Portfolio Development - Behance - My Final Images

I have decided to stick with the idea of the metal heads merged with other images. I think they suit action shots the best rather than stills or posed shots. They are not the quickest or easiest to edit but they are well worth the time and the patience. They are similar images but I wanted a series where you could have them all on display together and them look great rather than having to have smaller groups spread out. I think it is better to have a series of this many images than to have smaller groups (if you can produce a large number).

These are my chosen images...

I am pleased these images have turned out the way they have. They have taken a long time to create but after the first half I was getting used to the tools I needed to use and in what order to use them in photoshop. I think there are improvements that could be made. I think if some of them were in colour it would look better but unfortunately I took the images of the sculptures in black and white and they had to be saved as jpeg only as I had run out of memory when I did that shoot. I could try different blending modes while the second image is still in colour to see if that would work or not. I think a couple of images I have now would work like that but my theme for these images is black and white only. Some of them are not as good as the others but thats because I was trying to stick to a theme of the head cultures crossed with street photography.
Overall I do like them on the whole and I think it is a series that works quite well. It is also something I haven't seen much of so hopefully they will prove more popular than my other work on bechance.

They have been uploaded and named The Metal Heads. It has been on there for less than 24 hours and unfortunately I have only had 1 view. Hopefully that will improve before hand in.

Below is the link to the page...

https://www.behance.net/gallery/38005821/The-Metal-Heads

Portfolio Development - Business Cards

I have decided to make some business cards to be put with my work at the end of year show to hand out as well as for me to have to give to clients and friends to pass on to other people.

I have been having a look at different designs and where to get them made. These are a few deigns I have seen and quite like...

(Image found at http://designscrazed.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Photographer-Business-Card.jpg on 03.06.2016)

(Image found at http://orig11.deviantart.net/e677/f/2014/149/e/4/business_card___photo_studio_by_jodlar-d7k91e0.jpg on 03.06.2016)

(Image found at http://img01.deviantart.net/352c/i/2011/269/6/7/business_card___photographer_by_haithamyussef-d4b0xx3.jpg on 03.06.2016)

(Image found at http://cdn4.frip.in/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Photographers-Business-Card.jpg on 03.06.2016)

(Image found at http://www.photographytuts.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/photography-marketing-ideas02.jpg on 03.06.2016)

(Image found at http://j32design.com/wp-content/uploads/black_white_photographer_bc.jpg on 03.06.2016)

(Image found at https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGCxjz40IM47jM3_N4FTvfXlXz6AHmraJ0WazC5Mkqkr5_41ZDhcDxCGLQNAqvdG9QdLtJ-rtZoftreMISjdrpm2c0akam5rqyDDgQUzmpVuLDzLui63ZL2mjnpu00DUuQGIiburHLoUs/s1600/photographers+business+cards.jpg on 03.06.2016)

I like the designs of these as I think they are simple and not in your face. I think sometimes people can go over the top and therefore ruin them. I also think that if they are to cheesy then people won't take you seriously. You have to think carefully about this as with your website. You want to get across to people that you are a professional and are serious about your work. 

I have had a look at different website which help you to make them and then they print them for you. There are places like vistaprint, moo, printed, solopress, and instant print. There are many more but these are the most popular ones I have found. I have already decided to go with vistaprint as I have know family and friends to have used their services before and have been very impressed.

I have since made my business card and ordered 100. They will be arriving by the Friday 10th June 2016.

This is what the design looks like on the front and rear of the card...

I have designed this myself and took the images of the lens yesterday. I had to edit the picture in photoshop and turned the black lens blue to add a little more colour. I was going to leave the back of the card white but it didn't look good. It looked like I had only done half a job which isn't good. 

I have also bought a business card holder so I can carry some around with me and I have bought a stand to hold my cards at any show or exhibition I do. 

Portfolio Development - Making My Website

I decided to create my website through Wix. Before making it I did research by looking at other peoples websites and looking at what works well, doesn't work well, how easy they were to navigate around and if I liked/disliked the overall site. Once I had done that I had a clear vision of what I wanted mine to look like. I started by setting up a new account with the site and then set about finding and selecting a template. The website is great as you can select what your website is for and it will give you templates set on what others in that field have made. It took me about half an hour to look through and find one I liked. I then started to edit it and change everything in the layout. This is my welcoming page, it is what you will see when you first load the website...

I have gone for what I think is a simple yet effective design. I want to make people curious and want to enter deeper into the website to view more of my work, which is why I have chosen this image to go on the front page. I have chosen 3 simple options at the top of the page (home, portfolio, about). 

When you click on portfolio you are taken to a page with 3 options on so far. I have chosen a strong image from each of the subfolders to draw people in further to view more of my work. You have to run the mouse over the image to see where the images have been taken. This is the portfolio page...

I have gone for another simple yet effect design. I am not a big fan of loud patterned backgrounds, I think they are annoying and they draw your eye away from the main features of the page which should be the persons work. 

As I create more work I will be adding more folders and more images to this page. It will be something I will be updating every time I do any photographing. 

These next images show inside each of the 3 subfolders. It took a few attempts to choose the correct layout to show my images. I found this bit long because it has to be right. Its no good having a slideshow layout with a strip across the bottom of the image for you to write about the image if you don't have anything to write or don't want to. I tried several different ones until I settled on this one...

I like this one as you can see thumbnails to the left which it makes it easier for people to go back to an image if they like it or want to see it again. Also when you click on the image it goes into a slideshow of images on a black background so the viewer is only focusing on one image at a time and not glancing at the others on the left.

The final page I have is about. I have written a small amount of information about myself and included an image.

To the bottom of the page I have contact details show. There is an online webpage contact box where people can fill it in and send it to me that way for me to reply or they can contact me through my direct email address or phone number. I haven't used my normal phone number as I would prefer to keep that personal and have a separate work phone. I picked up a basic pay as you go sim card and a secondhand samsung which cost me a grand total of £30.

At the bottom of every page there are a 3 links. One is to my Twitter account, one to my Instagram and the other will be linked to my Vimeo once I set one up. I don't have Facebook otherwise I would add that as well. The only other important one which I haven't included is Linkedin. I won't be setting an account up in that until I have finished my course and I have returned to work as I don't want to get into trouble with the local authorities if they saw it.

Overall I am very pleased with my website so far and think it is more than adequate for me and my needs as well as being simple enough for people to use.


My very first professional website - hannahpidduck.wix.com/portfolio