Portraiture website - constructive criticism please?

harryduns

harryduns

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273
Name
Harry
Edit My Images
No
I've just launched a revamped website for my portraiture, it's at http://www.harryduns.com - I'm quite happy with it but I have a few concerns/queries, so some objective third party opinions from other photographers would be grand!

* does it work properly in different (older) browsers? It's all fine in Chrome, which is what I use, and also works in Firefox but it didn't seem to work in IE8.

* do you feel the photos load fast enough? They're large files as I wanted them to be displayed as big as possible.

* should I add some biographical content or just let the work speak for itself?

* is it obvious enough that you click the two bits in the top right to see two different galleries?

Any constructive criticism would be much appreciated! Thanks! :thumbs:
 
Oh, also I had a hard time choosing a single representative image as the first one to show up!
 
Some really nice work there, Harry, but on my slow internet connection it takes forever to load.

I would probably give up waiting unless I was specifically looking for you.

I am using Chrome.
 
david357 said:
Some really nice work there, Harry, but on my slow internet connection it takes forever to load.

I would probably give up waiting unless I was specifically looking for you.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your comments David. Are you in a rural location? I'm out in the countryside myself and the images were perhaps a little slow, but I was banking on city connections being quicker.
 
Not really out in the country, but at the end of the bt lines. We have a connection stated at up to 3meg, but in reality it performs at about 1.1 to 1.3 meg.

hth.
 
I too am out in the sticks in Cornwall, so my connection is pretty slow but it all seemed fast enough to me !
Some lovely pictures in there, and a very impressive website to my eyes.
I didn't notice the links on the top right but mainly as I was busy looking at the photography.
Some basic dialog about who you are, how you work, prices etc would be good on a final page, or even better as a third link on the top right, but if I were looking for pictures of your sort then I would certainly be pulled in by what I have just seen !
Firefox is my browser if that helps any, and well impressed is my opinion !
 
I'm on a reasonable connection, and its still loading after 60 seconds in IE8...
It doesn't matter if its quick for you, its your customers that it needs to be quick for, and if they are stuck at 2Mb in the sticks, they would probably have given up.

I do get an error in IE8

Webpage error details

Message: 'd.options.slides[...].thumb' is null or not an object
Line: 13
Char: 1152
Code: 0
URI: http://www.lechatnoir.org.uk/harryduns/js/supersized.3.2.4.min.js


- Firefox took about 15 seconds to load, and it works...
- I'd get your own email address, not use a yahoo one.
- I can't seem to find an about you page etc, its purely portraits, is that all you do? You are based in Devon, do you travel etc? These are all things I'd be looking to find out.

Nice page though, but the sliding of the images makes my eyes go funny!

thanks
Martin
 
awesome work!!

the site tells me nothing about you though!
 
Couldn't load it on IE8 and took a fair old time to load on FF.

The images are excellent but I doubt many folk would wait that long to see them.

My advice would be to use smaller files.
 
It loaded very fast for me in Firefox. The importance of loading speed probably depends on your intended audience. Corporate/agency clients probably have fast machines and good internet speed and I doubt they will find it too slow. Casual browsers might. You could always check whether smaller files degrade the image noticeably.

Very nice work and I really liked the first shot that came up. Took me a while to spot the links in the top right corner and, as said, it needs a bit more info about you and what you do.
 
harryduns said:
Thanks for your comments David. Are you in a rural location? I'm out in the countryside myself and the images were perhaps a little slow, but I was banking on city connections being quicker.
Click to expand...

I like the site, but same problem for me. Most people in the UK don't have great internet - we're somewhat lacking compared to other countries.

You could always have hi-res/low-res versions and load the low-res on default.
 
Thanks for your input folks. I guess I'll add an 'about me' page, I toyed with the idea but thought I'd keep things minimalist but maybe it's *too* minimalist ;)

I'm really frustrated at IE8 as a friend still using IE7 said it works for her! Will have to see if there's a workaround.

As far as smaller images go, it's a dilemma but ultimately it'd kind of defeat the whole point of making a scalable site. I really want people to see my images at a decent resolution as the kind of high-detail, punchy stuff I do loses some of its impact at smaller sizes. I tried using smaller images but on my screen they lose quality in the upscaling. I've stripped everything else back so it's really just image load times, no flash or anything.

Thanks again :)
 
I've managed to get it to work in IE8 now! I needed to remove a single comma in the html after the last image in the slideshow, weird how it worked fine in all other browsers but IE... stupid picky IE, yet another reason to never use it :P
 
Fantastic images, if I was looking for a photographer your website would certainly make me very very interested. Some were perhaps a little over stylised/processed in the contemporary section, just noticed the classic section, for my particular taste BUT I wouldnt modify them if I were you as they really drew me in, much like a fashion designer's catwalk stuff isnt really what I'd buy but cant help but think "my word they are good".
Loved it, had to have a second look (and foind "Classic" section), loved that too.

Been a fair old while since I got grabbed by a set of photos and yours grabbed me big time, well done, not that I think you need my plaudits with your evident skill.

Matt
 
Last edited:
Harry, Great Work....

Does it not concern you to have such large images on your site with no watermarking at all ?
At the sizes you are using, I would definitely have something on there... But again great great work !

Not speed issues here..even with the large files...Firefox on standard Broadband line 7 meg line
 
Last edited:
Thanks for your kind words Matt - I know my photos won't be to everyone's tastes, they're certainly not traditional images, but I just try to do what pleases me and I've always been drawn to punchy, modern, high-contrast portraiture as produced by the likes of Joel Grimes, Calvin Hollywood, Dave Hill etc. It's obviously not an appropriate style for all subjects, but I think it lends itself well to performers who want something a little out of the ordinary.

Tugster said:
Does it not concern you to have such large images on your site with no watermarking at all ?
Click to expand...

The though had crossed my mind, but I guess at this stage I feel people being able to view my work at a decent resolution outweighs that risk. As my images at this stage are mainly portraits of not particularly well known performers or individuals, I doubt anyone would want to steal them - I can't see what purpose it'd serve - unlike, say, someone doing beautiful landscape shots or reportage where the image may have practical applications such as selling for prints, illustrating an article etc.

If I ever get to shoot any famous bands or celebrities I'll probably be more cautious! :thumbs:
 
Hi Harry,

I think I'm a bit too cynical when it comes to image theft....I shoot a lot of junior sport so the little darlings just love to screen grab !!

Again some really eye catching work !
 
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