In this lesson, the seventh in a series from Chamira Young‘s course The Photographer’s Portfolio, you’ll learn how to refine your selection — choosing which to keep as the best finalists for your portfolio.
In the previous lesson, you learnt how to make a rough selection of the best images for your portfolio. In the example used, the objective was to create a Nature and Travel portfolio. Images that were not up to scratch for this theme were removed from the Selections folder and placed in a Reject folder, leaving the Selections folder with the rough cut of images.
Review Your Selected Images
Now review the images you’ve selected to be included in your portfolio and narrow down your selection even further by removing any remaining photos that are not the best quality or that don’t fit in with your other photos. Focus on keeping photos that are dramatic, that have a high impact.
In the example here, I’m going to mark this waterfall shot for the Rejects folder, because I have another shot that is similar but also much more dramatic.
Sometimes it can be a difficult trying to figure out which photos you want to get rid of. You need to go through them again and again, sometimes stepping away from your computer for half an hour or so just so that you can comeback at it with fresh eyes and really evaluate your images fairly.
Remember, if you love a photo but it doesn’t quite fit in your current portfolio, though you need to remove it from this portfolio, you can save it for another portfolio where it might be more suitable.
When you have reviewed your photos and removed those that are not appropriate for this portfolio, flip through the remaining photos again and make sure they all fit together, are of a similar quality, and will all look good next to each other in a web, tablet or a print portfolio.
Review Your Rejected Images
Now review all the images that did not quite make the cut to make sure you didn’t get rid of anything you should actually keep.
Sometimes, you may see a photo with potential and it may simply be a matter of re-touching it up to the level of your other photos. This photo is a good example of one that would pair well with the other river photo that I have, but first, it would need some additional retouching.
What Kind of Portfolio Will You Be Creating?
Reviewing your images is a great opportunity for self-exploration and for gaining a better understanding of you strengths and weaknesses.Now that you have the photos for your portfolio selected, it’s time to think about what type of portfolio you want to make. Knowing what photos will go into the portfolio should give you more clarity abut the type of portfolio you’ll be creating. In the next lesson, we’ll take a look at putting your portfolio online.
Next Steps
Discover more lessons on how to make a photography portfolio.
Web, Print, Tablet, PDF: What Kinds of Photo Portfolios Do You Need?
How to Choose a Photography Portfolio Website
How to Create a Stunning Photography Portfolio for Your Tablet
How to Make an Attractive PDF Photography Portfolio
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More Resources for Photographers
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