My Newly Redesigned Portfolio
My buddy, and photography Web wizard, RC Concepcion set me up with a totally new online portfolio layout, and what I really like about it is that is kind of takes up the full size of your Browser, giving you a much larger view of each image (which was the most common complaint about my old online portfolio). You can click the Portfolio link on the left side of this page, or what the heck–-just click here.
The way I wound up with having RC do this in the first place is, he’s working on an online class on how to find inexpensive Flash components and use them for things like custom portfolios which you can easily maintain yourself without having to know Flash at all. They’re all XML-based, and even though his class isn’t up live yet, he was kind enough to let me try it out, and once I saw it—I was hooked.
At this point, I haven’t really updated enough images, and I only have three categories (I probably want to split Travel into two categories: Travel and Landscapes), but you will be happy to know that I kept it to around 20 images per category.
Anyway, I think it’s a step in the right direction, and hope you guys like the new look. Also, a big thanks to RC for hooking me up with this new layout (RC has really taken on the role of the photographer leading other photographers to the Web), and I’ll be sure to let you guys know when it goes live. Anyway, Thanks RC. I love it! 
Like the new format – clean, fast and great full screen views. Did have an issue though with the navigation as J howe mention above.
yeah, it really does rock, when is RC’s class going up, i want one!! thx for sharing.
I’ve actually been building web sites since Mosaic. That’s a long time. While I didn’t do it professionally for some time, I still understood web design fairly well.
Let me say, RC’s classes on KelbyTraining have been FANTASTIC. I’m a long time Wordpress user, but I still watched his recent Wordpress classes. RC is the man when it comes to getting photographers on the web. I’m jealous that you have him “right around the corner.”
Guess I’ll be looking forward to his next class. Your new portfolio site looks amazing!
I really only dislike Flash when it’s used inappropriately. Flash should be used for creative purposes such as this. Great job!
The only thing, though…did you put any info about those photos up? Some of them I’d at least like to see a hovering info box or something, especially the travel ones just to say where they were taken? Perhaps I missed it?
Nice presentation. My Mac Safari browser didn’t want to release the cursor when I tried to go to another application. Also shouldn’t the arrow point to the right so that the user gets a sense that there’s more images (forward) vs. to the left which seems to indicate a back function?
Try moving your curser left and right and see it change direction for next and back. Very clever.
Scott,
The new portfolio is great, really can see the detail of your work.
My only wonder is with so many jobs how do you find time to be a photographer, and take so many great shots.
Well just keep up the great work,I have learned much from you and your group.
Thank you,
Nickolas
The only thing that could have made the news of RC’s class-in-progress better would be if you’d said he’s offering it at PSW in Orlando! Still, I’ll definitely be checking out his online class.
Do flash sites get ranked differently by search engins?
Nice web template.
I like the simplicity of it. My issue with is that your pictures get cropped when you are not seeing it full screen. Also the full screen button is hard to find. One other comment is about the navigation being on the top of the images it distracted me a couple times. But have said that the most important thing about any portfolio is the images itself and your portfolio display the images beautifully once I figure out the whole full screen thing.
WOW SCOTT! I love it! What a grate way to display your portfolio! So many great things about this! I assume with something like this you can’t be too hung up on image theft!
It Flash so you can right click and download the images.. You could do a screen captures, but that can be done with any images display site.
Typo above.. You cannot download a flash images is what I meant to type.
Hi,
I love it, and I cannot stop watching your beautiful portfilio in fullscreen…
but sadly thumbnail index is missed.
Scott – the new portfolio layout is great! I really dig the scalable full screen. It’s simple – it pops – and the images talk. Great work RC!
love the new portfolio.
the full screen is a nice touch.
I agree with Jones in that i too, miss the thumbnails.
you have a lot of images in each section; do you feel that you are following your own rules with respect to images that get put in a portfolio?
Hi Brian:
You didn’t really read the post, did you?
-Scott
Nice work! Might want to double check the resolution on the winter mountain landscape shot. That one seems a little less crisp than the rest. Love the full screen presentation.
Nice pic, but so much for using my iPhone to view
Hi Ed:
You couldn’t see my old portfolio on an iPhone either.
-Scott
Wouldn’t it be nice to have Flash Player on the Iphone?!!!
Wow! Your pics are spectacular. I might miss thumbnails on someone else’s but can’t wait to see your next pic. I’ve been trying to build a blog like this for quite sometime. Can’t wait to get into RC’s tutorial.
Scott – AWESOME!! I’ve been trying to figure out how to do something like this myself. I love the full screen image view. That’s what I want people to look at.
RC – Teach me how to do this? What’s the name of the flash component and can you provide a linke? I had been thinking that Livebooks or some other high end site is the only way. Maybe not.
VERY COOL GUYS!
Holy smoke!
Tha flash gallery was just awesome. I want it myself for my portfolio. Is it available for sale or download? Or.. will RC do a step by step howto on kelby training on how to make this?
-Steve-
Gorgeous images, Scott.
The full-screen (and simplicity of image-only) presentation is great.
(fast loading of images and navigation no problem)
Congrats to RC and Scott for wonderful work on both the presentation and the images.
Great pictures. You’re better than I thought you were. Only negative is Flash, but overall looks very nice.
Scott,
I NOTICED SOMETHING: In your travel section there is an image, primarily with blue tones and has a morning type feel. The image contains rocks, mountains and a good portion of sky. I know this is a really beautiful image. But the one thing that I’m noticing on this image is that the sky looks like it has a lot of jpeg artifacts in the sky. Like the images was super compressed…Did RC compress the images first and then run some kind of automated process? Or did this happen through a process of automation, where the automation compresses images automatically?
Other than that, I really love the simplicity of the portfolio, the functionality is great. This kind of set up really puts emphasis on the images. Looking forward to watching RCs new class. He has been a tremendous help in my online portfolio efforts. Take care man! Thanks for sharing this
I love your new portfolio Scott. Some really great images. Full screen is neat too.
I certainly think this is the best presentation of photographs I have ever seen online. The use of flash is fantastic. Two problems,
1 -The sharpness of the photos wasn’t perfect as we all have different sized browsers – I wonder if there is a way to code in sharpening as the images are rendered in the browser. Just an idea, I have seen certain websites where this is possible.
2 – The use of flash means on the iPhone this doesn’t work and so maybe the technology is there to do this all in java / css / ajax / php type technologies. I am sure it is much more work however I know there would be a lot of people who would pay for this type of portfolio service.
That said must impressive Scott – I am really jealous of how you can show off your work in this beautiful and original way. Great stuff!
Hey Scott,
impressive portfolio! One technical thing: as soon as I move the mouse onto the picture, horizontal and vertical scroll bars appear. I find this very distracting… (Mac OS X Snow Leopard & Firefox 3.5.7).
Sounds like a new training addition to scottkelbytraining.com is in the works!
Nice. I like very much, and will be looking at those classes.
Large images certainly make a statement. I just uploaded couple of days ago new design similar to yours. I decided not to go to full screen images due to upscaling issues with sharpness. For those who interested you can use use free Autoviewer flash player which can be set to scale via CSS. And if you’d like to have file management on the website there is svManager component that works with Autoviewer.
New online portfolio interface looks great!!
Scott and the awesome RC,
The new site is cool, crisp and clean. I have been looking for ideas for my future photography website and I think we have a winner. RC–your student awaits your class.
Loads way to slow. I had to leave because of the wait time. I have a very fast connection and no other sites load this slowly.
Bye Dan.
-Scott
Awesome presentation! It’s all about the images, as it should be. I want it!
Hi Scott,
I tried viewing your website on my Mac in both Firefox and Safari just then.
It loads the background with an arrow on the left hand side but displays nothing else. (no signs of loading on screen, claims page has finished loading down bottom left) I have all OSX and browser software updates installed. Looking forward to seeing it!
Give it a shot now.. I was doing some changes to it.
Thanks,
RC
For everyone that was here talking about the Previous/Next navigation and your wish of making the images reverse their behavior… I went in and changed that..
Thanks!
RC
Hey Scott and RC,
Great job on the pics…Scott I had a 24inch monitor and the diffrence between what you had before and this is just mindblowing ! This new cocnept really brings your pictures to life and also helps me see in detail some of the concepts you have explained in your books in the pictures.
Now if only I could find a way to set these as my monitor screensaver
lol
Hey, Scott! I should say, this was a perfect choice for your online portfolio. You/ RC actually used this template from FlashComponents.net. Btw, you should check out my post for today, from FC’s blog (http://www.flashxml.com/flash-we-love/flash-catwalk-you-can-never-go-wrong-with-fwdesigns-templates/) as I presented your new online portfolio. Hope you enjoy it!
Wow, this site is exponentially better than your previous one (which I wrote an extensive critique on).
One issue I have though is that the load times are on the long side. I understand that your aim is to display high quality images but without a means of accessing images in a non-linear fashion (thumbnails) it makes sharing specific images an unnecessarily exhausting process.
Hi guys
I have been using this template for 6 months now and I am so happy with it. Simple and elegant!
You are welcome to stop by and check it out
Have a nice day
Charlotte
hey scott is that the leg of a tripod i see on the bottom right of the frame on the low angle lake shot in your portfolio – the one with the round rocks???
Scott, RC, anyone interrested. I really liked the idea here, but I wanted to take a stab at doing a full screen slide show in Javascript. I have my portfolio up now here: http://cyberward.net/photography/ It starts as a slideshow, but you can pause it and move back and forth and change albums in the menu at the top of the screen. As with this site, the image dominates the screen. I will have a post about how it was done and a download for others to create their own in a day or two.