How Big should a Portfolio Be ?

How large should a portfolio be? How many images and how many genres before it becomes overkill ?

Depends on the purpose, really. If you're applying to a school, a newspaper, a workshop, a book publisher, a stock library, a job in a lab... all of them are going to want to see different things, in different quantities.

 

99% of the time, though, quality is what matters. If you've only got six first-class, relevant images, use them. Don't pad your portfolio out to fifteen images just because some guy on the internet you've never met says that's the magic number. :) Those other nine images that are just okay aren't going to help your cause any.

 

My portfolios, for what it's worth, are only 5x7. Jeff clearly has me beat on size, and almost certainly quality. :)

Attributed to Mies van der Rohe:

 

"Less is more"

 

Also, don't show dog pictures to a cat magazine.

I was looking at some of the "portfolio" sites and see it does vary alot. Some have only about

a dozen images while others have a dozen images of a dozen different genres (ie wedding,

street, fine-art, editorial etc)

One thing is for sure, editors don't like it when your portfolio consumes their desk, and is too massive and heavy to move around. I've heard a pretty save size is 8x10 or 11x14, that doesn't mean they all have to fit into that crop, but the page its on should all be the same size, and that goes for horizontal prints too, print it either on a 2 page spread, or just crop it and canvas it onto the proper vertical canvas. Turning the book around and around gets annoying. of course the sequence matters, pay attention to colors and camera angles. 10-15 images. and what JDM said, adjust your images to fit the needs of who you are showing them too. a car mag, might not want to see the recent wedding you shot, even if it is amazing. ;o)

I use a 8 1/2 by 11 presentation folder with lots of 4x5s and a few killer 8 1/2 x 11s. I present most to busines owners; I do commercial photography.Owners are more impressed by tear sheet or actual magazine reproductions. Most businessmen will politely give 5 minutes. Limit your stuff and presentation. Wedding photogs need, in contrast, tons of 8x10s ore 8 1/2 by 11s whatever your final output will be. Plan on spending a lot of time with brides to be. Some good advice here by other reponders.

Jon- you were asking about a portfolio to sell your pictures or services to someone? Or were you asking about how big your "portfolio" on the site should be?

 

If the latter, then whatever you want, people will look or not, and of course you can post as much as you want if you are a paid up member here.

When he asked, "how big should a portfolio be?" I thought he was asking how many images should be in it, not how big should the prints be. 8x10 is the minimum industry standard.

You are only as good (or are only perceived to be as good) as your worst shot. Twenty

mediocre shots do not add up to one stellar shot.

 

I'm redoing my whole portfolio to "scale down" to only show what I really, really love.

 

Beyond that, I think if you have a critical mass and a representative body of work, the

exact number shouldn't matter. :)

 

Karen

Sorry guys I was away and just got back and read this. Actually, what I really want was a how

many images, and I wasnt referring to a hard portfolio but a web based one :)