Bridal Portfolio help

jeffreaux2

I have been trying to update my wedding/bridal portfolio. I'd like some advice on that if anyone has the time.

I'd like to know if any of the photos should be removed, and also (for those of you familiar with my work) if there is anything missing that I should try to include.

Also, I am not sure this is the best gallery type for portfolio display. I used to use "all thumbnails", but am using "smugmug" now.

Any help would be appreciated. Link below.

My Bridal Portfolio

Next up....to get Lynne to teach me how to do a band style watermark like the one she has been using!

...and of course update my children and portrait portfolios!

Elaine

Smugmug seems a bit slow this morning, so I didn't scroll through all of them. But this occurred to me...do you plan to have other wedding related galleries as well, say a "details" gallery? The title of "Bridal Portfolio" set up a different set of expectations for me, of simply shots of the bride. Maybe I'm just off-base here, but shots of the rings, table details, cake, etc...do they belong in a bridal portfolio? Maybe they do. I would try and keep it to two pages, rather than three. But then again, I think I may be assuming (bad on me) what your intended purpose for this gallery is.
That being said, it was great fun to see your selection of beautiful shots again!

jeffreaux2

Elaine wrote:

Smugmug seems a bit slow this morning, so I didn't scroll through all of them. But this occurred to me...do you plan to have other wedding related galleries as well, say a "details" gallery? The title of "Bridal Portfolio" set up a different set of expectations for me, of simply shots of the bride. Maybe I'm just off-base here, but shots of the rings, table details, cake, etc...do they belong in a bridal portfolio? Maybe they do. I would try and keep it to two pages, rather than three. But then again, I think I may be assuming (bad on me) what your intended purpose for this gallery is.
That being said, it was great fun to see your selection of beautiful shots again!

No...don't be shy with your opinion Elaine. Seriously. I titled "bridal" only because if I call it "weddings" well then there is also non-wedding shots as well. One other thing I wondered was whether I should do sub-catagories for different elements of this subject....engagement, bridal, reception....

I am looking for the best approach, but on the other hand don't really want to get it all messy and complicated either. I agree three pages might be much....thats one of the reasons for this post....looking for help!:D

Thanks for taking time out for this Elaine.

urbanaries

You definitely have more than 45 good shots from weddings.
SM is slooooow today....D page looks blank to me but I will check back.

Until then...
I agree with Elaine that bridal connotates bride-only, which may be a valid subcategory for a larger category of weddings. You didn't ask for advice on your top level navigation but I'll give it to you anyway Portfolio and Galleries seem redundant in my mind...it doesn't say much to me as the end user what I will see differently between the two before I actually go there.

I have received from several sources advice about splitting up my portfolio into portraits and weddings (two different client bases, right?) and then sub-categorizing beyond that so I don't have a PF of 200 shots.

I took a stab at this finally last week and you are welcome to see and crit how it panned out. Not trying to hijack, just show a possible solution. http://www.lynnehulbert.com/gallery/3455095 (These galleries need edited down a LOT I think, but the basic structure is now there.) If I could get down to 30 shots per category, that would be ideal (to me anyway).

The watermark is easy-peasy. A wide white band layer in CS2 with my logo as another layer, save for web (GIF), upload, turn into a watermark, then tweak opacity to taste, mine's around 30-40%. The tricky part is that Smugmug does not scale the watermark to the orientation of the photo (horiz vs. vertical) so I have a small version for vertical photos (narrower width) and an 800px one for horiz. DTH?

jeffreaux2

urbanaries wrote:

SM is slooooow today....D page looks blank to me but I will check back.

Please do....I could use any and all help here.
Until then...

I agree with Elaine that bridal connotates bride-only, which may be a valid subcategory for a larger category of weddings. You didn't ask for advice on your top level navigation but I'll give it to you anyway Portfolio and Galleries seem redundant in my mind...it doesn't say much to me as the end user what I will see differently between the two before I actually go there.

Should I then maybe rename "galleries" to "proofs" or "clients" or ???
This is good feedback.....pour it on!

I have received from several sources advice about splitting up my portfolio into portraits and weddings (two different client bases, right?) and then sub-categorizing beyond that so I don't have a PF of 200 shots.

More than 2 client bases really. I need to tackle my portraits and other events as well. My port is divied up by "bridal, portraits, children", but I would like to shake senior portraits loose from family portraits etc as well....so more sub catagories will surely be needed. And then there is also the events other than weddings....parties, proms etc that I would like to showcase. I do want to keep the total # of shots in each to a manageable quantity....yet capitolize on quality.

I took a stab at this finally last week and you are welcome to see and crit how it panned out. Not trying to hijack, just show a possible solution. http://www.lynnehulbert.com/gallery/3455095 (These galleries need edited down a LOT I think, but the basic structure is now there.) If I could get down to 30 shots per category, that would be ideal (to me anyway).

I'm gonna go have a look at yours....no hijack detected!....examples are always good! ....and kudos to you for updating. Mine hasn't been touched in ages...since I created it really, and is really outdated.

The watermark is easy-peasy. A wide white band layer in CS2 with my logo as another layer, save for web (GIF), upload, turn into a watermark, then tweak opacity to taste, mine's around 30-40%. The tricky part is that Smugmug does not scale the watermark to the orientation of the photo (horiz vs. vertical) so I have a small version for vertical photos (narrower width) and an 800px one for horiz. DTH?

OK....thats pretty much what I figured....is the 2nd layer using a mask to "punch through" the white?....yes?....I plan to get a new watermark set up AFTER I am comfortable with my portfolio area.....and hopefully give the site a complete facelift by New Years.

Agnieszka

I'll give it a try as well, ready?

I agree about the title ("bridal") doesn't seem to fit ...

While I like your 1st photo in the gallery I think you should go with a different one (that has more of a wow effect). The one that you have right now is very pretty, but you don't see her upper lip, and it looks a bit off.

#10 - not sure about this one, her expression is not very flattering
#16 - btw love this one, haven't seen it before, very cute
#31 - not one of my favorites ... I understand she was very happy when you took this photo, but her silhouette/expression isn't very flattering :cry

All in one, I like the photos you chose. I would have maybe one big gallery and then some smaller ones with for example JUST the bride getting ready / JUST formals / JUST ...

Yeah ... Lynne is the logo master haha, mine is dedicated to her as well

(Btw. I would not include the year in the logo design, ... will just look dated in 3 years or so ...)

jeffreaux2

Agnieszka wrote:

I'll give it a try as well, ready?

I agree about the title ("bridal") doesn't seem to fit ...

While I like your 1st photo in the gallery I think you should go with a different one (that has more of a wow effect). The one that you have right now is very pretty, but you don't see her upper lip, and it looks a bit off.

#10 - not sure about this one, her expression is not very flattering
#16 - btw love this one, haven't seen it before, very cute
#31 - not one of my favorites ... I understand she was very happy when you took this photo, but her silhouette/expression isn't very flattering :cry

All in one, I like the photos you chose. I would have maybe one big gallery and then some smaller ones with for example JUST the bride getting ready / JUST formals / JUST ...

Yeah ... Lynne is the logo master haha, mine is dedicated to her as well

(Btw. I would not include the year in the logo design, ... will just look dated in 3 years or so ...)

Thanks Angie...appreciate your input. It appears I will need to totally reorganize things. I may incorperate my site face lift at the same time....which will take some doing! Thanks again!

Scott_Quier

Jeff,

A couple of thoughts - one of which I see has already been stated...

1. Expectations were for shots of the bride, you provides shots for different portions of a complete wedding day.

2. This thought I don't think is out there ... I would suggest you cut down the count to just your to 20 or so pictures for your portfolio. Give them a taste of what you can do while, at the same time, leaving them wanting more.

3. Some of these photos are not your best work or even representative of you excellent work. Show them only your stellar work.

Art Scott

Scott_Quier wrote:

Jeff,

A couple of thoughts - one of which I see has already been stated...

1. Expectations were for shots of the bride, you provides shots for different portions of a complete wedding day.

2. This thought I don't think is out there ... I would suggest you cut down the count to just your to 20 or so pictures for your portfolio. Give them a taste of what you can do while, at the same time, leaving them wanting more.

3. Some of these photos are not your best work or even representative of you excellent work. Show them only your stellar work.

and also would like to add (and I need to start following my own advice:D)
Do your category as WEDDING PORT...with a couple of galleries with in of a few shots of just brides and grooms, etc etc and in there some where one full wedding, as Scott said just your Stellar Werks and when a new shot shadows a curent one then change them out.....that will make your portfolio and website alive, kicking and growing.....never allow it to stagnate........or for that matter allow yourself to stagenate or get into a shooting rut (that is rut with only one "t", was pointed at RUTT by any means) just because it is familiar and easy to do.....then the creativity seems to go and no more glow...............

crockett

My suggestions:

1. Remove the smugmug flyout photo rank thingy.
2. Remove the share button.
3. Make photo #1 either 10,36,13,22,23 or 24.
4. You'll love this one....reduce it 12, maybe 24 pictures.