Building a Better Online Portfolio

Another great webinar from PhotoShelter was just posted online in video form.

The video takes a great look at how to think about your portfolio website. Happily many of the things discussed are things I considered and took into account when I designed my new site; but I bet some of you should think about these same things on your site.


Just like I often ask about peoples images: "What is your subject? What are you trying to communicate? Who are you trying to communicate with?" I would ask the same about your website, as I ask myself the same about my websites often.

For those that freak out about her comments on watermarking here is a decent article about watermarking; but I'll share my personal thoughts quickly:

• I don't think your portfolio site is a place for watermarking.
• Centered watermarks are a huge distraction.
• I think that your stock site is a great place to consider visible; but not overly distracting, watermarks.
• I use watermarks on my stock site, so that those that snag images from google for presentations/mock-ups/etc, and those that view them, know where to go look for the real image later. I drop them at the bottom, so if people want to steal them they can, they are registered with the copyright office so...

Some other things from the video that gel with my personal thoughts, and design:

• Let there be white.
• Simple, clean, and succinct, with no extra distractions, is beautiful.
• A readable site that is easy to navigate, and organized with a logical flow goes a long way.
• Cut the fat and only provide extra information if it is relevant.
• Take your own emotions out of the equation and think about your target audience.
• A portfolio is not your stock site, it is not the place to show all of your images.
• Let the site be about your images, not your images only being a part of the site.
• Let them see the image, and you had better know how they will see it. (think web color/sharpness/resolution)
• Make sure that their impatience does not keep me from seeing your site. (my site is even slower than I want it to be)
• Kill the freaking music, especially if you are not the creator/owner/licensee. (artists, unfortunately, are often the biggest thieves of other artists work)
• KISS = Keep It Simple Stupid (a motto I try to live by)

Take the time to watch the video, and feel free to bounce thoughts and questions around here, on my Facebook, or straight to me at info@DaveShumway.com.

Happy Shooting

p.s. Why on earth do I always type 'often' with two ffs? I know that it is 'often' and write it that way with no issue... odd.

Changes coming...

Over the coming months I will be updating and moving stuff around on all of my web sites. Call it my spring cleaning and summer project.

Don't expect anything too drastic anytime soon; but I just wanted folks to know that changes are coming, slowly.

www.DaveShumway.com will remain my portfolio site; but it will get a much needed update. (www.DaveShumway.net will mirror it)

www.ShumwayPhotography.com will transition to being my stock and sales site.

www.FragilePlaces.com will become my site for all things outdoors. My Yellowstone trips, hiking, climbing, skiing, fishing, hunting, biking, and anything else I do in wild or Fragile Places will go here. (www.GoHike.net will mirror it)

blog.shumwayphotography.com is not going to change and it will still be a great place to learn about photography, keep up with my travels, and a general sounding board for all the things I want to share. It might get a face lift when everything else is finished.

p.s. my top secret site www.GotThatShot.com may also make an appearance alongside www.ShumwayPhotography.com (only time will tell).

A Question for Apple...

I have a question for Apple...

Are you going to add support into Pages or iWeb for average folks to be able to create real multimedia content to fully utilize what the iPad can display?

Here is my thinking. If the iPad is going to replace newspapers/magazines/books and at the same time put our entire digital lives at our finger tips, while making the web fun; what is Apple going to do to help expedite that transition on the family scale?

I can see iBooks being a hit. (heck I may start reading books again ;)
I can see the comfort form of the internet, especially if Flash support is added, doing great things.
I can see using an iPad to have all of our digital media at our finger tips.
I can see us using iPad to control our TV's someday soon. (networks give in and let apple do subscriptions)
I can see Newspapers and Magazines getting better at web capitalization and getting folks to buy subscriptions via Apple for content. (note that magazines and newspapers will have to make the experience even more interactive than they do online currently)
I can see a Verizon version of the iPad that also has a web cam so we can chat with our friends and family around the would.
I can see this device really changing things in the future.

But I think Apple needs to make the iLife and iWork suites ready for moms/dads, aunts/uncles, and grandparents to be able to create a WOW experience for friends and family to share their lives and to be able to specialize that to the iPad/iPhone.

iWeb is easy to run and do all kinds of cool things, Pages is very easy yet helps create stunning documents. Any reason not to merge them and allow them to make content for the iPad/iPhone that mobileMe can serve up?

My Mom needs to be able to start up her Mac and make a family newsletter that in a few pages (idealized for iPad/iPhone) can share the family news in a way that could never have been done before. The content needs to be all that the iPad/iPhone allows and at the same time be easy to create. A quick newsletter layout that has photos turn to video with one click or an entire slideshow rather than just the one image that fit. A story about a game that can have audio play in the background. A question field that can display answers from others in real time (i.e. who is attending the family reunion). Grandma and Grandpa should be able to simply tap a button and play the embedded photos on the iPad/iPhone like it is a picture frame. Media needs to be able to be served up to family around the world by people who can't tell you what HTML is. I know this is all easy to do with web technology (it is what I do for a living); but Apple has a history of making this easy for average people to do. I also know that much of this can be done in iWeb for a web site; but this is not a web site for the masses this is a simple newsletter "subscription" for families (one page at a time flip the pages, no need for "site" navigation). It is all about brining a new level of WOW to families and friends all while putting more WOW into a great new piece of hardware.

While the iPad device is taking off, assuming it will, this is the time for Apple to let average people make great content for friends and families. If you have already seen what the iPad/iPhone can do for family content will you not be more willing to consider paying money to have a subscription to National Geographic for iPad?

I wont even go into the fact that small businesses could use these same features to grow in a time when small business growth has never meant more to our economy.

This is just one example, of many, where Apple has the chance to make iPad/iPhone full multimedia content creation obtainable to the common man. And I think it will just help Apple in the end.

Just a thought.

I assume Apple is already ten steps ahead of me, I just hope in thinking big they have not forgotten to think small. I could also be off of my rocker and ranting about things people don't care about too... Sorry.

12 Words Not to Say in the Office

I came across this article on YAHOO and thought I would share it.

Doing what I do I get to hear people use these words/phrases, trying to sound "in the know," all of the time. In some situations feel free to use these terms; but know that you are living "back in the day" :)

Make the jump as the article is worth the read "12 Words You Can Never Say in the Office"