Website/Portfolio Feedback

[jennyborenphoto]

Hi all!
This is my first post on the site and I am hoping to receive some feedback on the website/portfolio that I have created.
Jenny Boren Photography
Any tips or advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you!

 

[PaulWog]

Quite a few shots look like they were taken with a cell phone. I would prefer to remain positive in the advice that I provide, but I will say that gear is very important. If you don't have a lens that shoots at f2.8 or faster, you'll probably want one to build up a general portfolio. Improvements could be made to composition, technical camera settings, editing, and other things. I see promise in the way things have been composed, and some fair direction for poses of the subjects, but lots can be improved.

When you view the images on the site, their titles pop up below them. I would remove that entirely. "IMG_0715", etc.

If I were to give a couple pieces of constructive feedback, I would say these things:
- A lot of the shots might look nicer with a shallower depth of field. For your portfolio, it would be nice to see some shallow depth of field shots.
- For the image of the guy in the red sweater holding hands with the pregnant woman walking over the bridge/walkway, I would have rotated the camera and shot vertical. I would have taken about three steps backwards and kept the same angle, but gotten the feet in the frame. I would have shot with a fast aperture in the range of f1.8 to f2.8. By doing that, you would remove some environmental distractions while keeping the bridge and scene in the shot. You would remove more distractions by having a shallower depth of field. Having the feet in the shot would add to the whole story of what's going on, and having the shot upright would keep the primary focus on their facial expressions and hand-holding.

 

[HunterBliss]

Firstly, I agree with Paulwog: There doesn't seem to be any depth of field in your photos. Practicing the mechanics of a shot might also give you crisper, well exposed images. The composition in several of the photos is a little wonky. (The waterfall one would be my example for where the lot of photographic improvements can be made.)

Do you process your images? Based on the visible file names and a bit wild exposures it seems like you could be missing out on alot of potential dynamics of post processing.

The client albums sections is also a little bit confusing. On my website I keep those hidden and directly give clients links with passwords. Otherwise a visitor to your site will stumble upon them and wonder why they are all password protected.

But you definitely seem to get great expressions out of people! I imagine you are quite personable. I enjoyed many of the seemingly candid moments. Capitalize on that strength and, if you haven't been doing photography for long, keep having fun with pictures! It will never feel like work if you maintain the love of an amateur.

 

[tirediron]

Looking more at the website rather your work in particular, first and foremost, please change the layout. This long, scrolling format is clumsy and difficult to navigate. You need to remember that most of your potential clients need to find what they want in <7 seconds or they're moving on. Switch to individual pages with a menu bar at the top so that people can easily move around.

Home Page: I kind of like this image, but it needs more work; the shadows in her hair and jack are deep and blocked up in some places, there's a nasty highlight on her glasses and I'd pull the white point down just a hair.
About: I'd go for a new photo here. It's great that you look happy, but the pose isn't the best, and the propane tank in the background really scream "cell phone snap" to me. A poor photo of yourself is the same as a mechanic driving a piece of s**t car; it is NOT going to inspire confidence in potential clients.

I would avoid the phrase "self taught". It's not a bad thing at all in fact many of the best professinals are/were self taught, BUT I don't think it needs to screamed from the parapets. Bloomington WHERE?

Gallery: This needs some serious work. Many of these images such as the young lady in the blue shirt with off-the shoulder shirt (There's a reason bras are called "UNDERwear") look like you grabbed whatever you had to populate the page. White balances are all over the place, cropping & composition is... unique. You need to shoot specifically for your portfolio. Once you've identified your market, build your portfolio with that in mind.

Overall: You need to get a "real" website. Wix is fine if you want to share your family stuff, but for a professional? It does NOT inspire confidence. Check out Wordpress; free, and very configurable. You also need to start using your domain with your e-mail.