Many travel photographers who want just to show their photos online post them on social media, usually on Instagram. But if you want to make a business from your travel photography it’s often not enough. You need to attract clients and customers. In other words, to find someone who will pay for your talent.
You can do so using stock photo sites, and that’s a very popular option. But if you don’t want to rely on platforms you need to create your photography portfolio to have something that will attract your potential clients.
One of the best platforms to create a photography portfolio is Pixieset.
Pixieset is a powerful platform that allows you to create a beautiful and professional-looking portfolio for your travel photos. With Pixieset, you can host, share and sell your photos online. Also, you can organize photos into galleries, and customize the design of your portfolio. And, you can easily share photos with your clients.
In this article, we’ll walk you through the step-by-step process of creating a stunning travel photography portfolio using Pixieset.
Let’s get started!
Table of Contents
Plan Your Travel Photography Portfolio
No matter if you want to start with travel photography as a full-time career or want to do so just as a side hustle. You need first to start with planning your travel photography portfolio.
On Instagram or other social media, you can not sell your photos. But a portfolio will be a game-changer because you will showcase your best work more professionally.
And this is an essential business decision if you want to attract potential clients and be more competitive in a crowded market.
But before you start building it, it’s important to plan out what you want to include within.
You probably don’t want to include all photos, but only the best ones. So, try thinking about which type of photos you want to show in your portfolio and which aesthetic you’re going to achieve.
You can start with a question: do you want to show general travel photos or something special? Don’t forget that you should stand out among competitors, so be sure to pick photos that best represent your style.
Once you have a clear idea, you should start creating your portfolio.
Step 1: Find your target audience
Considering that your goal is to make a business from your travel photography, you should consider this step the most important in the planning process.
The sad truth is that lot of people will just tell you that your photos are great. But not many of them will give you money.
So, try thinking about, who do you try to reach with your portfolio. Are you looking to attract clients to hire you to take custom photos for them instead to buy random stock photos? Or you are looking for clients who will buy your existing photos and prints.
So, if you know your target audience you will more easily create a portfolio that will attract these specific clients and customers. And don’t forget always to think about how you will stand out from your competition.
So, before you start creating a portfolio, you should think about your target audience.
If you don’t have business experience there is a fantastic book for you. It is called The Mom Test. It will help you in preparation how to find an initial target audience for your (travel) photography business.
Step 2: Select the right photos
Once you know who your target audience is, it’s time to start selecting the photos that will be in your portfolio.
As we already said, pick photos that represent your style the best. And you should choose eye-catching photos to help you stand out from other photographers.
In other words, try finding photos that show your potential clients and customers your unique perspective on travel photography. Think about why someone will hire you or buy from you, instead of some other photographer.
Step 3: Organize photos into collections
Once you select photos, it’s time to organize them into collections.
Collections should be based on topics, locations, or whatever makes sense for you. This will help you that your portfolio is both easy to navigate and looks professional.
Create Your Travel Photography Portfolio Using Pixieset
Now, when you finish the planning process and you have all photos organized, you can start creating your portfolio using Pixieset.
Let’s take a look at how to get started!
#1 Set up your Pixieset account
The first step is to create a Pixieset account. You can start with a free plan and later move to paid plans according to your needs.
#2 Upload your photos to collections
Once you enter the collection name and date, you can upload photos directly from your computer. Either by drag & drop or by the “select photos” button.
Collections are parts of your portfolio. As we previously said, you should decide about your portfolio organization upfront (by topic, by location, or so).
#3 Customize your collections
Once your photos are uploaded, you will start customizing the design of your collections.
In the beginning, we recommend you stick to some of the default themes. Then make additional customization according to your preferences. There are options to customize typography, colors, grid, thumbnails, and navigation style.
Also, you can set the privacy of your collections and even get client-exclusive access. And you can make settings for photo downloads like download pins, how many times clients can download photos, etc.
#4 Create a store
Once your portfolio is set up, and you uploaded photos into collections, we highly recommend you create a store to start selling prints. This could be an additional revenue stream for you, especially if you already have a bigger audience.
You need to add a payment processor to be able to receive money from customers. Pixieset currently accepts PayPal and Stripe. For each Pixieset receives a 15% fee if you are on a free plan. However, with paid plans, you will get a commission-free store.
How to Share Your Travel Photography Portfolio?
Now, it’s time to share your portfolio with your clients or potential customers.
Also, the good option is that you can add your Google Analytics tracking ID to Pixieset so you instantly get the ability to see how visitors behave on your collections. It’s the same as when you use Google Analytics on your site.
Share portfolio with your friends and family
It’s important to get initial feedback on your portfolio before you start tweaking further, why you don’t share it first with friends and family?
This will help you understand what works and what doesn’t so you can continue to improve it. And you will get some word-of-mouth promotion, which is important in your initial steps.
Use social media to promote it
You can use Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook, or whatever resonate with your target audience.
Just post a link to your portfolio on platforms you use, and start following people to your portfolio on Pixieset.
Embed portfolio on your website
You can also embed your portfolio on your website or blog.
This is a great option to enable your potential clients to view your work and then contact you. Also, you can use your website to direct customers to your store where they can buy prints.
Final Thoughts: Pixieset for Travel Photography Portfolio
You’ve now completed your first step in the process of creating a stunning travel photography portfolio and have some basics of how to promote it to acquire clients.
And you know how to plan your travel photography portfolio, how to create it with Pixieset, and how to advertise it to your potential clients and customers.
Pixieset is a fantastic tool to host your portfolio, share it with your clients and easily accept payments from customers who will buy your prints online.
Now it’s your turn. Create your portfolio today and start growing your travel photography career to the next level!
