Comments on my Smugmug

[BenJohnson]

UPDATED:

Alright, it's been a year since I posted this, and since then I have made considerable changes to my SmugMug site layout. Nothing too drastic, but very different than the standard SmugMug layout I was using before, and I'm fairly happy with how it currently looks. I'm not 100% set on the photo's I've chosen for the slideshows so that may change. I have organized it into sections with all but the paintball section only linking to a single slideshow. The paintball section contains several subgroups including (public) event and open play galleries, (private) team galleries, and product galleries that are mostly in the "Journal" layout.

Thoughts on the overall layout/organization?
Are there are any particularly weak photos?
If there's anything else that stands out as a weak point I'd love to hear it!
Any comments or suggestions are appreciated!

http://www.benjohnson.smugmug.com/

www.benjohnson.smugmug.com (http://www.benjohnson.smugmug.com/)

I recently re-organized my SmugMug and added the banner to the top of the site. I also watermarked the same logo on all the photos. I am open to all criticisms, but I am especially looking for ones on the website (in this post) (but if you have suggestions about the photo’s themselves, I’d be happy to hear them).

How do you like the look/style?
How do you like the organization?
Do I post too many images?
Comments on the logo?
What do you think of my pricing?
Should I sell downloads at full resolution?
Etc, etc…

Thanks!

[stathunter]

Ben-- looks decent. I like to see diversity of work when I look at websites. The layout is smugmug -- nothing spectacular-- but I really do not know what you have before.
The only real comment I can offer of any value is that every photo should stand for the type of work you do-- each one needs to stand on its own and sell you the photographer. Not sure if some of them do that for you. (example- the dirty honda photos) -- but I did not glance at much else.
All the best!

[BenJohnson]

This is my first attempt at any type of webhosting (other than Photobucket for posting items online), so it is still a learning experience. The car pictures were added mostly for the diversity of work, as you mentioned. Maybe I will remove them until I have done some better car shoots.

There are also many event photo's that I don't feel "stand for the type of work I do" (ie, are not ver good quality shots), but I for these albums I try my best to get as many players as possible captured in the albums. People at these events seem to really like seeing themselves online, even if the picture isn't great. I'm not sure if I should be posting nearly as many pictures (from events) as I do.

[stathunter]

Ben-- totally understand. I use smugmug myself to host customers photos-- but typically do not list them as public-- so I give the customers the web address to where they are in smugmug.
For wedding customers I buy the domain name (example: jillswedding.com) and point it to the section in smugmug where their photos are.
Keep on playing with smugmug-- there is a ton of ways to customize it.

[BenJohnson]

The customer photo galleries are password protected, and I also have quite a few other ones that are unlisted. The reason I like password protecting them, is that the customer can easily navigate to their gallery as long as the know my URL (not necessarily the exact URL for their private gallery).

The large public galleries are more just for exposure, and because the subjects really like seeing photo's posted online (but not quite enough to pay for them :rolleyes:). I usually sell a handful of random 1 or 2 prints/downloads, but not very many.

[ChrisRabior]

The digital grin forum has an excellent set of tutorials and faq's about smugmug customization.. should make your task a lot easier.

[Nistelrooydude]

I second the trip to dGrin. The basic customization thread on there is great. I used a lot of the tutorials and it helped my site a lot. You can check it out if you want: www.hrephoto.smugmug.com (http://www.hrephoto.smugmug.com)

[BenJohnson]

UPDATED:

Alright, it's been a year since I posted this, and since then I have made considerable changes to my SmugMug site layout. Nothing too drastic, but very different than the standard SmugMug layout I was using before, and I'm fairly happy with how it currently looks. I'm not 100% set on the photo's I've chosen for the slideshows so that may change. I have organized it into sections with all but the paintball section only linking to a single slideshow. The paintball section contains several subgroups including (public) event and open play galleries, (private) team galleries, and product galleries that are mostly in the "Journal" layout.

Thoughts on the overall layout/organization?
Are there are any particularly weak photos?
If there's anything else that stands out as a weak point I'd love to hear it!
Any comments or suggestions are appreciated!

http://www.benjohnson.smugmug.com/