Video

How to quickly enhance your photography portfolio.

 
On my previous post (I’d recommend reading it first if you haven’t) I walked you through my personal process to edit a large group of images into a more manageable portfolio.

Now is the time to enhance and fine-tune those “final” photos. I’m really lucky; I learned photography shooting 35mm slides, and I started my professional career shooting architecture on 4×5 slides. So, I was trained to properly compose and expose on camera. I also prefer to spend more time behind the camera and less time in front of the computer, so I do very little, if any, retouching on my images.

That being said, there’s always a tweak here and there that one wants to do.
Eduardo Angel Photography Editing Images 15These are some important steps I follow:

• Calibrate your monitor. Without that any further step you make is simply irrelevant. If you are interested, here’s an older interview about this same topic.

• When possible, and depending on the situation, I shoot my ColorChecker Passport on location. That allows me to quickly set my custom white balance.

• I always work with a Custom White Balance.

• If I am shooting in a controlled lighting situation, I create a Custom Camera Profile with the Passport’s included software

• Always use the correct ICC profile when printing and the most appropriate Color Space when uploading to the Web.

Eduardo Angel Photography Editing Images 14 And these are some of my personal tips to improve your portfolio:

• “Delete” is a good word.
• Learn how to differentiate between “personal favorites” vs. “commercially viable” images.
• Add keywords and captions as soon as possible. Otherwise, you won’t do it. That “next weekend” with tons of free time will never arrive. Trust me.
• Working with a photo editor is a great investment! It is almost as important as having a great accountant.

If you are looking for more “hands-on” techniques check our FREE “Lightroom Tips & Tricks” series, and see if there’s an upcoming Workshop that fits your needs. Looking for answers for your specific workflow? Book a virtual or on-site consulting session today.