looking for website feedback

<p>Hi Photo.net Forum,<br>

I'm looking for feedback on the website I've been working on for my photography business.<br>

http://www.hpwphoto.com<br>

I appreciate any & all feedback about the images I have chosen for the galleries especially how well/ if they feel like a variety of different types of images for weddings. Are there any photos/poses that are obviously missing?<br>

Is it easy to navigate?<br>

Is the information I include sufficient or are there things you wish I had included but aren't<br>

I haven't included packages for weddings and portraits, but am considering including this? What are people's opinions on this?</p>

<p>Thanks for your feedback!</p>

<p>hey, When I click on enter it's directing me to blank page.</p>

<p>Simple site, easy to navigate. Not too much text, which can be good.</p>

<p>Watch grammar and punctuation: <em>I strive to create a visual narrative that documents, as well as, reflects the spirit of each individual I photograph. </em>Comma should be after 'reflects', not 'as'.</p>

<p>Some of the images are out of focus--lose them. You have plenty of good ones. IMO, your tilt-the-camera shots do <em>not</em> work. The tilt adds nothing, and simply makes it look as though you couldn't hold the camera level. If you are going to do that sort of thing, you can't do it by halves. A little tilt is always bad, whereas a lot of tilt can--in a few cases--add punch and life to an image.</p>

<p><strong>EDIT</strong>: Forgot to ask. Can I be your assistant? I've never seen such a hot collection of BM and MoH!</p>

<p>Too slow to load. I clicked away after waiting 30 seconds for the site to load after clicking "Enter"</p>

<p><Chas></p>

<p>Amit, it's in flash, with no HTML backup. A mistake new website creators often make.</p>

<p>If you had flash installed in your browser, you'd see a spinning arrow (light gray on white, not all that much better than just plain white) for a couple of minutes while the site loads up. That's another newbie mistake, too big a chunk of flash for the home page. That's why I gave up on it, like Charles.</p>

<p>Thanks for sharing and I like it, and now the "but..." I think the problems described are the script (php and javascript) driven flash Web page. I got everything to work but it took time waiting while it loads. Also you have to wait to see which links are mouseovers and which are clicks. I think you may be making a good design slower and harder with the layers of coding, php, javascript and flash. I'm curious what testing you did with the development. These problems should have shown up then. Good luck.</p>

<p>Thanks for the responses. I used a template from Portfoliositez, so I was limited with the way mouse overs and the like function. I'm wondering why the site is loading so slowly and what I might be able to do about that. I'll look into that. I'll also take into account some of the suggestions about images. This site is flash and Portfoliositez does offer the option to also have an html version availbale from the main splash page. I haven't activated the html version because I thought it felt a bit clunky to have the two choices on the splash page. Is it crucial to have the html mirror site? How do people feel about including a page of packages which list out prices? A good idea? or not? Anything I forgot to include? Thanks again for the suggestions</p>

<p>Heather,</p>

<p>I took a quick look at your site and you have many good photos. I'm on a Mac with Safari using AT&T's economy DSL and did not experience a delay of longer than 10 seconds for the Flash site to display photos.</p>

<p>Consider giving some indication of where you are located; either early on, such as on your Home page or at least on your About page. If I'm in Atlanta and you're in Seattle, chances are we are wasting each others time. A simple 'Denver Area (or wherever you are) Photographer' would suffice.</p>

<p>As to whether or not to include pricing, you'll get a number of opinions on that subject. Mine is to not include pricing. My reasoning is that should a prospective customer take the time to go through your site and choose to contact you, pricing, generally being one of the last items of information on a site, could sway them away from contacting you if your pricing is over their budget. Sometimes that's a good thing, but most times not. What you strive for with your site is initial customer contact; by phone is ideal, email a distant second. Consider adding a line on your Contact page for a phone number instead of the either/or you have now; and put your number above your email address so it is prominent. You've hinted that your pricing is highly negotiable; have a set hourly rate in mind so you do not give-away your services; and never forget post-processing time.</p>

<p>My only other comment is to change the word "focusing" in "focusing on photography" to something like concentration or emphasis or major. Focusing sounds too much like a pun; maybe that's what you intended, but to me it doesn't come across as professional.</p>

<p>Lastly, if you haven't already, take a look through the Photo.Net Wedding and Events forum; many good posts there:</p>

<p>http://www.photo.net/wedding-photography-forum/</p>

<p>Edit: Add an HTML Home page. Search engines do not like Flash.</p>

<p>Website looked great. Photos are good. Didnt not have to wait long time for images to upload. For a first time website it looks good.<br>

Check out my website as well I just maded not very long ago. <a href="http://www.pashabelman.com">http://www.pashabelman.com</a> let me know what you think.</p>

<p>Looked good to me I only tried the HTML site, my only suggestion is the size of font in your menus seemed a little small for me. I think if it was a couple of sizes bigger would be better and your gallery titled "little ones" might be renamed but for the life of me I can't offer you a better suggestion other than the one you have. So I guess the point is moot.</p>

<p>I liked the site except for one detail...I felt like there should be a border between the top of my browser display and the photos. It feels off balance to me to have such a large gray border on the right, left, and bottom, but no border at all on the top. It's just unexpected as well - check out almost any other website and you'll find at least a title/logo at the top of the page before the content/body begins.</p>