Wedding/ all other site

<p>Requesting a critique on my wedding photos/site specifically the Natalie & Sean shoot. To turn off sound click speaker lower left corner.<br>

WWW.LIFESNAPS.NET</p>

 

<p>Ok, a few things that just caught my eye<br>

1. The "Yes, I took this picture!"...if you want to instill confidence in brides and grooms or other clients, you can't sound like you're amazed you can take a decent picture. If it's on your site, they should assume you took it.<br>

2. A lot of the pictures under the "Life" title look like snapshots, which isn't setting you apart from anyone else with a nice camera. Be more selective.<br>

3. Your site is kind of unclear as to what kind of photographer you are. Are you portraiture? Wedding? Event? Lifestyle? You say you do weddings, but you're not really specific on what weddings you will do. You need a "brand", to sell yourself and to hit a target market.<br>

4. Your work is decent, just needs to be connected a little better on the site. Watch your blurriness on a few of the pictures.</p>

<p>Thanks that's honest and well accepted. The "Yes I took this picture" came about after I was asked if I did indeed take the shot! I change the picture from time to time and still get asked even with it being labeled the way it is. I haven't decide a line yet I just love to shoot. I keep the camera with me at work and play.</p>

<p>Dan,<br>

I can see you are passionate about photography. That can be the foundation for a career but unfortunately it is not sufficient. Your website is unprofessional and your images are mostly snap shots. You asked for specific comments on the Natalie and Sean shoot. Realize you are asking busy pro's to sit and watch a 250+ image slide show. I made it thru about 50 images before I'd seen enough. It would be much more useful for you to set up a separate gallery, say in you PN portfolio, of 25-30 representative images from a wedding. That way, you'll get a lot more useful feedback.<br>

Of the images I saw, it's clear you need to learn how to use your flash. The best info comes from planetneil.com and strobist.com. Hot Shoe Diaries is good book about flash by Joe McNally. He's a Nikon spokesman but much of the info applies to Canon as well. Neil VanNiekerk of planetneil also has an excellent book. You need to learn about composition, posing formals, controlling light-essentially every aspect of photography. You are not at a point where you should be charging for your work. Channel you passion into learning your craft. Take some classes, read everything you can, see if you can assist an established photographer. When you're ready to go public, get a professional website or use a template. There are lots of companies that specialize in wedding photography. Big Folio has very affordable entry options.<br>

Sorry to be so harsh, but that's the way I see it.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>Funny enough. <br>

I just had my business cards made and on the back I have a shot from NYC, yellow cab remains yellow the rest is uncoloured and I was asked too if that is my picture... </p>

 

<p>Some additional feedback<br>

1) Nobody likes music on websites. Although I do appreciate that you aren't using the unlicensed top 40 music that a lot of other sites show.<br>

2) A Consistent font throughout. I'm not a big fan of the scripty font on the left, and your pricing page uses comic sans. There's a whole underground movement about banning comic sans. It's a great font for teenagers texting one another but not on the page where you list your prices.<br>

3) I have a pretty high resolution and I have a scroll bar for your menu on the left. A menu should fit on the screen.<br>

4) Not sure why you have ads for your camera(s) or have links to glossaries.<br>

5) Check grammar, spacing, and punctuation.<br>

6) Agree with Paul. I got bored a quarter way through the wedding photos. It depends on your target audience. I'm sure the bride and groom (or guests of the wedding) would soak it all up. But, future clients and photoenthusiasts are just going to pass. <br>

Now for the positive :)<br>

1) A lot of really good shots. Many diamonds in the rough. Again (going back to what I referred to above) if you edit out the "ehhhs" instead of making the viewer, the page would look much better.<br>

2) Love the Name/Url.<br>

3) Love the "Yes, I took this picture" and I disagree with others, I'd keep that text there. If you wanted to be a bit more clever, you could even theme your page around that photo: "Sometimes Life snaps - Photo taken by me <date>"</p>