Ideal print size for portfolio?

[Sean]

Hi, just wondering what you all consider the ideal print size is for a portfolio. 8x10, 11x14? I'm about to start a portfolio but can't decide on the print size. Thanks

[Bruce Osgood]

</span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Sean @ Mar 30 2003, 04:19 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>Hi, just wondering what you all consider the ideal print size is for a portfolio.&nbsp; 8x10, 11x14?&nbsp; I&#39;m about to start a portfolio but can&#39;t decide on the print size.&nbsp; Thanks</td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'>
I wouldn&#39;t think there is a IDEAL SIZE. I think a portfolio would represent your best work at its&#39; ideal size -- the size you put your efforts into when making the image. I think they should be mounted and matted, not a model&#39;s portfolio that is flipped thru. A portfolio is a sample of your best work, not ALL your best work. It should be as complete as you can make it.

When someone looks at a portfolio they only see what&#39;s there, not what might be. Give them all the input you can, leave nothing for the imagination. Imagination is too subjective.

[lee]

Think about what you want to do with the portfolio. Are you gonna show it to anybody or gallerys? My experience is if you are ready to show it to galleries then have it ready to hang. But remember that there is no IDEAL size, IMO.


lee&#092;c

[Sean]

Thanks for the input. I live on a peninsula in New Zealand, really gorgeous spot and small town. No one has done a pictorial book on this peninsula so I thought I would give it a shot. I suppose if the images will be used in a book, then my portfolio of the images should be around 8x10&#39;s. That might give the publisher an idea of what they will look like in the book itself.

[lee]

Are you gonna do it in color? If so I would shoot chromes. Sequence them and mount them in those black oversized mounts that commercial shooters use. T hat way they can throw them on the light table and not have to worry about fingerprints.


lee&#092;c

[docholliday]

For my display portfolio, I was told that larger is better. So after a few tests I did by showing different sizes to people and getting feedback, I felt the ideal size was 11X14 in a 16x20 portfolio case and matted 16x20. I use flat-black double mats and mount the images with adhesive (non-foam core) board. I can easily pull the images out of the sleeves in the case and display them in the open as well as show the images book-like out of the portfolio.

I tried 8x10 and it just wasn&#39;t as impressive as the 11x14. I tried 16x20 and it was too unwieldy to carry around easily.

[bmac]

Sean, for what you are talking about, I think a 11X14 portfolio with 8x10&#39;s would be the way to go. Overmat them in Black, like Doc did, it will look clean.

Brian

[Sean]

Thanks guys&#33; Keep an eye out in the critique gallery. I&#39;ll be posting &#39;potential&#39; images in there for this project. I&#39;ll put in 3 tonight, 2 taken last weekend.

[Ed Sukach]

The porfolio seems to me to be an ongoing, continuous activity. I have seen all sizes, so far, from 8"&#39; x 10" to ... I don&#39;t know ... must have been something like 30" x 36" - from a a good friend who owned an advertising agency, and used it in sales negotiations with clients.

My own is 11" x 14" - Panodia. At present there are 20 11" x 14" prints in plastic and a *bunch* of loose ones in there. I would *NOT* present it with loose prints.

Given that the portfolio is the vehicle for the fist impression, I am going to be extra finicky about its composition. At present, I have to replace four or five color prints that have yellowed ( more properly, "tanned") over time.
Also, my portfolio is mixed black and white and color - I am thinking of separate inserts devoted to each.

Last, I am going to pay a lot of attention to the size and format ... and possibly, either smaller prints mounted on some sort of archival paper, or overmatting.

Now ... to find TIME...

[Donald Miller]

My portfolio is comprised of 12 each 11X14 images which have been mounted and overmatted to 16X20 inch size. I have interleaving between each image and also as a cover for the first image. I include an artists resume and gloves as an aid to the viewer and as an indication that I have placed enough value on my work to hesitate having oil transmitted to the materials.

As an aside, there is an informative site located at http://art-support.com which has a fair amount of information to those who are interested in marketing and selling their work.