May 4, 2020
Website solutions for
photographers, what’s needed and what options do we have
today?
This is Latitude Photography
Podcast, Episode 78 for May 3, 2020
Links Mentioned in today’s show:
Guest Website: arielestulin.com
LPS Survey: https://forms.gle/JpFzi1vPvQzaPF8e8
Download the Image Optimization resource mentioned in this show
from this page: https://brentbergherm.com/info/resources/
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and Printing Workshop
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Main Topic: Websites for Photographers
Today we’re talking about
websites for photographers. I wanted to go through a few items and
I’m glad you’re here to discuss these things with me.
First off, I want to cover just
some bullet point items of what types of sections does a
photographer need on their website.
Start with WHY it’s important to
have a website or online presence before getting into nitty
gritty.
Example. If I hear or find a
photographer I like, I’ll look him/her online and if they don’t
have a website or a working website or a website that has poor
usability I’ll kinda not bother.
Harsh but you need a web
presence today. Also no reason even the most tech illiterate person
cannot have an online portfolio and presence.
What does your website need:
Your website should not be your
life story.
No one has time or the attention
span today. You are a photographer, show me your work, and then if
I’m interested I’ll read more about what you do and your
philosophies. Too Harsh?? (no)
The opposite is sometimes true,
I’ll read something really profound someone wrote on the subject of
photography. Then I go see their work and it;s not very good. Just
make sure your work speaks as loud as your words.
- Photos Duh :)
- About
Page + Artist statement or
vision
- A way
to contact or email the photographer, what’s your opinion on how to
best achieve this? On the about page, on a separate page, or in a
sidebar or the footer? Contact page, plug-in if using WP
- Your
own suggestions, feel free to intersperse them here.
- Gallery page(s)
- Blog?
Anything else?
- E-commerce for prints etc...
Let’s talk about a few hosting
types that photographers can use to host their websites
(feel free to expand this list
and/or expand each individual bullet item. Whatever you add, please
add in green)
Super easy no effort to custom
websites.
- Instagram / Facebook - FREE
Less tech - Drag and Drop $$ - $$$
- Squarespace.com - Not free
- Zenfolio.com - Not free
- portfolio.adobe.com/photography
- Not free or free if you have
Adobe CC already
- www.photoshelter.com - Not free
- Pixieset.com - Not free
- Smugmug.com - Not free
- Visualsociety.com
More tech involved $
- Wix.com - Free or not free
- Weebly.com - Not free or not free
- Wordpress.com/Wordpress.org - Free but you need
hosting + theme
-
Drag and Drop WP
builder
Very involved $$$$$
- Custom-coded WP or HTML site - Definitely not
free
Drag and drop vs WP
sites.
I’m a big fan of Wordpress.org
sites. Let’s talk a bit about that for a moment.
- Confusion with wordpress.com sites
Wordpress.org vs Wordpress.com
sites)
- Server
- Domain (ie google domains)
- Technical know-how
- Basic
needs to host a site
- C-Panel server admin software makes life very
easy. (I use Kinsta for my hosting, no C-Panel but still a very
convenient way to manage a WP site)
- Plugins extend functionality of the
site
- Themes control the look of the site. If you
“build it right” you should (theoretically) be able to swap themes
like you do a pair of socks. You have the same structure going in
to it but a different look on the outside. Sometimes themes behave
more like plugins though and can get tied in to your content as
well. I don’t like those types of themes.
- Page
builders make designing a site a lot easier, just another piece of
software to learn though.
- Bugs
to squash with WP sites
- Anything else
- Keep
on top of WP, WP, theme and Plug-in updates. Otherwise risk of site
being compromised. Big headaches.
Other thoughts that need to be
covered when dealing with websites for photographers.
What images to put on your website?
- Cherry pick your images. Pick the best of the
best. I don’t need to see every picture you’ve ever taken. It’s not
about showing 10,000 images on your website. Quality not
Quantity.
- You
want the viewer to see a handful of your images and say, I get who
this photographer is
- FInding a niche. If you want to be a landscape
photographer show me your landscape work not your wedding, studio
portraits, or sports action.
- If
you want to show images outside your niche, use FB, Twitter or
other social media for this.
- Show
unique images. What does that mean? Google Horseshoe Bend - pages
and pages of sameness. If you want to stand out, show images that
are unique and make the viewer say, hmm. I’ve never seen that angle
before.
- Make
your website look good. If you don’t know what good is, ask someone
who has a good eye for design.
Tip of the Week.
Brent: Experiment with the
export settings in Lightroom and be sure to export using sRGB when
saving out for the web.
Guest: The best place to shoot
is exactly where you are, especially true in today’s
environment.
Reminders
- Find
us on the web at http://latitudephotographypodcast.com
- Find
me on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/brentberghermphoto/
- Find
the podcast facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/1892577214293688/
- Find
me on instagram @brentbergherm
- Find
me on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/c/brentberghermphotography
- Find
me online at https://brentbergherm.com
- And
finally, my online learning platform for photographers is found
at http://latitudephotographyschool.com
- Find Ariel Estulin
here: arielestulin.com
- Outdoorphotojourney.com
- IG
@ariel.estulin