When building a professional portfolio, the first step is to select a platform that meets your needs and preferences. There are many choices, from online portfolio websites and platforms, to social media accounts, to personal websites and blogs. The best one for you depends on your budget, target market, technical skills, and desired features. When making your decision, consider the ease of use and customization of the platform, cost and maintenance of the platform, security and privacy of the platform, analytics and feedback tools of the platform, as well as compatibility and responsiveness of the platform across different devices and browsers.
The next step to building a professional portfolio is to curate your work and select the best pieces that represent your style, skills, and niche. Aim for 10 to 20 high-resolution, well-edited images that are consistent in style and tone. Your selection should be relevant to your target audience and goals, as well as diverse in terms of subjects, locations, lighting, angles, and techniques. Moreover, strive for originality over cliché; choose images that are unique, creative, and memorable instead of common or generic ones. This way, you can showcase a variety of work that demonstrates your range, versatility, and creativity while still focusing on a specific genre, theme, or message that defines your brand.
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While building a portfolio is about showcasing your work in a way that should attract your audience, note that the first audience you ever have is yourself. And so, be yourself, be authentic! No matter the versatility of your work, bless each piece with the opportunity of oozing out your authenticity.
A professional portfolio also organizes your work in a way that is easy to navigate, understand, and appreciate. You should create a logical and coherent structure that guides viewers through your work and tells a story. Consider creating categories or sections based on genre, niche, or theme; subcategories or subpages based on subgenre, project, or client; galleries or slideshows based on series, collection, or concept; and captions or descriptions based on title, date, location, or context. For example, you could create categories such as portraits, landscapes, weddings, travel; subcategories such as editorial portraits, family portraits, corporate portraits; galleries such as black and white and minimalism; and captions like "Sunset at the Lake, 2020, Ontario, Canada" and "A Day in the Life of a Chef, 2019, New York, USA".
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In this regard, it helps to pick the minds of people who specialize in multimedia design. I've been fortunate enough to always have fresh eyes look at my portfolio before publishing. As naturally, we tend to be over critical or biased toward our own work, it helps to get a second opinion from a professional. when trying to cater to a specific audience, or adjust to fit certain frames for advertising, it helps to know what the do's and don'ts are in their world.
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Telling a story with your portfolio is key to keeping it memorable. You can stack it up in files, categories and subcategories all you want. If it doesn’t have a storyline, then it will only be nothing but a group of saved photos. Think memorable, think story.
Building a professional portfolio means updating your work regularly and keeping it fresh and relevant. Showing viewers that you are active, evolving, and improving as a photographer is essential. To do this, add new images that are relevant to your goals, audience, and niche. Additionally, remove old images that are outdated, low-quality, or inconsistent with your brand. You can also rearrange or reorganize your images to create a better flow or balance and edit or enhance them to improve their quality or appearance. This way, you can showcase your latest and best work that reflects your current skills, style, and vision.
The final step to building a professional portfolio is to promote your work and reach out to potential clients, employers, and collaborators. You want to increase your visibility, credibility, and reputation as a photographer while generating interest, engagement, and feedback from viewers. To do this, you can share your portfolio on social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, etc., create a blog or newsletter to share stories and insights related to your work, join online communities of photographers and other creatives, participate in contests or events related to your work, and ask for referrals or reviews from previous or current clients.
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The end goal of your portfolio should be promotion and that must be well thought of and deliberate. With that in mind, what do you want your audience to feel when they scroll through your portfolio? What do you want them to think? What do you want them to do? When you have answers to these questions, run a promotional campaign to get targeted views to your portfolio.
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Here is an example of an online portfolio for a Graphic Designer: https://yesu.neocities.org/port It contains Installation Maps, Signage, and more.
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A portfolio for a photographer and an artist’s portfolio differ in many respects. Creating a website, and showcasing your work are among the last things to consider. If the work does not speak on its own— nothing will come of your efforts. I will post my process because it doesn’t fit this outline.
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All portfolios differ no doubt. However, there are key principles to abide by when compiling a portfolio. Top of all principles is authenticity, next is being memorable, everything in between and last is to promote it. Without promotion, your portfolio may never be seen by the right people.
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Johanna Murillo
Brand Visuals and Media Production / Community Leader / Women in Business Advocate /
Many professionals often miss the opportunity to showcase their best work in a portfolio that truly attracts attention. To fix this, they should focus on a specific niche or target audience, curate their portfolio strategically, and highlight the impact and results achieved in each project. #BrandStrategy #Branding
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