Photography Portfolio Website Products

November 19, 2018 Jasmine

Updated Winter 2018

I’ve maintained versions of this list since 2011.

A LOT can change in a short amount of time in the world of photography portfolio websites, which made the list hard to keep current. But recently, I was inspired (angered) to freshen things up. A few days ago, I received an email from Squarespace (which I used to build this site) announcing that they were partnering with Unsplash to deliver free stock photos to Squarespace’s customers.

This really rubbed me the wrong way. Squarespace has been a preferred platform for photographers since its beginning, and now Squarespace is encouraging their clients to seek out free photography. It’s a slap in the face to the professional photo community.

So with that in mind, I wanted to dust off this list and offer some suggestions for alternatives. I’ve personally built websites for photographers using Format (my current favorite), PhotoFolio (formerly APhotoFolio), and Photoshelter and think they’re all great. Here are others that friends and colleagues have recommended:

22Slides - Free 14-day trial and a flat $10/mo afterwards.
Adobe Portfolio - Adobe has joined the portfolio game with this add on to the Creative Cloud.
Cargo Collective - Offers users free-standing websites and a wide variety of customizable templates. $99 per year or $13 per month.
Flosites- Slick portfolio websites and cool extras like Instagram story templates
format- One of my favorites. I’ve built quite a few sites using their platform and they look great. Easy to use interface. Basic plan for $6 per month, pro plan for $12 per month.
Graph Paper Press - Wordpress themes for photographers. Great comparison pricing chart at http://graphpaperpress.com/pricing/. Pricing starts at $0 and goes up to $149 a year.
Indexhibit- Honestly, I don’t really get how you use Indexhibit, but I know a lot of photographers like it so I’m including the link!
Koken - Content management and portfolio templates
LiveBooks - This used to be a really popular platform, and everywhere you turned, you would see one of their templates in action. They were bought by Wedding Wire a few years ago, and seem to be trying to re-boot the business.
Pixpa - Portfolio, storefront, blog, all integrated seamlessly.
PhotoFolio - Formerly known as APhotoFolio. Company was founded by Rob Haggart of the popular APhotoEditor blog. Nice templates. Very popular so without some customization, many sites look very similar.
Photoshelter - Portfolio templates and advanced photo archive tools. Buyer portal allows creatives to find photographers by specialty, location, etc. Company is great about offering free advice to the photo community through downloaded white papers on topics like SEO and blogging.
SmugMug - When I asked on Facebook for recommendations from photographers for sites they love, SmugMug came up multiple times. People commented that they like the templates, and the easy-to-use ecommerce and print fulfillment features.
Viewbook - Gallery basic plan starts at $4.99 per month, $9.99 for a standard portfolio, and $19.99 per month for the pro plan. Portfolio app available for viewing on ipad.
Visura - Visua offers a website portfolio platform as well as a searchable network of photographers for buyers to explore.
Wix - I used to make fun of Wix websites. They were so dated looking, even when they first came out. But they’ve done a lot of work to modernize their templates and it shows. Lots of integration options for ecommerce.
Zenfolio - Robust ecommerce soultions. Free 14 day trial. Basic plan starting at $25 per year. Premium for $100 per year.

iPad Portfolio vs Printed Portfolio

August 5, 2010 Jasmine

Over at APhotoEditor.com, creatives are weighing in on if print portfolios still matter. Like with almost anything related to marketing yourself as a photographer, ask three people and you get three different answers. One person says yes you have to still have a print book, another says they haven't called in a print book in over a year. The one thing they all agree on: be prepared for any situation. My question isn't so much about having a print book vs not having one. I wonder more -- if you're going all digital -- what are you showing on your iPad that can't be shown online? What experience are you giving the creative that she can't get by just going to your website?

Consider this. If you're dropping off/shipping your iPad: Just like print portfolios, they have to be delivered, where they take up room on the creative's desk, and then the person has to take time to make sure they get returned to the messenger center or mail room.

If you're looking for an in-person meeting, are you delivering a richer experience on your iPad than they could get by going to your website? I can't tell you how many times I've had to tell photographers that rolling up to a meeting just to show off your website or some folders of images on your desktop is not going to cut it. Aside from the novelty of having someone flick through your on-screen portfolio, are you offering much more than your website does?

Don't get me wrong, I think the iPad is iRad, I just don't want photographers to abandon the process of making print portfolios if they end of doing themselves a disservice by annoying a potential hirer.

I'm sure there are some fab examples out there of killer iPad portfolios and I want to see them! :)

iPad bringing tangible hope for magazines

June 8, 2010 Jasmine

via aphotoeditor

screenshot from ipadinsider

In the nine days since it launched its $4.99 iPad application, Wired has sold close to 73,000 downloads—almost as many copies as the magazine sells on the newsstand—spending five days in the No. 1 paid app slot. All the attention leading up to the launch has contributed to a 20% spike in advertising pages in the first half of the year, compared with the same period a year earlier, making the magazine Condé Nast's biggest gainer, according to Media Industry Newsletter.