How Should I Build My Bridal Makeup Portfolio?

Choose portraits over full-length fashion shots to really showcase your makeup skills.

A bridal makeup portfolio should showcase solid photographic makeup skills, while providing a visual track record of your bridal work to date. This is a useful tool to show potential clients so they can get a feel for your experience and style. Many makeup artists also have an online presence and so building a makeup portfolio both in print and online provides a comprehensive way to promote your work.

Things You'll Need

• Photographs of bridal work
• Website, blog or social networking page
• Portfolio case

Instructions

Getting Pictures

1. Spend time building a relationship with each bride you work for. These could be professional clients, but many makeup artists get their first jobs by offering skills to friends, family and local photographers. Doing a trial make-up application and getting to know each bride improves the final makeup application, leading to better photos and a good start to your makeup portfolio.

2. Ask all your bridal clients if you can have a few photographs after the wedding. Most brides are flattered and happy to send pictures for your portfolio.

3. Talk to the official photographer on the wedding day, if possible. With permission from the bride, a photographer might send you some pictures directly. These are likely to be the best standard for your professional portfolio and may even be suitable to print in a large format.

Print Portfolio

1. Choose your best bridal shots. These should be professional images in a high enough resolution to print to a large size. A resolution of 300 dots per inch (dpi) is enough for an A3 (16.5 x 11.7 inch) portfolio. You might also choose a smaller A4 (23.4 x 16.5 inch) book.

2. Get portfolio pages printed professionally, ideally by a local printer with whom you can discuss your expectations face-to-face.

3. Mount prints in a smart portfolio case. Black leather is a popular option for makeup artists. Use detachable sleeves so you can easily update your book.

Digital Portfolio

1. Store digital photos in an easily accessible folder on your computer or hard drive. This makes it easy to update your work as well as email individual images to interested clients.

2. Upload your best bridal photographs to your website, blog or social media page. Most bridal makeup artists find that an online portfolio is the easiest way to interest potential clients, who can browse work before contacting you.

3. Review your online portfolio every few months, replacing and refreshing images with newer ones to keep the overall look of your page up-to-date.

Tips & Warnings

• Images from a professional photographer are edited but if a bride sends you personal pictures you could use basic image-editing software to tidy them up. This could include cropping them and correcting color.

• Get variety in your portfolio by working with brides to develop truly individual looks. To showcase versatility, include Asian bridal styles, evening wedding makeup and vintage looks.

• Avoid taking your own pictures on the wedding day. It is not good professional conduct to intrude on someone’s big day by bringing out your own camera. As a makeup artist your only focus should be in making the bride look and feel as good as possible.

• Using pictures in your portfolio from brides and photographers is not the same as utilizing the images for promotional and marketing material. Get permission from both parties before using a photograph for business cards, flyers or advertisements.

References

• "Award Studio"; Safeguarding Your Portfolio; Amy Ward; 2000
• University College London: 10 Steps to Better Powerpoint Posters
• Paper Sizes: Dimensions of A Series Paper Sizes

Resources

• My Job Search: Make-up Artist