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|| SportsShooter.com: Member Message Board
Web Site/Portfolio Critique
Doug Strickland, Student/Intern, Photographer
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Danville | KY | USA | Posted: 9:34 PM on 09.03.09 |
->> Hey everyone!
I'm a college shooter going to school in Danville, KY, and getting ready to graduate in the spring, and I'm doing everything I can to get my game in order before graduation so I have a shot at swimming instead of sinking. My web site is, obviously, one of those steps, and I was hoping to get as much feedback from you all as I can about the site and the portfolio, particularly the editorial photos.
The site is deliberately simple, so as to be easy to navigate. I'm particularly interested in load times, if they are distractingly long I'll either need to decrease image size or find a faster host.
As for the photos, I'm particularly interested in what you think of the package photos. Are they too small? Do they look disorganized? Should I simply put them in sequence at full size like the other photos or are they better packaged as one? I'm also looking for general critiques. Is there anything that doesn't belong? Anything that you hate? Anything that you love? What should I do to improve is particularly important to me.
My goal for the fall and spring is to gear up my sports photography, I am going out for football photos in particular this fall.
Thanks in advance for the feedback and I'm looking forward to hearing what you have to say!
Here's the site: Here's the site: www.dougstricklandphoto.com |
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Ric Tapia, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Los Angeles | CA | USA | Posted: 9:41 PM on 09.03.09 |
| ->> You NEED a "Next" & "Previous" buttons for your galleries. you can use arrows or text or whatever, you just need to have it. |
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Doug Strickland, Student/Intern, Photographer
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Danville | KY | USA | Posted: 9:49 PM on 09.03.09 |
| ->> That will be my next project, thanks! For those who are confused, to close the image once opened just click it again. |
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Jeff Bennett, Student/Intern
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Livermore | CA | USA | Posted: 10:23 PM on 09.03.09 |
| ->> I have no idea what some of your photo captions say. If you go through all your photos some of the captions are nice and big, while other are so small no one can read them. |
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Doug Strickland, Student/Intern, Photographer
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Danville | KY | USA | Posted: 10:33 PM on 09.03.09 |
| ->> Odd. I'll see if I can resolve that, I hadn't been having that problem in any of the browsers I tested with but at higher screen resolutions I can see how it may be an issue. Thanks! |
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Alan Herzberg, Photographer
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Elm Grove | WI | USA | Posted: 11:41 PM on 09.03.09 |
->> I love the opening page with the image from inside the balloon. The layout of the portfolio page is nice - I like the way the thumbnails are laid out and the rounded or beveled corners of the thumbnails look cool. The black background works for me. The simplicity of the layout is appealing, very uncluttered.
I concur with Jeff about the captions. I could barely read some of them. Also, when I clicked on the balloon photo essay, only the first thumbnail in the top row and a couple in the second row loaded right away. The rest didn't show up until I refreshed the page. Ric is right - being able to go forward and back without closing an image is important, but you've acknowledged that is coming.
I think once you get the kinks worked out this is going to be a great looking, easy to navigate site. You have a lot of nice photos, too. |
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Mike Burley, Photographer
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Chicago | Il | USA | Posted: 12:59 AM on 09.04.09 |
->> Your portfolio button on the opening page is hard to find. It took me a second.. also, its the only button other than "about me". At least make the opening photo a button, defaulted to "portfolio".
I'm not a huge fan of the militant font that you chose. It seems more decorative than anything, but maybe thats just me...
The galleries should have a slideshow option. Its frustrating clicking on every image. |
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Allen Murabayashi, Photographer
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New York | NY | USA | Posted: 1:42 AM on 09.04.09 |
->> doug,
you have some nice pictures. now that we have that out of the way...
what are you hoping to accomplish with the website?
- are you looking to be hired as a freelance pj?
- are you looking to be hired for wedding photography?
- are you looking to generate sales of your archive?
- are you looking to generate sales of your prints?
- are you hoping to be found on the internet by people who don't know who you are?
- do you view your website as a marketing tool?
- do you care to understand how people are using your website so that you can make improvements to it on a continual basis?
your website is suffering from 1990s disease. namely, you created a digital version of a printed portfolio.
you have no analytics to see how people are using the website and coming to you. you have no real SEO to attract unsolicited visitors. there's no way for someone to buy a print or download. there isn't an obvious way for people to even contact you (that tiny email address on the about page doesn't count). you don't have a way to collect email addresses. you have no blog for regular updates.
usability/design is a big factor in your website, but it's only half the equation. you should really try to answer the questions above so that the website can help you market yourself and generate you revenue. |
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Kevin Clifford, Photographer
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Reno | NV | United States | Posted: 2:12 AM on 09.04.09 |
->> Doug,
The website load times are great and nothing is broken (All Valid Markup :D ) so that aspect is great. As stated before, you need to have "next" and "prev" buttons. Also some of the vertical images are too long, which causes people viewing from laptops to scroll down just to see the whole photo and to read the caption. I would either size the images down or have it automatically size the photos to fit the browser window. Also, I think too many photographers use black. I think you would stand out if you tried to mix it up a bit and add some subtle colors and a different background color.
Here is a great source for color matching:
http://colorschemedesigner.com/
As for your editorial photos, I would take out the following:
1. Kid going to kindergarten- Not much really going on with the photo for me. It's missing the "moment" and the emotion that's in some of your other photos.
2.The Firefighter Casket Package- I see what you were trying to go for, but there really is no "moment" in the photos that make it work. Again, the other strong emotions in your other photos overshadow this package which make these photos seem out of place.
3. Tire Day- This would have been a cool story to do a package, such as following the truck driver picking up the tires, showing what happens after they get delivered, etc. But as a single photo it doesn't work as a portfolio shot.
4. The Bowling Shot- It's not a strong as your other images. I don't get a connection to your subject that I do with your other images.
5. The Car Reflection- Again, no connection to your subject. Why should I care about the lady in the reflection? Is it her car?
6. The Frats-Again, no connection to your subject.
The remaining photos:
I think you found some great use of color, clean backgrounds and moments. I think your lead shot is with the kids swimming-nice moment, light and it makes me want to know more about the people in the water.
I think you have a really strong eye for feature style photography. Not saying that you should do that, but maybe find a way to incorporate this style into your sports photography.
Congrats on graduating and getting a head start! Best of Luck
-Kevin |
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Doug Strickland, Student/Intern, Photographer
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Danville | KY | USA | Posted: 10:21 AM on 09.04.09 |
->> Thanks for all the comments everyone, I'm writing up a list of brainstorming about the purpose of my site right now and I'm going to talk with some friends I have in the advertising business to see what sort of help they can give me. I have a blog and I had been debating whether I should link to it from this page, and I think the answer is a resounding "yes".
Kevin, I spent the summer interning at the Advocate-Messenger and my job was to be primarily a feature-hunter, since many of the writers also took their own photos, so I worked very very hard to hone my skills. It was great experience particularly with finding the mundane and getting interesting moments out of it, and I am definitely a much better photographer because of it. I do find myself falling into that feature mindset when I am covering certain events now though, and have to remind myself that I need to cover more comprehensively. |
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