just finished my website and figured i'de show it off. Used Yahoo Sitebuilder and it was pretty easy. www.artistryinturning.com
-jon
-jon
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new website
- Thread starter jcooper
- Start date
VERY NICE !!!!! A couple of suggestions if I might. First off and most important in my observation, the background color of blue is a MAJOR distraction and to me somewhat masks the edges and in general blurs the sharpness of your EXCELLENT turnings. Second, if your turnings are for sale, post some pricing. Overall a interesting and informative Site, well done.
thanks so much for your feedback. The reason i chose the blue was because i stumbled upon a page on the net which showed jon jordan's approach to taking pictures. i got the same type and color of paper he used (since he's jon jordan and he can't tell lies when it comes to this stuff). although i am kinda in the same boat, i feel that i should have gone with the grey paper instead. I didn't put prices online because i was making the site for reference when call craft stores and ask if they would like to sell my work. I would be willing to sell my work from the site as an alternative, but i dont see how anything would ever sell. im a no-name and art conesouiers dont seem to be the "show over the net" kinda people.
Jon
I have to disagree, I think the color-blend background generally works. A couple of the shots, where the image is dark also, it is hard to see and some reposition, or reformatting may help. But most of the shots are great (and I have worked as a professional photographer, not in over 30 years, but basic skills never vanish)
I have to disagree, I think the color-blend background generally works. A couple of the shots, where the image is dark also, it is hard to see and some reposition, or reformatting may help. But most of the shots are great (and I have worked as a professional photographer, not in over 30 years, but basic skills never vanish)
A very nice looking and professional web site. But I would make the photo links in the gallery a little smaller so they fit on a screen without scrolling and have them open in the same window so the viewer can just go back instead of having to open and close windows. I like the blue.
DMcIvor
AAW Staff
web site
I'm going to agree with most everything said here, but will cast my vote on the side of the blue background being okay. I also agree with Doug regarding the size of the images. I'm on DSL and the individual images are taking a long time to open. On my site, I've sized my large images at 400 x 600 pixels, 150 dpi. Try that out as a starting point and figure out what works for you. JJ's approach not withstanding, you might try getting a little more light behind the subject, which will help separate it from the background--a piece of foam core used as a reflector is all you need. The trick is figuring out how to hold it in place.
All in all, you've done a great job with the photography and, more importantly, the turning. Beautiful pieces! I'm particularly impressed with the Doug fir piece--a notoriously difficult wood to turn.
Don
I'm going to agree with most everything said here, but will cast my vote on the side of the blue background being okay. I also agree with Doug regarding the size of the images. I'm on DSL and the individual images are taking a long time to open. On my site, I've sized my large images at 400 x 600 pixels, 150 dpi. Try that out as a starting point and figure out what works for you. JJ's approach not withstanding, you might try getting a little more light behind the subject, which will help separate it from the background--a piece of foam core used as a reflector is all you need. The trick is figuring out how to hold it in place.
All in all, you've done a great job with the photography and, more importantly, the turning. Beautiful pieces! I'm particularly impressed with the Doug fir piece--a notoriously difficult wood to turn.
Don
- Joined
- Feb 24, 2007
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- 81
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- Location
- Bingley, West Yorkshire, England
- Website
- www.bobchapman.co.uk
I'm going to agree with everything said above except the blue background criticism. I think blue is a great background for the russets, browns and golds in your pieces.
Its a stylish site and I like it very much. Was it your own work?
Bob
Its a stylish site and I like it very much. Was it your own work?
Bob
Nice looking site...great job. I'm on the fence about the blue background -- my personal preference is a gradient gray, but a lot of folks use that.
One suggestion would be to crop some of the pics a bit to center the piece in the frame better. The first picture in your gallery is a prime example of this. You could remove the top 50% of the frame and have a better shot IMHO. The extended blue to black background above the piece adds nothing to the presentation, and in fact wastes pixels that could otherwise be showing off your fine work.
Also, I don't know if you care, but you are saving the pictures with some additional information, which allows other to see what type of camera and settings you used. (How do you like the D40? I love my D50.)
To see what I'm talking about, you can right-click on the file in Windows Explorer, select Properties, click the Summary tab, then click the Advanced button. If you save the file with no "EXIF Data", that data is no longer included in the picture file. I haven't used Picture Perfect, but Irfanview (a freeware graphics manipulation program) has the option to not save that data. You can get Irfanview at Irfanview.com. (No connection to the company, but I use the product almost daily in my work.)
Again, great site, especially for your first stab at it. (Way better than mine.)
One suggestion would be to crop some of the pics a bit to center the piece in the frame better. The first picture in your gallery is a prime example of this. You could remove the top 50% of the frame and have a better shot IMHO. The extended blue to black background above the piece adds nothing to the presentation, and in fact wastes pixels that could otherwise be showing off your fine work.
Also, I don't know if you care, but you are saving the pictures with some additional information, which allows other to see what type of camera and settings you used. (How do you like the D40? I love my D50.)
To see what I'm talking about, you can right-click on the file in Windows Explorer, select Properties, click the Summary tab, then click the Advanced button. If you save the file with no "EXIF Data", that data is no longer included in the picture file. I haven't used Picture Perfect, but Irfanview (a freeware graphics manipulation program) has the option to not save that data. You can get Irfanview at Irfanview.com. (No connection to the company, but I use the product almost daily in my work.)Again, great site, especially for your first stab at it. (Way better than mine.)
- Joined
- Apr 26, 2004
- Messages
- 349
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- Location
- Rural La Farge, Wisconsin
- Website
- www.token.crwoodturner.com
Here's a good example of where a blue backdrop can work, as somehow you managed to avoid the bluish tint reflected onto the turnings. The blue doesn't blare out at you either--I like it. Very well done site, but the full-size images are too big for dialup users and small monitors. It takes 2-3 minutes to load an image for me on dialup, but possibly you are aiming only at visitors who don't scrimp on internet services and also have deep pockets for things like beautiful turned artistry.