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| *SoulEyes Photography>>>Photography Tips |
Organizing a photography portfolio? |
I need to organize a photography portfolio to take to local photo galaries with the purpose of selilng my photos. Can you give me any tips on what to include? What should it look like? How many photos should I use? anything I need to know? Thanks :) wow, Robert has the right idea. Get a website that's the easiest. Then just about anyone can view your work. Put together a CD of your 20 best images (this is for those who request a hard copy). Some people still live in ancient times and want slides. Make 20 slides as well. Your local photo store should be able to make you slides. This will not only have your best work but based on a strong portfolio they may want to see more. Make sure your portfolio is nice looking and clean. You want to keep it plain and black, so that the photos stand out the best. Supposedly, you're supposed to arrange your portfolio in a certain way. You're second best piece first, and your best piece last. the only other thing that you could possibly do is to mount the pictures onto some display board, but I don't think that's necessary unless the pictures don't stand out from the portfolio. Just have confidence in your work. Good luck! Obviously you have to know your market and your portfolio should reflect that and only that. If you have a variety of styles, you could put together more than one portfolio to present to different galleries. Usually portfolios have 12-20 pieces. Also, as you may know, galleries are usually not in the business of purchasing photos ... they display them and get a commission when a piece is sold. This answer is based on what I know from the past (long time ago) and what I hear from other photographers/photo buyers these days. First of all, 20 images seems to still be the norm. The point is that you want to ONLY show your best work. DO NOT INCLUDE that one shot that took you 3 days of trying to get just right...but that's still not THAT great. If possible, put together say 25-30 images that you think should be good enough and then take them to someone you respect as a good judge of visual media (or even post them on a site like flickr) and let them choose their top 20. This is not gospel, just a way for you to get feedback, particularly when it concerns images that you're on the fence about, or better yet, images that you THINK are great that others don't. The goal is to remove all emotional bias and only be left with the top 20 shots...period. Once you do that, you then have to decide what medium you want to use to display these images. I can tell you that there are still MANY photo buyers out there, from individuals to corporations to galleries that respect and value a good printed portfolio. Let's face it, anyone with a digital camera, computer and a bit of know-how can put together a slide show on a CD or a website. It takes relativly no money and just a tiny bit of time. Buyers know this and thus when you show up with a great looking, clean leather (or otherwise) bound portfolio filled with great looking prints, who do you think they will take more seriously. Oh, and BTW, make sure to go in and meet with these people in person. Don't just email them a link to your website and sit back and wait for the call. It won't come. If it were me, I would put together a GREAT looking portfolio, say 11x14 or so (it helps a lot that it's larger than your standard home printer's paper size) of prints, get some CDs or DVDs (most people can use a DVD these days) made as a "leave behind" so they can review your work after the meeting and then put up a website that has your portfolio as well as maybe a section for "new work" that can give a potential buyer an idea of where your head and work is currently. Just never underestimate the power of trying. The more you make an effort to demonstrate not only your ability, but your willingness to work hard to promote yourself, the more impressed a buyer will be without exception. Don't take the easy, cheap way out or all you'll get are easy, cheap buyers. 16 years as a professional photographer |
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