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Made an attempt at a portfolio site today. Would love some feedback!

acearchie

acearchie

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Jan 15, 2006
3,264
104
Hi guys,

After taking a fair few photos over the summer I have decided that I would love to try and get some work experience assisting some photographers working with people in London.

I decided I needed some sort of online presence that wasn't a flickr or other site so I decided to make my own.

Whilst not technically perfect I hope the shots convey a mood or emotion as I think that's what photographers might be looking for as I don't have all the kit to get the clean polished quality results you would find in a magazine.

Anyway HERE is the site and I would love to know what you think on any aspect of it!

Thanks!
 
mulo

mulo

macrumors 68020
Aug 22, 2010
2,267
5
Behind you
Some separation (thumb nailing) would be good when browsing the pictures, and I think that they must zoom to fit the screen when viewing them individually.
 
acearchie

acearchie

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Jan 15, 2006
3,264
104
mulo said:
Some separation (thumb nailing) would be good when browsing the pictures, and I think that they must zoom to fit the screen when viewing them individually.
Click to expand...

The zoom to fit is a must. This is a bug with the current site that is in the alpha stage and I have submitted a feature request for that.

I think the separation is a subjective thing as I tried with with a 5px, 10px and 15px separation and it just didn't seem to work for me. Do you think it's important?
 
K

kevinfulton.ca

macrumors 6502
Aug 29, 2011
284
1
acearchie said:
The zoom to fit is a must. This is a bug with the current site that is in the alpha stage and I have submitted a feature request for that.

I think the separation is a subjective thing as I tried with with a 5px, 10px and 15px separation and it just didn't seem to work for me. Do you think it's important?
Click to expand...

First off there are some good shots, but the navigation is a big big BIG problem which makes getting to them extremely difficult. Not sure what's going on with the Digital Photography section, but the images seem to be messed up. Also, when selecting the image it's in the original resolution. Without the ability to zoom out I can't see the picture as a whole. Granted it may work better with different browsers, but that makes the situation even worse. Your potential employers will get a different experience depending on their browser? Not good. Best to stick with thumbnails and light boxes and optimize your images for web.

I don't mean to be harsh, but if you want your photos to come across the way they should then they need to be organized better with a good presentation. They are the star of the show. Also, your site should be laid out like your resume. Your landing page is the cover letter (which needs to wow the client), and the categories are your previous jobs that the client will skim over to see which ones pertain to their company.

Here are some suggestions.

1) The Landing Page: This is definitely not your best photo. It's fun and cool, but it's not your best. Ideally a rotating slide show with your 5 best would be ideal.

2) Navigation: How you captured the image doesn't matter as much as what the subject is. Rather then, Film, Friends, Digital, etc. why not try People, Landscapes, Weddings etc. It will help people get to the subject that applies to them. Instagram is always good to keep though since it's a social network.

Everything else I've already kind of gone over. I really hope this helps you. I realize that Salon is not a full blown website, but hopefully these changes can be made. Honestly I'd look look at 500px if you want a more professional looking presentation or just build your own site. My site still needs some major updates, but feel free to have a look for some ideas. Good luck!

www.kevinfulton.ca
 
Prodo123

Prodo123

macrumors 68020
Nov 18, 2010
2,326
10
The coding on the Digital Photography section is a little buggy. The thumbnails appear as a big stack in front of a grid of thumbnails.
And the zoom to fit, that's a must.
 
mulo

mulo

macrumors 68020
Aug 22, 2010
2,267
5
Behind you
acearchie said:
I think the separation is a subjective thing as I tried with with a 5px, 10px and 15px separation and it just didn't seem to work for me. Do you think it's important?
Click to expand...

to me it separates each picture more into their own, rather then a larger more confusing mass
 
acearchie

acearchie

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Jan 15, 2006
3,264
104
kevinfulton.ca said:
Here are some suggestions.

1) The Landing Page:
2) Navigation:

www.kevinfulton.ca
Click to expand...

Sorry I should have emphasised that I literally created this today and was sort of showing it off whilst also organising and creating it.

The digital photography page was far from ready and is now in a more reasonable state. I'm not sure if you noticed in my first post but I am not aiming this site at clients at the moment but more photographers so they can get an idea of the sort of photo's I have taken so they can see the standard I can create as I am looking to try and get a job assisting.

In terms of organising the categories I have gone for at the moment are "good wood" (essentially an event), "automotive" and "people" so it should make more sense.

Do you have a suggestion for the landing page photo? I am biased so I was wondering from an outside perspective what would you choose?

Thanks for your useful points! I do have an account with 500px but I found the upload difficult and slow and the organisation and navigation confusing at least at first. Also being a student free is the best price so I wanted to see what I could achieve on no budget before I look at paying a monthly fee.

As I said before the site salon.io is in the alpha stage and the full screen click is something that is being worked on and unfortunately isn't something that I can implement at this time.

Thanks also for sharing your site which I shall have a good look at in the morning!

Prodo123 said:
The coding on the Digital Photography section is a little buggy. The thumbnails appear as a big stack in front of a grid of thumbnails.
And the zoom to fit, that's a must.
Click to expand...

As I mentioned to kevin I sort of jumped ahead of myself and decided to post the link whilst I was still working on that page. If you check it now it will be in a much more easy to view layout.

If you have time please do check it out and tell me what you think!

The zoom to fit is also a feature that is in the works but is out of my hands unfortunately.

mulo said:
to me it separates each picture more into their own, rather then a larger more confusing mass
Click to expand...

I have done that on my digital photography section. I'm going to leave it like that for a few days and see which one I prefer! Thanks for bringing it up!
 
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