUGE, just plain ugly, and really detracts any artistic value from your photos.

No one is probably going to believe this... I am currently on a little laptop instead of my main one and so I don't have access to photoshop, so I had to make do with another program. And I have been a victim of photo stealing too (as have my friends) but then again if they seem like average snap shots then maybe it doesn't matter.

I just wanted constructive critisism on how to make my website better and I feel very slashed and torn. Wondering why I returned in the first place.

clare65 · Apr 8, 2012

cgipson1 said:
I hate slideshows like that.. they force me to look at stuff I have no interest in. A topic with a list of thumbnails lets me pick what I want to look at... far better IMO!

Thanks I will keep this in mind, I probably won't be able to update the site again until the summer time (and I don't feel like updating it now anyway...) but I have this for my other website and it works a treat, so I will definitely see what it is like. The main reason I used the slideshow is because I have seen many other photography websites do this so I thought I should too!

Also very slow.... and I agree the watermark is not needed! Especially at that size.. no one is going to try to steal your photos! We find that most people use a watermark like that because it makes them feel more professional.... not realizing it is the opposite of professional. A PRO exhibits their work to emphasize it's quality, a watermark like yours distracts from the image. The only time I advocate intrusive watermarking is for proofs being shown online to a client, so that the client can't screenshot them.

I said in my previous post that I have had photos taken from me (and many people I know) I am just very, very nervous about it.

But I am not aiming for professionalism anyway. But the watermarks will change (eventually) to something more subtle. I am not ready to get rid of them..

clare65 · Apr 8, 2012

Plank said:
I couldn't agree more with this. Family and friends are going to tell you what you want to hear, and a false sense of confidence could hurt you in the long run. I would rather someone give me their honest opinion and tell me how I could improve. In my other post I mentioned, "in my opinion you have some great shots!". This being said, keep in mind that i'm an amateur. My criticism should be taken lightly as well, and I can tell you that they are not "professional" grade images. I suggest OP reevaluate where he/she stands in the photography world because you have to earn the "professional" title. Watermarking is okay but there is a difference between a watermark and just being flat out obnoxious. I personally don't watermark my photos on my website because I feel the watermark often takes away from the image and i'm not paranoid about image thieves taking my amateur work.

I understand that sometimes family and friends say things you want to hear, but sometimes you need some optimism too to keep going. The moment someone starts out in a hobby, I really try to encourage them and I don't say that they are average directly. I probably haven't been taking photos for as long as some of you (and I am still quite young I suppose...) so surely you have to take it into perspective?

But by the way I really like your photos and website layout.

The photos are brilliant especially.

I probably sound really defensive too, sorry about that...

Jaemie · May 1, 2012

Nice work, but sadly the watermark totally ruins the experience for me. I'd also like to see larger, preferably expandable, images; everything is too small for my eyes. Otherwise it looks very nice!

12sndsgood · May 1, 2012

"I don't listen to their critique. I don't want to be a 'professional' photographer like you guys, I will never get there and after these comments I am feeling rather pessimistic and hurt especially... Wondering why I came looking for help because you all seem to think I want the professional title. I just wanted a website to showcase my work. Previously I had (and still do...) images on deviantart but I found it messy and I wanted my own site for my own photos. I have a website for another hobby aspect of mine and it is nice to have an online gallery. I always show relatives and family and friends my work but I don't expect them to critique. My family don't even understand the hobbys I am involved in and if they didn't like something then they would say."

Here's my opinion. learn to not take things to heart so much. these guys will be brutally honest. take what is said and decide wether its smart advice or wether your happy where you are. Theres no need to get bent out of shape about it. You many not want to be a pro. but being able to take photos as good as a pro is something to work towards. you dont want to work your way up to just average photos do you? So for the majority of peole they do strive to shoot like a pro regardless of wether they want to be a pro or not. two diffrent things.

And if your showing off yoru work then show it off. If your not looking to make money I wouldn't worry to much about a photo being snatched. Decide what is more important. showing off your work for others to view and enjoy. or protecting your photos. Because if you want to protect your photos you might as well keep them off the internet.

Jaemie · May 1, 2012

12sndsgood said:
Here's my opinion. learn to not take things to heart so much. these guys will be brutally honest. take what is said and decide wether its smart advice or wether your happy where you are. Theres no need to get bent out of shape about it. You many not want to be a pro. but being able to take photos as good as a pro is something to work towards. you dont want to work your way up to just average photos do you? So for the majority of peole they do strive to shoot like a pro regardless of wether they want to be a pro or not. two diffrent things.

And if your showing off yoru work then show it off. If your not looking to make money I wouldn't worry to much about a photo being snatched. Decide what is more important. showing off your work for others to view and enjoy. or protecting your photos. Because if you want to protect your photos you might as well keep them off the internet.

I completely agree with all of this.

And if someone steals your image, it's kind of a misguided compliment. Anyway, do your best and have fun.

JulieAnderson · May 17, 2012

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Jamie I want to steal some pics from your blog

May I?????

Jaemie · May 17, 2012

JulieAnderson said:
Jamie I want to steal some pics from your blog May I?????

hehehe..

I'm sure you're joking this time, but if you ever do want to use one of my photos, just PM or email me with the details.

Melissa Royal · Jun 11, 2012

You have a lot of really amazing photographs. Do not underestimate yourself, I can see these photos in magazines somewhere. I don't see why not! They are amazing! Maybe you could be a professional or at least do some freelancing. I know if I had a magazine that had use for these sort of photos, I would be all over them. I love them!

The website could use some work, however, I know in your case it's more about your photos than the website you use to showcase them. If you get more seriously into photography though, I suggest Zenfolio or Smugmug. You have to pay for both, however, you can get free trials first.