Why the word needs explaining
When readers write to us about Reader Services, the first question is often what a portfolio review actually is. The phrase gets used loosely in the photography trade. Some people hear a critique, others a sales pitch, others a job interview. In our case it is none of those, and I would rather say so plainly before anyone sends an enquiry.
A portfolio review, as our editors offer it, is a conversation between you and one of us about a body of your own photographs. You send the pictures ahead, we look at them properly, and then we talk about what the set says, where it holds together and where it wanders. Nobody is being graded, and nobody is being told to take up a different style.
I have sat on both sides of that table over a long career in photo books and regional features, so I try to keep the terms honest.
Review, critique and edit are not the same thing
Three words do most of the confusing. A critique judges individual pictures: this one is sharp, that one is soft, this horizon tilts. An edit is the act of choosing which pictures stay and in what order. A review, in the sense we use, is mostly the second kind of work with a little of the first. We care less about whether a single frame is flawless than about whether twelve frames belong beside each other.
That distinction matters because a good photograph can still weaken a set. I have seen a lovely porch picture sink an otherwise quiet series about a bakery, simply because it belonged to a different afternoon and a different mood.
When we review, we say so directly, and we explain why in words you can use again on your own.
- Critique: a verdict on a single frame
- Edit: choosing and sequencing the set
- Review: reading the whole body of work with you
What a story-planning session is
Story planning is the term people ask about second. It means we sit down before you shoot, not after. You bring an idea, perhaps a street, a club, a family routine, and we work out what a visit might look like: who you need to speak to first, what times of day suit the subject, how many visits are realistic and what you will want in your hands at the end.
The word planning can sound grand. In practice it is a plain list of decisions made early, so that you are not improvising a hard conversation on a doorstep.
Our editors also talk about consent here, because earning a subject's trust is part of the picture-making, not a courtesy tacked on afterwards. We would rather you arrive with a clear sentence about what you are asking for than a camera and a hope.
What a portrait lesson covers
A portrait lesson is the most hands-on of our services and is taught by our staff photographer, Daniel Okafor. The word lesson here does not mean a classroom with slides. It means time spent with someone who has made neighbourhood portraits with natural light and long, patient visits, working through your own questions about the people you photograph.
Typical topics are where to stand, how long to stay, how to read a window, and what to do in the first minute when your subject is stiff with nerves. We talk about the quiet part of the job, the waiting, as much as the technical part.
If you have a particular difficulty, say photographing relatives without turning them into posed figures, tell us when you enquire and we will build the session around that rather than a general outline.
Terms that cause trouble on the invoice side
Some trade words are really about money and expectations. Scope is one: it means what the session includes and where it stops. A review covers the pictures you sent, not a second round of new work unless we agree to another session in writing. Turnaround is another: it is the time between your enquiry and our written confirmation, not a promise of a finished result.
Deposit is a word you will not meet here, because nothing is paid on the website. You enquire through the contact page, we confirm in writing, and an invoice follows, paid by bank transfer. Cancellations and refunds follow the payment and refund policy.
I mention this in an article about vocabulary because unclear terms cause more disappointment than unclear photographs ever do, and our prices page sets out each service and what it costs.
Words worth keeping in your own notebook
Before you contact anyone about a review, from us or from someone else, it helps to carry a few terms in your head. Sequence means the order of the pictures. Caption means the words that explain what we are looking at and why it matters. Coverage means whether you have photographed enough different aspects of a subject to tell the story at all.
Knowing these lets you say what you want from a session in a sentence. A photographer who writes that she wants help with sequence and captions on a set of fifteen pictures is easier to help than one who writes, please look at my work.
None of this is jargon for its own sake. These are ordinary working words, and once you hold them, any editor's feedback becomes easier to follow and easier to act on.
- Sequence: the order of the frames
- Caption: the words beside a picture
- Coverage: whether the subject is fully seen
Terms are only useful when they make a conversation easier. A review reads your set, story planning prepares your visits, and a portrait lesson sharpens how you meet people with a camera. If one of these fits what you are working on, write to us through the contact page, say plainly what you hope to understand, and we will answer in writing before anything is invoiced.