How to make a Portfolio of your work

Putting together a portfolio is the most important event in any photographers life, it gives you the face and the name, it impresses and makes people go wow…

Airtight portfolio will get you a job, make sure to include the best of your work. But also remember, it’s not all about being a great photographer, trick is the presentation – I have seen many photographers with amazing work, but no real portfolio – their photos jammed together in an unimaginative way, without any thought or order to it, needless to say they weren’t the ones hired…

Presentation is everything in the visual arts business. Be creative and put some time and effort into your portfolio, after all it’s going to be your business card for many years to come.

Choose wisely…

When I look at the photo of another photographer, I know exactly if I like it or not, I know what is the problem with photo and how to improve it… I will dissect it, analyze it and give you an interesting critique. But when it comes to my own photography, part of the brain that is responsible for objectivity disappears completely!

I have serious problems assessing value of my work, sometimes I spend hours trying to choose the best between two seemingly identical photos with slightly different crop. This little vice of mine played a bad role in the formation of my online gallery here at sandrophoto. If you go through car photos for example, you will see what I mean… It’s full of shit, you need to go through hundreds of photos to find real gems, I’m absolutely sure the size of my gallery has turned away many viewers. Unfortunately, I realized this only recently and I’m in the long process of an overhaul.

Remember your portfolio is as strong as your weakest photo!

So, don’t make my mistake, include only the work that screams quality and style. NEVER put two similar photos in the portfolio – don’t expect readers to decide for you which one is better. You have to be careful not to send wrong signals to your potential customers, you don’t want them to consider you doubtful about your own work.

Audience

You also need to consider the audience to whom you will show your portfolio.

An audience does not necessarily consist of a large group of people. Some of us have small audiences, consisting of only a few persons, while some of us have large audiences, consisting of thousands or millions of people. However, regardless of the size of your audience, you do have to consider the relationship between your work and your audience.

Online portfolio vs Book

Next step, after you have chosen fantastic photos, is to decide which medium to use. Some prefer flexibility of the Internet and they create online portfolios; And some like printed books that you can actually hold in your hands and feel the weight.

I think I will not be of much help here, you can go either way and not loose anything. But let me run through advantages of both options very quickly: Online portfolio is easier to market, and you can reach wider audience. While a printed book is something that you can demonstrate only in face to face conversation, but is more impressive as it’s tangible gives your customers feeling of trust and reliability.

Printing a book requires moderate investment in quality prints, and a bit of creativity to make a beautiful cover out of the leather or cloth… You can go really wild here, and make something extraordinary out of recycled materials.

To make online gallery you will need a bit of technical skills. Actually depending on the complexity of the effect you are trying to achieve, it might vary from easy to very hard. Some free photo hosting services to showcase your photos on the web (fast, and easy) are: flickR.com, DeviantArt.com – this might be a good start, but note that your portfolio will be placed next to thousand other artists. If you really want to stand out you absolutely must create your own website. But don’t get upset, this isn’t hard at all. I will explain this in detail, read: “How to make a photo blog“.

The Contents of a Portfolio

Photographs are only part of the total content of a portfolio. After all, this is your opportunity to express yourself in ways other than with photographs. It is your opportunity to write, to talk about what you do, to explain why and how your images were created. Here is a short list of what you can include in a portfolio:

– An artist statement

– A title list of the photographs included in the portfolio

– A cover image representative of the portfolio as a whole

– Thumbnails of each photograph

– A nice portfolio case

– A music CD to be listened to while viewing the photographs

- …

Finally, select one single image as the “title” or cover image. This may be the most difficult part of all, but it is one of the most important aspects of this project. This image needs to stand for what the portfolio represents, for the message you are sharing through your work. It needs to be strong as a single image and be representative of the portfolio as a whole.

Conclusion

Creating a portfolio is an important aspect of being a dedicated and committed photographer. It is also relatively easy once the hurdles that have stopped so many have been pushed out of the way. Creating a portfolio allows you to see what you have accomplished so far and where you are at right now. It also allows you to plan what you want to focus on in the future. In this sense it is a landmark event that will stay as a record of what you accomplished in photography up to this point. Once completed it will make it easier for you to chart the course ahead, plan your future assignments and schedule your upcoming shoots. Your sense of purpose and direction will be enhanced once the completion of a successful portfolio is behind you.

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Filed Under: Photography Tips

Tags: digital photography basics, digital photography portfolios, fashion photography portfolios, photo gallery, photo portfolio, photographers guide, photography portfolio, photography portfolios, professional photography portfolios, wedding photography portfolios