College portfolio questions.

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stellarbeam

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539
Name
Jessica
Edit My Images
Yes
Just a few generalised questions that I hope people can give their opinions on.

-Do you think it's ok to include photos that have had obvious PP work? i.e. Conversion to B&W or something that drastically alters the original image

-Do you think it's ok to use cropped images?

-Do you think that it's ok to use an image that has been taken on a compact digital camera?

-Do you think that more than one photo per page is acceptable. i.e. 3 very different photos of 1 building.

I have been told by one college that the selection panel want to "get inside your head" and see how you think about taking photos, what ideas you generate etc and that the format of the presentation should be "uniform"

I'm nervous about getting it wrong, and about not having enough good photos. One college wants 10-15 pages to the portfolio, and the other wants 20-30 images.

My idea was to have one image per page, unless I felt (a maximum of 3) images fitted together as a set. And to put technical details below (f-stop, shutter speed etc)

Thank you for taking the time to read,

Jessica
 
- Conversion to B&W wouldn't sat drastic to me!
- Who will know it's cropped except yourself? It's a legitimate tool so use it :)
- It's who took the photo that makes it good, not the equipment!
- I wouldn't over do making up compositions, but if it works to show off architecture well, then do so! We see it in architectural publications so no reason why not!

I've never done a portfolio for such use though, but if I were asking for one, then I'd be happy with the above :)
 
As they said they want to get inside your head and see how you deal with such a challenge and the photo's you consider good! if we influence your decisions too much it won't be a true reflection on your personal styles/technique. they do this for a reason, to see which areas you are competent or need to improve on.

I say go what feels right to you.
 
Thank you. I suppose cropping is showing further how I see an image.

At the moment there is only one set of 3 images that I want to put together. I think I posted them here before. They are of Urbis in Manchester but all 3 images are very different and not how the building is usually seen in photographs. I would be trying to show how I take one thing and make it look different. (hmm...luckily i'm being judged on my photos and not my sentence construction, lol)

This is how it would look:

n731942722_1609064_921.jpg

I'd use the versions that didn't have my copyright tag on obv, just grabbed these versions for quickness.

Edit - onform, thank you for your views. I think I'm overthinking the whole thing possibly. I just want to show my work to the best I can, and I'm nervous that I'll mess it up.
 
that understandable, i would probably feel the same.

the three shots are a great way to show that you can see the same subject from multiple angles and styles well done. :D

let know how you get on..
 
stellarbeam said:
Just a few generalised questions that I hope people can give their opinions on.

-Do you think it's ok to include photos that have had obvious PP work? i.e. Conversion to B&W or something that drastically alters the original image
YES
-Do you think it's ok to use cropped images?
YES
-Do you think that it's ok to use an image that has been taken on a compact digital camera?
YES
-Do you think that more than one photo per page is acceptable. i.e. 3 very different photos of 1 building.
three very different photos wouldnt show unity in the work it would all be removed from each other and would feel disjointed, it would be better to show three photos that are similar in style and add to the meaning of the collection than three images that feature the same subject yet do not flow and show no uniformity on meaning
I have been told by one college that the selection panel want to "get inside your head" and see how you think about taking photos, what ideas you generate etc and that the format of the presentation should be "uniform"

I'm nervous about getting it wrong, and about not having enough good photos. One college wants 10-15 pages to the portfolio, and the other wants 20-30 images.WOW thats of pictures what sort of course is it? fine art, P-J, commercial as that would effect how i would sellect images and group them

My idea was to have one image per page, unless I felt (a maximum of 3) images fitted together as a set. And to put technical details below (f-stop, shutter speed etc)
Dosnt bother about f-stop and the such like no interest in how it was taken just that it was taken and you know what your doing , which you need to do threw talking to the bored showing that you understand the principles involved and show the thought process that went into creating the images
Click to expand...

as for the three pictures layout, i wouldnt go any where near it by filling the page with images you weaken the impact of each one i would do them large and one on each page to really work on impact.

any questions just shout
 
Hi, Thank you for your input. Much appreciated. I'm applying for a HND Professional Photography course.

If I don't put those 3 images together do you think it would be ok to use all three seperately or I wonder if the panel would think "God, can she only photograph 1 building!" It's just they are 3 of the best photos I've taken recently and really want to include them. In general I'm trying to show as much variation in my work as I can, whilst sticking with my best shots.
 
Personally I see no issue in using the three images. and to be honest I hadn't worked out they were from the same building untill you said
Not really sure how you would categorize professional photograph as its not really disciplined is just the art of how to make money with a camera. So it would be wise to cover all bases and submit a broad gamut of images that cover a multitude of disciplines that you are capable of doing to the same high standard as the three above (a portfolio is only as strong as the weakest image).
 
Hi

I had to get a portfolio ready to get on a Photography Degree in Commercial Photography recently. After talking to various tutors who interview for the course's its more about you and your passion for photography, they like to see nice structured portfolios but its more about you, they all said they would like to see sketch books of ideas formulated for shoots if i had them, but It was clearly indicated that at the level of course "Degree" it was more about your drive and passion and how you see things.

Just to let you know I got on the course.

Good luck and let us know how you get on.
 
I would say to go for a theme, or show sets of photos rather than one-offs.

As I'm sure you're aware, the photography courses are based on contextuality and trying to convey a message in your work (be it that your message is the modernity of architecture, or whatever). Showing one-offs while you've been out for the camera is likely to do more harm than good. I'm just giving you a bit of a think, since I don't really know what is required of a portfolio for a photography degree. I just thought I'd have a say just in case it might have been on the tip of your brain, so to speak.
 
It's good to hear everyones views on this...keep them coming :) It's certainly making me think about it from different angles, so to speak. I'm going to spend the next couple of weekends doing various shoots, trying various ideas with images, and I've ordered some film for my film cameras, so I'm hoping to get some nice results from them.

Grant - I'm applying to Glasgow Met College and Edinburgh Stevenson College.

And yes, I'll let you all know how I get on. I aim to get my application sent to Glasgow within the next 2 weeks (they start interviewing early new year so I want to make sure I'm sorted before I apply) I've already applied to Edinburgh and they start interviewing in April.
 
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