I'm putting myself out there. I've been lurking on this forum with very little interaction for over a year and I've decided it's time to post my site and portfolio to see what everyone thinks.
I've been shooting weddings now for 4 years and this coming year will be my first year full time. I've been pretty successful so far with bookings for next year (10 so far) but still would like to get everyone's opinion on my site etc. Yes, it's bludomain. But I've been very happy with it so far... fingers crossed. Critique everything; photos, pricing, wording on text sections... I can take it!
Thanks in advance!
www.shepard-photography.com
Edit: One other thing as well, you can see my latest work on Facebook, there is a link on my site to it. I use it instead of a normal blog.
I'm curious about slightly OT issue - what made you decide that now was the time to "go public" ? Just wondering if you are launching something in particular or if you had gotten to a certain level of confidence or what prompted the decision.
First impression - I like many other photogs will went to investment first. You're giving too much for too little!
I just feel my site and portfolio is to the point where I feel very confident about it. I changed my site literally 5 time this year! And I mean complete changes! But I'm pretty happy with it now.
Yeah, the pricing thing. I knew that would come up. My goal is to do as much as possible this year, build my portfolio even more, and then up my pricing next year significantly. I have debated about increasing the pricing to at least $2000 before the big bridal show I'm doing in January, but I'm not sure.
You're in Sacramento?!?! I shot a wedding there earlier this year - $2000 is definitely too low. Your work doesn't suck enough to give that much away for that little! How much have you done so far?
I've shot about 35 weddings total since my first one in March of 06'. I've been a professional photographer for 7 years, mainly working for the government.
I like your current site a lot and I think your work is excellent. I did notice that in your wedding gallery you did not have a single "kid" shot. I agree with your choice whether it was deliberate or not. I know the kids are important to the families, and I am sure you get plenty of shots of them for the family purchased pics, but I don't think they make for very good bragging rights material for a photographer since they don't tend to pose very when they are all wound up for the wedding.
As to pricing, if you are trying to make a living out of your photography business and are doing so then you are not priced too low for starters. But as you build a following of satisfied customers who bring you more work by word of mouth that is the time to start raising your prices. The real test of how high or low your pricing is comes when you find that you could easily be overbooked at your current prices. Raising your prices at the right time does two things for you. It increases your income assuming you don't price too high too fast and have your business drop off because of it. The second effect is that it keeps your less serious inquiries lower so you don't waste as much time with them when they wouldn't buy anyway.
1. Is the first image that shows up in your slideshow your STRONGEST image? Only one chance to make a first impression.
2. Bridal with bride laying on couch looks blown out to me.
3. I'm not a big fan of changing aspect ratios in a slideshow... nor of verticals but that's just a preference.
4. Most brides shop from work. Many workplaces BLOCK facebook... so you are shooting yourself in BOTH feet with your FB ONLY strategy... you miss out on the SEO benefits of a blog AND limit the brides who can see your latest work... for instance none of the 1600 employees of the place I work for would ever be able to see your stuff. Nothing wrong with a two-pronged blog-fb strategy where you show part of a set in one place, part in the other to incite them to vist both.
Nice site - works well for me however I would delete that ring shot in the wedding gallery and post something stronger - that one is pretty weak (more rock than ring) and doesn't have any sparkle.
Very nice website and your photos look great. Agree about few ring shots that don't belong there, otherwise some strong work! You should be busy with that pricing!
Images seem to load very slowly for me, do they pre-load? I clicked on some in the gallery and had to wait for them to load up even after having the gallery open for a while.
I just took a quick peek, but I think the dress alone (maybe the third pic) would make a better first pic. I like your logo and would like to see it incorporated into the background of your sideshow for more branding-- the current graphic looks a little stretched to me.
How much have you done so far?