2. Starting a Photography Business

The very first thing to do if you want to make money from your photographs is learned how to create great images.

In the world of fashion photography - sharpness sells. The subject of how to make a great image is too complex for this chapter, however, the following points are important:

• Have a good camera with manual controls.

• Know how to use it and use it well.

• Have a good eye for detail, composition, and color.

• Always be ready to grab an opportunity when it presents itself.

If you happen to be driving through amazing Canadian roads and come across a deer (or a bunch of them), get your camera! Watch for sunsets, moonrise, cloud formations, and tree shapes. Keep a sharp eye on your pets for weird and funny poses.

Visit flower shops and exhibitions. Flower pictures are many photographers' bread and butter and they can be easily photographed. Greeting card markets love photos of flowers, gardens, sunsets, skyscrapers, and cute photos of animals.

Wildlife and nature are great for calendars and geographic magazines as well as educational fields.

 

Diversity and quality are the biggest aspects of photography.

The wider the range of topics you cover, the more likely you will get a sale. Anyone can make a good living from stock photos. Freelance photographer Dmitri Markine sells just as many photos taken from his own backyard as from exotic and far away locations. If you love traveling, put your holidays to work for you.

Travel guides, brochures, and websites could be possible markets for your photos. Take photographs everywhere you go! So, what to do with that fantastic shot? The edges are sharp as a razor, while the clarity would bring joy to many publishers; the main thing to aim for with an image is to sell it to multiple markets. This is taken care of if you submit to a stock agency.

They sell to large corporations as well as a small business. It's a perfect way to gain some exposure and see what's out there. You don't have to be responsible for selling your own stuff, but to have more sales, it's always good to try to sell the photos yourself (websites, galleries, etc.). It is important for any photographer to keep a portfolio of his work to show.

You never know when you'll meet a prospective buyer who wants to look at your work.

No one will not be impressed if you have to dig through a dusty desk to scrape them together or use email to send them to clients. Have a printed portfolio as well as a web-based portfolio. When you do get a sale, don't charge a large amount just because the picture only took a few minutes of your time. You've spent years learning your craft. You spend a considerable amount on equipment, advertising, and education and your photos are worth a decent figure.

If you really know what you are talking about and can take a fantastic shot, think of submitting it to a publication or a magazine, along with all the details of the precise equipment you used and a step-by-step guide to your procedure. A bit of a challenge perhaps, but worth the effort. There are many other markets to consider too; all kinds of magazines, newspapers, travel guides and books.

So, grab your camera and don't stop shooting!

Photography is an art and the more you practice the better you will become. No famous photographers became like that overnight. We all spent sleepless nights perfecting our craft.

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Stock Photos That Sell

If you want to make money with stock photography, you'll have to follow some basic guidelines, no matter if you shoot for a microstock site or a traditional stock photography agency.

Shoot Photos That Sell

That's by far the most important point. Would you pay for an image of your neighbors’ mother-in-law? Or of his dog? Of course not! No one would, perhaps not even your neighbor himself.

Likewise, professional photo buyers don't care for that kind of image. What they are looking for are photos that illustrate concepts, like career, relationship, or retirement. Business-related photos generally sell very well.

Photos of handshakes sell well because shaking hands is a universal, widely understood idea that can be used to illustrate negotiations, contracts, treaties, and even things like breaking up or divorce.

Travel photography can sell well if it can be used to illustrate concepts. For example, a photo of the Houses of Parliament in London can be used to illustrate democracy or governmental topics.

Avoid Legal Pitfalls

Most stock photography agencies have strict rules regarding images of people (if the people in the photo are recognizable), property (if the image of the property can lead to its owner, e.g. a license plate on a car), and trademarked logos or items anywhere in the image.

If in doubt, don't submit such images. If you want to sell images with recognizable people in them, all agencies will require you to provide so-called "model releases".

A model release is a document with which the photographed person permits you to sell the image without the need for compensation.

Obtaining a signed model release from ordinary people is next to impossible, so you might be better off either weed those images out or hiring professional models.

💡 Keywording Is The Key To Success, Literally

No matter how good your photos are, they won't sell if no one can find them.

All stock sites let you tag or keyword your images. A good approach to keywording is to answer six simple questions for each image:

• Who?
• What?
• Where?
• When?
• Why?
• How?

For example, let's suppose you have a bunch of nice healthcare-related images, shot in a hospital.

Answering "Who?" you might find "doctor", "nurse", or "patient".

Answer "What" to come up with "lancet" or "stethoscope".

Answering "Where" yields "hospital," "waiting room" or "theatre," while "When" gives "morning," "afternoon" or any other time of day or year.

Ask yourself "Why" to evoke concepts like "sickness," "comfort" or "patience."

Finally, "How" can refer to the photographic technique involved: It could be "black and white" or "monochrome," it might be "blurred" et cetera.

💡 Keep The Noise Down

Always keep in mind that the end-user of your image may want to print it out eventually. The larger the print size the more noticeable noise will be.

Noise is induced by your digital camera's sensor and is something digital photographers have to live with, much like traditional photographers had to live with film grain.

Generally speaking, the smaller (area-wise) the sensor size and the higher the ISO sensitivity the higher the noise will be.

Ways To Earn Money With Digital Cameras and Photo Printers

When it comes to the internet and the advancements of modern technology, the revenue-generating options are truly unlimited. One way that many people are finding great success as entrepreneurs is through the use of their digital cameras and photo printers.

Whether you use your digital knowledge to enter photo contests using images taken with your digital camera or choose to start an online auction business, the use of a both camera and photo printer are essential.

With entrepreneurship in mind, the following five tips may help to get you started on the road to success using nothing more than your digital camera and photo printer.

💲 Start an eBay business and use your digital camera to take pictures for inclusion in your auctions. If a picture is worth a thousand words, how much money will it be worth for your auction? After all, would you buy something without seeing it?

💲 Create personalized calendars by taking a photo with your digital camera, incorporating it into a calendar creation program and print them out using a photo printer. These are extremely popular at craft shows and flea markets.

💲 Become an amateur photographer using your digital camera and print out the images using a realistic photo printer, which can use either black or color ink.

💲 Using nothing more than a digital camera and quality photo printer, you can work in the publishing industry.

💲 Take photos using your digital camera and incorporate them into a program that manipulates photos. You can even take two photos and merge them together. For instance, take a photo of two sunflowers and another of your two best friends. Download the images from your digital camera onto the computer and manipulate them so that the faces of your two best friends are inside of the sunflowers. Print this photo using your photo printer and use it as an example of your new digital imagery business. These, too, are extremely popular at craft shows.

When purchasing any type of electronics, including digital cameras and photo printers, always pay close attention to the warranty and make sure that you are buying a quality name in technology.

Depending on your intended use, you may want to select a digital camera with a high pixel count and a photo printer capable of producing high DPI (dots per inch) images. Both will allow for better quality and more realistic photo creations.