Hey guys,

I have recently launched a redesigned website to showcase my pet (and people) photography (www.jasonkb.com). I am located in Toronto, canada and trying to break into the pet photography scene. I shoot both on location and in studio.

I would love to hear feedback about both my website and my portfolio (particularly the pet section). I have had lots of feed back from friends, family and clients but I would love to hear what you guys in the animal photography field think of my work.

I truly appreciate your feedback.

My website is www.jasonkb.com

Thanks in advance,

Jason
www.jasonkb.com

Hi Jason, I took a quick run-through and have a few comments.

Your photos are very nice. I took a quick peek in each of the galleries and you do some really fine work.

On the entry page the graphic is a bit overwhelming and you are losing the "T" in PHOTO with it being too close to the edge of the black box. maybe decrease the size of the font just a hair or increase the size of the box? I think the graphic could use a bit of tweaking overall.

I like how the galleries work although on the pets one the slidebar on the right seems to slide up and down too fast. When I cursored over to select an image the slide bar slid up and down so fast I had a hard time selecting the right photo. Not sure if you have any control over that if you've used some kind of template? I do like that kind of layout, what did you use?

Diana

Hi Diana,

Thanks so much for your feedback. I really appreciate that. I don't really have control of the speed, but I would agree that it is a little fast.

Thanks also for the comments re the graphic. I will definately look into that.

While I mostly shoot dogs, a couple of days ago I shoot a cat in my studio in Toronto (blog.jasonkb.com to see a couple of the pics). Boy, was it ever a challenge to get the cat to cooperate. Diana, It looks like more of your cat work is studio stuff. How do you get the cats to calm down and 'pose' for the camera. Desi (the cat) didn't want to have anything to do with the photos.

Thanks,

Jason

LOL, yes some cats are much more cooperative than others. Most of the cats I have shot are purebred cats and are generally handled a lot and often are show cats, meaning they've been conditioned for new environments, people, noises, smells, etc, which most pet cats never are. Others, like many of my Bengals have been, may not tolerate a show environment but are *so* toy-driven I don't have any problem keeping them on the table and keeping their attention. Other cats, even at the show hall just will not stay on the shooting table for any length of time. Luckily there are not too many of those.

If your studio is a big open area that's all the more reason for the cat to want to run around and explore. If you want to shoot cats more often you might want to try to enclose a smaller area with curtains. And I think in a new environment it takes a bit longer than a dog would to feel comfortable.

Diana

HI Geo,

Great feedback.

I would definitely agree that an enter screen is annoying, as is a maximized window popup. I have a few reasons for doing this, but I'm not exactly sure if they outweigh the annoyance factor.

To maximize screen space (so my photo show up nice and big), I wanted a window that doesn't display a tool bar, status bar, etc. I image most people are viewing my site on small laptops and these extra bars wouldn't allow my website to display properly (you would have to scroll down to see the full photo). In order to pop up a new window that maximizes screen space, the only way I know how to do this was through an enter screen. Otherwise popup blockers would detect a pop up and block my site.

Geo, it looks like we both have goldens. I just spend a half hour combing mine out, but I don't think even that will help with the hair problem!

Diana - so show cats is the secret eh. The cats you photograph sure are beautiful. I should have realized that all the exotic cats that you shoot aren't the typical everyday pet. I sometimes dream of having a bengal or ocicat one day. But three cats might be pushing it.

Thanks,

Jason

I like the site. I would recommend a teaser of an image on the intital screen though. I heard a statistic once that all impressions of websites are made within the first 6 seconds of viewing them. Of course I also heard a statisitc that 80% of all statistics were made up! =) But I like it, good flow and very professional looking. Some sites get a little crazy with links that can lose you through the pages, its easy to do, I have been there. But yours is an over all good set up.