As a budding photographer, you need to ensure that you do everything that you can to share your images with the world. After all, if you want to succeed in the ever-competitive field of photography, you need to make sure that your work is seen, particularly by an audience with a discernible eye. There are countless ways that you can create a photography profile nowadays, however, if you want to maximise your exposure and get the best results from your efforts, social media is definitely the place to be.
Love it or hate it, social media is unequivocally a part of our lives, both personally as well as professionally. When it comes to creative endeavours such as singing, acting, comedy, drawing, art, or photography, utilising social media becomes even more important. Luckily, nowadays, taking stunning photos alongside posting them on social media can all be handled right from your phone. But before you sit down with your Apple iPhone 13 and start publishing your work on all your platforms, it’s crucial that you have a plan in place from the outset. With the right approach to curating your portfolio, you can be sure your work will leave a positively strong impression moving forward.
Let’s take a look at some useful tips to help you build a stunning photography portfolio on social media, and ensure your work receives all the attention and exposure it deserves!
Understand Your Goals
Understanding what your goals are as a photographer is important in deciding how you populate your portfolio. For example, if portraits are your speciality, then you will want to ensure your portfolio reflects this style. On the other hand, if action shots, landscape photography, or foodie photos are more your thing, then these should be front and centre. Knowing what you want to achieve is the first step in deciding what to include in, and what to leave out of, your portfolio.
Demonstrate Diversity
Regardless of whether you are focusing on one type of photography or many different styles, you need to ensure that you showcase your skills properly. To make your portfolio stand out from the crowd, it’s crucial that you show your diversity.
Include photos from different perspectives that show varying moods and that are shot in a range of lighting conditions. Showcasing different styles of photos will help to demonstrate your skills as a photographer.
You should also feel encouraged to use hashtags to differentiate between the types of photos you’re likely to take, just to ensure that all of your work stays well organised and you can search for specific photos with ease. Creating different hashtags for identifying your landscape, experimental, abstract, panoramic shots, long exposure, low light, and portrait shots, may be a great starting point.
Be Creative
There are clear cut dos and don’ts for putting together the perfect digital or physical photography portfolio. One of the most major don’ts has to be failing to demonstrate your own unique, creative flair.
Almost everyone has a camera in their hands 24/7 nowadays, and the word “photographer” is thrown around more liberally than ever before. With so many budding photographers out there discussing the best light, depth of field and compositions, you need to ensure that you stand out as a true pro. Rather than filling your portfolio with the same images as every other “photographer” out there, be brave, be different and be creative with the images you share so that you shine online.
A surefire way of ensuring that your creative soul filters through the work you produce, is by finding the narratives in your shots. What stories are you telling? What can the titles of your pieces reveal? What can your own words add to your photographs? If these questions can be answered, your work has substance, and your artistic spirit will be able to reach your audience.
Engage With Your Followers
Speaking of reaching your audience, publishing and posting photos are only the beginning of building a successful photography portfolio on social media. Social media is all about that first word: being “social”. Be sure to engage with your followers when they comment on your work. Not only is it important to pay attention to the likes, comments and follows on your profiles, but it’s also important to share the love and interact with other photographers in your industry or even in your locale too. Social media networking can help you to connect with a larger real-world photography community, and gain credibility with your peers as you improve your skills over time.
Create A Social Media Photograph Profile You Can Be Proud Of
Social media can be a great tool and a photographer’s best friend if it is used correctly. Follow the tips outlined above and take the first steps toward putting together a photography portfolio that you can truly be proud of, no matter where you are in your photography career.
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