Know your gear. A major misconception about professional photographers is that you must have a fancy camera body or multiple lenses in order to be successful. While having a great camera certainly does improve your business, being a successful photographer has more to do with knowing the ins and outs of camera basics. Before considering photography as a business, you need to know your camera and gear like the back of your hand.
- Start off with a basic camera before jumping into buying a camera ranging in the thousands of dollars. A good photographer can take photos with a lower-end camera model, so get comfortable with a basic body first. As you begin to understand the camera and lenses, then look into purchasing new additions.
- Read books, magazines, and online articles for the most up-to-date information on camera settings and tips and tricks. These will help to teach you new ways to use your camera and lenses to create great photos.
- Make sure you are knowledgeable in how to use your other camera gear, such as a remote flash or different lenses. Having a background in these will significantly improve your photos.
Build your portfolio. In order to get hired by someone who isn’t a close family member or friend, you will need to have a portfolio built up to show off your best work. Use photographs from multiple shoots with different subject matter to show the range of your talents. Make sure that your portfolio is comprised of more than just five or ten photos; people will want to see the great work you’ve done.
- Take photos every day to hone your skills and provide a wide range of images to choose for your portfolio. These photos don’t have to be of planned photo shoots; they can be from scenes in everyday life.
- Hire beginning models for free from local agencies in exchange for free prints to use for your portraits. This gives you the opportunity to pose someone however you would like without having to pay them.
Make your goals. You know you want to make a career out of your love of photography, but you need to set some boundaries first. Consider a time frame in which you would like to have earned a certain sum, had a total number of shoots, or sold a certain number of prints. This will keep you on track and give you a quantifiable goal to reach.
- Set dates with your goals rather than just a general time frame and mark these on your calendar. Instead of stating “my goal is to have 20 shoots in two months,” state “my goal is to have 20 shoots scheduled by August 31.”
- Set a date that you must have earned a total amount from your business by. Then, if you reach this date without having reached your goal, you can reconsider the course of your business. For example, state that you must make $50,000 by the end of two years in order for you to continue photographing for business.
Create a contract. Before you agree to go into any photo shoot with someone, make sure that you have a business contract that they must sign. This should include everything that their money is paying for and the things you are and are not liable for.
- Have an attorney write a contract for you if you want to take the safest path. This will make things easier in the long run, and also helps lighten your workload. Joining a photography group also often gives you the opportunity to use a pre-written contract available for group members.
- Clarify what it is that your photography package includes as well as what you are not responsible for. For example, make clear if you hold liability for photos that are accidentally and irrevocably deleted, or if after signing the contract it is no longer a problem of yours.
Advertise your business. The most important aspect of becoming a successful professional is advertising your business. Create a website, make a Facebook page and make sure to have a strong "Social" presents! Make business cards, network with locals, and talk about your photography business with everyone you meet. People will hire a photographer that has been recommended to them, that they have heard of before, and that has a great personality; make sure that you have all three.
- For example, if you do a photo shoot for a wedding, take photos of the food and give them to the caterers. They will likely use these photos as advertisements themselves, and will recommend you as the photographer who took them.
- Create a watermark to protect your photos so that you can advertise them online. Allow your clients to use your watermarked photos for their own social media sites, essentially doing your advertising for you.
- Make a website for your business, make sure that your search engine optimization (SEO) is high so that your business rises to search engine queries matching your tags.
- Always keep business cards and sample photos on hand to give out or show off to anyone you may encounter. Be know has that person that always has a camera ready and shooting pictures so when someone needs a photographer, they think of you!
Education
Photography is self-taught in most cases. Ansel Adams' only formal education came from working one summer in a San Francisco photo lab.
I and everyone I know who does this for a living taught themselves for the most part, but these days your schooling will most likely get you the job. You will be working with professors and students whom will help you to that next step.
It's nice to have a degree from a photo school or collage art department, but can cost a lot of money to advance in a degree. If you have what it takes you can teach yourself with photo books and online tutorials. You must have a desire for photography first and then the schooling will set you apart in just about any job interview. Most photographers start by wanting to be a photographer and then gain the schooling to find out what type of photographer they want to become. You want know unless you try!
Far more important than learning photography, which can be self-taught and not particularly difficult, is to learn what you really need to know, which is to learn how to run your own business in a very competitive world.
Photography is self-taught in most cases. Ansel Adams' only formal education came from working one summer in a San Francisco photo lab.
I and everyone I know who does this for a living taught themselves for the most part, but these days your schooling will most likely get you the job. You will be working with professors and students whom will help you to that next step.
It's nice to have a degree from a photo school or collage art department, but can cost a lot of money to advance in a degree. If you have what it takes you can teach yourself with photo books and online tutorials. You must have a desire for photography first and then the schooling will set you apart in just about any job interview. Most photographers start by wanting to be a photographer and then gain the schooling to find out what type of photographer they want to become. You want know unless you try!
Far more important than learning photography, which can be self-taught and not particularly difficult, is to learn what you really need to know, which is to learn how to run your own business in a very competitive world.
What type of photographer
do you want to be?
Click below to learn more about jobs in photography!
do you want to be?
Click below to learn more about jobs in photography!