5 Factors To Remember When Designing Photography Portfolio Websites

Only a professional photographer would know how an online photography portfolio structure looks different from the general one. It’s more about displaying what you can do and not simply talk about it. However, when a photographer sets down to build his/her online portfolio, there are several factors to look into, starting from which factor to focus on till how to protect their service from online plagiarism.

5 Ways To Build A Perfect Photographer Website For Your Portfolio

#1- Start With A Motive

This is what every photographer should think of before they get down to work, and you are no exception. When you start with a motive, it prevents you from other distractions and that is very important during web design. A wedding portfolio design is different from a wildlife portfolio design.

When you have a motive, it becomes easier to think of what typography or what color your designer needs to choose. For example – some designers feel that a wedding website should be easy to use and clean to see. The reason behind this is because in most of the cases, a female is actually in charge of all wedding arrangements.

#2- Your Portfolio Should Be Easy To Navigate

While designing a general website, web developers focus on elements like the navigation menu, the footer and the side bar. A photographer’s online portfolio needs to focus on only three elements like the gallery section, the contact page and the about section. It is better to keep your site beautifully simple so that users don’t come across any complexities, when they navigate through the entire site. Complexities could give way to negative impressions, causing them to run away and choose your rival’s work instead.

Your photography should be the main attraction. If your visitors praise you for the website design and not for your skills, then what is the whole point of building a site where people don’t appreciate you for what you do? The gallery page should be right there with stunning pictures to grab a visitor’s attention when they first enter the website. Your contact information and your self description must be placed within the client’s view. Both of these are equally important just in case your client is pleased with your work and decides to hire you for their project.

While you keep all these three factors in your head during web design, remember it should be simple and clear for your viewer.

#3- Choose Your Background Colors Right

This is a very important factor to think upon. The background color of your website should highlight your photographic skills and not divert the attention from them. That is why, most photographers prefer using black as the background color. This sets a high contrast to the photographs, where the image becomes more bright and prominent. On the other hand, some designers believe, when you choose a black colored background, white is said to be not suitable for the font color. White makes it difficult to read against a black. So, color is an important playing factor that can either divert attention from your site or grab more attention.

#4- Pay Attention To Your Pictures

By this, it means to make sure you upload quality and high resolution pictures. Your clients will visit a website to view your work and they deserve the chance to see it properly. If you are worried about the time taken for the picture to download, then that is why responsive web design is for. A responsive web design will take less time and is accessible from any device, which is also a good sign to Google.

Besides, most of the people today have high speed connection facility, so upload time should not clash with your picture quality. It is also important to choose only those works that are your best. Your website is made to present your skills, so do not use it as a storage house where you upload everything. Choose only the best ones and show them. Some clients only look into the first page, before they decide whether to hire you or not. So put only the best ones in front. Pagination is also another factor to consider when choosing how many pictures you want to upload. Some designers recommend uploading 12 images per page. Speaking of how to prevent image plagiarism, you can use watermarks on your photos. However, these should be mildly visible, since they are a huge turn off and spoils the beauty of your image.

#5- Seek Help To Market Your Site

Search engine optimization is also important for your website. How will new prospects get to know about your website if you do not market or advertise it? If you do not possess the skills to optimize your site, then you are recommended to seek the help of a digital marketing agency, who can help you to choose search engine friendly URLs, meta and Alt tags along with other contents. Adding Alt and meta tags, helps Google to know what your pictures represent.

Apart from that, you must also add social share buttons like Facebook and Twitter. These help browsers to share your images with others within their community, while they go through your work.

It might seem to be overwhelming at first, when you take all these factors and get down to work. However, you need to pay a price when you want something beautiful and that price is none other than an organized and hard work. Do conclude your portfolio design with an A/B split test. This will help to ensure that your website design is a success when it is out there to promote your work.