Website review required: Nature Photographer

Hi,</br>

I am a professional nature photographer from the United Kingdom.</br>

</br>

I hope this is an ok thing to post here but I have just launched my

new website and I could really do with some imparital feedback both on

the site and the photography.</br>

</br>

You can view the site at: <a href="http://www.naturalfocus.co.uk"

title="David Boag: Nature Photographer">www.naturalfocus.co.uk</a>.</br>

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Any comments gratefully received.

your link is busted.

<P>

<I>I fixed the link. -- Shun Cheung</I>

David, really nice design and layout. However, don't you think it would be better if you maintained the same color scheme across all pages? The sudden radical change from one page to another as it is now, may overpower some viewers, I know it did to me ... I like the color scheme of the gallery main, and the warm tones of the about page too.

 

You could bunch the contact and about pages into one single page, or at least put them side-by-side at the end of top links bar. If I were you I'd probably do Main -> Services --> gallery --> About --> but that's just me.

 

The naturalfocus logo looks nice. You should probably pick it up from the clutter and put it in a prominent corner, looking uniform across all the pages so that it "sets" into viewers' mind -- that's what logos are for.

 

Consider putting the set of links at the bottom of each page too. That will allow easity navigability when your pages grow longer and someone has scrolled to the bottom.

 

You may not need to give "click for larger.." thumbnails in non-gallery pages.

 

You have not capitalized your name, probably a conscious style, but that makes your name less noticeable.

 

I'm always curious about equipment sections -- but it's upto you..

 

That't my two cents for now!

"Previous Commissions" makes sense to me because I'm used to the British type of English. but I'm just guessing "Portfolio" instead may make more immediate sense internationally/in US.

Very nice. I didn't mind the color changes. (Take the last period off the link and it works.)

<a href="http://www.naturalfocus.co.uk">http://www.naturalfocus.co.uk</a>

<br /> You need to put the whole url (including the http:// stuff) for the link to work.<p>

 

David, the site looks really terrific. I personally like the different colors, I think they are

well choosen and work well together.<p>

One thing I am cusious about is your use of the the creative commons license. I've often

been intrigued, but I can never get passed the lack of a solid definition of

"noncommercial." <p>

How do you interpret non-commercial? Is use by a non-profit organization non-

commercial? If so, then can the Red Cross, a large church group, or a political organization

use your images in a national ad campaign? Since you've made liberal copyright a

prominent part of you site, I'm sure you have some ideas regarding this.

<p>

By the way I'm using a Mac with the latest version of Safari, if that helps. Everything seems

to work smoothly.

Nice overall design.

 

Left side column could be better designed. It is a jumble of fonts and text blocks. The text could also use editing. Perhaps the text should be subordinate in emphasis to the images on a photo site?

There are some really nice bird/wildlife photos in your gallery. Two observations... 1) the bald eagle photo is a bit too over sharpened (halo around image) 2) some of the photos could benefit from noise reduction software so the background doesn't become overly grainy when sharpening is applied. A little extra work in these areas (minor) will make the presentation even better. Nice work, and good luck! -Greg-

I think the images should be a bit larger. Also, the background color is distracting, but I'm

a medium grey kind of chap.

I just looked a your site and commented positively on the layout. One other thing that I found was that I got viewers staying longer with thumbnails sized to about 140 X 200 pixels instead of 67 X 100.

 

AS to text font (and this only opinion) I chose Ariel as the main font and most text is in 12 point size. That makes it easier for old people like myself to read.

<p>First of all let me thank everybody for their feedback, it is much appreciated. I am very fortunate to have a son that runs a web design company (<a href="http://www.headscape.co.uk" title="Web Design">www.headscape.co.uk</a>) so he has been kind enough to do the design for me. </p>

 

<p>I will certainly take on the comments you have shared however my number one priority at the moment is driving more traffic to the site. With that in mind I think I will start a new thread asking people to comment on how they use their sites to promote themselves.</p>

 

<strong>David Boag</strong></br>

N A T U R A L F O C U S</br>

Nature Photographer, Author, Lecturer, Designer</br>

<a href="http://www.naturalfocus.co.uk/naturephotographer/" title="David Boag: Nature Photographer">www.naturalfocus.co.uk/naturephotographer/</a></br>