Finally put my work on display

[BrianA61]

I am the world's worst procrastinator and have been threatening to get a website together to at least get some of my work out in the general public. Here is what I've been able to do in the last few days. It is still a work in progress, but it's improving from where I started. Feedback is always welcome.

http://brianansley.wix.com/photography

[Mike Buckley]

You're off to a great start, Brian.

You might want to consider listing "Waterfowl" as a subset of "Birds." Alternatively, change "Birds" to "Other Birds."

Also consider eliminating the information explaining that you've never sold any images and that you don't intend to make a living selling them. That information is unhelpful and potentially creates an obstacle to your goal to begin selling them.

[BrianA61]

Thanks, Mike. Funny you mentioned changing the menu to "other birds" as an alternative. I had that originally and decided to change it. I'm still working on the subsets of a couple of the main titles. It's quite time consuming and I have a lot of things on the "to-do" list these days. Thanks for the input. Great feedback!

[ShaneS]

Nice start Brian! I agree with Mike's comments regrading your about page and will add that you may want to may what seem to be grammatically incorrect paragraphs on that page to make it more readable for the web (i.e. break it up a bit).

Also, consider a different background color like a neutral gray or something else so that the background doesn't conflict with the images.

Just my two cents and congratulations for taking the big step of putting your work out there!!!

[Shadowman]

Nicely presented.

[bnnrcn]

Congrats Brian I was planning to create a website through wix.com this winter too but I postponed it to next winter as I still need some improvement on my photography . So,instead, I joined Flickr a short time ago.

I just want to say that the image with pine trees on your home page looks oversharpened. IMO it needs fixing if you are decided to keep the image there. But my real suggestion is that ' I would leave only the barn shot on your home page and replace the other two images with some other choices. My choices would be the first image on your landscape page ( the tree with orange leaves) and the first image on your waterfowl page ( the two birds by the water ). There might be other choices too.You might also add a forth image from your Alaska page . I think showing different types of images on your home page would make it more interesting.

[george013]

Congratulations.

Beside what Mike mentioned, consider to show a list of thumbnails in some way. When I want to walk through your images now, it's always a question how far I can go and it's impossible to go back to a specific image. It doesn't invite me to look further.
Good luck.
George

[rpcrowe]

Very nice presentation... Congratulations on a good job!

[RogerCook]

Also maybe for the birds give a description of what species bird it is and number the print. That way if someone did respond with wanting to purchase one they wouldn't have to say "the blue bird in the tree with red leaves" which is a nice shot by the way.

[IzzieK]

Good job, Brian...I already enjoyed what is there for the showing...very nice presentation...

[BrianA61]

Thanks, everyone, for the great feedback. To qualify a few of your suggestions. A description of the photo is already there. If you hover your mouse over the photo, a description will pop up in the upper left hand corner of what the animal, bird or scene is. There is also a small print link to open more photos at the bottom of the last photo on the page. These are a couple of limiting features I don't really like about the website, but, for a free site, it isn't that bad. I also noticed that uploading the images increases the sharpness. I don't know why that is, but, some photos are like this. All in all, I really do appreciate all of the feedback and compliments. That is why I posted my website here. The folks on here can and do, give others great advice and suggestions on improving their photography.

[Mike Buckley]

If you hover your mouse over the photo, a description will pop up in the upper left hand corner of what the animal, bird or scene is.

You might want to add a brief note to each page indicating that can be done if the template allows that addition.

for a free site, it isn't that bad.

Quite good for a free site!

[BrianA61]

Website 2.0. I took some folks advice and redesigned the layout. Added a couple of photos as well. Feedback?

[Rob Ekins]

Brian,
Some cracking images there..

The "Old buildings" page still has some flower images at the bottom of it..

[mugge]

I enjoyed your show. Keep it up.
Cheers Ole

[BrianA61]

Brian,
Some cracking images there..

The "Old buildings" page still has some flower images at the bottom of it..

Thanks, Robbie. I fixed that. I must've forgotten to delete them when the format was copied.

[Mike Buckley]

Version 2.0 is a big improvement, especially with the addition of the thumbnails. Once you move the first "bird" photo to "waterfowl" and straighten the Washington Monument so it doesn't lean to the right, I'll be a happy camper.

[BrianA61]

Thanks, Mike. I'll work on the Wash. Monument lean. BUT, a Great Blue Heron isn't considered "waterfowl" as far as I know. Waterfowl are ducks, geese, coots, etc. At least as far as I'm aware. Maybe, you'll only be half a happy camper.

[Mike Buckley]

Any fowl standing in water is a waterfowl in my highly ignorant mind about these things.

[Shanghai Steve]

Hi Brian
I checked out your site. One of the most annoying aspects of uploading to the web is trying to reduce a massive, 16-36 MP file which you've worked hard on at 100% mag, down to something which will fit on a laptop or tablet screen and which will load in a reasonable amount of time. I used to be a member of three photography forums and found that each one had different rules and each one needed different sizes and sharpening levels to look totally crisp. Frankly, it was a pain in the bum. I think you have some of these problems on your site, particularly with some of the Alaskan shots, which seem very harshly sharpened. I would also prefer to view your picture larger and would make a point of allowing visitors to download a desktop which has your copyright info on it, as a way to boost sales. I also agree that while your personal statement should be the absolute truth, you should reword it to be as succinct and professional as possible. "Brian Ansley has been a keen photography for over 30 years, working in both film and digital. His passion is capturing the beauty of Nature and can often be seen in the wilds of our great country, braving the elements to bring the wonder of the wilderness back to his home." or some such which.
I would also strongly urge you to persuade some of your friends or family to allow them to photograph their pets, with the promise of a free large print, and to post these large under the heading "Pet Protraits". There are always people in your area who would appreciate such work for their own living rooms.
And one criticism if I may; your tonal palate seems a tad flat, with very high mids and raised shadows. This is the new obssession in digital photography, with sites such as DPR now rating cameras on the basis of whether the shadows can be pushed +5 E.V.! I personally find this abhorent.