Need advice with my latest work

[lifeskills13]

http://www.facebook.com/Lizkphoto

^my recent work

http://www.lizkphoto.net is my website

it has been a while since i stopped asking for non-bias advice..pretty much right before i treated my art as a business. I keep old photos up..not too old lol just to show myself im making progress. because of the high volume of “photographers” in my town and on my street, its going to take  a while before I collect a good client base. I get 4clients a month..normally on one day because I told them that day is available and I setting up a time for them 😛

I want an opinion from an outsider, what can i improve and what am i doing right? 😀

[cameraclicker]

Start by losing the music.  Anyone who opens your web page in a modern cubicle style office will not appreciate broadcasting while they look for the button to turn it off.  And, it is probably copyrighted?

I don’t have time to go through them all now.  The few I saw looked good.  What was the purpose of the boots on the railing in the maternity shot?

[lifeskills13]

I have been debating on the music thing for a while..i had two songs. i now have only one and the stop button is huge is easy to locate (in my opinion of course) I love how it gives off a feeling that i want..so im debating on losing music or getting a better song best suited for a site.

that maternity session was held in the country on a farm. the shoes are baby boots that were meant for the future son (who is now a year& half old and following his daddys footsteps lol) we did some shots by the cornfield but the fact it was my first time with that, i don’t feel the images were that great to showcase (she loved them of course :D) that photo pretty much sums up that session for me..i didn’t really see it in a different point of view (just the mothers and mine) so it might look like adult boots?

[jetpix]

I agree completely with cc – PLEASE lose the music.  It is particularly annoying if you already have music playing from another source on your machine, and suddenly have an unwanted tune playing over top.  The stop button is not that intuitive – I was looking for the standard “stop music” icon, and it took a while to figure out what you were using for a stop button for the music.  It looks more like something to start/stop a slideshow.

[lifeskills13]

ok, i can understand people having that issue..its off 😀

[reality check]

Your home slide show has random shots that don’t belong.  Levitation, seagull, a photo of a couple, yet you do not shoot couples, or at least this is what your portfolios and pricing suggests.

Babies have their own slide show, but later when looking at pricing, only newborns, and child’s mini sessions come up.  I think by changing your portfolio links to Family, Children, newborn, Senior, maternity.  You will have less confusion.  Also you need to add a family slide show.  Right now it feels that only children are in the family slide show, with one family pic thrown in.

You have too many multiples.  Same subjects repeated, same locations set ups repeated.  I see more of this problem in seniors and family/children. Clean this up because it looks as though you are just starting, and trying to portfolio build while charging as a pro.  This would be a huge red flag for me as a customer, because no where in your bio and/or pricing do you reveal you are just starting up, and only portfolio building.  As a photog your pricing and portfolio DO reveal that you are portfolio building and will eventually be raising your prices to make a profit.  If this is the case, why not let your clients and potential future clients in on that?  Always be honest in business when selling a professional service.

Put a little more thought into your pricing structure.
Do you offer only mini sessions for children? What does that mean?  Why can’t I get a “mini” session, it’s way cheaper?  Pricing is a little confusing.  I know what you mean, but a lay person would have a difficult time and still have a lot of questions. This could be a good thing that they need to contact you about pricing.  It’s a good way to sell yourself and your services to your clients.  This is why a lot of togs don’t list pricing on their websites, and require clients to contact them.  BUt you have chosen to post your prices because your prices are part of the sell, and a large part of why you are hired.  So your prices/packages need to be clear and concise, and easy to understand.  Otherwise you will be passed up by your market target that are shopping for price, and your client will move on to someone who’s prices and packages don’t confuse them, and it’s clear what the session will be like.

Your profile picture on your bio is a little scary, because I still don’t know you, even though you are offering to share yourself.  People who know you will understand, and not question it, but I’m pretty sure you are trying to target a larger audience and clientele, and you are turning these people off.  They don’t want to know the moment you became a photographer and why.  They want to know what you can do for them, how will they feel when they are with you?  what the session will be like, what you look like… but it all boils down to the finished product.  Right now your portfolio scares me a little bit, but I think if you clean up, organize, and make yourself think like a potential client, your web site will improve quite a bit

[reality check]

and your logo, fits in like a sore thumb.  It just doesn’t work at all.  Go look at your FB cover photo.  You used a templet that has a soft classic vintage type feel that a lot of togs use, and that logo screams confusion among it.  Yet, your website has a completely different feel.  I think hiring a designer to help you brand would be a good idea, but I’m afraid you have jumped in so quickly that you don’t quite have a style of your own yet to design effectively for.  You come across to me as very green and still experimenting, not knowing what direction to take with your photography, yet you started a business that markets to families on a budget…  Your logo doesn’t say family, your website doesn’t either, and unfortunately the templet you are using doesn’t at all describe your photography.  All in all  it comes across very faux

[lifeskills13]

thank you for your response, you don’t know how much that helped me! Ill make a longer reply tomorrow when i have time but i do want to mention. My biggest fear as a photographer is to find my style..I struggle with that everyday and i think because its my fear im constantly changing it up without realizing it. I do make sure I do not state “professional” on any listings because I still believe I have a lot to grow and learn. When I am with someone they know how much experience i have and get to know me that way…my website needs a lot of work and I had no where to begin..everyone i know says its great but they have no knowledge in it so I need better advice 😉 now i see it through your eyes and yes it IS random..why i didn’t think of that before, idon’t know. Always improving!

[samantha198822]

Some of your work looked good. The logo was a little stand-out-ish. And I would do high resolution on the CD.

[reality check]

Samantha, no she shouldn’t give those images away.  By offering low res, the client is able to share in every kind of way they want, and by her offering prints they are assured to receive only the best quality, true colors, photographs the way they were meant to be seen, that are on paper and products meant to last a lifetime.  Not just printed off at walmart. She understands this value, and how important it is for a photographer to finish their work.  She understands what is involved with making a good print, and how difficult it is to achieve.  Why would you ever want a client to have to take on that task?!  It’s just not good service to do so.

[reality check]

And life skills,

glad I helped.  I hope this improves your business

[Author]

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