taylor_kyle Posted May 20, 2007 Share Posted May 20, 2007 Hey all, I posted a few photos a week or so ago, and they got a generally good response - but after investigating into my life, some found unprofessional things haha. I now run my music business off of my myspace, and wedding off of my site. So here's the site I made. Let me know what you think of it, and my portfolio, and anything else that is comment/positive critisism worthy. www.taylorjacksonphoto.com I'm priced low because for now I'm aiming at people that wouldn't necessarily hire a photographer for their wedding. At the moment, I'd rather shoot as much as possible, and not really worry about my bottom line. Not to mention, I'm new to this. I'm assisting 2 weddings next month, so hopefully they'll help out with my direction. www.taylorjacksonphoto.com Let me know what you think. It gets my message out there. And the site will continue to evolve with time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john_. Posted May 21, 2007 Share Posted May 21, 2007 great start, how the heck did you get your colors to be so vivid? or does the answer lie there in the question, i am referring to the one where the sky is absolutely blue ti full... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taylor_kyle Posted May 21, 2007 Author Share Posted May 21, 2007 Shot away from the sun, bracketed, and painted away the double outlines of everyone Alternatively, you could just underexpose it a bit, and tone map (probably what i'll do in the future) or if its perfectly exposed, just use match colour in photoshop(image>adjustments). match colour saves lives..i pretty much use it in every colour shot at least a bit. i like colours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
savagesax Posted May 21, 2007 Share Posted May 21, 2007 I really like some of your captures and I noticed that too about your vivid colors. Well done and don't wait too long to get your prices up. I think the colors are excellent so don't do more. It may begin to look more candy like! You have a good creative eye and you will do well in the wild business. Keep posting your work. I'd like to see more! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
g_mcduff Posted May 21, 2007 Share Posted May 21, 2007 <p>1) You can simplify the opening text by removing some redundancy. For example: "Professional wedding photography services based out of Kitchener-Waterloo Ontario" is unnecessarily long and wordy... "professional wedding photography services" your clients will be able to figure out by seeing "Weddings" gallery thumbnail and "Packages" in the menu right under it. "Based out of," well, if you simply state a location it would be safe to assume you're based there. So just keep "Taylor Jackson Photography" and right under it, "Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario". Simple and elegant. <p>2) <b>Gallery</b>: The small commercial portfolio can probably be taken out altogether, but if you want to keep it, it's probably OK to show off what else you can do. Your Weddings portfolio, however, needs to have more. 8 sample pictures isn't going to convince me to spend up to $1000 to hire you. <p>3) <b>Packages</b>: <i>"A free consultation can be arranged, and can take place at any Kitchener/Waterloo Starbucks or Williams Coffee Pub location."</i> Sorry but I'm not going to pay $1000 to someone who will only meet at a coffee house. Would you? You don't have to have a professional $1500/month photo studio. Just clean out your apartment, have a nice corner with a comfortable sofa and albums on the table where you can interview prospective clients. <p>4) <b>About</b>: <i>"I'm completely confident in my abilities to capture one of the most important days of your life."</i> Someone who needs to say this, somehow does not inspire confidence in me. <i>"I've learned how to save almost any photo from the garbage bin"</i> You don't want to give the client the impression that ANY of your work would end up in the garbage bin without a Photoshop rescue... <p>5) <b>Contact</b>: <i>"As of right now, email is the best way to get ahold of me."</i> Find yourself a consistent and reliable way to let people get a hold of you. If you've got my $1000 and my pictures on you, I don't really like the idea that "as of right now" email is the way to contact you, that is unprofessional and I don't care if you can respond in 6 hours. Email may be fine for initial inquiries but paying clients will want a PHONE NUMBER. Also, free email services such as gmail, yahoo etc are unprofessional. Get yourself an ISP or webaddy based email, e.g. info@taylorjacksonphoto.com. <i>"there, we can discuss details over the phone, or by meeting at any Kitchener-Waterloo Starbucks or Williams Coffee Pub."</i> See #3. <p>6) Resize your text box to get rid of the horizontal slider. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
g_mcduff Posted May 21, 2007 Share Posted May 21, 2007 An amendment to my post: I realize that you do have a phone number that you eventually will give to a client since you say "there, we can discuss details over the phone." However, you should still offer your phone number on your website. If for whatever reason you don't want to, at least remove "As of right now, email is the best way to get ahold of me" because it implies unreliability and inconsistency. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taylor_kyle Posted May 21, 2007 Author Share Posted May 21, 2007 Thanks G, thats what I was looking for. I'll likely change some stuff up tomorrow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gregstuckeyaus Posted May 21, 2007 Share Posted May 21, 2007 Hi Taylor, In terms of your website - your images are great but there aren't enoughof them, as most of the gallery is in the slideshow at the beginning. I'm not sure about the clip art stuff, not that I don't like it, but I don't think it is in line with the type of images you have on your site. Images say cool and a little edgy but your site says I knit my own jumpers (US translation - sweaters). I would think about your payment terms, if you want to get paid before the wedding say it. Having 'pay before or on the wedding day' will lead to ambiguity and likely trouble. You could state that your standard terms are 50% to secure the booking and the balance 4 weeks prior to the wedding or by arrangement, so that any variation is agreed by you and the client.Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taylor_kyle Posted May 21, 2007 Author Share Posted May 21, 2007 Alright, I updated text and whatnot, and I'm going to add some new images right now. Thanks for the input folks :) I know the commercial portfolio isn't compeletely necessary, but I'm going to leave it for now - just until I have enough wedding shots I really like. So far I only have 3, and I feel like the rest are filler. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taylor_kyle Posted May 21, 2007 Author Share Posted May 21, 2007 Alright, some new images up there. 18ish an ok number? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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