Portfolio Book

justin24

I was wondering what a good size (# of pages) a portfolio book should be and what sort of stuff to include? I have portraits, commercial and what about landscape?

Art Scott

justin24 wrote: »

I was wondering what a good size (# of pages) a portfolio book should be and what sort of stuff to include? I have portraits, commercial and what about landscape?

I was told over 30 yrs ago (by 3 different art / photographers ) that your portfolio should be as large as you can manage and to only include 10 to 20 images....except for weddings and then a port of 10-20 great enlargements and 1 book of your best full wedding to date....so for portraits 10 -20 shots showing your abilities and same for commercial....Landscape needs to be huge nothing smaller than 16x20 but 20x30 or 30x40 because you are going to showing this to gallery owners unless they specify a certain size.....

When I started out i bought a 30 page leather portfolio and had 15 portraits and 15 wedding shots all 8x10, I was married with kids so finances did not allow for larger and it worked...I also had a wedding proof book that had a complete wedding in 5x7 size...for this area that was fine.......

Portfolio images need to be flawless, which is much easier now in the digital age ...

justin24

Thank You Art I was looking at Blurb to make my portfolio book.

Angelo

Justin, have you considered a digital portfolio using an iPad?

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Cygnus Studios

Angelo wrote: »

Justin, have you considered a digital portfolio using an iPad?

A digital version is really nice to add, but tough to leave with a client. We moved to printed books about 2 years ago and it has made life much easier. 20 pages per book. Like any portfolio, you should update them every year.

justin24

I do have an ipad, but like Cygnus said leaving a digital copy would be tough. I wanted to create sort of a coffee table portfolio book for people to purchase, besides my use for showing to clients. Should I create a larger size coffee table portfolio book and then create separate books that I would show to clients?

Art Scott

justin24 wrote: »

Thank You Art I was looking at Blurb to make my portfolio book.

A hard bound printed book of 20 or so pages would be great...
like Cygnus Studios said and update yearly. thumb

Cygnus Studios

We have been using 8x10 Adorama books. We order 15 at a time. Leaving a book with a client or shipping to them is quite easy. With the older portfolio style books the prints got bent during shipping, with a book you don't have that problem. If you are doing landscape work, the book would need to be larger, but for people or products 8x10 is plenty.

justin24

I am mainly looking to do portrait/Commercial stuff with landscape on the side, so focusing on those other two I think would be top priority, although I would like to do some fine art/ as a port I don't know.

So two books a commercial and a portrait one is what you would recommend, correct?

Cygnus Studios

justin24 wrote: »

I am mainly looking to do portrait/Commercial stuff with landscape on the side, so focusing on those other two I think would be top priority, although I would like to do some fine art/ as a port I don't know.

So two books a commercial and a portrait one is what you would recommend, correct?

Your portfolio should reflect your brand. If you are a commercial photographer, that is where your focus should be. Portraits and fine art should be coming out of the commercial end and an online portfolio will cover that aspect of the business, no need for extra books. If portraits are your brand, then make that the focus. By doing more than one, you are working twice as hard.

Art Scott

Cygnus Studios wrote: »

We have been using 8x10 Adorama books.

You find Adorama books acceptable or are they beter than acceptable? How Much better if better than acceptable?

Cygnus Studios

Art Scott wrote: »

You find Adorama books acceptable or are they better than acceptable? How Much better if better than acceptable?

I have been really pleased with them. The paper quality is heavy and the print quality is surprisingly good. The most important aspect is that they are consistent. We tried some others with various results in consistency. On a scale of 1 to 10, they are a solid 8 each time.

The bindings are the weakest part of the book, but so far we haven't lost a page, even though after a while it sounds as if they are ready to come out. They also stand up to a beating really well. We have had clients spill wine on them, we have dropped them too many times to count, and they still stay together.

Art Scott

Cygnus Studios wrote: »

I have been really pleased with them. The paper quality is heavy and the print quality is surprisingly good. The most important aspect is that they are consistent. We tried some others with various results in consistency. On a scale of 1 to 10, they are a solid 8 each time.

The bindings are the weakest part of the book, but so far we haven't lost a page, even though after a while it sounds as if they are ready to come out. They also stand up to a beating really well. We have had clients spill wine on them, we have dropped them too many times to count, and they still stay together.

Thank You.