How to make a proper portfolio?

[Timoris]

Hello!

When submitting applications for freelance, I usually include a 12 slide Powerpoint/PDF and a hotlink from my PDF CV to my professional flickr account's album page.

I also use 500px to host my freelance name which contains a dozen or so of my works, in case they Google me.

My question, is there a "right" way to do it?
What is the best format?
How do you do it?
What seems to get the best reviews and most success?

Thank you for your time!

 

[Light Guru]

My gut says that a "proper" portfolio is printed.

Powerpoint and PDF just seem a little wird for ways to share your work. Get your self a website WITH a proper domain name.

 

[tirediron]

My gut says that a "proper" portfolio is printed.

Powerpoint and PDF just seem a little wird for ways to share your work. Get your self a website WITH a proper domain name.

This! I have a high-quality portfolio/presentation book which has about a dozen of my best prints as well as several recent tear sheets. When I do need to send work electronically, I provide a link to the appropriate gallery on my website, OR... I create a custom gallery for that potential client, which is hosted on my 'site. Whenever possible however, I try and meet with the client and show them physical prints. No matter how good your work is, you can't account for clients with old monitors, or ones which show odd colours, etc.

 

[The_Traveler]

Prints are the real measure of an image, imo.
Too many pictures look good->excellent on an transilluminated monitor screen and look like crap when printed.
A well printed photo, on good heavy paper, really has some impact that a screen image doesn't.

 

[Timoris]

Alright, thank you, that helps a lot.

What about size and actual book? I would be inclined to use 8x10s (and trim when needed) mounted on a black scrapbook album

 

[tirediron]

I use an 8 1/2x11 so that I don't have to trim tear sheets. Check out the Itoya books I linked to; they use a very high-quality, ultra-clear sleeve w/ matte black paper separator. Makes it very easy to pull out a paritcular image if the client would like to see it more closely.

 

[vintagesnaps]

I've used the Itoyas (or may have one by another company but am drawing a blank on the name) so I can switch out prints as needed.

Try American Society of Media Photographers or PPA for ideas and resources so you're not reinventing the wheel. (edit - I realized you're in Canada and I don't know if there's a comparable pro photographers organization there or not; some of the info. may be more geared to the US market but the resources could still be helpful I'd think.)

Flickr to me isn't particularly professional and Yahoo is supposedly considering discontinuing it anyway, so you might want to check into other options. I'd be reading Terms & Conditions on sites like 500px, that one to me seems for amateurs not pros.

I've been doing fine art submissions so I have to adjust to whatever guidelines there are for each one. So I like having some flexibility - seems like 'everybody' wants it done differently!