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If your business requires that you showcase creative work online, you may feel exasperated that no singular professional site exists for combining both your profile and samples. I’ve often wondered about this myself.

Creative businesses (graphic designers, fashion designers, architects, photographers, videographers, film makers, digital media firms, and even copywriters) must maintain numerous profiles and samples on many sites to stay in front of prospects. Then there is keeping up with your own portfolio, perhaps on your web site, and resume updates as well.

Let your Creative Work Shine

LinkedIn has heard your pleas for help. Joining forces with the Behance Network, LinkedIn now offers a new application: the Creative Portfolio Display. Launched in July, the Creative Portfolio Display application lets you create a good looking online portfolio right there on your profile page.

Behance Network is free, but you must register to use the application. Then simply install the application and upload your portfolio. Create any number of multimedia projects. Control which projects take center stage on your LinkedIn profile.

(BONUS! Post your portfolio to other sites via the Behance Network too. The company website states, “From one central portfolio, your work can be displayed within LinkedIn, Behance.net, AIGA, MTV, and other networks/galleries around the web.”)

The Green Buzz Agency Blog provides insight for Marketing Decision Makers and other fun people   Our company is the leader in corporate, web, and online video production services to Washington DC, Boston, Philadelphia, and NYC!

Behance Network CEO Scott Belsky, creator of the app, explains his vision. “Personal websites don’t adequately broadcast your work for discovery by industry peers and top companies and neither is it tied to your professional identity on the web. Plus, keeping your work samples up to date on multiple websites is inefficient, resulting in portfolios becoming outdated and forgotten.”

If showcasing creative work is integral to the success of your business model, get this app going ASAP.

Victoria Ipri is CEO of Modello Media, Inc., an e-marketing strategy firm based in suburban Philadelphia, PA. She welcomes your questions and comments on this forum, or contact her directly at: ModelloMedia@gmail.com

Feel free to connect with members of Green Buzz Agency on Linkedin: Tod Plotkin, Sara Evans, Jennie Nowers, or Brittney Grove. Or join the Green Buzz Agency Linkedin Group.

This is the first post by our Green Buzz Photography staff. We will be writing about current issues in photography, as well as the basics behind photography and its importance in business and other realms.

The Top 4 Things to Consider When Hiring a Photographer

1.  Portfolio of work

When looking for a photographer you should examine their body of work.  Photographers can have diverse portfolios that show their abilities in a range of different styles and techniques.  By browsing a photographer’s portfolio—either online or in print—you get to know vital information about that photographer: their style, their technical ability, how they relate to their subjects and the quality of their finished work.  A website is an invaluable tool for any photographer in today’s industry.  Make sure you look through websites, blogs and event print portfolios to find the photographer whose style matches your ideas.

2.  Style

Once you’ve viewed a photographer’s body of work, you should have a good idea of the photographer’s style. This is an essential consideration when choosing a photographer. For example: If you want an editorial portrait or photo-journalistic coverage of an event, you will need to hire someone who has work that matches that style.  If you choose a photographer who is a product or architectural photographer, you may not get what you want. Different styles of photography require very different methods, equipment and training.  You wouldn’t hire a cupcake maker to fix your Prius, would you?  The same holds true for photography.  While an architectural photographer will know how to light and photograph spaces and location, this does not translate to the lighting and technique required when photographing a person.  This does not mean that an architectural photographer cannot be a portrait photographer or vice versa.  Some photographers are able to specialize in multiple areas of photography.  This is something that you would find out about a photographer when looking through their bodies of work.

3.  Budget

This point is of course high on everybody’s list.  Some companies/individuals have high budgets and some have low budgets.  From the photographer’s perspective, the budget of the shoot comes down to these points:

• What is being photographed and for how long
• Equipment required for the shoot
• Staff required for the shoot
• End product coming from the shootWhether the shoot is a simple headshot for a single business professional that requires only one photographer and no more than an hour of time for a portrait that will end up on a website profile, or whether it’s a catalogue shoot that requires several days in a specific location, with many support staff (make-up artists, stylists, assistants, digital technicians) and hundreds of images being delivered to the client, the budget is crucial and needs dutiful consideration to make sure it is fair and appropriate for all parties concerned.

4.  Equipment

While it is not important for you to know exactly what equipment your photographer uses, it is important for you to know that their equipment is up to date and capable of achieving the results you want for your project.  It is also important to note that the cost of the equipment does not correlate to the skill of the photographer.  A great photographer can create wonderful images with all sorts of different equipment both high and low in cost. However, there are certain circumstances when the abilities of the equipment are important to the result of the photography.  For example; If you have a project that requires a very large printed product (like a billboard) then to get the best results the photographer will need to use a camera that has a large-sized sensor with a large megapixel count to ensure the most amount of detail in the final product.  Similarly, if the project requires shooting in very low light (a conference in a darkened room) then a camera with quality performance at high ISO’s is very important.  Therefore, when you are in the process of hiring a photographer; be sure to tell them all about your project, who or what is being photographed, where the shoot is to take place, the circumstances of the shoot and the desired outcome of the images.  This way your photographer will be able to plan and act accordingly to fulfill your project to the best of their abilities.

Green Buzz Agency has a number of photographers on staff who are trained and experienced in many photography disciplines. Check out our portfolio. If you have any questions about upcoming projects please do not hesitate to get in contact us at info@greenbuzzagency.com or by visiting our contact page.