New website, critique please?

Hello everyone. I'm new to the board and enjoying the interchange with so many talented photographers.

I just revised my website, and would really appreciate any feedback you have.

http://www.luminaireph​oto.com

Thanks!

Ryan

One thing is it crashed Safari (on the mac) when I tried to view the wedding gallery.

jessiper wrote in post #2378473

Is that some kind of "mac sucks" comment?

People use macs... if your gallery crashes the browser it means those customers don't bother with you because they can't see your work.

I'm sot so keep on those selective colrings, and for 3 to be on the wedding page before you see any others, I dunno.

if this "This blog is one of the tools I use to help other apiring photographers and hone my own understanding of my craft." is the point of the blog, I'm not sure it should be a part of the business end and listed as a major category. If you do want to use it for clients, I would start posting daily updates, even if its old work to get some content on there.

I like the contact page and basic layout of the site

on pricing, theres a $1k difference, but all I see is 5 hrs vs unlimited hours and 30 vs 20 pages in the book? The book end is hard for clients to get until they see a predesign and how few photos are actually used in that few of pages.

Thoughts:
- Menus are simple and boring, i'd rather see them in a better font at the top or on the left.
- Ditch the selective color unless you're doing themed 80s weddings.
- I don't overly like your gallery. I organise my gallery by wedding, and post maybe 20 shots from ten different weddings, with thumbnails that are easy to navigate. I don't like having the weddings mixed, or the slow flash player. Didn't see many good photos of couples or brides either, just lots of kids. I didn't look too hard, and neither will prospective customers given how many photographers are around.
- Testimonials page has some weird "Â" characters on it.
- Why would you put the word "analytical" on a photographers bio page?
- "I currently live with my wife (who assists me from time to time) in Philadelphia." Most married people live with their wives. Perhaps "I live in Philadelphia with my wife of ten years", that's with 3 seconds of thought though.
- The general design of your website bores me, especially since the sample photos you have on the pages are either selective color or not really related to weddings.

Just my $0.02

kampphoto wrote in post #2378522
Is that some kind of "mac sucks" comment?

People use macs... if your gallery crashes the browser it means those customers don't bother with you because they can't see your work.

No, sorry, it was meant as a big uh-oh for the reason you mentioned.

I think your logo looks professional, and black is a good background choice. I have to agree about the selective coloring thing. Also, the home page doesn't grab my attention. Maybe one big strong picture? Many of the pics look like they've suffered from compression problems or something. Anyone else notice that? I don't mind that they're not separated into different weddings, but for some reason they don't draw out any emotion in me. I'm not a graphic designer, so take my words w/a grain of salt. Thanks for putting yourself out there.

kampphoto wrote in post #2378270
One thing is it crashed Safari (on the mac) when I tried to view the wedding gallery.

Good news is it didn't crash Safari on my Mac

jessiper wrote in post #2378740
Many of the pics look like they've suffered from compression problems or something. Anyone else notice that?

Yes, I agree here - many shots just look blurry. I'm assuming it's a compression issue (?). If not, then quality control - cull out the weaker shots.

I'm new too - I think the hardest thing is to post your site for the first time - good on ya!
Just remember all criticism is constructive and designed to make us better!

First, I want to thank everyone for taking time to offer feedback. I really appreciate it.

It seems everyone is seeing compression problems with my images... so that's one to fix.

Not sure about Safari... it works fine here in IE, Firefox and Safari. What was it that crashed? Did the page or certain page content not load? I'd hate to exclude any of my fellow Mac users.

I included a few spot color pics because my clients keep asking if I can do them. Maybe it's a regional thing? Or maybe straight b+w would be better.

One question for Tim... I don't understand two of your comments:

1- "not seeing many photos of couples or brides, just lots of kids." Out of the first 2 dozen pictures only 3 or 4 have kids. Is that still too many or did you skip through and happen to land on the kids?

2 - "the sample photos are either selective color or not really related to weddings." Only one section has selective color, which may have to go, but otherwise every single image on my site (except my bio) is from a wedding, mostly from the actual ceremony. They're mostly pictures of brides and grooms. Why do you say they are not wedding related?

There seems to be a split (in general, not just in this thread) about showcasing one's best photos in a unified collection vs. organizing by wedding. Any thoughts on this?

Cheers.

Ryan