As a photographer I was excited when I watched the announcement for the iPad. I was excited for many reasons, but the biggest reason was the image presentation potential. I was excited to have a way to organize and display images, and play slide shows. While the Photos application included by Apple was great for creating folders and organizing images, it lacked a few features that really made it perfect for heavy business use. Portfolio for iPad provides these features, and a few more.
Functionality
One of the biggest things I look for in a portfolio application is branding. I work very hard to incorporate my business logo into everything that that has to do with my business. From the website, and Twitter to the Facebook page. It just makes sense that when presenting a portfolio to a client, that portfolio should resemble the rest of your branding. Portfolio for iPad does this, and does it well. It doesn’t let you add just one photo for a logo, it lets you add 3! One for when in landscape mode, one for in portrait mode, and one for when attached to an external monitor. That’s right; this application supports the optional VGA out adapter. But that’s just the beginning. This app provides the ability to create multiple galleries for photo, or video content.
You can then hide any of these galleries behind a 4 digit pin lock to prevent unauthorized viewing of the other galleries, as well as administrator functions of the app. You can let your wedding clients browse through your wedding gallery without worrying that they will end up in your vacation picture gallery by mistake. Just like the built in photo app, you can control slideshow music, and slide duration. It offers both full screen and “film strip” view like the built in app as well. Just the branding, and the gallery control are enough to fulfill all that I thought that I wanted in a portfolio app, but there were features that I didn’t even think about included, and now they’re must haves.
Welcome Surprises
When I first setup my galleries after I set the branding, I used images that I already had on my iPad (after all, I was already using the built in app so I had the images already loaded) but with Portfolio you have the option of loading images from your Dropbox account, or an external link. This is great! Say you’re out and want to add a few images quickly to a gallery to tailor your presentation for a specific client (hopefully you would do this beforehand but who knows) you can pull in images from your online gallery or from Dropbox quickly and as easily as if they were already loaded onto your iPad. The next feature that I wouldn’t have thought I wanted or needed is ratings and notes for each image. Like a friend of mine Don Giannatti says, when presenting a portfolio you need to tell what the goal of the images is. Along with these notes, ratings help you sort your images if you have a large gallery similar to the way ratings help you sort images in programs like Lightroom. Another time saver that I wouldn’t have thought to add to a presentation app is keywording. With keywords you can narrow down galleries to show specifically what the customer wants to see. For example, if you have all of your hardlight, “sport” style images open for a commercial customer, but they want to just see the female examples, you can do that(if you’ve keyworded diligently).
What I’d like to see
As well thought out as any application is, nothing is perfect. Portfolio for iPad is no different but I have to admit, there is only one thing that I would like to see different. This isn’t a big thing, but a bit of an annoyance all the same. When turning off, or hiding a gallery, you have to go a few levels into the menus. I would like to see that option on the main page.
You can get Portfolio for iPad for $14.99 here from the 
Conclusion
If you are at all serious about using your iPad for presenting images to clients you need this application. It turns the iPad into a polished, branded, digital portfolio perfect for presenting your work to potential customers. It’s a little on the pricy side at $14.99 but well worth the money.
More Apps for Photographers
Also be sure to check out Terry's 8 Must Have iPad Apps for Photographers here
Great review, Terry! Will get based on your recommendation.
Glad you liked the review! You won’t be disappointed with this app
Hi Sandi,
It’s Jason’s review, not mine
This is just the app I was hoping would come out. Can you show a screen shot of what the branding looks like when in slideshow mode?
Currently there is no option to include a opening and closing image. I’m going to go ahead and say that option should be added to my wish list for this app. Hopefully they’ll add it in an update.
Would you recommend this app for the amateur photographer? I show many of my photos to my family, friends, and my daughter’s teammates. Currently, I use iGallery. I have recently started to sell some of my daughter’s team photos after many of the parents offered to buy them. How does this app differ from iGallery? Is it worth the switch.
P.S. I love your blogs. I read them no fail daily. Thanks for all the great information.
Renee, I don’t use iGallery so I can’t tell you the difference between it and Portfolio, however I would recommend this app for what you’re doing. It creates a quick easy way to show your work to potential clients that is interactive to them(the can slide the slides manually if you’d like). It creates the branded look, and that is huge when establishing yourself. For $14.99, you can’t go wrong!
Thank you for the info. I bought it and love it. Great!!!
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Great review! Is there also possible to secure the images to prevent people viewing your portfolio from forwarding themselves images via email using native iPad functions?
Hey Jason. I stumbled upon your blog while searching for some cools apps which can make my life as photographer easier. First of all, loved your blog and the way you write the reviews. Also, I currently use an app named Sortshots. That is not specifically for the portfolios but it has got much more than what you need for these things.. if you use it little differently. They have got EXIF/Metadata support which is great coz syncing is much easier with Lightroom and iPad. I though you might want to take a look at it in case that helps. I think that was 4.99$
Cheers
Scott
hi..nice review..presently i am using the Sort shots & it works perfect for me.It is the easiest way to Sort, Sequence and Share your photographs.also the best part is that i can play music with slideshow while showing my pics to clients.
I purchased this app for my ipad 3 , and it doesnt work AT ALL beware before you buy this app! Customer Service in NON EXiSTENT, save your money! And good luck on a refund.