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davidjearly

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Sep 21, 2006
2,265
373
Glasgow, Scotland
I wanted to share my new photography website - Dearly Photography. I'm at the stage where I'm happy with the structure and will now be adding to the content and blog as I push it further.

My aim here was to reflect my aesthetic photographic style on my site, with the focus remaining on the content.

Any comments would be much appreciated.

www.dearlyphotography.co.uk
 

kenoh

macrumors demi-god
Jul 18, 2008
6,506
10,850
Glasgow, UK
Nice start, but yes, this is just suggestions not complaining, feel free to ignore.

1. You need a home page that makes it clear you are offering photoshoot services. It is only because I clicked into pricing that I realised you are offering sessions - and where you cover.
2. When uploading your portfolio, I would be more selective on which ones you upload, there are too many that are too similar so far. remember this is advertising for you, not a download area where people can get their prints
3. On the point above, is there a customer section where customers can log in and see their pictures from their sessions?
4. What about ordering prints, is this something you want to add?
5. The photos are too densely laid out IMHO. Less is more
6. Try to put up and showcase your best images from varying scenarios, interior, exterior, low key, high key for example.
7. You need a blog to help with search optimisation, do a journal of shoots or put out nuggets of experience, anecdotal stories or something to give the search engines some text to get its teeth into.

Hope this makes sense...

Good luck!
[doublepost=1483617617][/doublepost]Also, the images are taking too long to load, are they full resolution from the A7Rii? need to reduce them to make them load faster.

:)
 
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bent christian

Suspended
Nov 5, 2015
509
1,966
I clicked into one of you photos and it locked up the site in Safari. I am stuck with a translucent black overlay and nothing else. Safari is fine (can switch tabs), but the site is locked.

EDIT: It might be a hosting issue and related to the large, dynamic imaging effect used.

I don't necessarily think the dynamic sizing of the images is a good idea. That is an aesthetic preference, but I think it could affect the user experience, depending o the speed of their Internet connection.

I would work on paring down to just a few of the best from each session. The idea you should be operating under with a portfolio is quality, not quantity.
 

davidjearly

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Sep 21, 2006
2,265
373
Glasgow, Scotland
Nice start, but yes, this is just suggestions not complaining, feel free to ignore.

1. You need a home page that makes it clear you are offering photoshoot services. It is only because I clicked into pricing that I realised you are offering sessions - and where you cover.
2. When uploading your portfolio, I would be more selective on which ones you upload, there are too many that are too similar so far. remember this is advertising for you, not a download area where people can get their prints
3. On the point above, is there a customer section where customers can log in and see their pictures from their sessions?
4. What about ordering prints, is this something you want to add?
5. The photos are too densely laid out IMHO. Less is more
6. Try to put up and showcase your best images from varying scenarios, interior, exterior, low key, high key for example.
7. You need a blog to help with search optimisation, do a journal of shoots or put out nuggets of experience, anecdotal stories or something to give the search engines some text to get its teeth into.

Hope this makes sense...

Good luck!
[doublepost=1483617617][/doublepost]Also, the images are taking too long to load, are they full resolution from the A7Rii? need to reduce them to make them load faster.

:)

Thanks for this info and detailed feedback. Its much appreciated. I was experimenting with many of the areas you mentioned and have already implemented a few things which you've covered. The homepage layout is now a fullscreen slideshow. The content is being updated weekly - I wanted to add to this over the first few weeks as part of testing. The private galleries are there, just not within view without the URL. The blog is also making progress.
 
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Mark0

macrumors 6502a
Sep 11, 2014
516
3,399
SW Scotland
Good job!
I'm considering creating my own photography website. I discovered Weebly offers some really professional looking templates that’s quite designer-oriented. Wix just have a lot of templates to choose from. Also I tested out PhotoShelter as I've read it is a dedicated website builder for photography professionals.

My website uses Weebly :) I like the ease of use (got fed up with code and changing standards years ago) but feel the gallery / slideshow features are limited compared to other platforms.

I really should trim down the amount of images on my site, it’s getting too busy for my liking :/

http://www.mshannon.co.uk
 
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