Building Your Portfolio

By creavio Team April 10, 2026 1 views

Building Your Portfolio

Your portfolio is your best salesperson. It does not call in sick. It does not stumble through a pitch. It shows your work and lets it speak. Here is how to build one that converts visitors into inquiries.

Portfolio Page vs. Galleries

These are different things in creavio:

  • Portfolio — your public-facing showcase on your website. Anyone can see it.
  • Galleries (Collections) — private client delivery spaces with access controls. See Collections.

Your portfolio pulls images from your media library. It does not expose client galleries to the public.

Setting Up Your Portfolio Page

  1. Go to Website > Pages
  2. If a Portfolio page does not exist, click + New Page and name it "Portfolio"
  3. Add a Gallery Grid section
  4. Select images from your media library or create project groupings

Organizing by Project

The most effective portfolio layout groups work by project or category. Each project becomes a clickable card that opens to a full gallery. Options for organization:

  • By session type: Weddings, Portraits, Commercial, Events
  • By project: "Sarah & James Wedding", "Nike Campaign", "Downtown Headshots"
  • By style: Studio, Outdoor, Editorial, Documentary

In the Gallery Grid section settings, you can choose between:

  • Masonry layout — images at their natural aspect ratios, stacked like Pinterest
  • Grid layout — uniform squares or rectangles, clean and orderly
  • Carousel — horizontal scroll, good for featured projects

Selecting Portfolio Images

Do not dump 500 images on your portfolio. Curate ruthlessly.

  • 10-15 images per project is a good range
  • Show variety within each project — different angles, moments, details
  • Lead with your strongest image — it becomes the project cover
  • Include a mix of wide and tight crops — visual rhythm keeps people scrolling

To select images: in the section editor, click Choose Images. Browse your media library, use folders and tags to find what you need, and select the images. Drag to reorder.

Adding Project Details

Each project in your portfolio can include:

  • Title — the project name
  • Description — context about the shoot (keep it short: location, mood, story)
  • Tags — help with internal organization and filtering on the portfolio page
  • Cover image — the image shown on the portfolio grid

Lightbox Experience

When a visitor clicks an image, it opens in a full-screen lightbox with keyboard navigation, swipe support on mobile, and smooth transitions. This is built into creavio — no plugins or extra setup.

Video in Your Portfolio

If you shoot video, add video projects to your portfolio. creavio's HLS player handles adaptive streaming, so videos load fast on any connection. Mix photo and video projects on the same portfolio page.

SEO for Portfolio Pages

Portfolio images should have alt text. In your media library, click any image and add a description. This becomes the alt text when the image is used on your website. Good alt text:

  • "Bride and groom first dance at Meridian House wedding in Washington DC"
  • "Corporate headshot of woman in navy blazer against white background"

Bad alt text: "IMG_4521" or "photo" or leaving it blank.

For more, see SEO for Photographers.

Public Portfolio URL

Your portfolio lives at yourdomain.com/portfolio (or whatever slug you set). Share this link on Instagram, Google Business Profile, and anywhere you market your work.