The Portflio Review

Close-up of a person's hand reaching and readjusting the position of a framed photograph or artwork on a wall. The person is wearing a black long-sleeve garment and a wristwatch.

Your series, seen by a printer.

Forty-five minutes to find out whether your series holds up,
on screen and on paper.

Your series is almost ready.
What it needs now is an eye that knows how an image behaves once printed.
In one session, we go through everything that decides
how it will look in print.

Print-Ready Review · 45-minute video call · 10 to 20 images · €150

Multiple printed photographs scattered on a surface. A messy portfolio of photographic prints.
A portfolio of nine landscape photographs arranged on a wooden surface. The portfolio is neat and well assembled.

What the screen doesn't show you

On screen, everything looks right. On paper, blacks close up, colours drift, contrast hardens.
A portfolio is not a collection of good images: it is a piece of writing, with rhythm and silence.
Better to check both now than in front of a jury or a gallerist.

What we'll go through together


We'll look at your series as a whole: its rhythm, its strongest images, and the ones that weaken it.

The series as a whole


We'll examine each key image for print: shadow detail, highlights, contrast, and how colors behave on paper.

Print readiness


We'll test the sequence: which image opens, which one closes, and where the series needs to breathe.

The sequence


We'll soft-proof your key images on candidate papers. Soft-proofing: previewing on screen how an image will look on a specific paper, using that paper's color profile.

Soft-proofing

We'll choose the paper together: matte, satin or baryta, and how each one changes the mood of your series.

Paper


We'll discuss retouching: what to correct, what to leave alone, and what Photoshop can do to prepare an image for print.

Retouching


We'll settle print sizes and presentation: formats, margins, and how the series will hang or sit in a portfolio.

Size and presentation


We'll finish with a plan: what to do first and in what order, ready for your next print or submission.

A plan


What you will get is advice, not a sales pitch.

Asking questions at a print lab can feel like stepping into a sales conversation.

Here, there is nothing to sell you.
We are not trying to win your print job. You get an honest opinion on your series, your files and your paper,
and you decide what to do with it, at any lab, or at home.
Ask everything you have hesitated to ask.

Who it's for

Photographers at any stage who want an informed outside view of their work:

  • emerging photographers shaping a first series,

  • developing photographers with a body of work in progress,

  • experienced photographers preparing a new project, a submission, an exhibition or a book.

The series does not need to be finished.

What you take away


Selection and sequencing settled.

A clearer series


Paper, retouching and print size, image by image.

Precise choices


What will work on paper, and what needs correcting.

A printer's opinion

A written report


To keep going without losing the thread.

A demanding eye, never a verdict.

We look for what your series already says, and what it could say more clearly.

I am Albin Millot, a Paris-born photographer and the founder of Atelier Pigment, a fine art printing studio. For over twenty years, I have worked closely with curators and photographers, including Magnum photographers such as Harry Gruyaert, Martine Franck, Bruno Barbey, Patrick Zachmann, and Thomas Dworzak, and institutions and galleries such as the Centre Pompidou, Le BAL, the MEP, FoMU Antwerp, UNESCO, Hermès, Yves Saint Laurent, Gallery FIFTY ONE in Antwerp, and the Howard Greenberg Gallery in New York.

This review draws on that experience. In forty-five minutes, you will benefit from what two decades at the printing table have taught me about how photographs are edited, printed, and presented, and you will leave with a working understanding of how your own series will be seen, judged, and printed.

Who you'll be working with

Albin Millot - Founder of Atelier Pigment

How to prepare

Send between 10 and 20 images 48 hours before the session, and a short text if you have one.
Come with one or two questions you would like answered.
The series does not need to be finished: it can be a first edit or a long project.

The review suits emerging and established photographers, and anyone preparing a series for print, a submission or an exhibition.

Frequently Asked Questions

Still have questions? Take a look at the FAQ or reach out anytime. If you’re feeling ready, go ahead and apply.

45-minute video call
10 to 20 images · Written report

€150

Reschedule up to 48 hours before the session.

Portfolio print-ready review