Precursor Portfolio.

[Ideologue]

I have spent the last few days [almost] furiously putting together what images I could, the purpose of which being to display them on-line and learn as many opinions on them as possible. This is a part of a feasibility study for my business plan.

Not only do I seek technical advise, but I also seek to find out if the sort of pictures I take are commercially viable, at all!

So please could you post back any comments, no mater how abusive, I can take it. But bear in mind that I am currently without equipment (apart from my computer). Most of the pictures were taken several years ago and scanned onto my hard drive at the beginning of this year. Some of the other pictures were hurriedly snapped over the weekend using a borrowed digital camera with an extremely low resolution capability. Of course if I had proper equipment (which I should soon be gaining) then my pictures would be different to the [old] ones in my on-line album / portfolio. I just had to produce what I could with what I had available to me in a very short amount of time.

Enough excuses. Here is the link:

http://ideologue.myphotoalbum.com

I appreciate your time.

[matty]

Hi and welcome to the forums!

Well im not the most technically minded person, i either like or dont like normally, so this wont be that contructive..Overall i think the pics are very good, very arty i suppose, im not struck on BEC MOUTH 4 LIGHTER 2 or te other in that style, but overall i like!, though bec gallery is a bit dark.....

[Ideologue]

Thanks for your words and welcome EosD.

Do you think I should reduce the contrast for 'Bec gallery'? It would still be rather dark, but at least the lighter areas would not be so stark!

[matty]

you could do, shadow/highlight tool in photoshop would work wonders on it, but then again, im not the best image editor, see what the others say, they may think they are fine as they are!

[CT]

Some of this I like and some I don't - the almost one bit image of the steps is excellent IMO. There's no denying you have a style all your own there, and a lot of work has undoubtedly gone into it. I'm sure there's a market for good work of this type, but it's so far removed from the sort of stuff I'd normally do that I have no idea where your market might be - threre's a gothic, fantasy, mythical quality about it and there seem to be plenty of those type of internet sites and no doubt specialist magazines?

Welcome aboard. :)

[Ideologue]

Thanks CT, I appreciate your comments.

I was actually planning on posting on a goth site, just to try and get a few opinions. I was also told to try a tattoo forum.

I shall Google a few keys words (that you mentioned), and see what other forums I may find.

[Gary Bagshawe]

Hi, there is some nice work there but I think that it is a very specialised market that you would be aiming at. From a business point of view this is not so good. What are your business plans for?

[Ideologue]

Thanks for your reply.

Within the business plan I intend to aim for the music / bands market, also perhaps some editorial, advertising, web designers, publishers and that sort of thing. But also, as it is hard to break in to those areas, my main plan is to offer a sort of 'alternative' portraiture service. So if someone wants perhaps a more interesting or odd picture of themselves than they might get from a regular high street studio, and they like the pictures in (when I get one) my web site, or on an advertising poster of mine, then they could come to me. It is mainly that area on which I seek opinion to try and gauge some sort of idea on its feasibility.

It is certainly a niche area, if it even exists at all!

[dod]

I like the look of Bec Bike and that type of shot. I'd think there is a market for that, both personal and corporate.

BEC MOUTH 4 LIGHTER AND BRIGHTER 2 with writing online however is too far out for an old fart like me. I'd have thought any market for that style is really going to be so limited it would be difficult to make a secure lliving, but that's only my opinion. If you're looking at bands and the music industry it might well be suitable.

[matty]

in the context you describe Idealoque, then the images are very good, there is a guy down this way who does piccies of kids dressed as fairies etc and that seems very popular, so a niche 'stylised' portrait would be quiet cool if you can market your ideas.

For webhosting contact rob, hes quiet reasonable, or pm me and i can get you in touch with a m8 who also offers hosting packages.

[Ideologue]

Thanks very much for your feedback. It has been very helpful, I appreciate it.
And thanks also for the webhosting help offer EosD, I admit the prospect of having to find a site host is not a pleasing one.