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ESiggins

Hi Everyone,

Sorry if this is in the wrong place, but I have a favor to ask. I just did a big update of my site and I'd like to get people's impressions. I'm an aspiring pro, so I want my site to be something I can show people in the industry and have them be impressed. Dgrin has a unique mix of pros and casual photo enthusiasts. As somone who wants to be technically good and take photos with wide appeal, I think this is a great place to get advice.

What I'm really interested in hearing is your impressions on the choice of photos (is there anything that seems out of place? Anything in the portfolio that you wonder why it's there? Anything that just sucks?). I know not every shot is technically perfect, but I figure those imperfect ones capture a moment good enough to include. Maybe you disagree. If so, I'd like to hear it. Obviously, if you see any recurrent technical or composition problems, especially in post-processing, I'd love to hear any suggestions on how to improve.

Of course, I'd be glad to do the same for anyone else. Thanks in advance,

Fred.

Rhuarc

First of all, you have some amazing shots! I really like! As far as the site design goes, just a couple of thoughts.

1) If you want the site to appear professional you probably shouldn't have Private galleries showing to the public: http://esiggins.smugmug.com/People

2) If you are wanting to go professional are you going to be selling your pictures? I didn't see anything about pricing or anything like that. Maybe I jsut missed it.

THat's all I can think of right now. I realy like the black background with the white lines at the top and left of each section. I'm by no means an expert, or a pro, but these are just my thoughts, hope they help!

ESiggins

Thanks
Thanks, Rhuarc!

Good suggestion on the Family gallery, I'll switch it to private so others can't see it. To answer your question about pricing and stuff, I don't really have the time to set up a whole sales system or anything. The site is more an online protfolio than a sales pitch. Trying to get jobs and stuff. Still, If you know anyone who'd want a print, let me know!

Fred.

P.S. Your Florida wildlife shots are awesome!

Rhuarc

ESiggins wrote:

Thanks, Rhuarc!

P.S. Your Florida wildlife shots are awesome!

Thanks! The next time I go out hopefully things will look even better, that was my first real time using a dSLR, so I was still a little shaky on things like exposure compensation but I think a couple of them turned out ok anyway!

I know what you are saying about not having a pricing scheme setup yet, I would just be concerned because, for example, I just went in and was able to add a picture to the shopping cart, and I could have bought it for 19 cents with no profit to you. Is that how you want it to be set up? I think there is an option to set the price you want to sell it for, at least on the pro accounts I think.

I could be wrong on any of this, so don't take my word for it! Lol, it just seems to me like it is really easy for the public to get really cheap prints of your pictures and you won't get anything out of it.

ESiggins

good call. I'll see if I can disable that.

ESiggins

...No?
Anyone else like to weigh in on this? I'd really appreciate the feedback. Thanks.

sit

I just looked briefly at the site and I like it. The design is spare and clean, with a focus on the images. However, it isn't really much of a marketing site: there is nothing on the front page which would suggest that you are looking for jobs. I would put at least some part of the text that is in your About Me page on the front page. This would help Google as well as casual viewers quickly learn about you and then be able to move into the images.

Looking at your portfolio, I think the portrait and landscape/misc photos are the strongest. I really like the colors and composition of Rainbow02. The sea spray is a nice touch. I am least fond of the young rider and horse: I don't see the "preparation" aspect alluded to in the caption. Why is she facing away from her horse? The rope and barrel do make a nice framing touch; I'm undecided about the leg of the horse on the right which seems a little flash over-exposed. Not related to your images, "destryoed" is spelled wrong in the caption for the fire image.

Nice site; good luck!

meewolfie

Hi Fred - I like your layout and organization. Straightforward and easy to navigate. Your photos are what are most important and your site lets them take center stage.

The one thing I would mention is that I think you have some very strong photos down in your galleries that should be in your portfolio at the top. There are some photos in your portfolio that aren't the best representation of your work.

Mary

ESiggins

Good stuff
Sit,

Thanks for looking - I really appreciate you taking the time.

sit wrote:

it isn't really much of a marketing site

I know what you mean, but I guess I wasn't clear. At this point I just want to be able to direct people (editors and such) who I'm in personal contact with to my site to see what I can do, rather than attracting random web traffic. Basically, this is in place of a traditional portfolio rather than an advertisment for myself. Does your comment still stand?

I am least fond of the young rider and horse

Yeah, I wasn't sure about this one. Did you see anything in the "Lifestlye" gallery you think would be better?

Oh, and thanks for catching the spelling error. I'm a terrible speller and don't want to look like an idiot!

Thanks again.

Fred.

ESiggins

Mary,

Thanks for looking. I'm glad you like the design and I really appreciate your encouragement!

meewolfie wrote:

I think you have some very strong photos down in your galleries that should be in your portfolio at the top. There are some photos in your portfolio that aren't the best representation of your work.

Do you have any examples? I'm not really willing to depart from my news/sports/lifestyle layout even though they're not necessarily my best images because I want to make it clear that I can do newspaper stlye photography (no editor wants to see 12 landscapes or portraits). But, if you think there are better images in those categories, I'd love to hear your opinions. Thanks!

Fred.

sit

ESiggins wrote:

Basically, this is in place of a traditional portfolio rather than an advertisment for myself. Does your comment still stand?

I think as a portfolio replacement, no additional text is necessary though I don't think it would hurt.

ESiggins wrote:

Yeah, I wasn't sure about this one. Did you see anything in the "Lifestlye" gallery you think would be better?

I like the shot of the window face painter the best: it captures the artist with a look of intensity, the art being produced, as well as the subject being painted. You could replace the greek gods image with the halloween convict: there's a lot going on in the former whereas the latter is quite focused and has a nice orange lighting cast to go along with it. The stomping on the coat is a good third option.

In general for the Lifestyle images, I wonder if you could try to capture more of the subject's interaction with the environment. For example, the horse and rider doesn't show the rider or her action's, the matriarch caption suggests a parade but fills the frame with kids at play, Diane Chin is looking at someone else, not selecting from among her images. In contrast, the one's I suggested capture this interaction very well, I think.

-Emil

ESiggins

sit wrote:

In general for the Lifestyle images, I wonder if you could try to capture more of the subject's interaction with the environment. For example, the horse and rider doesn't show the rider or her action's, the matriarch caption suggests a parade but fills the frame with kids at play, Diane Chin is looking at someone else, not selecting from among her images. In contrast, the one's I suggested capture this interaction very well, I think.

This is all great advice - will take into serrious consideration. Thanks!