The End of the Print Portfolio?

*benjikan* · 10-18-2009, 08:59 AM

The End of the Print Portfolio?

I was recently asked to share my portfolio with a magazine and asked how would they prefer to view it.* To my surprise they said "just bring your laptop, that will be fine" and they added that "more and more photographers are presenting their work using this medium".

I was pleased and disturbed at the same time. Being that the press are moving towards the internet and are losing millions in print media, I suspect that seeing the images on screen was more relevant than seeing my work in print. As a result of this changing paradigm, photographers will have to consider their output based on other conditions that were not considered even 2 years ago.* Considering the price of constantly updating your book, as well as the environmental considerations, perhaps that is a good thing.* I have considered printing books, as an alternative which costs about 4X -10X less than printing your portfolio yourself.* Just check out the deals available on the Internet.* Custom portfolio's can't compete.My leather bound portfolio and plastic sheet mounting cost around 450€ per book, not including the carrying case.
I would like to hear your impressions regarding this subject and how you see where and how the presentation of commercial photography has changed and is going.

Ben

Photo by: Lewanna Kanarek while I was shooting a Fashion Editorial.* Shot with Pentax Optio M60.

Benjamin Kanarek Blog The End of the Print Portfolio?

*ivoire* · 10-18-2009, 10:17 AM

In the Chicago real estate/architectural market, the request has been for a digital portfolio. Their inquiries request that a website or digital portfolio be made available and then a hi-rez sample for print purposes. Since I've been doing this type of work, no one has ever asked to see print photos even though they have been used in printed brochures and magazines. This may be due to the differences in the fashion vs architectural markets.

MikePerham · 10-18-2009, 10:32 AM

Well Ben, I am not a professional but have shot a lot of weddings and events for friends and family. My approach for supplying them with proofs is to create a Lightroom slide show from which they can select their prints. As a matter of fact, just a few minutes ago, I uploaded a selection from a 50th wedding anniversay over the internet to my preferred lab afterthe folks returned my jump drive with their notes to let me know which frame, what size and how many etc..

ps: you can do the same thing with a web gallery, I just sent this to some friends who we made a road trip to visit over the recent Thanksgiving weekend. Here is is that gallery: http://www3.telus.net/mfperham/Grand...giving%202009/

*benjikan* · 10-18-2009, 10:36 AM

Originally Posted by MikePerham

Well Ben, I am not a professional but have shot a lot of weddings and events for friends and family. My approach for supplying them with proofs is to create a Lightroom slide show from which they can select their prints. As a matter of fact, just a few minutes ago, I uploaded a selection from a 50th wedding anniversay over the internet to my preferred lab afterthe folks returned my jump drive with their notes to let me know which frame, what size and how many etc..

But in your situation, they will eventually order prints. In my situation, depending on the output, in may be just for the web or print media.

MikePerham · 10-18-2009, 10:46 AM

Originally Posted by benjikan

But in your situation, they will eventually order prints. In my situation, depending on the output, in may be just for the web or print media.

Same principal, you just produce the output appropriate to their needs. The principal of presenting your work for the client to make a selection is the same. Is it not?

Cheers, Mike.

*ramair455* · 10-18-2009, 11:06 AM

Yes, I have noticed this trend, and wonder if the fashion photogher's actual physical "portfolio," the actual "physical presenation" of ones work...is soon to be dinosaur. What I ponder the fake of the model's portfolio. Will models soon expected to carry around mini mac laptops to present their books.

As far as the wedding photographer; your client's needs has always been 'the print & package," digital out has changes the way these print packages are editied, review and ordered

Aimee 2005 - Pentax 645

.

*benjikan* · 10-19-2009, 09:31 AM

Originally Posted by ramair455

Yes, I have noticed this trend, and wonder if the fashion photogher's actual physical "portfolio," the actual "physical presenation" of ones work...is soon to be dinosaur. What I ponder the fake of the model's portfolio. Will models soon expected to carry around mini mac laptops to present their books.

As far as the wedding photographer; your client's needs has always been 'the print & package," digital out has changes the way these print packages are editied, review and ordered

Aimee 2005 - Pentax 645
.

Nice Photo!

Ben

MRRiley · 10-19-2009, 10:39 AM

I believe this is going to become more and more common Ben and it does have mixed benefits. Much easier to update your "book" if it's all digital, but you also have to lug around a laptop big enough to make the photos viewable and "evaluatable" (if that's even a word, but you know what I mean). I'm going to a portfolio review at the upcoming FotoWeek DC and since they will accept either hardcopy or digital portfolios I'm going digital.

My main gripe is that "portrait" oriented photos tend to get short changed due to the common screen aspect orientation. Maybe I need to get one of those laptops with screens that reverse. This would make showing a mix of landscape and portrait oriented shots much easier.

Mike

*WMBP* · 10-19-2009, 12:59 PM

Responding to Mike P's comment about digital proofing for wedding photographers, Ben K writes,

Originally Posted by benjikan

But in your situation, they will eventually order prints. In my situation, depending on the output, in may be just for the web or print media.

Not necessarily. The wedding biz is changing too. Check over at the photo.net in the wedding forums, where I also hang out. Lots of wailing and gnashing of teeth about loss of print revenue.

I make money from prints when I do portraits at a public venue like the Dallas Arboretum; giving the customers the digital originals is not an option there. But in my wedding work, 100% of my clients are interested in the digital files, and only 10% are interested these days in getting prints through me. Sad, in a way, because my print service is surely better than whatever they'll use to print on their own. But it's the way things are going - indeed, have already gone. Clients want digital results because they live digital lives. They will take the pictures and post 'em on their Facebook page, or email them to friends, or put 'em on their smart phone.

Will

kenyee · 10-19-2009, 12:59 PM

Not only that, but I've found my laptop's screen (Thinkpad T61) is worse than my desktop's (which is a rather old Planar LCD), even after calibration.
We'll have to figure out which laptops have the best displays, etc.

And the other thing is web presentation doesn't require anywhere near the amount of resolution print does, so will Medium Format not matter as much?

Even the model's traditional 9x12 book print size seems to be a don't care to agencies in the Boston area according to a model that was trying to get into one this summer...they just wanted some prints and some tear sheets and didn't obsess over the "standard" 9x12 size as they used to...

*WMBP* · 10-19-2009, 01:12 PM

Originally Posted by kenyee

Not only that, but I've found my laptop's screen (Thinkpad T61) is worse than my desktop's (which is a rather old Planar LCD), even after calibration. We'll have to figure out which laptops have the best displays, etc.

Either that, or simply stop being so picky about things like color and clarity. I am afraid THAT is what is happening with most non-pros. If it looks good enough their phone or iPod, that's all they care about.

And the other thing is web presentation doesn't require anywhere near the amount of resolution print does, so will Medium Format not matter as much?

That's an interesting thought. I think we've about reached a general agreement about how many pixels we need: 12-15MP seems to be making nearly everybody, even pros, happy, at least on APS-C cameras. See Mike Johnston at The Online Photographer, "The point of sufficiency." And of course a ~15MP camera can produce decent-to-excellent prints at almost any size. I can't figure out why I would need 40MP.

But it's hard to predict the future. Maybe in a couple of years time, the standard laptop will have a screen resolution of 6000 x 4000 px or higher. Stranger things have happened.

Will

*ramair455* · 10-19-2009, 02:02 PM

Originally Posted by benjikan

Nice Photo!

Ben

Thank you sir, I must say... like your taste in beauty

MikePerham · 10-19-2009, 02:05 PM

Originally Posted by WMBP

Either that, or simply stop being so picky about things like color and clarity. I am afraid THAT is what is happening with most non-pros. If it looks good enough their phone or iPod, that's all they care about.

Well, I don't know that it is just iPods or facebook that causes this attitude. Back in the 35mm days I saw some awful 4X6 prints that people were showing around and with which they were quite pleased.

Even with only about 40% of RGB color spectrum and 72dpi, a well taken image looks better on a monitor than some poor P&S shot with blocked up shadows, blown highlights and poor color. It is what standard you accept and the plebeian masses seem content to have an image that has little redeeming value other than as a memory jog.

*Blue* · 10-19-2009, 02:23 PM

will people be bringing in 36 or 44 inch screens to show the work on?

*FHPhotographer* · 10-20-2009, 01:02 PM

I'm new to the "taking" the image but spent several years in the "buying" end of the business, and had to evaluate transparencies for print publication. I learned there was/is a world of difference between a print and a backlit image. And I now know there is a world of difference between the reflective light of a print and the transmissive light of an LCD when I see how one of my "good" shots onscreen doesn't come out as well in print. The digital portfolio might work for digital output, but what I can't understand is why anyone buying for print would accept a digital portfolio,
Brian