Tips for your portfolio

Magda has been through a rough time with her health over a period of several months. She is now starting to recover. On Sunday we went for a walk in the local park. Naturally we had our cameras with us.

A photographer's portfolio is the most vital marketing tool he or she has. If you would like to know more about building a successful portfolio then I recommend buying John Kaplan's excellent book, Photo Portfolio Success.

Here are some of the tips from leading figures in the industry that he shares in the book:

"Show your work and get feedback. Don't ever pass on a good opportunity." - Ruth Adams; photographer, educator.

"Develop a personal vision, not just a style. One is just aesthetics and the other is a coming from the soul and the heart." - Tom Kennedy; Director of Photography, Washington Post Newsweek Interactive (Former Director of Photography at National Geographic).

"Show the world through your eyes. It's as much about the real world out there as it is about your point of view." - Gerd Ludwig; Photographer.

More soon...

Paul

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Approach to taking a portrait

Portrait of Amitabh Bachchan. Click on the image to see larger version. Every portrait is different but there are also elements which are the same, whether you’re shooting the famous or the locally famous. Fame is of course all relative. It depends on profession, accomplishments or media celebrity status. Whoever the ‘famous’ individual is there are millions of people in the world who will never have heard them. For example I photographed the legendary Indian Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan, who amongst his many accolades was awarded the Legion d'Honneur, the highest civilian award of France. But I’m positive that many people in North America will not have heard of him – although he has more fans than Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson and Robert De Niro put together. I find that however well known a person is cracking through egos and insecurities is really important when it comes to getting authentic strong portraits. However I hasten to add that when it came to photographing Amitabh th

The portrait photographer's motivation

Easy access to the Internet and digital photography has resulted in an ever growing number of photographers uploading their images for comments and ratings from peers. Online communities evolve and these mini-societies each have their pecking order, internal groups and communal preferences. Photographers learn from each other. On sites that have a rating system there is often pressure to conform to certain styles, techniques and even subject matter. Although I participate in numerous sites (it's great fun), I recognise the danger of becoming a herd animal and losing the edge of individual creativity. There will always be the creatives that lead the way and the imitators that can only try to follow in their footsteps. This lead me to think about classifying photographers according their inner motivation. So as a bit of fun here are a few different types: The innovator Driven to always find something new, different and creative. Wants to be leading edge. Motivated by creative satisfa

Don't use your camera on manual settings

Antwerp successfully preserves a sense of tradition and history, here with the horse drawn carriage and the famous Cathedral in the background, making it attractive to tourists, while at the same time boasting some beautiful modern architecture. The picture above was a split second grab shot. As usual my Canon EOS 5D was set to AV (aperture priority) and I trusted my light meter to give me the correct exposure. As it happened the background sky was extremely bright and the foreground in deep shadow, so the background was a bit overexposed. Using the RAW file's information I was able to retrieve detail everywhere important. Read any guide to improving your photography, listen to photographers advice and you'll be told to set your camera to manual. Using program mode is strictly for amateurs we're told. Well I beg to differ and respected photography tutor John Wade shares my viewpoint. Camera design these days has advanced tremendously and automatic metering has become relia

Beyond the obvious

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