If you were to ask any of the professional photographers out there, they would tell you that there comes a time and a reason to improve your photography portfolio. Maybe it’s too old which results in everything new missing or maybe you have to show a different set of pictures to a different set of people. Or you want to show off your new creative photography techniques. Whatever be the case, we’re giving you a step-by-step list on how one goes about improving their photography portfolio. This might even inspire photography ideas for beginners too.
Who is going to see my photography work?
This should be the first question you ask yourself before making a new portfolio or changing an existing one. If you know who is going to see your work and what they like, your portfolio can become one that is immediately appreciated.
Keeping what works and removing the rest
Once you figure out what your audience or client wants to see, it’s time to dig through your old portfolio and see which pictures still represent your style and which don’t. Some of your pictures may be very good though they may also not be appropriate for your audience in the way that it’s presented so it might have to be removed or presented in a different way. Once you start ensuring that the best pictures in your portfolio are displayed first, you’ll be more likely to be eligible for your dream photography job.
Add new work to your photography portfolio
This could be the most tedious part of this process. You will need to sift through all your images and choose what looks best for your portfolio. These could be images that you are confident of recreating or images that are experimental that you wish to work towards improving upon. Whatever it might be, the more recent your work, the more likely it’s bound to impress employers looking to hire a creative photographer.
Ensure Your Photographs are in Soft copy and hard copy formats
The bright side of using a digital format for displaying your portfolio is that it becomes easy to share. Suffice to say, Indiefolio is a worthwhile place for people to check out your creative work and you could simply mail the link from your profile to anyone. However, if it’s necessary to mail your portfolio as a bunch of files, ensure that its size is not more than 25 MB. A lot of email addresses don’t accept attachments that are larger than this. If your pictures are too large, we recommend a simple jpeg resizer from here or a more powerful one from here. For hard copies, a leather case like this or a similar aesthetic material should hold all your pictures just fine.
Meet with senior photographers
Assembling your pictures into appropriate formats does not make your portfolio ready to go into the world. Ask a photographer who has been working consistently in the industry to review your portfolio. You will have to swallow your ego and take in all the constructive criticism that you get for your creative photography. Do the same with another photographer and see what’s common with their criticism. Then go back and implement those changes.
Create Sections and subsections in Your Photography Portfolio
If your portfolio has a variety of subjects then it would be wise to divide your work into sections and subsections that give your work a more organized feeling. This will save your time later. How? Imagine you’re trying to get one of the best photography jobs in India shooting a famous product but within your portfolio, your product shots are the last thing someone going through your portfolio sees. Rather than this taking place, dividing your creative work will not only make it easier for anyone to look through your portfolio but it also shows your most relevant work to your client or audience looking to hire a photographer.
Retain your soul in your photography portfolio
Though you will get some useful criticism from a lot of people about your creative photography work, if it doesn’t align with your vision, don’t change because of it. It’s very important to keep seeing your portfolio from different points of view but it’s not necessary to give in to all of them. In the end, it’s still going to be your portfolio and you need to make something you will be proud of. Change your portfolio into one that shows the most value for you rather than one showing chaos because you tried to please everyone. Most people are looking to hire a photographer who has a unique yet creative perspective towards the work they are providing.
Final touches
You have everything arranged, planned and ready to go. You’re about to put it into the world but wait, don’t do it yet because there is still one more thing you can do for your portfolio: Use a graphic designer. There are a ton of great freelance graphic designers out there, we know because we have them on our platform, and a good designer will ensure that your portfolio looks amazing to everyone.
There you have it. That’s how we suggest you go about improving your photography portfolio. Indiefolio is also committed to photographers acquiring photography jobs in India. Preferably creative photography jobs that will enable us to build a career for photographers with talent. Why not get some more ideas by checking out some photography posts on our blog? Click the buttons below.
If you think we missed anything, leave a comment or send a mail to richard@indiefolio.com and we’d love to hear from you. If it’s good enough, we’ll change our article and mention you in it.