Portfolio

[floydianslip6]

Hey guys! I'm new around here but have been doing amature photography for a while now. I just upgraded my equipment and am now the proud owner of a Digital Rebel XT with a Canon Ultrasonic EFS17-85mm lens. I want to start getting more into photography and maybe doing some work on the side to make some extra money but am unsure how to go about it. Mostly I do nature and urban photos. What's the best strategy for putting together a portfolio? I'd love any tips you guys could provide.

[fslshooter]

Welcome aboard! There are some incredibly talented guys and gals here who share their work with us and critique ours. I suggest you post some stuff, ask for feedback and share in the discussions. If you don't know when you've got enough good stuff for a portfolio, just ask.

[floydianslip6]

Thanks for the warm welcome. Looking around I see there are A LOT of talented people here. I posted up a piece in the critiques forum so we'll see how that goes.

[Jon]

First decide what your market is. For nature and urban, you're more likely to be selling prints you've shot on your own than soliciting photo shoots, so you need to go through what you've got that looks salable. If you want to do photo shoots you'll need to decide what (portraits, product shots, etc.) you want to do, and select shots that will accentuate your abilities in those areas. in whatever case, you need to focus on the subject and prepare a portfolio that highlights that area, not a scattering of random good photos that illustrate your strengths in that area.

[chtgrubbs]

One of the best things you can do when you are starting out is to get various people of different ages and backgrounds to look through some of your work and pick out their favorites and then ask them why. Don't just show them your favorites either. Show them thing you don't necessarily think are good. You would be surprised at how other people react positively to shots you don't like. I once won a juried regional art festival photo prize with the shot which I liked the least of all my shots on display.

[floydianslip6]

That's a really good idea! I'm still getting used to the XT. Once I start getting some shots together I think I'm going to do just that!