Your portfolio is photos. Not tattoos — photos. A clean piece shot badly looks like a blowout waiting to happen, and a decent piece shot well books three more like it. It's unfair, and it's also the job, so let's get the photos right.
The fresh shot: you're fighting shine and blood, that's it
A fresh tattoo is wet, swollen, and covered in plasma. Two minutes of prep beats any amount of editing:
Wipe it properly, let it sit a minute, wipe again. That second wipe is the one that matters — the first one just smears. Then kill the direct light. Overhead shop spots bounce off wet skin and turn your linework into glare. Turn the client toward a window, or use one soft light source at an angle, never straight on. If you can see a white hotspot on the skin in your phone preview, move until you can't.
Shoot square to the tattoo, not square to the room. Wrapping pieces need two or three frames — the "whole thing at once" fisheye look distorts your drawing, and other artists can tell.
And get the frame you'll want later: one tight shot for detail, one that shows placement on the body. The placement shot is the one clients screenshot when they're deciding. People don't wear tattoos in closeup.
The healed shot: the one that actually proves you're good
Anyone's work looks bold at day zero. Healed at six weeks is where whip shading either held or turned to fog, where your lines either stayed crisp or spread. Artists who post healed work are making a claim most portfolios never back up — and clients are learning to look for it.
The problem is nobody comes back just to be photographed. So stop asking them to. Attach it to something that already happens: the touch-up check-in, the next session on a multi-session piece, the aftercare email at week five that says "send me a photo — if anything needs attention we'll sort it, and if it healed clean I'd love to shoot it properly next time you're in." Half of a good healed-photo habit is just an email that goes out on schedule.
Keep fresh and healed shots of the same piece together. That pairing — same tattoo, day 0 and week 6 — is the single most convincing thing a portfolio can contain.
Editing: less than you think
Adjust exposure and contrast to match what your eye saw. Straighten. Done. The moment you're boosting saturation on your own ink you're writing a check the healed tattoo can't cash, and the client who compares their arm to your post will notice. Skin tone especially — editing a tattoo lighter or the skin smoother reads terribly, and it should.
One habit worth stealing from the artists whose feeds look effortless: shoot everything the same way. Same wall, same window, same distance. Consistency across fifty posts reads as professionalism before anyone looks at a single tattoo. If you log sessions anyway, note "healed pic?" on the ones you want back — future you, scrolling for portfolio material, will thank the note.
The work is the work. The photos are the argument. Make the argument well.