So you’ve tried portraits. Weddings. Even wildlife! After sampling all the different types of photography, you’ve figured out that landscape photography is the job for you. Now—once you’ve got your camera, lenses, and gear sorted—it’s time to start thinking about your landscape photography portfolio website.
Every professional photographer has to have an online photography portfolio website. But where to start? Don’t worry—we’ve got you covered! Read on for 10 easy steps to build your own landscape photography portfolio website.
Remember Your Brand Identity
The layout of your site can make you or break you. Before you plunge into creating your landscape photography portfolio, you should review your brand guidelines. Don’t have any yet? Take these questions into consideration. They all affect how your landscape portfolio will be seen by potential clients!
- How is your brand name being presented to the audience? What font do you plan to use?
- How are you going to display your photographs? Are you going to use a gallery grid set-up, or is each photo going to be shown individually?
- Which direction is your page going to scroll?
- What colors are you using? If your portfolio has a garish or ugly palette, you’ll have a much harder time convincing people to stick around and look at your work.
Cruise around to your fellow landscape photographers’ websites and see how they’re showcasing their landscape portfolios. See what’s working—and what isn’t.
Pick Your Online Portfolio Builder
Most of us don’t have time to oversee the creation of a custom-built website. Why not save time and money and do it yourself? Website builders make it much faster and easier. Pick a portfolio platform like Format that gives you a free trial to try it out first to see if it fits your landscape portfolio needs.
Consider carefully which template you want to use. Each one will convey a different mood, so make sure you pick one that is both timeless and aligns with your brand, as well as the tastes of the audience you’re trying to reach.
Choose What Work To Share
Figuring out what to put in your landscape photography gallery is can be tough. Your first instinct is to cram everything you’ve ever shot in, there, right? Wrong! Don’t squeeze a thousand photos into your landscape portfolio. You need to focus. Generally speaking, the simpler and more streamlined your portfolio, the more effective it will be.
Consider each and every photograph carefully, and compare it to others you’ve taken. If you’ve any reservations about the image, perhaps it isn’t one you should share. Select only what you feel are your absolute best shots. (Need to up your game? Try out a landscape photography app to help improve your landscape shots!)
Keep your selects between 10 and 20 photographs. The more emphasis you give an individual picture, the more effective that shot will be.
Once you’ve uploaded your images, there’s another touch to consider: do you want to name the photographs, or display any relevant information about them (such as the camera equipment used or location)? It may be worth considering, as it gives a more of a backstory to your landscape photography portfolio—which keeps viewers interested.
Sell Yourself
Speaking of stories—crafting the perfect About Me page for your landscape portfolio is key. Give clients an idea of who you are, and your business will benefit.
There’s “I’m Rachel, a photographer.” Then there’s “I’m Rachel, a passionate professional photographer who traveled Africa for two years, taking landscape shots in order to help raise awareness of the beauty and fragility of the savannah.” Which one do you think is more appealing to prospective clients? It only takes a few minutes and the end result could make a huge impact on your professional life.
Make Contacting You Easy
Your email should be prominently displayed so that it is visible from pretty much any page of your landscape portfolio (maybe along the footer?).
Make sure to display social media icons as well so folks can easily click through to your Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr pages. (And don’t forget to keep that Instagram chock-full of shots from your new landscape portfolio: landscape photos are a great way to boost your follower count!)
Start A Blog
Pick an online portfolio website with built-in blogging functionality. That way, you can start publishing your first blog posts super-fast!
You can use your landscape portfolio blog to connect and network with fellow photographers (you never know where your next gig is coming from), and keep your clients up-to-date on your travels and shoots. You can also establish yourself as an industry leader by presenting text or video tutorials to help others improve their craft.
You can also reach new clients through the search engine optimization (SEO) boost that blogs provide. The more content you post that is relevant to your readers, the more folks will be able to find your landscape photography portfolio through search—and potentially hire you.
Not sure what you could blog about? No problem. We’ve got you covered!
Make Sure to Include Your Rates
Definitely include your rates in your landscape photography portfolio website. You want customers to know how much you charge, right from the start. There are a few reasons for this:
- People are often too time-strapped to want to take the extra step of contacting you.
- This cuts down the time-consuming negotiation process.
- If no price is listed, many people will assume you’re too expensive for them.
Set Up An Online Store
You’ve already built your landscape photography portfolio. Why not turn it into an online store and make a little money on the side? It doesn’t need to be fancy—you just want to give clients and fans the option to purchase prints of your work if they desire.
Choose a website builder that will create an online portfolio with the store built right in. It’s worthwhile to take the time to set this up. Think of it this way: if you charge $100 per image and make 10 sales in a month, that’s $1000 right there. It’d be rather silly to pass up free money, right?
Once your website is set up, it’s worth looking into other places to sell your landscape photography online. Your fresh new online landscape photography portfolio and store will show off your wares to potential vendors, or at least serve as a place where potential clients you source elsewhere can come and buy your work direct.
Update Your Online Portfolio Frequently
You need to keep your landscape photography portfolio up-to-date. Take a look around and you’ll notice a strange trend: many portfolio sites haven’t been updated in years. But why go to all the trouble of setting up a page just for it to collect dust? Make sure to blog at least once a week. Then, take some time every month to add a few new images or swap some pictures around within your landscape photography gallery. If there’s one that doesn’t seem to attract much attention, get something fresh in there.
Anytime you post something new on your landscape portfolio, ensure you also update your social media channels with this content, too, and urge people to come check out your latest work. (We have a social media strategy refresher if you need one!)
Want more landscape photography inspiration?
Kyle Jeffers Photographs Canada’s Non-Places
Sam Stone’s Lonely American Landscape
Michael Wolf’s 5 Tips for Shooting Urban Landscapes
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