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Cheat Sheet Education

The Instagram Portfolio: The Essential Checklist for a Photographer

Chris Gampat
No Comments
08/31/2020
3 Mins read
Instagram Success

Before you put that photo up on Instagram’s portfolio page or an actual website, ask yourself these questions.

Every photographer needs to start somewhere. Some folks want better photos just because, but at the same time, not everyone knows what constitutes a better photo. You can pay for a portfolio review and get candid feedback for sure, but before you do that, consider asking yourself several questions. Also, separate your emotions from your images. That’s a crucial step here. You’re sometimes going to need to be brutal on yourself but within reason. If you stick to asking yourself these questions over and over again, you’ll come out with a better curated set of images.

The Essential Checklist

This is the important list. A lot of it is about psychology and separating yourself from your work. That’s the critical first step. To do that, acknowledge that this is a process, and in the long term, you’re not going to regret putting a single image in your portfolio that isn’t strong. But, putting a bunch over and over again is something you’ll grow to hate. Years from now, you’re going to look back and ask yourself why you uploaded a particular photo. You’ll also see how far you’ve come. I’ve done it. I started doing it with Flickr, and now everything that’s on my personal Behance page is stuff I really have a strong connection with.

Further, I think what’s on my Behance page is excellent work. Unfortunately, Instagram doesn’t lend itself to great work. It lends itself to you just feeding their algorithm. For that reason, I’m not really a fan of the Instagram Portfolio. It’s going to hurt you in the long run.

Emotions

Let’s get deeper into the emotional side of photography. Of course, this is your hobby or probably your passion. So, of course, you’re very attached to your images. But, remember a few very real facts:

  • Everyone takes so many photos in digital photography that you’re not going to remember every single one
  • Out of the last 100 pictures you shot, which one is worth paying good money for a print of it?
  • Who else cares about your images besides you?
  • What makes this image so unique?
  • Why is this image so unique?

Don’t Give In to the Algorithm

The big thing about Instagram is that you’re playing into an algorithm. So, when more and more photographers create an Instagram Portfolio, they’re feeding the machine. And that’s all. You’ll try to get images to pop up in a news feed, but the fact is that people pay attention to the feed less and less vs. Instagram stories. And those stories are fleeting.

Further, you’re again building someone else’s platform. Your images could be taken away at a moment’s notice, and you wouldn’t know. You can also get shadowbanned easily. But you can instead take control of all that and create images that make someone want to explore more. To do that, you need to figure out a way to get someone to visit your website or some other platform. The key is to get someone off of Instagram. And again, that’s a psychology game. You have to convince someone that it’s worth it for them to leave the platform. Otherwise, it turns into the equivalent of a sovereign state where a lot is done to prevent you from leaving.

Don’t give in.

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Chris Gampat is the Editor in Chief, Founder, and Publisher of the Phoblographer. He provides oversight to all of the daily tasks, including editorial, administrative, and advertising work. Chris's editorial work includes not only editing and scheduling articles but also writing them himself. He's the author of various product guides, educational pieces, product reviews, and interviews with photographers. He's fascinated by how photographers create, considering the fact that he's legally blind./ HIGHLIGHTS: Chris used to work in Men's lifestyle and tech. He's a veteran technology writer, editor, and reviewer with more than 15 years experience. He's also a Photographer that has had his share of bylines and viral projects like "Secret Order of the Slice." PAST BYLINES: Gear Patrol, PC Mag, Geek.com, Digital Photo Pro, Resource Magazine, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, IGN, PDN, and others. EXPERIENCE: Chris Gampat began working in tech and art journalism both in 2008. He started at PCMag, Magnum Photos, and Geek.com. He founded the Phoblographer in 2009 after working at places like PDN and Photography Bay. He left his day job as the Social Media Content Developer at B&H Photo in the early 2010s. Since then, he's evolved as a publisher using AI ethically, coming up with ethical ways to bring in affiliate income, and preaching the word of diversity in the photo industry. His background and work has spread to non-profits like American Photographic Arts where he's done work to get photographers various benefits. His skills are in SEO, app development, content planning, ethics management, photography, Wordpress, and other things. EDUCATION: Chris graduated Magna Cum Laude from Adelphi University with a degree in Communications in Journalism in 2009. Since then, he's learned and adapted to various things in the fields of social media, SEO, app development, e-commerce development, HTML, etc. FAVORITE SUBJECT TO PHOTOGRAPH: Chris enjoys creating conceptual work that makes people stare at his photos. But he doesn't get to do much of this because of the high demand of photography content. / BEST PHOTOGRAPHY TIP: Don't do it in post-production when you can do it in-camera.
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