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HanginH

Website Critiques

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Hey Everyone,

I have been working off and on for the last couple of years trying to put together a website to try and promote my leather work more. I have struggled with trying to find a lay out that is easy for people to use and at the same time tries to present my work as good as possible. If you have time and feel like taking a quick look to give me a critique on the lay out I would appreciate it and don't worry about hurting my feelings if you think something needs to be changed by all means let me know. One thing I do know is I need to start taking better pictures of my stuff but that will have to be a work in progress as more stuff comes off the bench.

Denise did point out to me that having the pics in a silde show format doesn't allow for people to see a bunch of pictures and allow them to pick one they want to look at and might not stick around long enough to see the all the pictures run though. I changed the saddles page to a tile format for the pics but left the other pages the same just to see what people think. Also if any of you are on dial up would love to hear if my site functions alright when not on high speed because Ihaven't been able to test that yet.

My site is www.hanginh.com

Thanks

Justin

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Hi Justin, you have done some nice work for sure. I am another one that hates slide shows. Justin their a couple of things i think i would do different. One is make the font a little bigger so it's easier to read.

On your pictures some of them are pretty busy with to many things in the background that draws a persons eye away from the what your selling. The headstall espically the one on the horns. In the saddle pictures thier's a tree sticking out all over the place. Maybe set them them to where it's just a sky back ground of up beside a barn with nothing else in the picture. Not real sure what to do their. I do know headsatlls are hard to get a good picture of, or i have a hard time anyway.

On your saddle page the first saddle is setting on a hair on hide i guess or giant horse. Anyway to me it makes the saddle look tiny. The picture where the horses are tied to the trailer i would move the one horse and get a wider shot of the saddle where you can see all of it. Maybe crop some of the pictures tighter where is more about the saddles. The chinks on the chairs just doesn't work for me.

I'm pretty poor at taking pictures and getting what i want or know they should look like. But that is the good thing about cameras now you take them all day and it doesn't cost anything.

Hope you kill bear selling things.

John

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Thanks. Most of the pics were last minute because I am usually finishing projects right at the deadline! I need to get a light box set up and some stands for hanging things like breast collars, bridles, chaps etc so I can get nicer pics. All things in time I guess and thanks for the comments!

Have a good one.

Justin

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I found it to be a pretty cool web site. I think you could add an "About" page (or at least I didn't see one) that would tell folks a bit more about yourself and give them a feel for your experience level.

I don't know that I'd break out prices as well as you do. That just invites people to have others try to undercut your price. For what you market, a price range might be good. Individual pricing works for sites that actually sell off the site itself.

Again, I thought you have a good site and my comments are just suggestions.

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Hey Justin,

Nice website and really nice work. I always like to see somebody's hand made gear at work. Smart to add that to your website.

I don't make websites, or even know how to start, but, I visit quite a few. I also have two years in commercial photography through Santa Monica College, and ten years in the film and TV Commercial industry. Back in the day. The first thing that caught my eye, was your leather logo. As it should. The down side. . .it is out of focus and very distracting. That is your makers mark. Your Name. Your Label. It should be sharp as a tack and presented in the best light.

You don't have to have expensive gear. A pocket digital camera is able to focus, just make sure that it has. Make sure that the makers stamp is sharp and clean in the leather. Make sure the focal plane of the camera, that is, the lense, therefore the camera back, is parallel to the surface of the leather. Up close, with shallow depth of field, the the tooling may be sharp but the makers stamp is out of focus if you shoot it with the camera angled, as may have been done to keep the shadow of the camera out of the way.

There are some lighting tricks that can be used as well. If interested, I could help you with that. I have done some vey nice studio quality photos using common household and work shop items. Granted, I did them on film. But it works for digital as well. Some of us still remember film. Don't we? Heavy sigh. . .

I hope you find this a little helpful.

Cheers,

Dennis

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