Portfolio Advice for Photographers

You’ll want some of your photographs to have a wow factor. Those photos will capture someone’s attention, evoke an emotional response, or make a last impression. Showing something unique is a great start.

If you treat sales like a funnel, you’ll want to share images that appeal to the widest demographic within your target audience.

Clients love photographs that show candid moments—whether or not they’re truly candid. Posed photography is great, but you might need to add real moments.

Your friends and family may not want to tell you the truth about your photography. Or they don’t know enough about photography to offer you useful critiques. Find someone you trust who can tell you the truth about your work.

We’ve all created amazing unicorn photographs that are one-in-a-lifetime captures. And you should include those in your portfolio. However, most of your portfolio should share photos you can consistently deliver to clients on every job.

Even if you have an amazing photo of a frog flying, don’t share that photo in your portfolio if you have no interest in doing more of that work. It only confuses visitors.

When you include recognizable local landmarks or signage, visitors are reassured that you’re a local photographer familiar with the area.

You don’t know how many photos visitors will view before deciding whether they should learn more. Remember, always include your best photos at the top of your portfolio. And if they’re not your best photos, you should choose based on their appeal to your most profitable potential clients.

Avoid mixing editing styles in a single portfolio. In other words, don’t mix natural editing with dark and moody photos with bright and airy images. Visitors want to feel reassured that they know what they’ll get when they hire you.

Some clients won’t notice your retouching errors, but others might. So, instead of leaving that exit sign in the background of your favorite moment, spend a few minutes carefully retouching every portfolio photograph.

Can you tell if your photographs have been retouched? Does skin look authentic or is it plastic-looking? Are the colors shown accurate? Subtlety is your friend. You can improve an image without removing its natural and realistic appearance.

Background repetition in your photos should be avoided. I aim to include no more than two photographs with the same background in any portfolio.

Showing visitors the same content, subjects, poses, and composition doesn’t convince viewers you’re a great photographer. It usually just bores people.

Consider a consistent color theme or style for your photographs so color transitions are subtle as the viewer moves through your portfolio—unless your style is intentionally jarring.

When you share black and white photographs, make sure they are all similarly processed. You’ll want them to feature similar temperatures, tonal ranges, and contrast so your potential clients know you’ll deliver consistent black-and-white photographs.

There’s a standing debate among photographers and photo editors as to how many photos you should include in your portfolio.

The right answer to the portfolio photo quantity question is to show as many photographs as necessary to convince someone to call or hire you.

Clients often want to see examples that closely match the work they want, which sometimes means a larger-than-expected portfolio.

If you want to photograph weddings, you must show many photos. If you want to photograph products, you need a product photography portfolio. Don’t expect to close business in a specialty area you don’t show—even though that occasional random inquiry sometimes happens anyway.

When your portfolio features photographs of the same individuals, some visitors may think you haven’t done enough work to have variety. I never show more than two photographs of the same subject in the same portfolio.

Some visitors may select photographers based on their ability to see themselves in your photography. So, if you’d like to photograph South Asian weddings, you must show South Asian subjects. If you’d like to photograph headshots for companies, you’ll want to share photos of different genders and ethnicities.

Beyond gender and ethnicity, the styles and photography subject matter may help establish your commitment to serving diverse individuals.

Evaluate each pose and determine if it’s the best possible pose for that person. For example, we might ask someone who is very fit to face the camera directly, while someone heavier might be best posed at a 45-degree angle to the camera.

You’ll want to make sure that the apparel, hairstyles, and other objects in the scene don’t make your photos look dated. For example, for wedding photography, you might avoid trendy wedding dresses that went out of style 5 years ago. Similarly, if you’re feature event photography, you don’t want to share photos of someone using an early iPhone.

Do your subjects’ expressions show contentment, joy, love, happiness, tenderness, devotion, and every other emotion? If most of your subjects show the same emotion, visitors might wonder if you can draw emotions out of your subjects.

If you’re targeting the luxury market, your portfolio should reflect luxury products. For example, you wouldn’t target luxury wedding clients with photographs of brides wearing dresses from David’s Bridal.

Every portfolio choice you make has potential consequences.

For example, if you show same-sex wedding photos in your photography portfolio, you’ll surely alienate some visitors. However, if you’re like me, you may embrace that work if your studio promotes marriage equality and you think you’ll get more business than you’ll lose with that approach.

My point is the content of each photo may influence potential client inquiries.

If you’re a photographer who enjoys workshops or styled shoot-outs, that’s totally fine. Just ensure that if you include non-client photos from those sessions in your portfolio (which I don’t necessarily endorse), you don’t include too many.

If every photographer in your area shows a photograph of a couple in front of a building holding hands and looking at the camera, you showing the same photograph doesn’t help establish that you’re unique. You may need to include a photo like that because it’s standard fare, but make sure at least some of your photos are unique.

If someone saw your portfolio, went to twenty other websites, and returned, would they remember having been there? Would they remember you even if they don’t return? Always look for ways to make your work more memorable.

This is a difficult concern to quantify. When you reach a certain point in your career, your work may become so recognizable that some folks can identify you as the author. As a photographer, I’ve always felt that this was an aspirational goal I should work on every day.

Why should a visitor hire you if your photos look like everyone else’s? Dare to be different!

It might be helpful if you included before-and-after photographs that help visitors understand how you transform an ordinary photograph into something extraordinary. Many website platforms offer plugins and features that include this functionality.

Don’t make visitors dig for your best photos. Make every gallery accessible using just a single click from your home page.

Only include categories where your portfolio is strong. If you don’t yet have enough strong photos for a category, don’t include that category until you build that portfolio.

Every website platform is different but find out the best image sizes for that platform and follow those sizing guidelines religiously.

Do your portfolio images load quickly on visitor browsers when someone visits your site? If not, they may leave your site without sticking around for the pay off.

Fancy fades and wipes might be neat in some slideshows, but simple transitions work best on websites and most portfolios.

Have you looked at your portfolio on a large retina display? What about on your phone? If not, visit your local Apple Store and look at your own website. You might be surprised at what you discover.

General

Quality

Style

Quantity

Subjects

Differentiation

Usability

Next Steps