How Do You Present Your Work?

[Jakaleena]

I'd be curious about how everybody presents their portfolio.

I have mine displayed in a nice leather album - original on the left page and restoration on the right page, or if the original is small I display it and its restoration on the same page. The first page in the album is a services & price list. I don't use magnetic pages, but acid free pages with photo corners so that the images can be removed easily for clients to see better.

[DJ Dubovsky]

I like how you display your work. I haven't gotten around to doing that well as of yet. I have a few before and after pages and my price list loosely contained in a leathery pocket folder. I have been meaning to create before and after shots and display them in a nice way like you have but I haven't gotten to do that yet.
DJ

[jeaniesa]

Wow - your presentation sounds beautiful Jak! I can't say mine is half as nice. Part of the reason is because I'm still waiting to buy a decent printer. It doesn't make sense to show the marginal prints that my printer makes as my best work. (I currently send digital files to an online photo service for my clients' final product - but haven't wanted to spend the money to have duplicates made for me, since I keep thinking I'm going to buy a printer any day now.)

That being said, what I've got right now is a black plastic "presentation" folder that I bought at Office Depot. I usually size the prints so that the before/after fit on an 8.5x11" sheet of paper (usually, that means two 5x7"s side by side.)

I like the fact that you use the full size prints and have the before on the left page and after on the right. Sounds really nice - esp. since you've got the original photos and not copies of the original!

Jeanie

[Vikki]

I also have a black leather (I think) portfolio / 3 ring binder, that has a zipper closure all the way around.

Each photo is in a clear, nice quality, archival sleeve for protection. Sizes smaller than 8x10's are mounted on black paper, with gold, silver, or copper corners, and inside sleeves.

I get my prints developed online, and always have one extra made for my portfolio. I also send my scanned copy of the original and have a print made of that as well (as I have to give it back to the owner.)

Jeanie- I'm curious about why you would prefer an inkjet print over a traditional print for your portfolio. From my experiences, it has been cheaper for me to order prints online, than to print with inkjet. Have you tried Walmart or Sam's ? They both are getting rave reviews for prices and quality.

[cendres]

I do not present the graphic work I do in a business environment, but I do print nice 8 x 10's of what I do and keep them in archival protective sleeves. I need to invest in a nice leather binder.

Something I tried this last weekend was burning a VCD (video cd) which will play in many DVD players using a burning program called Nero. It really turned out good. You just drag your various images (jpeg or tiff) into a specific order and set the number of seconds you want each to be displayed and make the disc. I even put some animation and morphing experimental projects I did after the still images. I just pop it into our DVD player and hit play and it is automatic slideshow on your TV. You can fast forward, pause and rewind.

The only thing I learned is the images should be cropped to a 4 x 3 aspect ratio which matches most conventional TV's. They do not need to be high resolution (640 x 480 ) and they fill the screen beautifully and if they are cropped right nothing will get cut off. If you have a DVD burner on your computer than you can even get more elaborate with menus and other advanced features by making an actual DVD rather than a VCD.

Maybe this would be another option for some of you - Carl

[Jakaleena]

Jeanie- I'm curious about why you would prefer an inkjet print over a traditional print for your portfolio.

Actually, I was wondering that too. I personally much prefer chemical prints on real photo paper. Even dye-sub prints, as good as they are, don't seem as "classic" to me.

I have done a lot of real hand coloring on fiber prints with Marshall's oils. What I would REALLY like to do is put a darkroom in the basement, copy my restoration work to film, and then hand print it on fiber paper, hand coloring with oils as necessary. I doubt that I could find enough work or charge enough $$ to make that idea work. I keep dreaming though...


Jak

[jeaniesa]

Originally posted by Vikki
Jeanie- I'm curious about why you would prefer an inkjet print over a traditional print for your portfolio. From my experiences, it has been cheaper for me to order prints online, than to print with inkjet. Have you tried Walmart or Sam's ? They both are getting rave reviews for prices and quality.

Well, not actually having a decent printer, I don't have the experience of how much an inkjet print costs. What I don't like about the online printer I use (and perhaps this is just a matter that I need to research further) is:

1. While I have pretty good results with color calibration, about 10% of the time, I get a print back and think "yuck!" Of course, I've already waited 5 days and will have to wait another 5 to reprint (after I've fixed the colors). I feel like if I had an inkjet on my desk, I'd know right away what it looks like. Perhaps it's my inexperience, but photos on the screen and photos printed look different to my eyes - so I have a hard time "guessing" what a print will look like once it's printed. And sometimes it takes a print for me to see something that I probably should have seen on my monitor in the first place.

2. The online printer I use only offers glossy prints. This is fine for color photos. But, I recently had an old sepia tone photo that I just couldn't imagine with a high-gloss (perhaps because the original was matte.) I brought it to a local photo lab to print on matte, but it cost me an arm and a leg and I still wasn't happy with the paper it was printed on. I feel like if I had a printer of my own (specifically, the new Epson 2200) I would be able to research archival quality as well as paper/ink compatibility and come up with an end result that I have more control over.

It's possible that this is a case of the grass is greener on the other side. But I'm a control freak and don't like a process where I do not feel in control of the final outcome.

That being said, I have thought about sending both my original copies and final copies to an online printer once I'm really ready to make a nice portfolio. So I'm glad to know that's what you're doing Vikki.

No, I haven't tried Walmart or Sams. I refuse to shop in those stores (but that's another thread and VERY off topic for this forum.)

Jeanie

[Vikki]

Jeanie,
I totally understand what you mean about wanting a proof. I've often been surprised by things I missed. However, I still don't print out an inkjet proof, as I don't think it gives me an accurate example of what I will get, once I send it out to be printed. What I do is, make a layer adjustment to view it in extremes one very dark, and one very light. This automatically shows me bad areas.

The other thing I would do in your case, is make a profile of your online printer. Once you get a print back, make your screen image match the print, and then save that as a profile. I don't use them myself, but Ofoto has a profile you can download - I wish they all did!

I also tried a local lab, and paid a good price, but was not at all happy with the prints. Won't go back there. I've always used Printroom.com, but I've noticed a magenta cast on black & whites, and they can't seem to resolve it, so I'm not going back there either. My next try is Sam's as they print both glossy and matte. I know that there are those that will not patronize those stores, but they're the only printers I've heard constant raves about. I think the word is getting out that digital printing is a big money area so hopefully more and more places will be offering it soon.

I don't like glossy prints for old photos either (unless the customer does). I usually print those in matte finish. Those old photos look fabulous on Epson Heavywieght Matte, but I don't trust the inkjets enough yet to give them to customers. From what I've read though, that Epson printer sounds like it might be the answer.