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What makes a photography portfolio site successful?

Design has a major effect on the way content is perceived — it instantly implies the level of quality that can be expected.

Great photo site design often gets out of the way of the images, and serves as a stage for them. Some ways to achieve that:

• Photos shown as large as possible
• BACK/NEXT buttons to navigate through photos, in the same position from page to page
• HTML rather than Flash navigation (so the viewer can re-find a specific image)
• Photos all in one continuous stream, rather than under different links on the site. (The different projects can be differentiated by color or title rather than by navigation. )
• As little else as possible other than the photos. (Contact/Bio/Press/Awards type info is great, but that can be under one link)

Here’s a great example from Jon-Paul Douglass:

That said, there are sites that break all the rules and still turn out great, like this one from Matthew Mahon. (click on the photos with a person icon: a video of Matthew — shown below with his assistant — comes into the frame and explains the photo)