Who has a "proper" portfolio?

lukechad

lukechad

lukechad

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Just thinking to myself on how to get myself more known for my photography and displaying my work.

I have my own facebook group and website, but do people have hard printed portfolios with their photos in?

I think its something id like to get built up to show people.

Does anyone have recommendations on a professional looking album? Id imagine id want 50-100 photos in total and maybe have these at 8x6 in order for them to be nice and big to show off detail in photos?

Anyone have suggestions on where I might get one from? Looked in (shhh) Jessops but they are just more family albums which isnt really want I want with about 500 million sleeves for 6x4 holiday snaps?
 
50-100 is far far too many for a portfolio. I'd be looking at about 20 max. It doesn't matter how good your photos are, you will bore people with that many shots.
 
I have a set of tearsheets I'm building up. But thats because my interest is sports; it's proof your stuff is top-notch.

I'd assume it's the same for wedding/portrait shooters; you want proof you can deliver the goods.
 
Yeah maybe 50-100 is a lot.

The thing is I take photos of anything and everything so id imagine i'd require 10 or so per area then people could choose an area to look at maybe?
 
I've been thinking of this. So I've decided I'm going to buy myself an iPad. It's perfect for something like this.

The iPad is something everyone can use and find a joy to hold, great screen, don't need to pay for prints, easily updatable.

Perfect :)
 
Phate said:
I've been thinking of this. So I've decided I'm going to buy myself an iPad. It's perfect for something like this.

The iPad is something everyone can use and find a joy to hold, great screen, don't need to pay for prints, easily updatable.

Perfect :)
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and when you drop it, its £500 notes down the drain sausage fingers :D A paper / book equivalent is only a matter of tens of pounds ;)
 
Derek W said:
and when you drop it, its £500 notes down the drain sausage fingers :D A paper / book equivalent is only a matter of tens of pounds ;)
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Well don't be a retard and don't drop it then ;)

That's also what decent cases are for :p
 
Phate said:
I've been thinking of this. So I've decided I'm going to buy myself an iPad. It's perfect for something like this.

The iPad is something everyone can use and find a joy to hold, great screen, don't need to pay for prints, easily updatable.

Perfect :)
Click to expand...

Even the best screen is rubbish compared to a decent print.

iPad wins the novelty award but that's about it.
 
It wholly dependant on what you shoot.

Landscape, big giant A3 portfolio or some 12x12 albums double page spread to show off your work.

Weddings, iPad works because you don't look at 20 photos, you look at like 60+ from the day, and you can store multiple weddings on there, and not need to carry multiple albums. That said, my wedding albums are also my portfolio too.

iPad can work for landscape work but not for client meet,it would work for an impromptu chat and show someone your work, much like the iPhone but bigger. If you are turning up to a meeting, you really need a print. As they are not going to frame your iPad, the client would be buying prints and framing prints.
 
I like the ipad idea but I think people, epsecially the older generation like to look at prints in their hands too!
 
For all my weddings i do sample prints from ds colour labs, i make them 18x12, so they are nice and big. I do it for a few reasons, mostly to check colours, also to see what it looks like that size and also as a gift to the client too (as i don't need them after i know the colours are correct), and trust me, I like my photos on screen and on my site and on my iPad, but every time i print them on paper, at 18x12, I want to keep them for myself as they are SOOOO nice to look at on paper.
 
Check out Brodies Portfolio & Bag Emporium (Betterton Street, London).

I had my 14 x 11" books (portfolios) made up there a few years ago and they're excellent...pricey, but they look fantastic.

You just can't beat turning the pages of a beautifully made, leather bound, portfolio (embossed with your name of course) in my opinion.
 
I've got a handmade leather 11x14 portfolio from plastic sandwhich. It has a spine with brass bolts to hold the pages which I can either place sleeves in or straight punched and scored paper (something really nice and thick) so it constructs into more of a proper book. That and just like screens, I can't abide covering nice lustre photos with a hyper glossy surface.

I bought my portfolio years ago for Uni interviews but it's very high quality and will last a lifetime in all likelyhood. I don't really have much use for it nowadays with the web being so prevalent but as others have said, you still can't beat a good print for some things :) A well constructed and ordered hard copy portfolio is still one of the best ways to display your work short of a gallery IMO.
 
Trouble with the iPad (in this context, there's many... ;)) is your clients probably want to buy prints... so they'll want to see prints, not some glossy 10" screen.

I know a photographer who has one and the first thing he got asked was to see some prints. Same with any product - you want to see the product, not just a picture (even when the product is a picture!).
 
olv said:
50-100 is far far too many for a portfolio. I'd be looking at about 20 max. It doesn't matter how good your photos are, you will bore people with that many shots.
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I agree.


1 to 2 photographs a year will make it into my portfolio. This year I am too busy to take photography busy, I doubt I will get any portfolio shots. Maybe I will be lucky.


If you can get 1 single photograph in your lifetime that people across the world can be humbled by and recall or remember after your death then you have done better than most of the photographers on the planet.

It took Ansel Admas most of hist life to generate 1 amazing books worth, an of that perhaps 12 are outstanding and only a few will be remembered for though the history of mankind.

http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&...=UTF-8&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&biw=1257&bih=815
 
We have a portfolio setup like our wedding books, then a simple folder of 28 or so top quality prints from the last few months.

Currently have a 100% client meeting to booking ratio (sure to end now I've said that! ) so I think it does the trick!
 
Its something i am starting up again soon along with website and new flyers and so on as i am starting to work as a photographer again.

I will be getting a printed book of best shots which is something just to show off when people ask but also will be getting an ipad with different albums in of 10-20 shots in each to show of different types of photography depending on the client.

I think its down to how you want to show your work in the end i was one for putting everything on a photoblog and on flickr but now i really dont see the point when i start again i will wipe flickr and start again and maby have a photoblog as an extra on the site not a full blog site.
 
I don't have one for photography but I have a few portfolios for uni and work projects, you need to be selective on what you show really no more than 30 images as you want to show only your best work and you have to talk about everything you show.

I think using an iPad as a portfolio is probably something that will become quite common in the coming years; especially with designers as you will be able to demonstrate video works, but wether it will live out or just remain a gimmick is yet to be seen.

I have one of these that I used for university purposes
20100820-j4wjm8y7bbjhhx3g9e8cekyspc.jpg


and these are a bit more professional, all my portfolios are A3 as its a descent size for visual work and easy to carry.
20100820-tfctweub3916q2x511mfq2nphk.jpg


And as mentioned by someone else the Plastic Sandwich leather print books are really slick looking!
20100820-rt8a7e3fbg6rkjffkde7fd6tf7.jpg


They are a worth while investment even if you will probably only use them a handful of times a year.
 
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