New Kid on the Block

Unknown

I'm just getting in to the whole photo business as a hobby. My main intention was to keep my self occupied when I go to car shows with my dad. After making a couple bucks here and there and getting comments on my pictures I thought there could be money in this. After buying a Canon t2i I figured I should probably take more of a step to make some of that money back. I set up a few galleries and will be adding to it after finials are over.. but I wanted to drop a few lines to ask for advice for a beginner. Check my site out and let me know what you think of my pictures, my site, and my prices. I'm starting from scratch here so any tips would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for your time and help!

http://www.michaelbushphotography.com/

Hikin' Mike

You have some nice shots. I used to own a '66 Chevelle, so I enjoyed the '67 Chevelle shots on your slideshow. I own a '69 Firebird 400 that's "slightly" warmed-up...!

Anyway, I would like to see the same theme throughout your site. Pick one and use it on all of your galleries.

I know people like to watermark their photos, but it's REALLY distracting. If you're going to use one, tone it down a bit. I would NOT buy a photo from you unless I can see the photo w/o the watermark....but that's just me.

Your logo/banner and your watermark should look the same. It's called branding.

I'm sure it's a generation-thing, but I really don't care for the graffiti looking font your using for your YouTube banner.

Hope this helps.

SamirD

imprtslyer wrote: »

I'm just getting in to the whole photo business as a hobby. My main intention was to keep my self occupied when I go to car shows with my dad. After making a couple bucks here and there and getting comments on my pictures I thought there could be money in this. After buying a Canon t2i I figured I should probably take more of a step to make some of that money back. I set up a few galleries and will be adding to it after finials are over.. but I wanted to drop a few lines to ask for advice for a beginner. Check my site out and let me know what you think of my pictures, my site, and my prices. I'm starting from scratch here so any tips would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for your time and help!

http://www.michaelbushphotography.com/

Welcome to the genre! I've been doing this for about a decade now, and you're in a very, very competitive field. Everyone and their mother has a t2i and is doing this now. But the name of the game is having the shot they want, so be prepared to constantly learn and get the better shot.

Hikin' Mike wrote: »

Anyway, I would like to see the same theme throughout your site. Pick one and use it on all of your galleries.

I know people like to watermark their photos, but it's REALLY distracting. If you're going to use one, tone it down a bit. I would NOT buy a photo from you unless I can see the photo w/o the watermark....but that's just me.

Your logo/banner and your watermark should look the same. It's called branding.

I'm sure it's a generation-thing, but I really don't care for the graffiti looking font your using for your YouTube banner.

Hope this helps.

I agree with Mike on his points. Branding is key in this market, and your site logo should be your watermark. And to prevent theft if you change your watermark to one less invasive, reduce the maximum size to Medium. And you WILL see image theft as there's a lot of cheap car enthusiasts out there. Having Share enabled like you do is a great move as it allows people to share an image on fb, forums, etc. And this is just free advertising with a non-obtrusive watermark. I'd customize the right-click protection message to let people know about it. I used to get all sorts of people missing it until I changed my message. If you're scheduling shoots, be sure your shooting fee covers your costs so any sales will be your profit. Adjust and repeat.

I'd change from the square thumbs to original unless you plan on hand-cropping the thumbs. I find square thumbs distracting as they cut off various details and can make the framing in good shots look bad.

I agree with Mike on the Youtube link. I'd change that to the same font as your logo. Again, it's branding. I'd also highly recommend NOT using Youtube when you have your SM account for videos. Youtube basically has full rights to syndicate your content without any compensation to you. I'd use Youtube like a place to upload videos that are like commercials that bring people to your main site.

Good luck and be sure to keep us updated! Having nine cars myself, I always love looking at the great cars out there.

System

I agreed on the watermarks for sure. I wasn't sure of if I needed them or not. I just made my website logo the watermark. I made it so its in the bottom right and I made it a lot smaller. :P See if you think that is any better.

I changed the youtube link so it was the same font as the header. I also changed so all the galleries had the same theme but i'm not sure if it looks right. I really like the brushed steel look for the cars. I'm not so fond on my "nature" galleries having the same look. Maybe it will grow on me :P

I would love to change my videos over to my website but the problem is most of them are to big for smug mug. I don't want to kill my video quality to meet the size requirement.

I looked at the originals instead of thumbnails and it's probably a personal thing but I like how it looks. When you have one or two pictures with a different orientation the originals looks kinda messy.

I appreciate you help and quick response! Let me know if you like the changes!

Hikin' Mike

imprtslyer wrote: »

...

I changed the youtube link so it was the same font as the header. I also changed so all the galleries had the same theme but i'm not sure if it looks right. I really like the brushed steel look for the cars. I'm not so fond on my "nature" galleries having the same look. Maybe it will grow on me :P...

Your nature gallery doesn't look that bad with that theme. A lot of nature photographers use a grey background. I used it for a while until I changed it to a more earth-tones.

System

Yeah your right it looks pretty good and it make the whole site more uniform/professional. By the way I looked at some of you cars :P I to have a 1969 firebird. Its a pretty stout car, but it needs to be finished. My dd now is a 2006 gto. You can see it in some of my pictures. The 1969 Z/28 is my dads car. The rest of the cars are friends of mine.

Hikin' Mike

Unfortunately I haven't been able to drive my Firebird or Coronet since 2005.

Your dad's car looks pretty nice! My dad used to own a '63 Vette, 327/4-speed. I learned to drive a 4-speed on that car. :ivar

Do you have any pictures of your Firebird? I didn't see any.

System

I dont have any pictures of my bird that are up to date. I actually have only driven it up and down the road a few times. The car hasn't been legally on the road since before my time. This is a picture from those times. My dad gave it to me shortly after his dad gave him the camaro.


The early sixies are my favorite year of vettes! It must have been a lot of fun to drive. I didn't get to drive the camaro until my senior year I learned standard in a bronco II in 2 feet of snow haha

Hikin' Mike

imprtslyer wrote: »

I dont have any pictures of my bird that are up to date. I actually have only driven it up and down the road a few times. The car hasn't been legally on the road since before my time. This is a picture from those times. My dad gave it to me shortly after his dad gave him the camaro.

The early sixies are my favorite year of vettes! It must have been a lot of fun to drive. I didn't get to drive the camaro until my senior year I learned standard in a bronco II in 2 feet of snow haha

How cool is that!

I used to work at a gas station/service station (PA). We had annual inspections. My dad drove the 'Vette to get it inspected. He asked for my keys (my Chevelle) so he could go back home. I asked, "What am I going to drive when I'm off". "Take the 'Vette".

System

haha yeah it was pretty cool. The only difference was my grandpa gave my dad a car that was ready to drive and my dad gave me a car that would take a bunch of time and money to get back looking like the picture, but I cant complain I wanted the car from the first day I saw it :P

Thats a nice surprise getting handed the keys to the vette! I'm sure you found the longest possible way home from work that day :P I'm shooting a car show for one of my friend's dad this weekend and he has a nice couple of vettes. Hopefully I'll get a few nice shots of them, maybe for payment I'll charge him in miles I get to drive instead of dollars!!

SamirD

imprtslyer wrote: »

I agreed on the watermarks for sure. I wasn't sure of if I needed them or not. I just made my website logo the watermark. I made it so its in the bottom right and I made it a lot smaller. :P See if you think that is any better.

It's better, but now with X2 available, it's really easy to just crop the watermark out. I'd reduce your max size down to medium or you'll have next to zero sales.

imprtslyer wrote: »

I changed the youtube link so it was the same font as the header. I also changed so all the galleries had the same theme but i'm not sure if it looks right. I really like the brushed steel look for the cars. I'm not so fond on my "nature" galleries having the same look. Maybe it will grow on me :P

I would love to change my videos over to my website but the problem is most of them are to big for smug mug. I don't want to kill my video quality to meet the size requirement.

I looked at the originals instead of thumbnails and it's probably a personal thing but I like how it looks. When you have one or two pictures with a different orientation the originals looks kinda messy.

I appreciate you help and quick response! Let me know if you like the changes!

If your videos exceed SM's length requirement of 10 minutes, then they're too long. Most people have a short attention span these days.

Personally, I find cut framing more distracting than size variances.

System

Thanks for your help! The original thumbnails grew on me and I'm using them now. Its not that my videos are longer than 10 minutes the size of the file is two big. I shoot 1080p video and a 3-4 minute video for me is to big for smug mug. If i compress it differently it hurts the HD quality. I think I'll just use youtube to post videos and add a ending slide that refers them to my website.

SamirD

imprtslyer wrote: »

Thanks for your help! The original thumbnails grew on me and I'm using them now. Its not that my videos are longer than 10 minutes the size of the file is two big. I shoot 1080p video and a 3-4 minute video for me is to big for smug mug. If i compress it differently it hurts the HD quality. I think I'll just use youtube to post videos and add a ending slide that refers them to my website.

Is there a way to compress the videos in the camera itself by using a lesser quality mode? I'm sure there has to be a way to get a really nice looking hd video on SM in under 1GB. Although youtube is a great way to promote if you treat the videos like ads. s