I was in DC this week on business and had some time to take photos of some of the city’s marvelous sites. When I’m in DC, I always go and spend time at the monuments, just soaking in the history. Always makes me proud to be an American.
If you have kids and you have Photoshop, you should give this a try. I came across this post the other day on Photojojo. In a nutshell, you can create your own coloring sheets from your own photos. Your kids will love you and you’ll be a hero! Here’s a quick video tutorial I did to show you the steps in the process.
Here’s the final product…ready to print and color:
.png "portfolio screengrab")
This was an exciting weekend for me, because I crossed a finish line, of sorts. In the fall of 2009, I wrote down the following photography goal:
Create a comprehensive photography website with the following:
1) Blog
2) Client proofing section
3) Portfolio
As of the weekend, I’ve accomplished my goal. A while back I bought a ProPhoto blog and installed this as my main website at kevinhail.com. That’s the landing site you are on right now. A year ago I purchased a SmugMug Pro account for my client proofing/printing service, and I love it. The missing piece for months has been a solid portfolio site. I’ve researched for awhile and there were several critical needs that arose to the surface like:
- Easily customizable, WordPress back-end
- iPhone/iPad friendly, non-flash presentation
- Seamless integration with existing kevinhail.com blog
When time came to really make this happen, I found a site fairly easily, but it was the work of customizing it and integrating into my existing site that required a bit of thought and effort. I’m telling you all this, because for all of you photographers out there who are overwhelmed by inadequacy when you look at other photographers’ websites in comparison to yours, I want you to know that you can put together a comprehensive site with all of this for under $350. A portfolio, client proofing/ordering solution, and blog are all vital components for any working photographer. I remember realizing this about a year and a half ago, but no one that I talked to had any solid advice on how to make all the puzzle pieces fit together. Well, if you’re in this same spot, just ask me. I’ll help. There’s nothing worse than not having someone to ask for help.
When putting together a portfolio, here is some of the advice that I’ve implemented from others, including photography instructor Zack Arias, who frequently does online portfolio reviews:
- Put forth your best work, only your best. Best first. People may not go more than 3 or 4 photos deep and they will have already made a judgement about you as a photographer.
- Target no more than 15-20 images per gallery. You should never have more than one photo from a photoshoot in the same portfolio gallery. It makes it look like you don’t shoot very often.
- Showcase the kind of photography you’d like to keep getting hired for. I am a portrait photographer, so I lead out with my portrait photography. That is my first gallery, and one of only two galleries total.
- Make the navigation simple and intuitive. If people can’t quickly jump to other pics or see thumbnails, they will get frustrated and may leave your site.
- No music! This is kind of a bummer ’cause music and photography go hand in hand, but someone may have their speakers cranked, or they absolutely hate the song/genre you selected and that will reflect on their opinion of your music. I’ve heard so many professional photographers and editors complain about hearing music when they’re reviewing photographers’ sites. Note: You may want to make a slideshow with music for your client. Make sure you know what kind of music they like. But for the general population, just let your work speak for itself.
- Brand consistency. If the colors on your blog are green and yellow, your portfolio should reflect that. People shouldn’t feel like they’re on two separate sites, just because they are.
- Keep it clean! So help me, if you have a Google ad on your portfolio site, I’m going to smash your server with a bat. People are walking through the Louvre, except it’s just your work hanging on the walls. Don’t clutter that up with anything that will distract them.
So feel free to go check out my new portfolio and tell me if I took my own advice. If not, feel free to rip on me in the comments section! Click on the “Portfolio” button at the top of this page to check it out.
April 18, 2011 - 9:09 am
Good advice to think about Kevin!
July 26, 2012 - 1:33 pm
Kevin – thank you for this, I just stumbled across this looking for an answer for some of my questions, these kind of outlined it but I have one question in particular I was wondering if you could answer – how can I utilize a proofing site outside of my own WWW and integrate the password protected galleries received from this site into A PAGE onto my own http://WWW.? Is it even possible or am I just running in circles – the answer seems so simple but getting there has become impossible.
August 9, 2012 - 9:54 am
Wow! What a treasure trove of helpful information. I am I’m the early stages of setting everything up for my business and I can already tell that this post alone is going to save me from making a few costly mistakes. Thank you so much for your clean, easy to understand content delivery. Much appreciated.
I love your photography as well. Absolutely beautiful.
Ben O.
I will be the first to admit that I am not a great baby photographer, like my friend Sherah Witt. I think the very instinct that makes a woman a better nurturer, is the same instinct that makes them better at taking photographs of infants. Babies don’t respond to my falsetto “coochie coo”, the same way they do to a woman’s soft mommy voice. Most babies look at me with humor and amusement, like a funniest home video, or a Mr. Bean skit. So, hey, I’ll go with that. I think that if I were to really give this “Baby Photography” thing a try, I’d have to give every Mom & Dad paying me a disclaimer…don’t expect to see photos where the baby is looking up at me (the camera) with tender doe eyes. Expect your baby to look like they just saw a monkey riding on a unicycle.
Nevertheless, I had a blast taking photos of my friends’ sweet, little 4-month-old girl yesterday. The entire photo shoot took place in the baby’s room over the course of an hour. I tried natural light, but the window wasn’t allowing me enough light to work with. So I pulled out the 28″ Apollo Softbox, and put a Canon 580exII speedlight inside and filled the room with directional light. That setup was what I used for probably 75% of the remaining shot. It’s critical to leave yourself some options. If I hadn’t had any lights with me, I’d be up a creek. While I feel that nothing is prettier than natural light pouring in through a window onto a baby laying on a soft blanket in their crib, I just couldn’t get that, so I had to recreate that.
Here are a few of the shots from yesterday. If you’re a baby photographer, don’t worry…I’m not coming for you. I’ve got to keep working on my coochie coos.
Since last year, Amanda and I have been taking photos and publishing them on an iPhone app called Instagram. In a nutshell, it’s a photo community built around “instant” iPhone pics. I’ve found it to be very satisfying way to capture my life, because I always have my iPhone, but don’t always have my dSLR handy. I’ve been awful about printing out my photos and hanging them on the wall. For one thing, frames are so expensive. Additionally, I get sick of my photos too quickly and want to change them out. So we had an idea of printing out and hanging a grid of these Instagram photos in frames, with the thought being that we’d just rotate in some new pics every few weeks. I’m very excited to show you how our wall turned out.
The frames were super cheap. When all was said and done, we bought 16 frames for under $80 at Michael’s. In fact, this whole thing cost us under $100. “The wall”, as we’re calling it, is in our dining area where we’ll see it every night as we sit down to eat as a family. It’s meant to inspire us to appreciate special moments in our lives and to take more photos, all of us. My kids photos will be joining those that Amanda and I have taken. Already, I’ve been teaching my kids to look for moments and ask for mom or dad’s iPhone to take a picture, but honestly, they’ve already got the eye.
So the pictures aren’t perfect, the prints aren’t perfect, the frames aren’t perfect…but life isn’t perfect. Take more pictures anyway and celebrate your life.
April 13, 2011 - 10:30 am
YAYY!! I LOVE THIS!
April 13, 2011 - 10:50 am
Wow! This is such a great idea and you guys pulled it off beautifully! Great work!
April 13, 2011 - 12:41 pm
This looks great! Did you print with Instaprint or somewhere else? I’ve been collecting all my Instagram prints in a folder and at the end of the year I’m going to pick my favorites to showcase framed as well. 
April 18, 2011 - 11:15 am
That is a really cool idea. Great stuff!
November 9, 2011 - 7:37 am
awesome idea! I think looks so great—I’ve been wanting to do this myself. Seeing yours as me motivated
thanks!
February 13, 2012 - 12:22 pm
what a great idea! it looks like the photos are printed at 4×4 or 5×5…are those the dimensions? i always have the hardest time finding frames that work for my instagram photos! thanks!
February 17, 2012 - 5:06 am
[...] a great idea for your home from Kevin Hail—an Instagram Photo Wall. Check out his advice on creating your photo wall here (be sure and read through the comments too). Image via Kevin Hail [...]
February 21, 2012 - 10:12 am
This is absolutely one of the best ideas ever! I’m a big fan of Instagram and use it all the time on my iPhone. I also enjoy photography and displaying my photos in my apartment. I will definitely be doing this. Thanks so much for sharing your inspiration.
February 22, 2012 - 6:58 am
[...] am in love with this Instagram photo wall (@ Keven Hail [...]
February 23, 2012 - 6:15 am
Love the idea! Love your last statement! “So the pictures aren’t perfect, the prints aren’t perfect, the frames aren’t perfect…but life isn’t perfect. Take more pictures anyway and celebrate your life.”
February 23, 2012 - 11:23 am
I featured you today for my Pinterest Thursday post. http://instantmommie.blogspot.com/ Thanks for the inspiration!
February 29, 2012 - 9:00 am
[...] Our Instagram Photo Wall – Kevin Hail (I’m obsessed with Instagram and plan to do this asap) [...]
March 1, 2012 - 8:08 am
Did you use the same instagram “filters” for all the pics or different ones? What size are the frames? Thanks so much!
March 27, 2012 - 11:23 pm
You can get your instagram pics printed from an app called postal pix. I’ve tried it and they turned out awesome. You can get 4×4, 5×5, 8×8 or regular size prints. It’s awesome check it out!
March 30, 2012 - 5:04 pm
[...] Our Instagram Photo Wall » Kevin Hail Photography. Category: Around the House, how to… You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. [...]
April 19, 2012 - 9:06 am
Amazing! Great Job, you guys!
April 20, 2012 - 8:57 am
[...] this instagram display. [...]
April 20, 2012 - 8:15 pm
This is such a great idea, thank you for sharing!
April 23, 2012 - 8:52 pm
[...] {Photo Credit} [...]
May 8, 2012 - 12:32 pm
Well done Kevin!
May 9, 2012 - 8:00 pm
[...] Photo credits 1 // 2 // 3 // 4 [...]
May 31, 2012 - 7:26 pm
i love it!! awesome idea.
June 1, 2012 - 10:14 am
What size frames did you get and what size prints did you order?
June 4, 2012 - 8:14 pm
[...] {Photo Credit} [...]
June 7, 2012 - 2:45 pm
Hi there, wanted to let you know this was featured on FLOR’s design blog, Musings, the other day: http://www.flor.com/blog/do-you-instagram-final/
June 21, 2012 - 10:18 pm
[...] the top 5 things I’m pinning [we're talking Pinterest peeps!] Aninstagram gallery. Brilliant!! all those fabulous photos don’t have to live in instagram-land. you can [...]
June 29, 2012 - 1:59 pm
[...] I just downloaded Instagram and I’m already obsessed. This is a great idea for creating art work for your home. I love the antiqued look that is [...]
July 15, 2012 - 12:34 pm
[...] kevinhail.com via Katalin on [...]
August 4, 2012 - 11:30 am
Whats up very cool website!! Guy .. Beautiful .. Wonderful .. I will bookmark your blog and take the feeds additionally?I am satisfied to find numerous helpful information here in the submit, we’d like work out more techniques on this regard, thank you for sharing. . . . . .
August 11, 2012 - 11:51 pm
Love this. just downloaded Instagram so I can do this.
August 18, 2012 - 11:29 pm
Kevin–how are you enlarging and printing the instagram pictures?
August 30, 2012 - 11:05 am
I love this idea! I think a “favorites photo wall” will be happening in the very near future.
August 30, 2012 - 11:16 am
Super idea. I saw a nice collage frame that would work perfectly. Or maybe one of those 3 panel screens. Thanks for the mind diversion Kim!
August 30, 2012 - 11:31 am
I need to get to Ikea. They have, if I remember correctly, some pretty inexpensive square frames that I think will work perfectly for this.
September 5, 2012 - 11:21 am
[...] kevinhail.com via Lisa on [...]
September 11, 2012 - 8:00 pm
Where did you get your instagram pictures printed?
September 18, 2012 - 3:46 pm
[...] recently changed them out and plan to do so every few months. My original inspiration came from Pinterest, where a photographer created a 16 frame version of phone images. I loved the idea and quickly [...]
September 27, 2012 - 10:59 am
[...] kevinhail.com via DeAnn on [...]
October 11, 2012 - 5:31 pm
@[35636298379:274:Photo Pro] in Cedar Rapids, IA can print Instagram’s up to 12×12″! They do a fantastic job!=o)
October 14, 2012 - 2:29 am
Love this!!!!
November 9, 2012 - 7:39 pm
What size frames? It looks awesome! Thank you for the inspiration!
December 5, 2012 - 1:42 am
Not sure if the question below was answered… but what type/size frame was used from Michael’s? This picture display looks amazing!
December 9, 2012 - 3:01 am
Love the square frame& matte, cannot find them anywhere, please help!
December 9, 2012 - 10:14 am
I have same question what size frame and mat? What is the mat size? Can someone please post? Are they enlarged or just your 4 x 4..
Thanks,
December 29, 2012 - 9:56 pm
Michaels have 8×8 matted frames for $9.99, they have an opening for the 4×4 instaprints. This week frames are on sale at Michaels.
December 29, 2012 - 10:12 pm
Thank you!
December 30, 2012 - 4:14 pm
Do you know SKU number?
January 16, 2013 - 6:49 pm
You should check out metal and wood prints from freshsquared.com. We feature great Instagram artists and the prints come ready to hang (no framing).
Thanks!
February 1, 2013 - 12:06 am
FYI – My local Michael’s only has 8×8 frames for a 5×5 picture (reg retail $19.99). I did find 8×8 frames for 5×5 picture online at Walmart (product code 0003855539077) @ $13.97 for a 2 pk. Also, as mentioned by Anna, PhotoProOnline.com prints Instagram photos (and they print 5×5).
February 2, 2013 - 10:34 pm
I was able to find the exact frames at Michael’s. In fact, 16 frames cost me $80 plus tax (but the frames were 50% off at the time). I took me a little while to find the exact frames so I thought I would share with you. The frames are from Michael’s Studio Decor Portrait Collection (SKU 470900); 10×10 matted to 5×5 picture window (window is framed by a thin black plastic insert…it is not double matted). Also, if you look carefully, the frame finish is not smooth–wood grains are visible. You will have to print out your instragrams 5×7 to fit these frames.
February 2, 2013 - 10:39 pm
I was able to find the exact frames at Michael’s. In fact, 16 frames cost me $80 plus tax (but the frames were 50% off at the time). I took me a little while to find the exact frames so I thought I would share with you. The frames are from Michael’s Studio Decor Portrait Collection (SKU 470900); 10×10 matted to 5×5 picture window (window is framed by a thin black plastic insert…it is not double matted). Also, if you look carefully, the frame finish is not smooth–wood grains are visible. You will have to print out your instragrams 5×7 to fit these frames.
February 13, 2013 - 1:15 pm
[...] [...]
March 1, 2013 - 5:23 am
[...] kevinhail.com via Caroline on Pinterest This entry was posted in Life and tagged diy, home decor, [...]
March 18, 2013 - 6:05 pm
How did you print your instagram photos?
April 3, 2013 - 3:18 pm
[...] Source: kevinhail.com [...]
May 6, 2013 - 4:01 pm
[...] Revelar em um tamanho maior (10cm) e colocar em molduras quadradas. Eu quero fazer uma dessa ainda! Já tenho as fotos e a parede, só faltam as [...]
I think this is something I could do for my daughter’s birthday next month.
Thanks Kevin.
p/s Those kids are really cute.