Dear Sairam,
I think that this is a hard task, very time-consuming and, at the end, you are never satisfied. I try to look at the portfolio as an entire entity with the help of Lightroom (creating a collection); checking the overall appearance, the combination of colors, the order of the pictures and, also, trying to covering all the photography types that you do. Thereafter, I use to ask help to some friends that are also photographers.
Regarding number of pictures, for instance, in my IPAD, I have a generic portfolio of 50 images and some other specific portfolios (Specific locations, nature, architecture, etc...) in case someone was interested in see more pictures.
Looking at your website, I really think that you have done a great selection (not very difficult with such stunning pictures!). The gallery "Liquid Glass Series" has only 1 picture, IMO, I would wait until having more pictures to create a gallery; one picture is not a gallery, it is just one picture...
Regards
Creating a portfolio is always a challenge. One thing that makes the job easier is an image management program like Light Room, Adobe Bridge, or something similar that creates thumbnail-size images.
First, you need to decide how the images will be grouped. You can do so in a variety of ways. For example, you can group the images by subject, geographical location, by date, or simply do a mix. If you do Black and White and Color, you can either mix them according to which group they belong in, or keep the Black and White images separate from the color images.
Since you are looking for a Web portfolio, rather than a print portfolio, you can have more images, but you may want to keep the number reasonable, since a web visitor’s attention span is limited to minutes. Let’s assume for a moment that you decide to group your images by subject. Let’s say you have three general areas of subject matter: Mountains, Seascapes, and Deserts. For a Web portfolio, I suggest keeping the number for each subject area to no more than 10 images. This will give viewers a really good idea of your style.
Now comes the fun part; deciding which images to include. Continuing with the subject matter scenario, create three folders: Mountains, Seascapes, and Deserts. Next, copy all the images you think may make the cut into their respective folders. Next, go have lunch, or go out for a beer.
Now that you’ve had a little of what I call ‘gurgle time’, go back to each folder and start narrowing things down. When you begin to have trouble making decisions, take another ‘gurgle time’ break.
Rinse and Repeat.
Once you’ve nailed down what you believe to be the ‘best of the best’, with no more than 10 images in each folder, create a new folder called “My-Portfolio”, or something similar. Next, create sub-folders for your “My-Portfolio” folder named, “Mountains”, "Seascapes", and "Deserts”. Now you can create the Web images for those you’ve chosen and place them in the appropriate sub-folder.
As Joana mentioned in her post, have a knowledgeable colleague review your portfolio. It’s important that you illicit their honest and objective feedback. If you can, have a second person review your portfolio, as well.
Once you’re truly satisfied you’re ready to put your work on the Web you’ll know that you’ve done your best.
I am certain that others will offer a different approach to this challenging endeavor, and I hope they do.
Joana, the current images on my website are a little old and dis-organized if I were to be honest. I'm planning to separate them into "mountains, deserts & canyons", "oceans", "forests& trees", "city &architecture" categories.
As for the curation, wow, this is going to be one tough job. Yes, I definitely need someone else's eyes to review them. I'm gonna try the gurgle rinse and repeat approach now and hopefully will have a set of images that I can put up on the web.
I guess the "10" images really does put a lot of pressure on me to get the best ones out there.
Thanks very much guys! Really have a lot more clarity now
Discussion
3 repliesI find it very very hard to narrow my image set down to a few that I'd like to display on my website?
Do you look for variety? How much is too much?
I'd love to see your inputs and personal practices.
Thanks
Sairam
I think that this is a hard task, very time-consuming and, at the end, you are never satisfied. I try to look at the portfolio as an entire entity with the help of Lightroom (creating a collection); checking the overall appearance, the combination of colors, the order of the pictures and, also, trying to covering all the photography types that you do. Thereafter, I use to ask help to some friends that are also photographers.
Regarding number of pictures, for instance, in my IPAD, I have a generic portfolio of 50 images and some other specific portfolios (Specific locations, nature, architecture, etc...) in case someone was interested in see more pictures.
Looking at your website, I really think that you have done a great selection (not very difficult with such stunning pictures!). The gallery "Liquid Glass Series" has only 1 picture, IMO, I would wait until having more pictures to create a gallery; one picture is not a gallery, it is just one picture...
Regards
First, you need to decide how the images will be grouped. You can do so in a variety of ways. For example, you can group the images by subject, geographical location, by date, or simply do a mix. If you do Black and White and Color, you can either mix them according to which group they belong in, or keep the Black and White images separate from the color images.
Since you are looking for a Web portfolio, rather than a print portfolio, you can have more images, but you may want to keep the number reasonable, since a web visitor’s attention span is limited to minutes. Let’s assume for a moment that you decide to group your images by subject. Let’s say you have three general areas of subject matter: Mountains, Seascapes, and Deserts. For a Web portfolio, I suggest keeping the number for each subject area to no more than 10 images. This will give viewers a really good idea of your style.
Now comes the fun part; deciding which images to include. Continuing with the subject matter scenario, create three folders: Mountains, Seascapes, and Deserts. Next, copy all the images you think may make the cut into their respective folders. Next, go have lunch, or go out for a beer.
Now that you’ve had a little of what I call ‘gurgle time’, go back to each folder and start narrowing things down. When you begin to have trouble making decisions, take another ‘gurgle time’ break.
Rinse and Repeat.
Once you’ve nailed down what you believe to be the ‘best of the best’, with no more than 10 images in each folder, create a new folder called “My-Portfolio”, or something similar. Next, create sub-folders for your “My-Portfolio” folder named, “Mountains”, "Seascapes", and "Deserts”. Now you can create the Web images for those you’ve chosen and place them in the appropriate sub-folder.
As Joana mentioned in her post, have a knowledgeable colleague review your portfolio. It’s important that you illicit their honest and objective feedback. If you can, have a second person review your portfolio, as well.
Once you’re truly satisfied you’re ready to put your work on the Web you’ll know that you’ve done your best.
I am certain that others will offer a different approach to this challenging endeavor, and I hope they do.
Good luck, and have fun!
--P
Wow, that's some wonderful input!
Joana, the current images on my website are a little old and dis-organized if I were to be honest. I'm planning to separate them into "mountains, deserts & canyons", "oceans", "forests& trees", "city &architecture" categories.
As for the curation, wow, this is going to be one tough job. Yes, I definitely need someone else's eyes to review them. I'm gonna try the gurgle rinse and repeat approach now and hopefully will have a set of images that I can put up on the web.
I guess the "10" images really does put a lot of pressure on me to get the best ones out there.
Thanks very much guys! Really have a lot more clarity now
Best
Sairam