Photography Portfolio Tips

A high quality photography portfolio is one of the best strategies for self-promotion; to get published and/or sell your photographs. Showing a portfolio used to mean having a physical book that contained your photographs. Today, you have multiple options to present your portfolio. Portfolios can be presented on CD-ROM (with digital photography software ), DVD, videotape, website, web gallery (with digitial photography software ), as well as the traditional book filled with photographs. That is the good news!

Planning a good photography portfolio can seem difficult to do. It requires some planning. For example, with a stockphotography portfolio, you are basically trying to second-guess a photo buyer to whom you may have never seen or spoken. You may not know what type of images they need. In fact, your client may not know what type of images they are looking for until they see it. Only the best of your best must be included in your photography portfolio. Don’t fudge – only your best work.

Target your photography portfolio to a specific market. In other words, don’t include portrait work in your stock photography portfolio. Don’t include wedding portrait work in your portrait photography portfolio – no matter how tempting.

Photography Portfolio Planning – Targeting Your Photography Niche

It bears repeating – do not mix your photography subject areas in your various portfolio presentations. One of my biggest and most costly mistakes was not following that advice. I wanted to ‘show all’ of my good work. What I thought was ‘showing off’ my ‘versatility’ was, actually, confusing potential customers. Portfolios should only include ‘great’ work!

Of course, like all rules, there are exceptions. For example, if you wanted your portfolio to demonstrate your skills in multiple-photographic areas (keep in mind, it must be your greatest work), then including multi-specific areas can be acceptable. Focusing on a specific niche is best – and most profitable. You make the final decision.

Stock Photos : Stock portfolios can number in the hundreds of images and are usually presented as slides or digital files. Your stock photography portfolio should reflect a particular style, subject matter and context. Stock agencies will more readily accept your work if your photographs fill a niche. Currently, the narrower your niche is (within reason), the better and most profitable. Also, depending on the type of stock photography, it sometimes helps if your images tell stories.

Advertising Photos : Advertisers consider the following in a photography portfolio:

• Will these images convey a message in just a few seconds?
• Will they make a consumer pause long enough to digest the concept? Does the photograph evoke immediate emotion such as humor, empathy, sympathy, confidence, etc.?

A photography portfolio to advertising clients must have impact quality.

• Unique lighting
• Dramatic lighting
• Unique camera angles
• Unexpected subjects
• The blending and/or con tr asting of colors or tones

are a few ideas that can help you compile an appealing advertising photography portfolio.

Magazines Photos : Different from other types of photography needs, magazines select photographs around a main theme. Almost all magazine layouts are based on themes. They focus on a particular subject, usually narrow in scope. When preparing your photography portfolio for magazines, select photographs that illustrate a single idea. The idea could be fairly broad, or it could be narrow and focused solely on a particular subject. In submitting work to a travel magazine, the idea could be fairly broad, such as “St. Croix ’s beaches,” or it could be more narrowly focused on a particular beach in St. Croix . Or, if you were soliciting a food magazine, you could select images that highlight the most romantic restaurants in St. Croix . There are many angles to any location and/or subject.

Photography Portfolio Basic Equipment

With a high-quality, low-cost, inkjet printer and standard office supply photo paper, and your computer, you can produce a simple, yet impressive portfolio. The procedure is simple. First, get the photo image in your computer (either download the digital image from your digital camera or scan the original into your computer). Second, use digital photography software to make any minor corrections. Then, use desktop publishing software to layout the images on a page – they can be single images on a page or multiple. Always include your contact information on all of your materials, including your photography portfolio.

Provide descriptions of each photograph, don’t give technical data such as camera used, f-stop, shutter speed, etc. Photo buyers do not care. Also, don’t give your photographs cutesy titles. This makes you look like an amateur. Print your pages at 1200dpi or higher. Physical photographs can be put in inserts (they come in 8x10 and 8.5x11 sizes) and displayed in a portfolio book.

Photography Portfolio on CD

Greeting Cards: A Different and Creative Approach

Greeting cards can be produced with your inkjet printer by printing on greeting card stock paper sold at office supply stores. You can create a box of ten or twelve cards that include your best photography work and send it to clients or potential clients as a gift. Christmas is an especially good time to do this, but any holiday could be used as a good excuse to send this gift/portfolio. For example, there is no reason why you can’t promote yourself this way in celebration of the Fourth of July or Thanksgiving. You could do this on a monthly basis as an aggressive campaign; there are many holidays to use.

Greeting cards are a very cost-effective and under used photography marketing tool. Like stamps, coins and baseball cards, a lot of people collect/keep greeting cards – especially the most visually appealing cards. Of course, they also send them to family and friends. But, many are collected. With your contact info on the back, you are a part of their collection – and database!