DPP - Part 5 - Project - A Web Gallery

What is the point of a website?

I think for me the purpose is somewhere to show my better images, and somewhere for my friends and family to have a look at images I have created.

In addition it acts somewhere between professional and amateur location for the display of my work which is a bit more "professional" to say flickr, facebook etc

When I upload images to social media web sites I always watermark my images. Whilst some element is to protect them from illegal usage I will only upload small images sizes around 100k. There needs to be a balance between protection and the actual display of work. This watermark with copyright now also has the same web address for my website so people can redirect themselves if they choose.

Additionally should anyone want to commission me for some work I do at least have a semi-professional looking website for them to see my work and the style of it


Compliance or Individuality

At some pint it would be good to create, or perhaps have created for me my website but there are companies that allow the use of templates, and then these also allow customisation. At this point I think I would like a website that is bold and a bit more individual branching away from the look of most websites. I'm an individual with my own developing photographic "voice". I've always had a bold outlook and perhaps at heart have always been a bit of a rebel. I think non-compliance and individuality suit me, perhaps I may need to temper this with professionalism at a later stage


Simplicity

The best websites are often the simplest. Easy to navigate and most of all easy to see the images. I want the home page to scroll through a set of predetermined images and I want the option of a gallery where I can separate some images into specific categories. I don't want the galleries to be auto scrolling, I want the viewer to purposefully look at them and move to the next image at their own pace, whether it quick or slow

What have I done?

I've taken the step to create my own web domain, its simple, contains my name and says what its for...I'm not telling you what it is just yet, be patient. I've also used a company that for a small fee will host my website and allow me the choice of multiple templates and a lot of customisation. For a fee they will design one for you or help smarten an existing one. For the moment I'm going to have fun experimenting and learning. The company I have chosen to do this is clikpic: https://www.clikpic.com/


Here it is

I've uploaded an image of the home page, it may of course change in the future but this is where I'm at today:

Here is the link to my website:
http://warrenjonesphotography.com/

Please, please do leave a comment, feel free to highlight the good and/or bad. Even if you have nothing to say please do just leave a comment here or via my website to say hello to confirm you have visited, I'd be absolutely delighted to see that people have had a look

Self Critique

I think I'm pleased as its original, different and I believe simple and bold. That's what I set out to create. Have move around the site and let me know if its easy to use

For portrait size images it really works but I think I have some work to do as the landscape images are being cropped; its trying to create box sized images. Some more investigation and rework no doubt but I'm well on the way.

Anyone noticed the use of colour combinations from the art of photography module :D


Update
I've now managed to resolve a few issues with thumbnails and stopped or reduced the cropping on landscape format images in the galleries. The front page has also been adjusted moving the left hand section to the left more allowing for a larger window to scroll through a sample of the images

An OCA course colleague Jeff has kindly given me some feedback on the site, visible below in the comments section.

On the Facebook OCA page I've made a post asking what other people have done and there is a surprising spread of different companies used and I think some wonderful images held within their websites. Each site appears to have some individuality and some look closer than others in terms of style. I also note some practice photography for a living whilst others practice it currently as a hobby. Its good to note I'm on the right lines and also that I retain some indivuality. I will continue to look at other websites and look to take the good and see if and how I can I apply this to mine where appropriate

DPP Part 5 - The Final Image - Exercise 1 - Sharpening for Print

This exercise requires home printing of images. Unfortunately my home printer is just about good enough for slow document prints and not at all suitable for photographic prints. I have seen and read about many people encountering printing issues and a large expense in trying to print.

At this particular point I am unable to pursue photographic printing since I feel unable cost wise or knowledge wise to reach the standard that I would be happy with. On this basis I will not unfortunately be printing as part of this exercise though I do feel there is plenty more to learn here within the exercise.

I've taken a portrait image with no sharpening and used 100% magnification

This is the starting position but the image has been reduced to a small file size. This is at 16.7% zoom crop with no sharpening

I've used the original PSD to perform the sharpening then reduced to small jpeg size and zoom cropped to 100%

When sharpening I use CS6 and unsharp mask and would generally use the following settings:

Amount: Between 100-200%

Radius: Around 1.5-1.6 pixels

Threshold: Between 8-12


Amount 100%
This image using the settings above and is zoom cropped to 100%:

I would be happy with this level of sharpening


Amount 200%
This next image is sharpened with an amount at 200% and viewed at zoom crop 100%

Again I would be happy with this and its within my normal sharpening range



Amount 300%
This next image is sharpened with an amount at 300% and viewed at zoom crop 100%

I would not sharpen at this amount, there is no form of light halos I can see which is a normal occurrence with over sharpening along strong edges



Amount 400%

Again I can see no sign of light halos but the fur around the eyes begins to look less real and overdone


Summary
I am unable to print but of course it will depend at what size print image you are printing and with what size file you are using to print from. These files for my blog are all reduced in pixels to a max of 1000 on longest side and saved at 116k

The art, and disappointment to many people is being able to print what is seen on the screen. When viewing images you should at least view them on screen at the size they would be printed at. In addition to screen colour and print colour ICC profiles should really be set for paper type.

Sharpening can no doubt improve images to a degree but it cannot fix a photograph that is blurred. As always get right in the camera and don't rely on post production.

In general for portraits I use a single focus point and always get focus locked onto the subjects eye. It is the subjects eye that in most portraits will create a connection between viewer and subject.

Sharpening is a key aspect to printing but initial focus captured in camera is key. File size is also another aspect to printing. I see and hear about many people capturing a great image on the phone which looks OK on social media websites. When printing these individuals are often disappointed for a number of reasons, in correct focus, incorrect sharpening and also attempts to print at print sizes using a small file size.

An image can fail for many reasons but focus will be the most obvious. Discrepancies will often show up in prints particularly where the print size is bigger than the image viewed size