How to build a photography portfolio for beginners

Transcript: Making a photography portfolio with WordPress should be easy and in this video I'm going to show you how to get started with easy photography portfolio plugin for WordPress so let's begin by installing the plugin go to plugins add new and search for easy photography portfolio click on in now and when it's done in sterling you can click on activate you are already watching the video tutorial so I'm just going to close this message and now let's get started the plugin is going to try to automatically create a portfolio page for you if that doesn't work out it's going to try to create a page called easy photography portfolio and if that doesn't work out well then you're going to have to create your own page in my case it looks like the portfolio page is already set so I can go to my portfolio and just double check that the portfolio settings are correct in here as well this is the only important setting that you need to pay attention to its called main portfolio page and as you can see it's set automatically to portfolio so I don't need to do anything else in... See more →

Transcript: Hi, I'm Tony Northrup and for chapter oneof my book Stunning Digital Photography, I'd like to talk toyou about making your own online portfolio. Now it's not something just forpros either, everybody needs to have a portfolio because this is key to tracking your progressand improvement as a photographer. A portfolio is how youshow your best work to the world but its also how youkeep track of your best work for yourself and that's reallyimportant. Whether you're an amateur or a professional photographerbecause like all artists, photographers aren'tcompeting against each other, I certainly would want to take on AnselAdams, right? We compete against ourselves. We're constantly trying to take a betterpicture than we took yesterday and how do you know if youdon't keep track of what your best work is. So many times when I meet a new Photographer,they sent me to their Facebook or their Flickr or even worse liketheir Twitter or Tumblr. And that's fine, that shows me thererecent work, but sometimes your recent work isn't yourbest work, right? What if you're a wildlife photographer and you have a couple ofrough days chasing down birds, and all you have are some seagulls and sparrows, well I might notdig... See more →

Key quotes:

• "So I started reaching out to friends and setting up portrait shoots with them."
• "I have met a ton of people who I’ve developed friendships with; and of course I’ve taken their portraits too ;) If you live in a bigger city, it’s also likely that there are specific portrait photography networking and meetup events where you can connect with models and photographers."
• "It’s definitely easier to set up shoots with people you’ve met in person at least once (again, unless you’re a jerkface…) But at a certain point, it makes sense to start branching out even further by cold-contacting people on social media."
• "It is commonplace and socially acceptable to reach out to people you haven’t met in-person and ask to set up a portrait shoot."
• "Instagram Direct Messaging is the primary way I set up portrait shoots at this point."
• "Instagram Direct Messaging is the primary way I set up portrait shoots at this point."

Transcript: Jared polin froknowsphoto.com here with an adoramapix custom book so this is a hardback book this one is Matisyahu if you recall when I photographed basically I spent the whole day with montes shooting everything in anything from brushing his teeth all the way to after the show to on the stage during the show and I haven't found a better way to show a portfolio than to use these hardback books I've I've talked about this before but I wanted to say it again because I got the 72 page book that adoramapix offers it's the first time I filled a 72 page book that's a lot of pages in a hardback book so they offer sizes from 4x6 all the way up to 12 by 12 in anything from I think 14 the 72 pages so that's quite a lot I think 72 yeah something like that but I haven't found a better way than this like I said I used to put photos in one of those i toil books where I'd slide the photo in and the plastic would get all dirty and things like that and just the presentation of handing somebody a hardback book... See more →

Key quotes:

• "After investing so much time, effort, and money into our photography business — we actually enjoy sharing what we have learned with others thinking about joining the ranks of pro photographers."
• "It might seem silly, but there is no way anyone will want to hire you to do photographs for them if they have no point of reference to know what your work looks like."
• "When just starting to look for photography clients, having a prepared marketing plan can help make this process a little bit easier."
• "From time to time, people will also post requests for second shooters and, in the right group, prospective clients might post looking for a photographer to shoot them."
• "With this said, we don’t really recommend it for long term use as many people on there seem to be price shopping — this isn’t necessarily a bad thing (and from a consumer perspective — it’s pretty smart), but if we’re being realistic, you probably won’t end up booking a $4,000 wedding client through it."

Key quotes:

• "Maybe you finished a coding bootcamp and want practical experience through freelancing; maybe you’re picking up some extra work on the side; or maybe you want to live your best life as a digital nomad."
• "How do you go from wanting to become a freelancer to booking your first client? Your portfolio is the first introduction to who you are as a developer."
• "It’s worth much more than a resume, because it actually shows that you can code, or at least put a site together."
• "For example, I have a pastel pink portfolio site, because I wanted to embrace my own aesthetic (and the Pantone 2016 color of the year)."
• "Simple, beautiful images with a simple, beautiful design are a great thing to add to your portfolio."
• "Also, if you still have a wordpress blog circa 2009, it’s time to dust it up and create a custom design."

Key quotes:

• "Note While I am writing this as a guide for photographers, I think that the principles I’m laying out here apply to all sorts of portfolio websites — graphic designer, architect, fine art, etc."
• "Even if you’d hire someone to design a site for you — you still have to show them what you like, because it’s your portfolio — Your look and feel."
• "Saying that you can use “Platform X” to design your own portfolio, is like saying “I took a 3-day photography course, so I don’t need to use stock photography and hire photographers anymore because I can take my own pictures with my Canon 7D Mark II on auto”."
• "If you still haven’t picked the theme/template that you’re going to use for your portfolio — here are a few tips for things to look for: Make sure you have control over your images."