Being a freelance photographer is a challenging career. You will need all the resources you can get. The internet is a friend for everyone as you can find anything you want on the internet. However, when you are trying to establish your own photographing portfolio, you will need to know how to set up your own portfolio. Do you want to print them out and keep it in your portfolio album or post them on the internet to reach more audience.
The internet is definitely a companion for everyone. You can post your work on the internet so that more potential clients can view your work.
Therefore, we have special websites for photographers. There are three types of websites to feature your work on the internet.
1. Photo sharing communities
2. Blog based sites
3. Portfolio-based sites
Example of photo sharing communities would be Flickr. Flickr is the easiest-to-use website to feature all your photos. You can sign up for a free account (which allows up to 200 images) or professional account for more features. You will definitely need a professional account to feature all your photos if you have more than 200 photos to upload. Besides, Flickr is an excellent photo sharing site thanks to the ability to set different copyright for your images. If you are looking for other alternatives, SmugMug might be the one for you. Annual fees range from $39.95 to $149.95.
Blog based sites mean having your own blog to feature your work. This is easy to set up. You just need a domain and a hosting plan to get started. By having your own blog, you get to design your own blog to make it ‘stand out’ in the crowd. Remember you are not the only photographer in the world. If you have no budget to buy a domain and hosting plan, you can create a free blog from Blogger or WordPress. However, since you are trying to establish a professional reputation, it would be best to get your own domain and hosting.
Portfolio-based sites is a good choice if you hate to do the coding (HTML) on your own (perhaps you have no idea how to do all that). Portfolio-based sites such as BIG Folio, LiveBooks and PhotoShelter are there to help you out. They will help you to set up your very own portfolio for less than $1,000 a year. If you like, they can even set up e-commerce so that you can sell your photos online (print sales and image licensing).
With so many choices available, it is time to choose the best idea for your own portfolio.
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I believe that portfolio-based sites are the best way to promote photography since most of them, if not all, are user-friendly and are really specialized to show off a photo gallery. Blogs and Photo-sharing sites are great, but they lack the customization and originality aspect that portfolio-based sites have.