How do I create a portfolio?

[JaneJohnson]

Hey guys, is there any good article/post that you've really find useful regarding creating a portfolio? I am kind of a newbie so I am currently doing a research before I start to build my own. Thanks!

 

[tirediron]

I've moved your post into it's own thread. At TPF we prefer members to start new threads rather than adding their question to someone else's unless it directly relates to that post.

 

[KmH]

How do I create a portfolio?

The purpose of a portfolio has a lot to do with it.

If you're a beginner photographer I recommend you pick any free photo sharing web site and upload whatever photos you want others to see.
Be aware that you, your family, and your close friends are likely the only people that will ever look at your portfolio.

There are millions other photographers out there that have done that.
So getting unrelated to you eyes to look at your online photos requires doing quite a bit of promotion and marketing.

If you're a bit more ambitious make a web site of your own, but again, millions of other photographers have done that and the competition for getting eyes to your web site is massive.

 

[robbins.photo]

Hey guys, is there any good article/post that you've really find useful regarding creating a portfolio? I am kind of a newbie so I am currently doing a research before I start to build my own. Thanks!

Ok, so step 1.. take lots of pictures. Step 2, upload them.. umm.. somewhere. Blamo! You can make donations to my paypal account.. lol

Seriously though, I guess it depends on what you really want your "portfolio" to accomplish. If your looking to have an easy way for family and friends to see your photos, well honestly facebook is probably the easiest. If you want them to see larger, higher quality images there are a lot of free sites out there you can use. I have a flickr acct, for example but there are many others. Flickr is having some financial issues at the moment so no guarantees they'll be around for the long haul at this stage - but I've had an account there for a long time so I'm still using it for now.

If you want more people looking at your photos but not necessarily for business purposes then again facebook works pretty well, I joined a couple of photography groups and post in them (One I post in a lot is Nebraska through the Lens, for example. It's a group of photographers from my home state).

If your goal is to attract business, again.. well facebook is pretty good for that but you will need to advertise/market. You might also want to setup an actual professional site to showcase your photographic chops, you'll want to keep it on point - so if you shoot senior photos, that's what should be in your portfolio. If you shoot weddings, etc.. You want to market the stuff you can sell in your area if that's your intent.

 

[Vtec44]

IMHO, first you have to decide what type of photography you want to do. Then, take a lot of photos. Then, you have to decide what you want to show because you are only as good as your photos (consistency and quality are the keys). I know plenty of people here hate Facebook, but it's a great place to start and build your own fan base. It's a way to "social proof" your work. Oh, don't forget to have a lot of fun.

 

[Studio7Four]

The other question is, are you asking about a print portfolio or an online portfolio? Some advice is relevant to either, some isn't.

Some general advice I have for creating a portfolio (print or web):
1) First impressions count, lead with your strongest image(s).
2) Variety is good. Don't put up a dozen shots from the same shoot. If you have a couple images (just a couple) that you feel are different enough from one shoot, that can be okay when starting a portfolio. But as you add more portfolio-worthy images to your repertoire, be willing to cut these similar shots down to just one.
3) Be selective - and objective. A portfolio is a presentation of the best of your work - it's generally better to have a small portfolio of really strong work than a large portfolio filled out with mediocre work.

I'm sure there is plenty more advice to be given; it'll be more relevant if you can tell us more about your photography and your intent behind a portfolio.

 

[KC1]

How do I create a portfolio?

Be aware that you, your family, and your close friends are likely the only people that will ever look at your portfolio.

There are millions other photographers out there that have done that.
So getting unrelated to you eyes to look at your online photos requires doing quite a bit of promotion and marketing.

This will always be the case, I have never looked at any photographers portfolio unless I know them personally, there's just too much noise out there to bother. There are over 273,000,000 sites out there, no one will go look at them.
You can always send a link of your portfolio when you apply for a position though.

 

[Vtec44]

I don't know about you guys but my clients actually look at my website, follow my Instagram, and stalk me on Facebook before hiring me.

I wish I'm kidding

 

[cauzimme]

First like many have said. What do you wanna shoot, what do you like the most, which artist really does it for you ? If it's nature, how do you wanna shoot it, to who are you looking for when shooting, if it's street photography same, browse internet, read about it, go outside and shoot the hell out of your camera. If its portrait, same, start by asking your friends, do test shot, organise shooting, give them the photo in exchange of their time, also there's a lot of fb groups for amateur photog and model and mua, join them!

You might want to have a small agenda while shooting. Today I need to shoot at least (random)20 photos, I wanna have 2 diagonnal, one vertical, one horizontal, one leadin line, one clair obscure ... give yourself some challenge, make water the subject, make concrete the subject, have a model in movement ... Anything! Give yourself some goals.

Once you got enough photo, create a twitter, a facebook page, an instagram and even a website, ask one of your friend to compose a small bio about you if you feel uncomfortable talking about yourself. Set up a gmail,a contact form. Be present on social media like twitter and facebook, add models and fellow photographer, follow people, talk about them, share post and retweet, people will do the same with you

 

[cauzimme]

I don't know about you guys but my clients actually look at my website, follow my Instagram, and stalk me on Facebook before hiring me.

I wish I'm kidding

I even stalk your facebook page!

 

[KC1]

Personally, I don't like the fotm trend sites like fb and twitter for a professional, have you made a linkedin profile yet?
You can link to a website with that too.

 

[Vtec44]

I even stalk your facebook page!

Unfortunately there's nothing juicy going on there. Your page however is a lot more interesting LOL

 

[robbins.photo]

Personally, I don't like the fotm trend sites like fb and twitter for a professional, have you made a linkedin profile yet?
You can link to a website with that too.

Guess it depends a lot on your target market. If your looking to do shoots for companies at say corporate events or professional head shots linkedin might be a better choice to market yourself.

If your looking to shoot weddings, family portraits, maternity, that sort of thing, Facebook is probably a much better marketing tool.

If your looking to do landscape or wildlife photography, Craigslist. Put your equipment up for sale because that's probably the only way you'll make a dime doing either.

 

[KC1]

Personally, I don't like the fotm trend sites like fb and twitter for a professional, have you made a linkedin profile yet?
You can link to a website with that too.

Guess it depends a lot on your target market. If your looking to do shoots for companies at say corporate events or professional head shots linkedin might be a better choice to market yourself.

If your looking to shoot weddings, family portraits, maternity, that sort of thing, Facebook is probably a much better marketing tool.

If your looking to do landscape or wildlife photography, Craigslist. Put your equipment up for sale because that's probably the only way you'll make a dime doing either.

I did a quick search just for kicks and found one site with 95 wildlife photographer positions... that's just one site and a 2 second search. Sure some are seasonal, but in wildlife wouldn't that be expected? I guess it depends on where you look.

 

[dennybeall]

Quality, quality, quality. If you've only got 5 or 10 good ones so far then only have 5 or 10 shots in your portfolio.
Also, consider separate sections/portfolios based on different markets that you may want to deal in.