Photography business questions?
Okay, everyone. I think I have finally found my calling. I am very much enjoying taking photographs and may not be that great as of know; but, feel I have potential if I keep pursuing it and have better equipment (that’s a big one). So, if I wanted to start my own business (always have) and wanted to use my photography skills, what would you suggest? An art shop, sell in a local hometown store, my own website or should I do like a portrait studio or weddings, and other ceremonies and stuff? What do you think would give me the most diversity (you know, so I can attract all ages and people of all kinds). I really love taking pictures of nature; although, on the other hand, I take some great pictures of children (there are alot around me..lol). Thanks for the input. Also, where would I go to see about grants? What types of programs for digital photography are there that are as good as photoshop, but cheaper. Thanks.
Photography as a business covers all of the areas that all photographers deal with. These of the general concerns getting your name out there, marketing, sales and all of the general concerns a business has.
A level below that you have the concerns that relate to the specialty of the photographer. What I emphasize is photojournalism and there are specific markets that I sell into and specific ways of promoting that business which don’t apply to other areas of photography.
A good thing for a photographer to do who’s not in an established specially position (just starting) is to diversify. In other words, sell your services as a photographer to those who need it using the equipment you have. That’s a huge territory and it will give you a broad opportunity to gain experience and deepen your skills.
Things that don’t take a lot of equipment would include:
1. Photographing houses for sale for real estate agents. You can do this kind of photography using a high quality point-and-shoot. The value will lie in the skill you exercise.
2. Covering events. This is a big area of photography and easy to get into. There are companies who arrange events, civic organizations that have events and any number of things like this that people want photographs of.
3. Local sports photography. Little League teams, Pop Warner teams and local soccer teams are all examples.
4. Insurance photos. There’s a whole market for taking pictures for insurance purposes.
5. Photography for personal injury lawyers. They need pictures of accident sites, cars after the collision showing damage, visual documentation of dangerous conditions and a range of other things.
All of the above and many more are viable markets for photography, don’t require a huge investment in equipment and are accessible to the person starting out. Be creative. Think of a possible need, figure out who may need it and sell them on the idea that you’re the one to fulfill that need. You can work yourself into a specialty as you go along.
That’s just my two cents.
Ooops! Almost forgot the software. A program called the Gimp is fully capable of handling 95% of the image processing needs you may have. In a production environment where you may be working with between 250 to over 1,000 images (yes that’s one project size), it can’t support the workflow, but it will do a good job for you now. Here’s a big plus: it’s FREE!
For about $100.00 USD, there is Photoshop Elements 5.0. This is a better way to go since you can move over to Photoshop very easily and you will move over to Photoshop eventually. They share a lot of plugins, have pretty much the same look and feel, Elements has a lot of the capabilities of Photoshop and, of course, they have compatible file formats.
Things like Picassa, handy as they may be, aren’t really a consideration.
VanArts Digital Photography Program
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Discovering the Magic ~ Digital Photography: Program I – Taking Photos and Making Prints … |
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Discovering the Magic ~ Digital Photography: Program II – Bringing Your Old Photos to Life … |
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Discovering the Magic ~ Digital Photography: Program III – Sharing Your Photos with the World … |
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