Photographer Portfolio Development

Develop a separate and different photographer portfolio for every occasion. It is much better to show a few great images than to show a few great images and a few so-so images. Show your best and most exciting work and leave viewers anxious and eager to see more.

Photography is made to be seen! Show your work! Be creative!

Photographer Portfolio Types

Working Portfolio: This type contains a limited amount of your work. Just include a few of your best shots.

General Portfolio: This type is used for casual showings that might include a lawyer, businessperson, a banker, stock agency, book publisher, etc. It’s big and loaded with examples of the range of your work. This is the portfolio that can include many images (of course, don’t overdo it – only show your best) to display my technical and visual management skills and to shout out that “I am the photographer that they have been looking for.”

Specific Portfolio: This type should be based around your personal work, your favorite type of shooting, the work that you enjoy doing for free (of course, you don’t tell the photobuyer that), work in which you have a special interest. This type of portfolio should be shown to people who share your interest and are potential photobuyers of such images. It can also be shown to art directors who are excited about what they see in your working portfolio. Try to limit the images to your niche and try making it look like a sampler rather than a working portfolio.

Portfolio reviewers are busy people who don’t have a lot of time. Show a portfolio that will knock them out instead of putting them to sleep.

Sequence: The sequence of your image presentation is as significant as the images themselves. Start with two or three eye-catching shots that relate the intended client. Tone or mellow down with something soft, interesting, or artistic. If your niche is editorial stock or annual reports, stick in a short sequence. Put in at least one or two creative images (creative image being defined as spectacular and uncommon visual images of common subjects). Finally, hit them hard with your best of the best.

Your Promos

Attach a business card to your ‘leave behind’ items so potential buyers can reach you easily. Some photographers like to leave interesting tear sheets, magazine covers, or other printed pieces along with their promo. This reminds the client that they are working photographers.

The Market And Your Photographer Portfolio

Your portfolio is an advertisement. It must be prepared for a specific niche.

Your Market: When you show a portfolio, ensure that it’s prepared for the reviewer’s market. More importantly, make sure the market is one in which you are interested and have the capacity to handle. Your Photographer Portfolio should be focused on your photography niche/s.

Often, a photobuyer will ask if you have any additional materials available on a certain subject. This is to see if you are really experienced in that type of shooting. It’s therefore a good idea to have available a backup series of different portfolio images, aimed at the same market. Like many other photographers, I have at least two, sometimes three, portfolios for a specific niche. They come in very handy.

Market Realities: Most photobuyers are happy with the photographers they are currently buying from. They look at new portfolios in search of new ideas bright enough to make them willing to try a new photographer. Your photographer portfolio is a brief and potent opportunity to compete with the photographers already shooting for and agency, magazine, or client.

Regardless how good your images and subjects are, photobuyers are looking for style and capability. Keep this in mind when selecting photograher portfolio images. It should be a given that your images will be of high quality in every way.

Sooner or later most photographers develop a recognizable style. Good photobuyers may be searching for that particular style to mold into their own projects. For this reason, your research into the current images used by a market should be done prior to your photographer portfolio selection. Your portfolio should be based around a unique and individual approach or style. Give the photobuyer an opportunity to see there is more to you than commercial image-building. Show them a little excitement and life in your work.

Good photobuyers are constantly searching for new ways to present products through exciting images. Make sure your images show the range of your style. No matter how good your still-life shots are, the photobuyer will be just as impressed by a maximum of two or three examples. Ten similar shots of any subject are never as impressive. A flow of style through a range of subjects is the best way to keep your photobuyer’s attention and interest directed to your photographer portfolio.

Time Is Money: Photobuyers are very busy people who also are easily distracted and have a short attention span. Be polite with a little small talk, but remember that you are there to take care of business. Show your work, introduce a few ideas, ask for the sale, and say good-bye.

Leave behind a good sample with your business card attached. This sample should fit into the photobuyer’s prospective file, not be a huge poster that ends up at the bottom of a bird cage. It can be a promotional flyer, advertising reprint, client’s brochure or any good, clean example of your work. Leave something that will make them call you.

Follow-Ups: Always send a thank-you note for a portfolio review, even if it’s just a drop-off. This is considered common courtesy. Keep it brief and businesslike. Let the photobuyer know you’re interested in talking about new ideas and markets.
After a month or so, send another note with a recent sample of your work. By this time, you might have another bright idea to share.

Don’t be put off if the photobuyer doesn’t have an immediate job available or seems uninterested in your work. It doesn’t mean that they don’t like your or your work. No one said this was going to be easy. Be persistent in showing your portfolio, and sooner or later things click.

Show your portfolio at least once per week, more if you’re not too busy. It will keep you alert and aware of the many changes of people and organizations that buy images.