Creating a portfolio of one’s own work can be a daunting task, but it’s an essential part of presenting oneself as a photographer. A top notch book is one of the best ways communicate one’s ability and vision, especially when it can be viewed online and around the world.
Here are eight ways to make yourself look good.
- Keep it short and sweet
- Show quality
- Show range
- Start strong
- End strong
- Put the rest in the middle
- Don’t put it to popular vote
- Keep it fresh
These are my suggestions for building a portfolio with the maximum impact. Let’s drill down.
With a portfolio, quantity counts for nothing. If the viewer wants to see more, they’ll look for it. And if they can’t find it, they’ll ask. Both of these consequences are good. I usually aim to include 12-20 images in a photography portfolio.
Following up to the first tip, only the best images should go into the portfolio. Consistency and distinction in your images should be a key takeaway. Showing anything but the best is often a waste of time; when you have someone’s attention, make every image count.
And aside from quality, each image should speak to some aspect of your vision and ability. In choosing images, ask, “What does this image say about me as a photographer?” If multiple images are competing for the same specific message, consider paring down for the sake of efficiency. Expressing range, however, should not be confused with a lack of focus. Every image should work toward a singular goal of expressing your eye and capabilities as a photographer.
Start out with a bang. You want to put your second to best shot up front to catch the viewer’s attention. Why the second best? Keep reading.
With your last image, you want to reinforce everything that has come before and end with the impression of excellence. This position is where your standout image goes, since it’s the last image in the set that the viewer will see.With the last piece, your goal is to leave a mark. The viewer made it to the end, so go for the knock out punch.
There is no filler in a portfolio, but everything that isn’t your absolute best should go in the middle. After the lead off image, gradually decrease in image impact until you get to the middle of the series, and then ramp back up for the strong finish.In other words, the highest impact images should be book ends to the images that establish the tone of your work.
Bless your friends and family, but portfolios should not be decided by committee; what is popular is not always what makes your eye or execution unique.If need be, I’d suggest paring down a selection of your best images as well as you can and then enlist the keen eye of someone whose taste you trust to make the final selection.
Just like seafood, it’s better fresh. Once you’ve established your book, keep it as up to date as possible. Aside from assembling it in the first place, this task is one of the biggest challenges of a great portfolio.As you develop as a photographer and add different elements to your style (or polish it), don’t neglect to reflect that growth in the portfolio.
End Notes:
As a condensed representation of a photographer’s vision, the portfolio is a highly valuable tool for introducing oneself to an audience, especially with the ease of sending someone a link.
Whether it’s used as a sales piece to land clients, an informative statement about one’s work and capabilities, or simply a way to succinctly share with friends and family, a portfolio is a great tool for making an effective and lasting impression. If someone is taking the time to look at your work, make it count.
If you want to see if I followed the above eight tips, head over to my portfolio.
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This entry was posted on Thursday, January 10th, 2008 at 10:31 pm and is filed under Photography Tutorials and tagged with advice, artist, book, concert photography, photography, photography portfolio, Photography Tutorials, portfolio, tips, vision. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
Welcome to ishootshows.com, your source for music photography featuring daily concert coverage, portrait features, and photo advice from professional music photographer Todd Owyoung.
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Great guide, the length is perfect. I also love the new shots in your own portfolio. You were due for an update.
Thanks, Chris. I am going to start writing more how-to articles and I will eventually compile/link up under a tutorials section.
And thanks for checking out the new portfolio. I had to follow my own advice, after all, and it was time to change it up.
Hey,
I’m an aspired photographer and there is a camp I am looking to attend for photography. To attend this camp, I must supply a portfolio. Could you please give me some tips on what type of pictures should be in it, if all of them should be black and white, how I should set it up, and if all of them should follow the same theme.
Thank You,
Grace
I’m elated that you have a blog now! :) The tips you post after each photoshoot are great. Keep up all the fab work. :D
Hey Terry,
Good to hear from you after so long, I’m glad you found this site. Thanks for the support, I appreciate it.
Hey Old Neighbor!!!
I am absolutely blown away by your work as well as Chris’. You give me inspiration for my passion of photography. I may not be as skilled as yall, but you give great inspiration. I know I may still be a virgin at it, but i did Leah’s wedding and hope to aspire as well as you and your brother……My favorite photo i have taken? Walking along the side walk of your parents house, and shooting their bamboo garden. The lines are great. Hope all is well with your family.
Hey Carrie! How’s it going? It’s good to hear from you, it’s cool to hear you’re doing photography as well. I’d be interested in seeing that shot of the bamboo, too.
Hope all is well!
[...] et m’avoir autorisé à traduire son texte que vous pouvez retrouver ici en anglais : 8 Tips for a Great Photography Portfolio, ainsi que son portfolio. Personnellement je trouve que son portfolio est très réussi, il montre [...]
very good suggest
Really good tips! There’s so many places to create a free portfolio now too! I recently started using Viewbook..It’s a lot better than most other sites i’ve tried..That’s my portfolio tip;)
Hey thanks for the tips, i like the refrence that you use saying that the two best shots should be like the book ends because this is where my portfolio has failed for i have put my most in depth and meaning full shots at the front and gradually went downhill thanks again
Rhyss, I’m very glad to hear this write-up was helpful for you. Best of luck with your work.
Great tips, Todd! Thanks :)
Hey Bobin, hope you found it useful. Which reminds me, I need to update my portfolio.
[...] Concert Photography: Tutorial Series Concert Photography: Gear Guide How-To: Metering & Exposure, pt. 1 How-To: Metering & Exposure, pt. 2 How-To: Shooting with Telephoto Lenses 8 Tips for a Great Photography Portfolio [...]
Hey Todd,
Great artical and finding it was great timing as I’m just putting together my portfolio for Gig photography in Scotland.
I tend to think of a portfolio like I think of a set list. You need to start strong with a couple of crackers, put a few strong/biggies in the middle when interest is starting to drift off and then gradually ramp up to a spectacular finish. Your artical pretty much confirms that.
Love the site.
See you in the Charts!
Bob
Hey Bob, thanks for the comment. You’re exactly right, a portfolio is in many ways simply a visual performance, with different movements. Great analogy.
Hey, Todd!
Thanks for these useful tips!
Could you please tell your thoughts about positioning photographs of different subjects in one portfolio? If, for example, I would like to include Portraits, Travel, Blia-Bla and Bla-Bla-Bla ?
Thank you!
Peter
Hi Peter, glad you found the tips helpful. If you have different subjects such as portraits and travel, I would suggest creating separate portfolios for each image set. I think that this would be the best solution so that each set has the most individual impact.
Nice one, ive been trying to put one together to support my uni application!
[...] Concert Photography: Tutorial Series How-To: Metering & Exposure, pt. 1 How-To: Metering & Exposure, pt. 2 Choosing Lenses For Concert Photography 8 Tips for a Great Photography Portfolio [...]
I really need to make one, one of these days.
You should! In spite of all these tips, the task of creating a portfolio doesn’t have to be intimidating.
The process of putting together your best shots should be fun, too, after all. It’s a chance to reevaluate your progress as a photographer and to express your vision.
In fact, working on a portfolio can help a photographer identify patterns, tendencies, and stylistic elements that make his/her work unique, which in itself is a very valuable bit of knowledge.
I think showing your unique style should be one of the goals of your portfolio, and I think that’s one of the reasons you can’t put your portfolio to a popular vote. Nobody knows what kind of work you want to represent you as an artist except for you.
I’ve managed to get by thus far without one, but really ought to pull something together to expand my horizons.
Hey Dan,
I must take back the part of a portfolio being essential then, as you’ve shown us all how well one can do without one!
See, I wasn’t being lazy by never making one, I was just copying Dan!
[...] Concert Photography: Tutorial Series How-To: Metering & Exposure, pt. 1 How-To: Metering & Exposure, pt. 2 Choosing Lenses For Concert Photography 8 Tips for a Great Photography Portfolio [...]
Great guide, Todd! Love all the info you so selflessly give here. I have a question… how do you get your copyright info consistently the same size on each image? What program do you use and how do you deal with cropped images with different dimensions?
Again, thank you :)
Hey Irina, thanks, glad to hear you enjoyed the guide.
Regarding the watermark, I have an action setup in Photoshop that automatically applies the watermark during my save-for-web routine. The action is setup to align to the bottom right of the image, so the orientation doesn’t matter. Hope this helps.
Thank you Todd, that was very helpful! Using actions is much more consistent with size (and faster) than my previous drag and drop method. Cheers! ~irina
Hi Irina, glad the actions are working out for you. It definitely makes things a bit easier to be able to batch-process multiple images.
[...] Concert Photography: Tutorial Series How-To: Metering & Exposure, pt. 1 How-To: Metering & Exposure, pt. 2 Choosing Lenses For Concert Photography 8 Tips for a Great Photography Portfolio [...]
Thanks again for your great tips! I have an interview tomorrow and they’ve asked me to bring a portfolio. I guess it’s time to put one together. ;)
Hey Lisa,
Good luck on your interview! Knock ‘em dead.
Hello,
Thanks for the tips, they are really helpful and informative. I’m thinking of creating my own online portfolio, but I’m researching first so I’ll be able to create something great!
Manal Ali.
Hey Manal, glad to hear you enjoyed the tips, hope they help when you come to make your own portfolio.
Thanks for the tute, twas very helpful. I need some guidence as to whether there should be a particular point you’re trying to make through the series of photos when you create a portfolio. Should I be telling a story??? Im a very lost little girl!!!!!!!
[...] Concert Photography: Tutorial Series How-To: Metering & Exposure, pt. 1 How-To: Metering & Exposure, pt. 2 Choosing Lenses For Concert Photography 8 Tips for a Great Photography Portfolio [...]
Hey Sarah, glad to hear this was helpful, thanks for the comment.
Ultimately, I think you should be telling a story of sorts with a portfolio. At the most basic, it’s a narrative of yourself as a photographer – showing depth, vision, and ability.
@jewelgiroux Check out this link with portfolio tips http://bit.ly/KoVXH it has some great info
hey, I’m trying to make a photographic portfolio. i was wondering what programs u can use to create them. any particular adobe programs? cheers, Chris.
Thanks for the tips! I’m putting together my first portfolio for a university interview and this guide has definiately helped
Hey Laura,
Thanks for the comment, very glad to hear this helped as you’re putting together your photo portfolio.
Thanks for the tips Todd,
I took up photography a few years ago and got into the pit for my first major festival this summer, the Common Ground Music Festival, and I haven’t stopped this summer I’m actually going to prince edward island, Cavendish Beech Music Festival, to take pictures. I just wanted to thank you for this website, everything I learned about concert photography came from here. I’m putting together a portfolio for a scholarship app. for college and I love how this is short and to the point.
Thanks again,
Graeme
Hi Todd,
this is really useful information, thank you.
I have university interviews coming up in a few months as im choosing to do BA(Hons)Photography. My teacher doesn’t have a clue about what size my portfolio should be and my photos etc.
I also don’t know whether printing my photos in matt or gloss is better.
If you could email me that would be great!
Thank you, Sarah :)
Hey Sarah,
Glad to hear you found this article useful, thanks for the comment. Regarding prints, I think it depends on the work. I think matte or satin finishes can be good for some work where less contrast and punch is necessary, while there are other images that require that extra wow of a slick glossy print.
As for the size, I would say print as large a size that can be easily transported or mailed. Keep in mind that you should be matting your prints as well so that they’re easy to view. Alternatively, you could take the route of having a portfolio with sleeves so it’s easy to flip through.
this is probably a really stupid question
but what do you put it in? just a nice binder or should I get a smaller art portfolio.
otherwise this was very helpful, thank you so much.
Hi Liz,
You could do either. It depends on the nature of the presentation, but you might book at options at a shop like Light Impressions:
http://www.lightimpressionsdirect.com/presentation-transporting-art-binders-boxes/
Itoya’s portfolio books are super simple:
http://www.lightimpressionsdirect.com/itoya-art-portfolio-book-11-x-14/presentation-display-album/
Hi Todd!
Thanks so much for this lovely article and for sharing your knowledge with us! These tips are exactly what I needed to finally get my portfolio together.
Of course, I viewed your work – it’s brilliant!
Rock ‘n roll!
Cynthia~
Hey Cynthia – thanks for the kind words, hope this was useful for you. Cheers.
Can you suggest to me what I should use to attach my photographs to my 11×17 portfolio? Is there a certain type of acid free tape that would be best? I want to be able to change them out fairly easily without ruining the paper or the photograph.
was reading up on making a photography portfolio and came across this http://bit.ly/bD4cca
Great tips. Thank you so much for your tips. I’m so glad I found this. :P
[...] http://ishootshows.com/2008/01/10/8-tips-for-a-great-photography-portfolio/ [...]
putting together my latest portfolio & got some great tips from @toddowyoung http://bit.ly/KoVXH
8 Tips for a Great Photography Portfolio | ishootshows.com: http://bit.ly/cyNoiS via @addthis
8 Tips for a Great Photography Portfolio | ishootshows.com: http://bit.ly/cyNoiS via @addthis http://bit.ly/caCP0t
8 Tips for a Great Photography Portfolio | ishootshows.com: http://bit.ly/cyNoiS via @addthis http://bit.ly/95GdgG Photography.alltop
RT @toddowyoung 8 Tips for a Great Photography Portfolio http://bit.ly/ofd2l
thanks for the tips. i will get crackin on it today!
Good luck, Jaime.
8 Tips for a Great Photography Portfolio || http://bit.ly/dmO56u || via Ace Concert Photog @toddowyoung of ishootshows.com
Tips for creating an online Photography portfolio. Keep it short & sweet and stay fresh: http://bit.ly/9fYPL
8 tips for a great photography portfolio: http://ishootshows.com/2008/01/10/8-tips-for-a-great-photography-portfolio/ #nossi
As of yet I have to make my portfolio, I am still a college student and found out today I have a Uni interview for photography in 2 weeks and I need a portfolio. Is there any chance any one could take a look at a small collection of my images on my flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/eloiserudd/ and give me some advice?
Thanks, Ellie x
[...] 8 Tips For a Great Photography Portfolio [...]
Todd,
This is an excellent article and well written. As a professional full time photographer I know the power a good portfolio can have. I recently changed my portfolio and have seen around 30% improvement in closing business.
You article provides some great tips. I would also add that having a hook, or something unique that flows through the portfolio is also good to make yourself stand out.
Keep it up
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A great read – http://ishootshows.com/2008/01/10/8-tips-for-a-great-photography-portfolio/
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8 Tips for a Great Photography Portfolio : http://t.co/yU0wbLXK
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Hi Todd,
I’ve been on your site for hours reading your articles and tips and I must say they’re really helpful, especially since I’m just starting out as a music photographer and have a long way ahead of me. I’m trying my best to learn as much as I can, as fast as possible; the only fast lens I’ve got at the moment is a 50mm f/1.8 but I’ve been doing my best with what I have.
Anyways, I decided to put together a quick portfolio as soon as I read this article. I tried to follow your 8 tips here, but I was wondering if you’d be willing to take a look at it for me, suggest a few I should take out (if any) and how to best order it, and if possible maybe take a look at some of my work and give me any advice possible (composition-wise, and anything it seems like I can improve on while shooting). The portfolio is here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/s_chen/sets/72157628694412719/with/6540015929/ and I’d truly appreciate anyone else’s feedback in addition to Todd’s! Thanks!
Sandra
[...] knock it down to the best 20 or so. 10 Steps for Building a Photography Portfolio to Be Proud Of The Best Tips for a Great Photography Portfolio Originally Posted by PSMaverick Come to think of it why dont you present it off an iPad or [...]
Hi Todd,
I totally agree to your Tips – especially Nr 1, 2 and 7 are often overlooked. The problem with asking your familiy and friends is that just the question pushes them to form a intelligent answer – and that way you’ll never get the real impression they have as a feeling. And of course it should be your clients who like your portfolio.
And if you wan’t to showcase your portfolio on iPads or such you can try foliodock.com. It connects to your already existing online-portolio (wordpress, indexhibit, slideshowpro…) and creates a web-app for you.
Best, Timo
Beatiful website, images and great tips.
Great portfolio…I really dig your work.