How to Create a Photography Portfolio
Understand What You WantDo you want to shoot for fashion magazines?Ò Want to do advertisements? Portrait studios? Before you begin creating a portfolio, make sure you know exactly the type of job or work you want so you can build your portfolio appropriately. Your photographs represent your ability to do the job you want, so make sure your portfolio represents the type of work you"re after.
This is also a good time to decide on a theme for your portfolio. Although you can have unrelated images in your portfolio, it"s always best to connect the images in your book to a specific theme or main idea.
Get Lots of Practice
If you don"t have any professional work at the moment, or you"re just getting started in the industry, be prepared to shoot for free - a lot. Make sure to be taking pictures in the niche or industry you want and keep a look out for opportunities to build your reputation.
There are plenty of people out there that need photographs done for a variety of reasons, and shooting for free can often sneak you in under the pros. This way you"ll get images for your portfolio as well as great experience. If you"re looking to find work this way, it"s a lot easier if you want to take portraits.
Don"t Forget the Prints
There are certainly advantages to having a digital portfolio such as easy access and portability however, you should also have a portfolio of hard copies always available. By having a physical portfolio, it will give you more of an opportunity to discuss your work and demonstrates that you know how to market your images.
More importantly, an "on paper" portfolio controls what your potential clients see. Your photos won"t look the same on every monitor in the world, so having hard copies of them allows you to skip over any possible display issues.
Presentation Counts
One of the trickiest things about building a portfolio is deciding how to present it. Sadly there is no great secret that will magically grant you every job you try to land, but there are a couple of tips that can make the process easier.
The first thing you want to do is understand your audience. If you"re going out for a local portrait studio, a nicely printed, leather-bound photo portfolio will probably be sufficient. But if you"re trying to land a job with a top advertising agency, then you will have to make sure that your portfolio stands out from the crowd.
It"s always good to be creative, but just make sure that you"re not sacrificing the quality of your images for the sake of looking different. No matter what you do with your photos, make sure that each one is easily viewed and makes its point without interference from what you"ve used to showcase it. Your portfolio needs to complement your photos and theme so it will all go together as a finished package.
Finally, edit down. Therefore, you should only share your very best samples of your work. Art Directors and people who hire are busy so you"ll often have less than a minute to have your images make their point so always present your best images first. Choose ten of your very best photographs and if you don"t have 10 exceptional images then start shooting until you have them.
In general, creating a portfolio isn"t difficult but requires a lot of time and effort. If you create an outstanding collection of images and build a reputation for quality and professionalism, you"ll soon be landing jobs before you know it.