Hi There,

I would love to have some feedback from other cake makers on my website. I created this myself purely down to cost as im only just setting up. Any feedback will be appreciated as I can go in and edit this myself.

Also I would love to know how to get more professional cake pictures without having to pay £100 an hour to a commercial photographer everytime I want pictures. Has anyone bought a phototography box? Ive been looking at these but there are so many on the market.

Thank you in advance x x

Website:

http://www.icequeencakes.co.uk/

Hi!
To get more professional pictures, just get yourself a backdrop set up. Checking out your site right now.

I think it looks good! Simple and clean.

However, I have never been in business so maybe someone with a little more business savvy will come along.

As a customer, I think it would be enough.

Website looks good.

On getting more professional pictures find a spot in your home/bakery that has a lot of good natural light coming in. Set up a makeshift photo studio with a table and you can use a simple white or light colored backdrop that extends from behind the cake to under it. This backdrop should be facing the window or your light source in order to capture and reflect all the available light onto your cakes. When you are taking pictures be sure to sit down, or get on your knees, so that the camera is on eye level with the cake. Pictures taken from a standing position above the cake tends to produce a distorted shape. I noticed for instance that your topsy turvy cake looked a bit squat due to photo distortion. If you want to showcase a cake from the top be sure to get over the top and be careful of the angle. Then take lots and lots and lots of picutes because that is truly the key to getting that perfect shot.

I love that your website doesn't use flash! Very helpful for someone with an iPad/iPod. On your homepage, where it says "Based out of London Donna..." there should be a comma after London.
I also think your pictures look just fine.. Not every pic needs a fancy background. At least you didn't take them in a sloppy kitchen or something, I don't think you need a fancy backdrop. However, personally i don't think multiple photos of the same cake are necessary, but thats just my opinion.

It would be great if you could add a page that outlines some of the flavors you offer, and maybe basic prices as well. this would save you some phone time, because at least people will get an idea based on your website as to what you offer.

Ps I like your cakes too, very nice!

Kat n mouse some great advice on taking pictures- I will take this into account next time im trying for a good picture.

Cakification Im definatley going to do a page with flavours (Im on my maternity leave at the moment so I can come up with some cake recepies I want to offer). Pricing is my downfall tho, I never know what to charge for even basic cakes. I suppose this is something i could work on.

Thankyou all for your advice and comments x

Nice and clean, I like it!

I would add a link to your flavors, and maybe some starting prices. For an easy "photo box", get two white foam poster boards and set your cake on one board, and the other board behind your cake (in front of a window, preferrably) and there you have an easy photo box...so even if the kitchen is a mess, no one will see it in the pics (not that any of your pics looked messy!)

personally, i don't think, it's necessary for you to post multiple photos of the same cake...
& also, in my opinion, it gives a different "appeal" to photos taken at actual venues
overall, it's simple & clean to look at...

From all the advice Ive been given I have stopped looking for a photo box and have been looking at how to make my own inexpensive studio for my cakes. I come across this article and thought i would share it with anyone that is interested.............

http://www.linkdelight.com/Photography-Tutorial/learn-the-photo-studio-with-two-desk-lamps.html

stunning cakes~

Ooooo I like your site. I love how you've got your gallery set up, with all the pictures right there and I can click on one and it pops up in it's own picture box. I hate it when I have to scroll through some slide show or I can only see one cake at a time. I like being able to see them all at once and pick which one I'd like to see up close.

I don't do cakes at your level so I probably don't have much to offer as far as professional pictures go. But what I did was get one of those tri-fold cardboard things kids use for science fair projects and such and then a piece of poster board that matches. I set the poster board on the counter and put the tri-fold thing around it to hide everything in the background. Then I take my picture. I know someone on here who had a very lovely website who said she just throws a sheet over a clothes basket and sits her cakes in front of that and takes the pics. Had she not said that I'd never had known. I would have sworn she had a pro come out and take pics for her.

Great site..I would also not do multiple pictures of the same cake.

I think your site looks good. Nice and simple. I agree on the pictures- I wouldn't do multiple pictures of the same cake...though I would consider exceptions for close-ups of a specific detail. You make beautiful cakes!

I'm not a professional, but I wouldn't use the pictures of cakes with copywrited (sp?) characters. It's my understanding that you wouldn't be able to sell it unless it has the licenced characters on it. The site looks great. Very easy to maneuver and great looking cakes!

Really nice >

And i agreee with every body else, just one picture of the cake should do it, and to find one that you like do what i do, take a tone of pictures of the cake even if is in the same angle w/ & w/o flash so that you have more to choose from later.

I have one question for you all, where do you all start for making your own website, i have been asking my brother for ever to put one up for me but he just says sure, and well to tell you the truth i am a do it your self kind of person so if you all can give me some sort of direction i would really appreciate it.

Vistaprint.com or godaddy.com are great places to build a website. Affordable pricing, and quick design templates so it makes everything really easy. You can also add a shopping cart and accept credit card payments for a monthly fee. I have found that paypal merchant services offers the lowest monthly rates for accepting credit cards.

thank you so much i was looking at godaddy.com just now and i was considering it but you gave me more peace of mine now that you recommended it.
Thank you.

You are very welcome! I also recommend buying your domain for 5 years so you can lock-in an affordable price. Most webhosts like godaddy.com will evaluate your traffic and significantly increase your rate once it's time to renew.

Here's my honest opinion, your work is great but your website is not of the same caliber. It's quite disappointing because your work, again, is really good. I think the background looks a bit elementary. Maybe it's just me but your name is ice QUEEN...it should be more bling-y, more sophisticated, more elegant. It also kills me that the home pictures and gallery pictures are off-center. Personally, it also bothers me that your home welcome is written in third person. It also reads: "Please visit the gallery to view some of HER work." Then shouldn't 'contact us' be 'contact HER'? Having 'Welcome to Ice Queen Cakes' on top of the home page then having 'Welcome to Ice Queen Cakes' again in the write up is redundant.

Just to illustrate where I was going with the feel for the background I uploaded some pictures. You may or may not like it but if your name is Ice Queen Cakes then you should leverage the name as much as you can.

These are my opinions...please, nobody PM me telling me I'm inconsiderate when I tried to be honest or that I was being nasty because I wasn't.