Critique of my website

M

MomentCapture

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Hi folks

I'v almost finished my website, so I'm looking for some critique on it's strengths and weakness's as well as any ideas how I could make it better.

(hope this is the right section)

Thanks

Below is the link

http://momentcapture.co.uk
 
Trenta means thirty, just a thought about what you are offering
a dozen pictures of the same kid in a stripey top (not actually counted) makes it look like your portfolio is thin
No home link on other pages (yes there is the logo but a home link is more obvious)
Logo, oh no not another bl***y iris - you are a photographer, be original

Mike
 
On my screen the text is overlapping the pictures on the home page? I like your logo though (But I have an Iris in mine :) )
 
This might just be my own personal preference, but when I was looking for a photographer for my wedding, I kinda switched off whenever I read something like:

I'm not going to waffle on, instead I'd rather be real and keep this short and sweet, and let my pictures speak for the rest.

Instead, I was attracted to photographers who infused their personalities into their websites, so I knew that whoever I booked, I'd have a higher chance of actually getting along with that person. So I would suggest writing a bit more about yourself...this way you'd know that the clients who are attracted to you will be the kind of people you want to work with too. Just my two cents...I could be very wrong! :)
 
^^^
Thanks, that makes sense, I'l look more into that, just don't want to sound pretentious...
 
mike weeks said:
Trenta means thirty, just a thought about what you are offering
a dozen pictures of the same kid in a stripey top (not actually counted) makes it look like your portfolio is thin
No home link on other pages (yes there is the logo but a home link is more obvious)
Logo, oh no not another bl***y iris - you are a photographer, be original

Mike
Click to expand...

I actually agree with you, except for the logo part as I often get compliments on my logo when I post up pictures.

Also it's got a little more going on than just an iris, the 'moment through the lens captured within the camera'...
 
Thought about going with a cleaner layout.
Below is a bare bones sample obviously, but does anyone prefer this over the current look?

web.JPG
 
^^^
Tbh, so is Dan Marsh Photographics, Dan Marsh photography rolls off the tongue a little better.

I see your point though, and I probably will drop the photography part of the logo in places where it's not needed.
 
Like most one man armies, I just use my name - Dan Marsh.

I did think about making up a name, but figured that most photographers operate under their name for a good reason, so that's what I do.

Same applies to most people providing a personal service, hairdressers, plumbers, gardeners, etc.

I used photographics, because I do photos and graphics (vector stuff mostly), but I dropped the graphics from the website, to focus on photography.
 
Firstly, its nice and easy to navigate - always a good thing.

I like your work too, they have a nice editorial feel to them, and it looks like you have a good rapport with your subjects. What I would say tho' is you perhaps ought to consider having seperate galleries for family portraits, theatric headshots etc, that will help clients identify what sort of pics they will expect top get.

Your contact page has no address or phone number, I would add these of you want people to contact you!

Now then... Your prices. As people know here, I like to bang on about prices, but I think you are far too cheap. Your work is worth far more than that. You are giving your stuff away. £150.00 for a 2 hour shoot and 10 retouched images on CD and a load of prints is madness. Its unlikely that you will sell any more images on top of that, so subsequently you are doing a ton of work for very little money. Remember, once you sell images on CD, the client will never come back to you for images from that shoot, so you have to charge a much higher price to compensate for your loss.

Have a very serious review of your prices. Have a look at what established and good headshot photographers charge - and look at what family portrait and wedding photographers charge too. I think you will find that you could charge a hell of a lot more than you are.
 
MomentCapture said:
Also it's got a little more going on than just an iris, the 'moment through the lens captured within the camera'...
Click to expand...

Pretentious twaddle, Iris images in photographers logs are nearly as common as the word photography or photographer - if your happy thats fine but every other website that gets placed here and asks for critique has similar.

Mike
 
Too many photos of the same people. It is way better to show a smaller number of really strong images.
 
Metal God said:
Firstly, its nice and easy to navigate - always a good thing.

I like your work too, they have a nice editorial feel to them, and it looks like you have a good rapport with your subjects. What I would say tho' is you perhaps ought to consider having seperate galleries for family portraits, theatric headshots etc, that will help clients identify what sort of pics they will expect top get.

Your contact page has no address or phone number, I would add these of you want people to contact you!

Now then... Your prices. As people know here, I like to bang on about prices, but I think you are far too cheap. Your work is worth far more than that. You are giving your stuff away. £150.00 for a 2 hour shoot and 10 retouched images on CD and a load of prints is madness. Its unlikely that you will sell any more images on top of that, so subsequently you are doing a ton of work for very little money. Remember, once you sell images on CD, the client will never come back to you for images from that shoot, so you have to charge a much higher price to compensate for your loss.

Have a very serious review of your prices. Have a look at what established and good headshot photographers charge - and look at what family portrait and wedding photographers charge too. I think you will find that you could charge a hell of a lot more than you are.
Click to expand...

Thanks MG, glad you liked my work. :)

Your pricing suggestions were very interesting, as tbh I have no idea what to charge, especially as I'm only just starting out in photography (only had a camera since April last year) and don't have that much experience yet, or a large portfolio (should have allot more portfolio candidates in a week or so though), I just plucked those figures out the air so I'll have to research my competition a little better and be more in-line with them.

The idea was to advertise, get some work in until busy, and then raise prices until I wasn't too busy, but I guess I should go in a fair bit higher than I am at the moment.
 
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Hey Rhys,

on first impressions it was nice to see a site that didn't follow the mainstream photography website molds, your design is well thought out and the colors employed are balanced with the text, something alot of sites fail to do.

Im sure as your portfolio expands more content will be added but what you do have is of a high stantard and regards the logo, again I personally like it but it may look better in a light color only.
 
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Thanks Grahame, glad you like it, and I have finally settled on just a white version of my logo.
 
Regarding pricing. Start with high and competitive prices, but offer big discounts. Percieved value is much greater that way. ;)
 
The bare bones layout is a huge improvement, IMHO. The other one is like being battered over the head with tiny images

Nick Froome
 
MomentCapture said:
Thanks MG, glad you liked my work. :)

The idea was to advertise, get some work in until busy, and then raise prices until I wasn't too busy
Click to expand...

Not a good tactic. If you raise your prices later, you could lose/alienate your existing client base who may not be able to afford your new prices when they want more pics done.
 
When I first looked at the home screen, I didn't really know where to look there was that many, I much prefer the simple version.

Rest looks good, including the logo.
 
The new, cleaner lay out is way, way better.
I also don't like the logo, it has a very old fashioned feel to me, but that's subjective.

Give packages sensible names, not pretentious ones.
Agree with Metal God ref pricing.
As a customer, I'm not that interested in you, I want to know what you are going to do for me. So, as a bride, looking for a photographer, what are you offering me to make me want to book you?

A
 
Simpler version is a big improvement. However:

You say 'I'm not going to waffle on' then proceed to waffle on - needs editing heavily
No offence but seems a teensy-weensy bit egocentric to have your photo on the home page - if you have to have it all I would put it on the 'contact' page
Your headings are all to cock which won't help your search engine visibility
The mixture of two sans-serif fonts doesn't work IMO

Hope this helps
 
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