Photo portfolios offer enthusiasts the opportunity to showcase their passion and professional a chance to attract new clients. By creating a portfolio you are saying; this is what I can do, this is my style of photography.
But with many other photographers also vying for attention and work, how can you make your portfolio rise to the top, stand out from the crowd and be noticed? Well, we’re serving up five solid gold nuggets of advice that should set you on your way to creating your own killer portfolio that will stop viewers in their tracks…
A great portfolio is a 24/7 advert for your photography. Original image by Igor Miske/Unsplash
1 - Pick the right platform:
Back in the day, portfolios consisted of carrying around a collection of large prints, but obviously these days digital platforms are the order of the day. That’s good news because not only can you get your imagery under the gaze of a massively bigger audience, photographers also have a huge choice when it comes to picking a platform. At one end of the spectrum, some photographers choose to use free imaging-hosting sites like Flickr or even Facebook - the latter having the added benefit of the user being able to post images that can be shared and generate a viral buzz for your photography brand.
At the other end of the spectrum are the dedicated portfolio sites provided by brands such as Zenfolio and SmugMug (who recently bought up Flickr). These sites cost money but typically offer a free trial period and are incredibly easy to use, allowing you to set up a great-looking portfolio site in just a few minutes. What’s more, most of these platforms also allow you to bolt-on an e-commerce shop, enabling fans to buy prints of your portfolio photos and some offer a large amount of storage space to act as an extra online back-up for your shots. Whichever end of the spectrum you choose, just make sure the platform is easy to navigate and looks beautiful – avoid sites that have too many sub-menus that require loads of mouse-clicking and also steer clear of plastering watermarks all over an image as it just looks ugly.
There's a portfolio platform to suit every photographer's budget.
2 - Be your harshest critic:
Portfolio sites aren’t about uploading every image you’ve ever taken. Instead, they are about showing your best work and this means you need to be far more selective about what you showcase. The first page/landing page is a 24/7 advert for your photography and should scream ‘this is what I can create’ to anybody who visits it.
Photographers tend to improve their skills as they shoot more often, so showcasing the first images you took when you bought that new DSLR is not the best idea. Be your harshest critic, put together a shortlist of around ten images and then start ranking them as to how successful you think the image showcases both your skills, but also your own personal style as well.
Order the images so that the number one photo appears either first on the screen or largest on the screen depending on if you’ve opted for a slideshow or grid layout on your portfolio platform. If you don’t think an image makes the grade, don’t be precious about it - simply remove it from the portfolio and replace it with something better.
3 - Be niche or show your diversity:
The actual content of the imagery you upload to is down to you and you may decide to go one of two routes. First, you may decide to showcase just one genre you work in - for example portraiture or macro photography. Many photographers prefer this niche approach as it displays that you’re a specialist in this field of photography and know exactly what you’re doing. However, you may prefer to show the diversity of your photography skills set and include images across a range of genres that demand different approaches. For example, showcasing a number of brilliantly executed landscapes, wildlife imagery and commercial product photos shows you can work in different and challenging environments.
Go niche or show a diversity of your photo skills - the choice is yours.
4 - Update regularly and tell people about your portfolio website:
One trick professional photographers use to help their portfolio stand out from the crowd is to update it regularly and even add a ‘photo of the month' section. This not only keeps the site looking fresh, but shows potential clients that you are a photographer in demand, keeping busy and shooting for a range of customers or brands. Instead of waiting for clients to come and visit your site, why not reverse the process and go to them.
If you have a list of email addresses of people you want to work with, send out an email or newsletter every month to share three images you have taken over the last four weeks. The benefits of this proactive approach mean companies will see you’re busy and be able to check out your new work on a regular basis.
Update your website regularly to keep it looking fresh.
5 - Make it easy to find:
Lastly, if people are told about your work or interested about your style of photography, the first thing they will do is jump on the computer and use an internet search engine to try and find your portfolio site. With this in mind, think very carefully about what you name your portfolio. Using a dedicated URL is preferred and if you can, keep it simple, avoid cryptic branding and, instead, use your name.
To help my portfolio stand out from the crowd, I also purchased the . co. uk version of the URL too, as this clears any traffic in the Google search rankings and helps my portfolio move towards the top. You can also push this further by adding meta-tags to your images that include your website name. This digital self-promotion is something film photographers didn’t need to deal with but today’s photographers need every trick in the book to move to the front of the crowd.
A little SEO can go a long way and give you the edge over other photographers.
. digitalrev.com2018-5-18 03:00
