website for photographers: twenty photos, not two hundred

business · 2026-10-29 · 3 min

A client arrives from Instagram, on a phone, and decides in fifteen seconds whether you can shoot the job they need. They do not read the biography: they look at the photos. If the homepage asks them to download twelve megabytes to understand that, the tab is already closed.

twenty photos, not two hundred

A portfolio homepage holds twelve to twenty images, chosen, not the whole archive. Whole sets from one job work better than twenty unrelated frames lined up by colour: the wedding, the restaurant, the product. The order tells a story. The first photo says what kind of photographer you are, the second confirms it, the third shows a person. If you shoot weddings and portraits, open with the work you want to be called for, not with the work you enjoy most.

weight is part of the portfolio

A twelve megabyte JPEG on a slow mobile connection takes several seconds to open, and in those seconds the client is gone. Export at two thousand pixels on the long side, compress to WebP or AVIF, lazy load everything below the first screen. The difference between a fast portfolio and a slow one is not visible in the room where you work. It is visible in the client's hand, on a train.

private galleries for clients

Delivery is a different job from the portfolio and should be kept apart: password, one folder per client, a clear expiry date, downloads, no indexing by search engines. Say how many photos you deliver, how the selection happens and how long it takes, and who holds rights over what. For a wedding you also need written permission to publish the couple's photos: many say yes, some say no, and the question belongs before the shoot, not after. The guide on showing your work goes into the detail.

what to remove, and where to start

Remove the two-hundred-photo gallery with no captions, the autoplay music and the line about capturing emotions. This week, choose twenty images, export them at two thousand pixels and put them on the homepage instead of the slider.

faq

how many photos should i put online?

Twenty good ones are enough for a client to decide, and they beat two hundred average ones. If you have more work, split it into sections: weddings, portraits, companies. Each section with its own selection.

can clients download their photos?

It depends on what the contract says: number of files, size, delivery time, personal or commercial use. The private gallery is for delivery, not a replacement for the agreement. Set an expiry date and warn the client before it passes.

can i use wedding photos on my site?

You need the couple's consent, preferably written, naming the site and social accounts. If they say no, respect it without pushing. Ask when you deliver the gallery, while the work is fresh and trust is high.