Posted: 3/3/2016 5:11:13 PM EDT
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Hey guys! I would love some critique of my website! Feel free to post a link to yours and I will gladly let you know my thoughts! Thanks! |
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Not nearly enough nudity.
Lol, in all seriousness though it looks a lot better than that of most artists I see. I'm an engineer (don't quite have that creative eye  ) but my Fiance is an artist and works a lot with similar websites. Some of them are god awful, yours looks quite good. Simple, not cluttered, and all the info is right there.
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It's quick and responsive so good on that front.
Only few things I would mention: Can you make better use of the front page instead of scrolling as much? ie move the thumbnails on the bottom to where the pic of you is, and move your pic to the contact page. The way you wrote the paragraph on the home page seems awkward, IMO it should be written as if by you, not a 3rd party. They say a picture is worth a thousand words. I'm Luke, an Atlanta-based photographer who takes those words and transforms them into visual stories through my photography. If you have a blog make sure you update it regularly. I hate doing mine and actually haven't updated it for a while so I took it off the site for now. Just some nitpicky things. Overall I think it's a good, clean website. |
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Quoted:
It's quick and responsive so good on that front. Only few things I would mention: Can you make better use of the front page instead of scrolling as much? ie move the thumbnails on the bottom to where the pic of you is, and move your pic to the contact page. The way you wrote the paragraph on the home page seems awkward, IMO it should be written as if by you, not a 3rd party. If you have a blog make sure you update it regularly. I hate doing mine and actually haven't updated it for a while so I took it off the site for now. Just some nitpicky things. Overall I think it's a good, clean website. Quoted:
It's quick and responsive so good on that front. Only few things I would mention: Can you make better use of the front page instead of scrolling as much? ie move the thumbnails on the bottom to where the pic of you is, and move your pic to the contact page. The way you wrote the paragraph on the home page seems awkward, IMO it should be written as if by you, not a 3rd party. They say a picture is worth a thousand words. I'm Luke, an Atlanta-based photographer who takes those words and transforms them into visual stories through my photography. If you have a blog make sure you update it regularly. I hate doing mine and actually haven't updated it for a while so I took it off the site for now. Just some nitpicky things. Overall I think it's a good, clean website. ^good advice. I know that a lot of artists like to speak in the 3rd person on their websites but to me (a non artist) it sounds odd. I'm very aware from your website that you're the one writing it, own the individuality. |
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Quoted: It's quick and responsive so good on that front. Only few things I would mention: Can you make better use of the front page instead of scrolling as much? ie move the thumbnails on the bottom to where the pic of you is, and move your pic to the contact page. The way you wrote the paragraph on the home page seems awkward, IMO it should be written as if by you, not a 3rd party. If you have a blog make sure you update it regularly. I hate doing mine and actually haven't updated it for a while so I took it off the site for now. Just some nitpicky things. Overall I think it's a good, clean website. Quoted: It's quick and responsive so good on that front. Only few things I would mention: Can you make better use of the front page instead of scrolling as much? ie move the thumbnails on the bottom to where the pic of you is, and move your pic to the contact page. The way you wrote the paragraph on the home page seems awkward, IMO it should be written as if by you, not a 3rd party. They say a picture is worth a thousand words. I'm Luke, an Atlanta-based photographer who takes those words and transforms them into visual stories through my photography. If you have a blog make sure you update it regularly. I hate doing mine and actually haven't updated it for a while so I took it off the site for now. Just some nitpicky things. Overall I think it's a good, clean website. |
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Quoted: ^good advice. I know that a lot of artists like to speak in the 3rd person on their websites but to me (a non artist) it sounds odd. I'm very aware from your website that you're the one writing it, own the individuality. Quoted: Quoted: It's quick and responsive so good on that front. Only few things I would mention: Can you make better use of the front page instead of scrolling as much? ie move the thumbnails on the bottom to where the pic of you is, and move your pic to the contact page. The way you wrote the paragraph on the home page seems awkward, IMO it should be written as if by you, not a 3rd party. They say a picture is worth a thousand words. I'm Luke, an Atlanta-based photographer who takes those words and transforms them into visual stories through my photography. If you have a blog make sure you update it regularly. I hate doing mine and actually haven't updated it for a while so I took it off the site for now. Just some nitpicky things. Overall I think it's a good, clean website. ^good advice. I know that a lot of artists like to speak in the 3rd person on their websites but to me (a non artist) it sounds odd. I'm very aware from your website that you're the one writing it, own the individuality. |
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Quoted: Good comments by davisac. When clicking on the thumbnails on the home page, we get sent to Instagram. This is not a good thing. The galleries are good. Quick loading, easy navigation in the single-view page. |
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Here are things that stick out to me in no particular order.
1) It's too plain. You're selling yourself as an artist but I see a lot of whitespace. I see that you're using Squarespace. Surely they have more exciting themes. Think about sliders, masonry grid, maybe fullscreen. Stuff like that. 2) As it looks now the layout seems disjointed with the intermingling of portrait/landscape. 3) Way too much scrolling to see your work. Break the events into discrete galleries. 4) Avoid using the same image in color AND B&W. Pick what works best for the image and what you were trying to capture. |
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Quoted: Here are things that stick out to me in no particular order. 1) It's too plain. You're selling yourself as an artist but I see a lot of whitespace. I see that you're using Squarespace. Surely they have more exciting themes. Think about sliders, masonry grid, maybe fullscreen. Stuff like that. 2) As it looks now the layout seems disjointed with the intermingling of portrait/landscape. 3) Way too much scrolling to see your work. Break the events into discrete galleries. 4) Avoid using the same image in color AND B&W. Pick what works best for the image and what you were trying to capture. |
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Luke,
So glad you've got a website up and running. I enjoy your updates on Flickr, although I haven't been on it in a while. Here are some small things I've learned over 10yrs of designing my own websites. Keep in mind, mine's not perfect either, but if you want to take a gander, PM me and I'll send you the link. Layout: 1. Nothing wrong with a plain white background on a website. The background color creates the mood. If you want clean, you choose white. Your photos are clean, so this is a good choice. 2. If you can, change up the colors of your text, or when you "hover" over the text. While white background is great, black text all over can sometimes look like a newspaper. I know it's not fully black, but you can try different colors and see what you like. I always look at my portfolio and choose either a contrasting or complimentary color that I see a lot. 3. While the left menu is great, the main area of the site is pushed to the left, leaving a lot of white space to the right. It changes and works great with less wide windows, but on a desktop, see if you can get that sucker centered. Portfolio: 1. Please don't take any of this personally.
2. I'd be lying to you if I said it's best to keep only your best work on the site. My portfolios have about 20 images each. But I've been at this for over 10yrs and each image is designed to show a client what I can do under a particular situation, be it lighting, composition, or subject. Try to avoid repeating images. You don't need more than one (POSSIBLY 2) of each subject. Multiple kiss photos or wedding ring can get folks the glossy eyes and they'll click through too fast. On your Weddings gallery, I'd delete: 13, 19, 20, 21, 24, 25, 36. (Sometimes deleting images from our portfolios is the hardest thing we can do) 3. Engagements page, You have a lot of similar imagery, and a couple duplicates actually. I know you haven't shot a lot of couples, so it's ok to keep this portfolio small. If people see the same couple over and over, they'll think you lack experience. It's not a bad thing, it's just that it shifts their focus from the quality of your shots to experience. Delete 1, (9 or 10), 11, 12. 4. You have a lot of the same folks in this portfolio, and exact same camera angles. I don't see any you should delete outright, but I would definitely shift them around a bit. The two shots of the girl stand out the most because they are almost the same angle, and are in the center of the gallery. Then my eye moves down to the two guys in business suits. Same exact angle, just different dudes. Then the guys up on top. Try shifting around and see if your eye wanders a little bit more now. Contact Page: 1. It looks great, nothing wrong I see with it! Home Page: I've highlighted a few things here.... They say a picture is worth a thousand words. I am, an Atlanta-based wedding photographer that takes those words and transforms them into visual stories through my photography. With a heart for adventure, a passion for people, and a knack for travel, there's nowhere my photography won't go. From the mountaintops of North Georgia to weddings at sea and all the bright city lights in between, I know there's no shortage of stories waiting to be told. |
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Quoted: Luke, So glad you've got a website up and running. I enjoy your updates on Flickr, although I haven't been on it in a while. Here are some small things I've learned over 10yrs of designing my own websites. Keep in mind, mine's not perfect either, but if you want to take a gander, PM me and I'll send you the link. Layout: 1. Nothing wrong with a plain white background on a website. The background color creates the mood. If you want clean, you choose white. Your photos are clean, so this is a good choice. 2. If you can, change up the colors of your text, or when you "hover" over the text. While white background is great, black text all over can sometimes look like a newspaper. I know it's not fully black, but you can try different colors and see what you like. I always look at my portfolio and choose either a contrasting or complimentary color that I see a lot. 3. While the left menu is great, the main area of the site is pushed to the left, leaving a lot of white space to the right. It changes and works great with less wide windows, but on a desktop, see if you can get that sucker centered. Portfolio: 1. Please don't take any of this personally. 2. I'd be lying to you if I said it's best to keep only your best work on the site. My portfolios have about 20 images each. But I've been at this for over 10yrs and each image is designed to show a client what I can do under a particular situation, be it lighting, composition, or subject. Try to avoid repeating images. You don't need more than one (POSSIBLY 2) of each subject. Multiple kiss photos or wedding ring can get folks the glossy eyes and they'll click through too fast. On your Weddings gallery, I'd delete: 13, 19, 20, 21, 24, 25, 36. (Sometimes deleting images from our portfolios is the hardest thing we can do) 3. Engagements page, You have a lot of similar imagery, and a couple duplicates actually. I know you haven't shot a lot of couples, so it's ok to keep this portfolio small. If people see the same couple over and over, they'll think you lack experience. It's not a bad thing, it's just that it shifts their focus from the quality of your shots to experience. Delete 1, (9 or 10), 11, 12. 4. You have a lot of the same folks in this portfolio, and exact same camera angles. I don't see any you should delete outright, but I would definitely shift them around a bit. The two shots of the girl stand out the most because they are almost the same angle, and are in the center of the gallery. Then my eye moves down to the two guys in business suits. Same exact angle, just different dudes. Then the guys up on top. Try shifting around and see if your eye wanders a little bit more now. Contact Page: 1. It looks great, nothing wrong I see with it! Home Page: I've highlighted a few things here.... Quoted: Luke, So glad you've got a website up and running. I enjoy your updates on Flickr, although I haven't been on it in a while. Here are some small things I've learned over 10yrs of designing my own websites. Keep in mind, mine's not perfect either, but if you want to take a gander, PM me and I'll send you the link. Layout: 1. Nothing wrong with a plain white background on a website. The background color creates the mood. If you want clean, you choose white. Your photos are clean, so this is a good choice. 2. If you can, change up the colors of your text, or when you "hover" over the text. While white background is great, black text all over can sometimes look like a newspaper. I know it's not fully black, but you can try different colors and see what you like. I always look at my portfolio and choose either a contrasting or complimentary color that I see a lot. 3. While the left menu is great, the main area of the site is pushed to the left, leaving a lot of white space to the right. It changes and works great with less wide windows, but on a desktop, see if you can get that sucker centered. Portfolio: 1. Please don't take any of this personally. 2. I'd be lying to you if I said it's best to keep only your best work on the site. My portfolios have about 20 images each. But I've been at this for over 10yrs and each image is designed to show a client what I can do under a particular situation, be it lighting, composition, or subject. Try to avoid repeating images. You don't need more than one (POSSIBLY 2) of each subject. Multiple kiss photos or wedding ring can get folks the glossy eyes and they'll click through too fast. On your Weddings gallery, I'd delete: 13, 19, 20, 21, 24, 25, 36. (Sometimes deleting images from our portfolios is the hardest thing we can do) 3. Engagements page, You have a lot of similar imagery, and a couple duplicates actually. I know you haven't shot a lot of couples, so it's ok to keep this portfolio small. If people see the same couple over and over, they'll think you lack experience. It's not a bad thing, it's just that it shifts their focus from the quality of your shots to experience. Delete 1, (9 or 10), 11, 12. 4. You have a lot of the same folks in this portfolio, and exact same camera angles. I don't see any you should delete outright, but I would definitely shift them around a bit. The two shots of the girl stand out the most because they are almost the same angle, and are in the center of the gallery. Then my eye moves down to the two guys in business suits. Same exact angle, just different dudes. Then the guys up on top. Try shifting around and see if your eye wanders a little bit more now. Contact Page: 1. It looks great, nothing wrong I see with it! Home Page: I've highlighted a few things here.... They say a picture is worth a thousand words. I am, an Atlanta-based wedding photographer that takes those words and transforms them into visual stories through my photography. With a heart for adventure, a passion for people, and a knack for travel, there's nowhere my photography won't go. From the mountaintops of North Georgia to weddings at sea and all the bright city lights in between, I know there's no shortage of stories waiting to be told. |