Booking wedding photography clients is no easy feat, and one certainly doesn’t get it done by moving around a magic wand. There are several business strategies you need to put in place and execute carefully to impress your ideal clients and get them to the point where they think, “THIS is the only person who can photograph our wedding.” And to get them to this point, a well-designed and professional photography portfolio could go a long way. Even though it’s a basic tactic, a quality wedding photographer portfolio could help you make a solid first impression. It will offer your potential clients a glimpse into your work, vision, style, and creativity. So, if you are looking for some tips on how to create a portfolio that wows, you’ve come to the right place!
Create Your Portfolio For Your Target Audience
Before curating your photography portfolio, decide on the kind of audience you want to attract. Identify your strengths as a wedding photographer and finalize a brand image for your photography business. Keep in mind what you love shooting and what you want to do in the future because that decides the kind of clients you attract. Be sure of your business goals and select photoshoots or weddings that you think have been your best and you would want to do more of.
1. Research For Inspiration
Look for eye-catching, unique wedding photographer portfolios online, especially ones that match your photography style. Observe and jot down all the points that grab your attention. Notice the color schemes, flow of information, ease of navigation, and overall user experience, and try to recreate a similar experience for your audience. However, remember, this is about getting inspired, not outright copying. Going through other portfolios could help to get your creative juices flowing and perhaps also give you an idea of what your portfolio could look like.
Related Read: Unique Wedding Photos That Inspire: Featuring ShootDotEdit Customers
2. Find The Right Website Builder
Select a website builder that will enable you to set up and showcase a flawless wedding photography portfolio. Many builders specialize in photography-centric websites that offer a better user experience than ones that don’t. You wouldn’t even need to learn how to code and will be able to set up a website following some easy instructions. However, if you are short on time, you may choose to hire a professional. In both cases, do not forget to include client proofing, contact information, blogging, and print purchasing options.
Related Read: Top 15 Wedding Photography Website Builders
3. Use Aesthetics That Attract
What’s the point of creating a website and curating a portfolio that doesn’t entice your ideal client? Pretty much nothing. So, make sure that while your website is straightforward, easy to understand, and navigate, it presents your photography in the most pleasing way. The color scheme you choose could play a crucial role in creating a brand image for your business and getting visitors to stay on your website. If your photography style is light and airy and you only use dark and flashy colors on your website, your audience could get confused and fail to connect your photography style to your website. Similarly, select photographs that symbolize your photography style.
4. Keep Technicalities in Mind
Even though you may have the urge to display all your photographs, keep in mind that too many images can make your website heavy and slow. As a result, the pictures might not load for the web users, ruining their viewing experience. The other two reasons for the images not loading properly could be the wrong image size or format. Large photos could be suitable for printing but not for online usage, so resize your images before uploading them. You could also consider enhancing the contrast, brightness, and saturation in your photographs.
Related Read: Tutorial: How to Resize an Image in Photoshop
5. Watermark Your Images
Sometimes, some web users might use your photographers for personal or commercial purposes without taking your permission. You might not even be able to track this every time. But what you can do to avoid being robbed of the credit for your work and any royalties that you deserve is watermarking your images. This will act as a deterrent for free users and also help you stay protected from copyright infringement. It will also make your wedding photography portfolio look professional and tie your images to your brand.
Related Read: How To Create A Watermark In Photoshop
Create With Care
Curating your wedding photography portfolio could take some time, but it’s certainly worth the effort. Your portfolio will allow your clients to get a glimpse of your work and what you are capable of, so make sure you create to impress! If you are stuck, do some research and get inspired! Just remember that you don’t go overboard and use ALL your photos. Just put some of your best photographers together, and make sure they are the ones that are most likely to attract your ideal client and match your brand voice. You could even use image editing software such as Photoshop and Lightroom to sort, organize and improve the quality of your images. For more image editing tips, you can take a look at our Lightroom and Photoshop tips.
Further Read: 5 Tips For Social Media Marketing For Wedding Photographers
At ShootDotEdit, we love sharing tips that can help you best the best in the game. And to help you dedicate more time to honing your skills, we offer professional photo editing services to lessen your post-production workflow. To learn more about how we can help your wedding photography business, check out our pricing plans.