Need help with framing and text composition

[MRSAMO]

Hi folks,

I'm looking for advice on my framing because I am always changing it and would like to find out what I'm doing wrong with how I frame and title my pictures:

Picture #1:

Picture #2:

I went with the black and white borders for picture 1 (and also for my latest series) but I don't know if its taking away from the picture or complimenting it. On my blog it looks cramp but on other sites and by itself it looks ok. Am I over complicating things with my framing?

Secondly, I seem to play around with my titles just as erratically. I think its because I took photos on and off and experiencing things so differently at each places, I feel that I need to get more serious about the presentation LOL. I've settled with putting my real name instead of a nick, again I don't know if what I have is presentable enough. I've changed it again by making it all uppercase and it looks a little better though I'm still stuck on the right font to use. I used Myriad Pro for the text in picture 1 and Verdana in picture 2.

Here are 2 attempts with the title, which is better?

I would like to settle on a presentation design that I can use for all of my photos instead of changing it so many times. My past attempts is becoming a joke! Thanks.

 

[Peano]

Several thoughts ....

1. Dark surroundings are better than light for viewing images, especially online (because the screen is backlit).

2. Less is more. The designs you posted are too busy, especially that patterned background.

3. Place titles and attribution below rather than above, and outside rather than on the image.

As an example, notice how effective the simple presentations are on this site:
http://www.wingsandwildlife.com/

 

[MRSAMO]

Hey Peano thanks very much for that advice, I also got the exact same response elsewhere so I've done the changes and I think it looks better on my site as well. I'm a bit lazy as I didn't want to create 2 or 3 versions of the same pictures with borders and no borders (on the web I use CSS to create borders).

You can check out on my recent holiday thread here.