I found a solution: I had to edit the code in my portfolio template pages where it had a line that said category= it had been blank… I added in the correct category for each template as I wanted and then it worked; differentiating a separate portfolio for each.
as far as I can tell, I have them separated by category and by the menu… It still loads all images for all portfolios. I have tried every option of this i can manufacture without luck. Please let me know if you have any other ideas or if you truly think I am just missing something this way.