{"id":608,"date":"2013-02-13T01:56:26","date_gmt":"2013-02-13T01:56:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kevindavisphoto.com\/blog\/?p=608"},"modified":"2013-07-27T23:49:08","modified_gmt":"2013-07-27T23:49:08","slug":"photography-portfolio-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kevindavisphoto.com\/blog\/photography-portfolio-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Photography Portfolio \u2013 part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you have a set of images, is that a gallery or a portfolio?\u00a0 To my thinking a gallery can be any set of images, they need not even be related in any strong way.\u00a0 In contrast, a portfolio is a very closely edited collection of 20-30 images, your very best.<\/p>\n

A portfolio can be presented in many ways, but foremost in my mind are these four: contained in a book, individual prints, digitally on a web site, or digitally on a tablet computer.\u00a0 Today, a professional photographer probably needs at least two of these four.\u00a0 Most recently, I have been working on a print portfolio.\u00a0 The last time I did this was years ago.\u00a0 (I should probably burn those old prints because they cannot hold a candle to my recent work.)<\/p>\n

The last time I created a print portfolio, the prints were all made on chromogenic paper \u2026 chemically treated paper that is light-sensitive and processed with chemicals to permanently fix the image onto the paper.\u00a0 These types of prints are still very common, can be very inexpensive, and can create stunning images.\u00a0 \u00a0The image can be projected onto the paper either using traditional film enlargers or digital enlargers, such as a LightJet.\u00a0 Chromogenic prints are continuous tone, unlike inkjet\/gicl\u00e9e prints.<\/p>\n

\"Bicycle<\/a>
Bicycle race<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For my new portfolio, I am employing only gicl\u00e9e (a.k.a. inkjet) prints. These types of prints offer far more options with regard to the paper.\u00a0 There are dozens of paper manufactures, each offering a variety of surfaces, textures, and contrast characteristics.\u00a0 It\u2019s all very confusing.\u00a0 Photographers, who print often, have experience with several papers and have learned a few favorites for different types of images.\u00a0 But that\u2019s not me.<\/p>\n

After a ton of research, I selected a specific paper and a lab that offered this paper at a reasonable price.\u00a0 But before uploading my images to a print lab,\u00a0 I thought to check the image via soft proofing.\u00a0 Because printed images are dramatically different than images displayed on a computer monitor, soft proofing is a software feature that compensates for paper and ink, then shows on a computer monitor an approximation of what the print will look like.\u00a0 I downloaded a color profile specifically for the paper I had intended to use, then displayed the soft proof using Adobe Lightroom.\u00a0 The result was absolutely awful.\u00a0 My best efforts were not enough to make the image look good, and I ultimately abandoned the paper, did more research, and selected a different paper.<\/p>\n

Very briefly, let me say that a single print 11×14\u201d or 8×12\u201d can cost anywhere from $13 to $60, depending upon the particular lab, how much personalized care they give to each print, and the particular paper you choose.\u00a0 (If you buy multiples of the same print, the additional copies typically cost less than the price for the first one.)\u00a0 Compare this to a print on chromogenic photo paper, which might cost only $4 to $15.<\/p>\n

When I began to place my order for prints, they informed me that my preferred paper was no longer available. Again, I returned to research and selected a third paper.\u00a0 Because the lab offered a specific set of papers, I limited myself to just those papers that this lab supported.\u00a0 Having already uploaded my images to the lab, I spoke directly with someone at the lab, to confirm that my paper choice was right for these particular images.\u00a0 (Specifically, I did not want glossy or matte, but rather something in between that would provide very good color saturation and contrast.)\u00a0\u00a0 Unfortunately, the lab also informed me that the prices advertised on their web site had all been changed recently (they had neglected to update the web site).\u00a0 Despite the paper changes and price increases, I chose to stick with this particular lab rather than go back to research and look for another lab that might possibly be less expensive.<\/p>\n

More to come . . . .<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you have a set of images, is that a gallery or a portfolio?\u00a0 To my thinking a gallery can be any set of images, they need not even be related in any strong way.\u00a0 In contrast, a portfolio is a very closely edited collection of 20-30 images, your very best. A portfolio can be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,29],"tags":[64,72],"class_list":["post-608","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-photo","category-print","tag-photography","tag-portfolio"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kevindavisphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/608","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kevindavisphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kevindavisphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kevindavisphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kevindavisphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=608"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.kevindavisphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/608\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":700,"href":"https:\/\/www.kevindavisphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/608\/revisions\/700"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kevindavisphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=608"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kevindavisphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=608"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kevindavisphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}