Your thoughts please.....

gizzymo

Hi all,

I am a photographer with a website on http://www.peterneill.eu

A while ago I posted this to this forum when I was looking for bugs etc, and many of you were extremely helpful in helping me eradicate them, thank you so much.

I wonder if so of you now could visit for a different reason. I need constructive criticism from the viewpoint of a potential client of what I should Add/Remove/Change on the site? Is the text ok? Are there glaring features missing? What is the User Friendliness like etc?

I really appreciate the feedback, and if any of you are getting married and need a photographer, I'd be glad to offer a big discount in return.


Thank you all again,

Peter

sineadw

At a quick glance, I think you need an editor to give the text a bit of polish. Make it read more professionally.

Be back later Stew's cooking!

gizzymo

sineadw wrote: »

At a quick glance, I think you need an editor to give the text a bit of polish. Make it read more professionally.

Be back later Stew's cooking!

thanks for the comments, I agree totally, the text is a bit too informal in places...

ThOnda

Well...
As Sinead said, the text are a little hard to read. I like the page however there are few things that distracts me a lot.

For the first - loading of the pictures/previews. I would prefer dividing that section into more pages, because I lost my patience when the third row was downloading.
The second one is that I would appreciate bottom line of each page at least with the link to the top of the page. Maybe with link to the main page.
And the third - if you want to specialise on wedding photography, you shouldn't be using standard fonts on your page!!! Please, change the fonts, at least italic ones. The page is missing that designer's touch. Your main product for sale is a book from a wedding and that should look nice and carefully designed.

And what does it mean? I have found only few distracting details. So the page is nice, I like the structure and context. Maybe separate page for weddings including sample shots, previews of the books you have produced and also different circumstances of wedding shootings - church, office, outdoors...

smelltheglove

I have seen one or two of your shots before, don't ask me where though.

Ok so I agree with above, too informal. Now as a new bride I'll give you what I would have thought by looking at your site and not being offensive in any way this is your site not your work.

1 - hmm, only a couple of weddings and very few shots from each - why?

2 - no groups, posed or informal style shots to hang around the house

3 - Seems a bit low budget - cutting corners?

We all have to start somewhere, I don't even have a site yet. I would definitely not say anything about full copyright, you should only be giving limited copyright which means they are free to print their pics as many times as they like but the limited part would mean they are for personal friends and family use, personal websites but not for advertisement of anything or for profit. This is important, one of my shots was used to advertise another photographer and with this clause I would have complete entitlement to insist it be taken down.

You have in no way mentioned other photographes but your wording re your competitive pricing seems like there is a little @i'm cheaper than the others' and make a point of 'they're ripping you off' obviously not saying this is what you are saying but this is how it comes across to ME. As a professional we should never slate others work if asked, never mention another photog to put them down and if you dont like say not my taste. I'm sure you would never say it or anything but that is the feel of your text.

You need to get it across better. If I had of looked at your page last year when booking my wedding honestly I would have moved on and it is the website not the photographs that has turned me off.

gizzymo

Seriously, thank you all for the feedback, I take on board every bit of it and appreciate the honesty. I am going to make a lot of chages tonight and will post here when they are done:)

smelltheglove

Looking forward to the results.

Ricky91t

gizzymo wrote: »

Seriously, thank you all for the feedback, I take on board every bit of it and appreciate the honesty. I am going to make a lot of chages tonight and will post here when they are done:)

Sorry just got to ask this question will give you C&C later,
What did you use to make the site?Looks nice and simple!

Edit:
On the about me page i either think you should add more to your bio bit other than just "Name"
Or drop it all together

Also nice image viewer but I'd separate the "wedding" "Portraits" "Artistic"etc..Will look nicer and will help people who are looking for a specific type of photography

gizzymo

Hi all,

right, I still have more to do, but there are lots of changes live by 4am (uploading now):

http://www.peterneill.eu

I made lots of text changes and totally changed the samples section.

I still need to change the fonts and totally redo the prints for sale section, as there a lots of pics i dont have in there but i should do etc.

Off to bed now!

Thanks all again for your help,

Peter

P.s. to answer the dev question, I used iWeb to create an initial template, then gutted the source code in a text editor, and did everything else manually in a text editor + Photoshop.

sineadw

Still needs editing (sorry - I used to do it for a living - I spot things no-one else would even be bothered about). For example:

I work in a number of areas of photography, including Weddings, Portraits, and Limited edition artistic pieces. I am available for weddings & events anywhere in Ireland or the UK. I can also travel to mainland Europe.

Drop the comma after the first 'photography'. The bold text shouldn't be capitalised. Or if you're going to capitalise then capitalise it all - edition artistic pieces too. I'd go with no capitalisation though.

I'd change the last sentence to "I am available for weddings & events anywhere in Ireland, the UK and mainland Europe."

Its not that you have to be rigid and formal, just that you should sound professional. People generally don't read much online so its a good idea to keep it brief. Watch your spelling and grammar. Seems like a small thing, but badly written text can give the impression that you're careless with the little details.

If you know someone who can edit (not just spellcheck) then I'd get them to look over it for you. Otherwise it looks great! I love simple design, and you have some stunning images in there..

gizzymo

Thanks for that, I have made the wording changes you suggested along with several other changes to the about and contact section........