My Website - Bring on the Ridicule!

DGMPhotography · Jul 14, 2013

Hey there,

So I bought my domain awhile ago, but have been hesitant to post it here for fear of having it totally annihilated, and I didn't have many photos on there. While comments on my photography skills are welcome, I'd prefer some feedback on the design of the website.

Home - not sure why the link just says "Home," but trust me, it's legit!

Thanks!!

Jean1234 · Jul 15, 2013

I like the simplicity of the site. I have 2 opinions on what could improve it.

1. On the right side, I would limit the buttons for the links to facebook, email, pinterest, twitter, etc. to only a few options. It seems a bit busy. I would also see about placing them horizontally under your header and above the pics.

2. The "Personal" heading confused me a bit, after seeing the pics, I realized what you meant. I don't know of a better heading off hand, but I just don't really like that one.

I didn't check this, but if you haven't done this already, I would make sure it displays on smartphones/multiple browsers & is ADA accessible.

Gavjenks · Jul 15, 2013

Not a bad start. Attractive design, feels clean.

1) Use "Miscellaneous" for the personal photos, or consider leaving out entirely if this is a serious site to attract paid clients (unless you get paid clients who want still lifes and landscapes and such, in which case name the section whatever you think would attract the clients that want that stuff, and filter out what you put in it to only be what they would like)
2) A huge number of your thumbnails have decapitated people in them, because the thumbnail centers I'm guessing by default, in their midriff. You need to figure out some way to control what portion of the photo the thumbnail is in so that this doesn't happen, because it looks pretty bad. Software exists, which you can probably get for free as an applet, that will take differently sized photos and piece them together in a way that leaves no big white spaces in between them, yet does not require uniform shapes. That might solve your problem as an alternative to manual recentering.
3) Randomize which picture you see first on the home page upon loading, so i don't always see the same lady with the microphone and never see the later ones.
4) What is the purpose of this website? If you want to attract paying clients, you should have a page with prices and packages or whatever on it. I will often leave a business page annoyed and go to a competitor if they don't list any prices up front. Personal quotes are really annoying. Fine to offer as an option for "anything you don't see here as a package," but I still want a reference point for ballparking.
5) Similarly, a "mission statement" or about you sort of thing would help personalize it a lot and make it different than just a flickr that isn't a flickr. Less so about you as a person (though a bit of that is fine), and more so about what kind of photography you specialize in most, what bells and whistles you might offer, that sort of thing.
6) Higher contrast email and phone, didn't see them at first in lime green on white.
7) You would probably be more marketable if you had more specific galleries than just "portraits." Location portraits, portraits that show people doing what they love? Or formal studio portraits? Engagement portraits? Senior portraits? etc. People usually look for photographers for some specific thing, and you want to show up on search engines for that thing and have them funneled directly into seeing images of the sort that matches their needs. Try to divide it up as much as you can while still having enough quality examples to fill each page with. And don't include categories at all (or examples of those categories) if you don't want to do that kind of work or feel you are least competitive in it in your area, etc.

DGMPhotography · Jul 15, 2013

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE DETAILED FEEDBACK! I truly appreciate it. I will make some changes tomorrow and post back when things have changed. With GoDaddy's website builder I am somewhat limited with some things. I did try to center the photos but couldn't find any possible way to do it. I suppose I would need to do some programming or find someone who can and fix that part at the base level.

Derrel · Jul 15, 2013

I think your Portrait section needs some actual portraits, as opposed to the modeling/swimwear event things with groups of people standing around at photo ops.

DGMPhotography · Jul 15, 2013

Derrel said:
I think your Portrait section needs some actual portraits, as opposed to the modeling/swimwear event things with groups of people standing around at photo ops.

You're right, that would probably go under "Events." I just included it there so far to fill up space, and I actually got rid of them and replaced them with some more portraits when the web builder crapped out on me. I'll fix everything tomorrow and post back! Thanks for the feedback!

DGMPhotography · Jul 16, 2013

OKAY - I made some changes, please check it out again and let me know if it is any better! Thanks!

Jean1234 · Jul 16, 2013

I think it's looking better. In addition to the thumbnails decapitating people, which was mentioned already, I only have a few comments.

On the pricing page, for me, the divider lines are being wrapped around like this:
"----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------"

On the "Portraits" page, the container for the photos is larger than it needs to be to hold the photos. So, there is some extra space before seeing your contact info. I'd suggest making that container fit the photos (like the Events & Performances Page).

For the pricing, I like that it's there, but I'm wondering if it's complete. Would you want to add mileage? Will the disk include an unlimited number of pictures? Does "Price includes a digital disk, or other agreed-upon transferral method of photos." mean that for the cost of the session, you will be providing prints also (I'm assuming no, but it seems like it could be interpreted that way)?

DGMPhotography · Jul 16, 2013

Jean1234 said:
I think it's looking better. In addition to the thumbnails decapitating people, which was mentioned already, I only have a few comments.

On the pricing page, for me, the divider lines are being wrapped around like this:
"----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------"

On the "Portraits" page, the container for the photos is larger than it needs to be to hold the photos. So, there is some extra space before seeing your contact info. I'd suggest making that container fit the photos (like the Events & Performances Page).

For the pricing, I like that it's there, but I'm wondering if it's complete. Would you want to add mileage? Will the disk include an unlimited number of pictures? Does "Price includes a digital disk, or other agreed-upon transferral method of photos." mean that for the cost of the session, you will be providing prints also (I'm assuming no, but it seems like it could be interpreted that way)?

Good feedback, thanks for that. Unfortunately, I can't do much about the decapitation just yet, but I emailed GoDaddy and they said they would look into it. I will fix the portraits spacing, and you are correct, the pricing is not complete. I've generally priced on a case by case basis, and haven't done a ton of paid stuff. Will do some further research on it.

picturethis1984 · Jul 25, 2013

Good Job with the site!

Gavjenks · Jul 25, 2013

Sorry I know this is a couple weeks old, but was bumped and it reminded me: I suggest at least doubling your prices. $70 for a 2 hour session is low to the point where it feels like "this guy doesn't know what he is doing / lacks confidence." $100 + $20 per half hour would still feel cheap, but not unconfidently so to me.

DGMPhotography · Jul 26, 2013

Gavjenks said:
Sorry I know this is a couple weeks old, but was bumped and it reminded me: I suggest at least doubling your prices. $70 for a 2 hour session is low to the point where it feels like "this guy doesn't know what he is doing / lacks confidence." $100 + $20 per half hour would still feel cheap, but not unconfidently so to me.

Thanks Gavjenks, good ideas! I've heard of photographers charging thousands, so I'm still trying to get an idea for pricing.

DGMPhotography · Sep 18, 2013

Hello everyone!

Another old thread revived! So I made some changes to my website; Home - Daryll Morgan Photography, Richmond VA.

I've individually cropped the photos in the gallery pages so that there's no unflattering cropping, unfortunately, this has presented a problem. You can't click on the photo to view it full-size, but I was wondering if that's a big deal? In a way, it prevents people from getting full-size images for free, right? What do you think?

I contacted GoDaddy and, unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be a way to randomize the slideshow on the homepage. I've voiced my thoughts and opinions and they've expressed they will take them into consideration.

And I updated the prices a little bit. These don't have to be final, but are numbers I've decided on based on the response here and research elsewhere. Yay, nay?

Thanks!

texkam · Sep 19, 2013

That'll work for now. Now, start working on upgrading your work.

Olympus E300 · Sep 19, 2013

I'm digging it. It feels clean and "fresh". Not fresh as in "new idea" fresh but fresh as in unmolested by advertisements, confusing sitemaps or daunting navigation buttons.