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  • Welcome to the new site. Here's a thread about the update where you can post your feedback, ask questions or spot those nasty bugs!

New website up and running!

Michael Brown

New member
Up and running but I do have a couple of things that still need attention, such as the prints/pricing/license page and one or two PDF files to get uploaded.
Feel free to visit, as I have about 300 or so images on there now, and will be uploading new material soon.

"Macro Art In Nature"

Michael
 

Ken Tanaka

pro member
I like it. Very much, in fact. All of the visual elements are honest, straight-forward to navigate, and reinforce the conceptual title of the site and your work.

I also like your work, Michael. Most macro photography of bugs and flowers, while fun for the snapper, is hopelessly clichė and should be kept private. But a brief fly-though of your your imagery shows imaginative compositions and very careful, skillful photography.

Your site and your work are, in my opinion, excellent examples of how to create and display a type of photography that is normally tiresome and over-worked.

Well done, Michael!
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Very briefly for now.

I really like the website with the large flower declaring so well what you are about. The individual gallery pictures are fine representations. There seems a lot but I have no winners or losers as my favorites are not yet chosen.

One question about the blog. Can you get the coloring and feel to match your well designed website? we are taken out of the good mood you created.

Asher
 

Michael Brown

New member
Thanks Asher,

Yes, leaving the website and into the WordPress blog is a bit of a change, but I am already looking into a change of sorts.
Can't remember right off hand the name, but there is a WordPress blog builder/software, (whatever the name is, ... I have to look it up), that is easy to use and to integrate with existing websites. It runs somewhere around $80 and has been recommended by many photographers.
 

Ruben Alfu

New member
Very good job Michael, congratulations!

Browsing the site in general is very easy and the pages load fast. I like the way the galleries integrate alternative navigation methods in a logical hierarchy, which in turn helps to appreciate each photo in the context of a collection. Above all, your photos are a pleasure to see. I especially enjoy the "In Their World" series.
 

Michael Brown

New member
Thanks Ruben,
Yes, the navigation is one thing that I was impressed with.
Simple!
Simple navigation with a overall pleasing layout is all that I ever would need.

Thanks again,
Michael
 

Ken Tanaka

pro member
Having since taken a bit more time to walk through your galleries I offer one suggestion to you, Michael: you need to edit a bit more. Yes, I realize that you're trying to sell prints and are trying to present buyers with choice. But in so doing you're diminishing the value of each image by presenting a degree of monotony to casual viewers (i.e. the vast majority).

Given the narrowly thematic nature of your galleries I strongly urge you to consider imposing a basic ten-set limit discipline on your galleries. That is, under no circumstances do you show more than ten images in any single gallery at a time. This will force you to make some needed choices. It's perfectly permissable, however, to enable viewers to see more selections under each gallery's category by providing a "More..." button, perhaps at the bottom of each gallery thumnail page.

Just my suggestion.
 

Michael Brown

New member
Ken, ..... many thanks for your thoughts on this one.

You know, for about a month now I have been thinking about that very same thing, that if there was to much monotony involved with my editing, descriptions, etc.
There have been about a dozen or so individuals who had seen the site before going live, and no one had ever mentioned it.
Now you are the first, and I believe you are right on this one. It makes a whole lot of sense!
So, ... that I will get to work on for sure within the next few days or so.
Thanks!

The idea of having no more than 10 images at a time showing in a gallery has me perplexed a bit, even though it does make some sense.
Those consultants/buyers/designers that I work with wants to "see it all now", and hates to look for a button of any kind to click on so they can see more.
Then there are those (usually the casual buyer/viewer) who don't mind at all clicking on something so they can see more.
So, which way do I go?
Set it up for the individuals who helps me to make the most financially, or for those who will only occasionally spend a few bucks?
Putting your "best 10" front and center in a gallery does sound like the way to go, ... but now you got me scratching my head! :)
Certainly something to think about.

Ken, ... you have opened up my eyes a bit and now my mind with some more ideas.
Cool!

Thanks Ken,
Michael
 
The idea of having no more than 10 images at a time showing in a gallery has me perplexed a bit, even though it does make some sense.
Those consultants/buyers/designers that I work with wants to "see it all now", and hates to look for a button of any kind to click on so they can see more.
Then there are those (usually the casual buyer/viewer) who don't mind at all clicking on something so they can see more.
So, which way do I go?

Hi Michael,

I'd say less is more! I agree with Ken, too many images in a similar style/galery will reduce the experience, the exclusivity.

Cheers,
Bart
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
The "Rule of Ten"

Having since taken a bit more time to walk through your galleries I offer one suggestion to you, Michael: you need to edit a bit more. Yes, I realize that you're trying to sell prints and are trying to present buyers with choice. But in so doing you're diminishing the value of each image by presenting a degree of monotony to casual viewers (i.e. the vast majority).

Given the narrowly thematic nature of your galleries I strongly urge you to consider imposing a basic ten-set limit discipline on your galleries. That is, under no circumstances do you show more than ten images in any single gallery at a time. This will force you to make some needed choices. It's perfectly permissable, however, to enable viewers to see more selections under each gallery's category by providing a "More..." button, perhaps at the bottom of each gallery thumnail page.

Just my suggestion.

Ken,

For art, the rule of 10 is excellent. It allows just enough to make a series and forces us, as the photographer, to make the choices not someone else by virtue of "loss of the bite or the argument or sense" of the collection. You pointing this out is a worth guidance.

For events photography, the numbers are far greater. Still, it's interesting that Live Books allows only 75 images per gallery although one can have as many as one wants. They know that boredom comes quickly. I thought, "just 75" but then I realized that's a needed discipline, in the right direction, at least for an event or function such as a wedding or graduation.

The 3rd category would be stock and I feel that event photography, art and stock might be best having different identities.

The last category is personal about one's family and other interests, and I doubt that should be on the site that shows one's pictures for sale.

Asher
 

Michael Brown

New member
I have now changed the gallery settings to 12 images. It would not let me go to 10.
There are a few images from each gallery that will be moved into a different gallery which will be a digital download gallery, images that I would think or know would not be as marketable in a large print. (But there are some art buyers who have fooled me before on what I thought was surely not a very marketable image and especially as a large print!) :)
Funny at how some of my best sellers are the very ones I was tempted to trash from the very beginning!

Well, ... I'm still thinking and playing with a few ideas.
You guys have me thinking, ... and that's good!

Thanks again,
Michael
 

Ken Tanaka

pro member
@ Asher: Indeed, event coverage is often a different game.

Or is it?

Each year the editors of National Geographic work through hundreds of thousands of images for their magazine's features, ultimately selecting a small fraction of that group. Considering that each photographer has already culled his/her photos down to prior to showing them to the editors there's a significant winnowing process afoot even at this top level of the genre.

Assembling bodies of narrative work for, say, a book is a different undertaking. Here you still need rigorous editing but the number of images in the project corpus will generally need to be much larger depending on the nature of the book.

I set wedding and party photography photo sales aside, as that's...well...something else entirely.

Stock: Yes, you want a supermarket of coverage. But even here, presenting a ten-set representing the breadth of your coverage is an excellent way to lure buyers down to deeper levels. Ex: Busy art directors in major publications do not spend time browsing Getty, Corbis, or any of the big stock houses. They send email specs to go-fer agents at those houses who return with...quite often...ten-sets (or thereabouts).

Michael's challenge is to get visitors all jonesed-up over buying his largely decorative work. He's sellin' "pretty". Lure 'em in with some of the best.

Editing / culling your own work is very, very hard. Even if your work is crappy. That's why we see so much tedious, monotonous over-kill on people's photo sites like Flickr. That's also what tends to distinguish the pro presentation from the hobbyist.
 
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