Welcome to the 5^th part in the series about How To Start A Photography Business.

In this article, we are going to look at the fundamentals of portrait photography. This could actually be linked into the previous article How To Start A Photography Business (Part 4 – Playing Your Cards Right) in that you could easily turn some of the outputs of your portraits projects into greetings cards.

Many people are now using professional photographers to capture moments from their own, or their loved ones lives.

Reasons Why People Want To Be Photographed Professionally

• Celebrity and the X-Factor factor – Looking good is constantly being shoved down our throats at the moment. For some, having a portrait done gives them confidence and their ‘moment to shine’ because good portrait photography ALWAYS turns out looking good.
• Families are now living further apart and see each other less. For many parents, having a large family portrait is their way of ‘keeping the family together’.
• Another benefit of having a large portrait of a family member (or members) is that it can actually be a cheap, flexible way of decorating. It might sound silly, but you could easily get a photo in a frame very cheaply. Put the portrait up against a plain painted wall and there you go. Simple and cheap way to decorate a whole wall.
• Finally, portraits can make great talking points. They say that a picture tells a thousand words….. They certainly do.

What Will You Need ?

If you want to be a professional and earn life changing income from this business then you have to act professionally…….and that means buying a bit of professional equipment. Look the part !!

• A good camera. I highly recommend the Nikon D3100. I also have a review of it here : Nikon D3100 Review.
• A tripod : Obviously buy one that is compatible with your camera and is flexible enough for the most unorthodox of shots.
• Studio Lighting Kit : You can buy these items separately, but as a great ‘all-in-one package’, I highly recommend the ePhoto K103 Studio Lighting Kit, which offers tremendous value containing :

• 2 x 7 Feet light stands/1 x Background light stand/2 x supporting tripods 8ft
• 3 x Sectional cross bars 8.5 ft wide and 8.5ft height/1 x carrying case for backdrop stands
• 3 x Swivel light AC umbrella holder sockets/2 x 32″ shoot through soft umbrellas
• 3 x 45W perfect day light bulbs 5500K
• 1 x 6′x9′ Black and white muslin backdrop included
• Light Reflector : Essential to avoid harsh ‘undershadows’. Again available from Amazon. This ‘kit’ will cover all of your needs : Light Reflector Kit.

Portrait Photography – On The Day

• Setting up – Always check basic camera and light settings before the clients settle into position. You don’t want to be messing around whilst they are in position. They might have to sit, or even worse stand, there for long enough as it is.
• It’s all about the clothing – You don’t want the group to look like a kaleidoscope of different colours. Try to get them to, at least, wear matching or complimentary clothing.
• The pose – Remember they are related (or at least be good friends) and they should, in theory, want to be close together. Sitting with their backs to each other might be sending out the wrong message.
• Saying “cheese”, is actually too cheesy. Try to make them smile, or even better laugh, with some amusing stories or jokes.
• Remember to keep the photography session upbeat and lively – If it’s not going to plan, don’t huff and puff and throw a tantrum. Keep it professional and suggest that things are good but you want to you try something a little bit different.
• Closed eyes – There is little you can do with the speed of a blink and you certainly don’t want them staring at you. However, a simple count down will give the subjects time to compose themselves and blink at the ‘right’ time. And of course, always check the result whilst the clients are still in their positions.
• Remain flexible – Allow your customers to have their say (after all, they are the ones paying) and never get into a long argument regarding positions – There’s nothing worse than photographing someone who’s just been in a stand up argument.
• Don’t forget pets. They could be a useful ‘add on’, whilst you are in the house. It’s very difficult to get them to stare straight into the camera, but waving a toy just out of shot can result in a very memorable natural photo.

Final Tips For Portrait Photography

• Remember this is a business and, as with any other business there are always opportunities for joint venture partners. These can include :
  • Hairdressers
  • Make-up artists
  • Costume Outlets
  • Pet stores / Vets / Pet grooming shops
  • Photo-Frame Makers
  • In all of the above cases, there will be opportunities to cross-sell and provide leads to each other.
  • Schools are also a good place to find work. Can you undercut their current photographer’s prices ?
  • Remember, you do not need an expensive studio. All of your work can be done ’on the road’ in people’s homes (where they will be feeling more relaxed, which will result in better portraits).
  • Ask permission if you can use some of the shots as part of your own portfolio – This will come in handy later on when show-casing your work – especially any photos of pets, which could be used in specialist pet magazines.

A Word About Professional Modelling Photography

Just a small step up from portrait photography is the world of professional modelling. Whilst fashions come and go, the models that do the modelling of these fashions are always en vogue. That means this niche of photography work is effectively evergreen.

Simple ‘in studio’ shots and the more ambitious ‘out in the field’ portfolios are both legitimate business models here. And of course you also have two options.

• Taking photos that you retain the rights to in order for you to sell to relevant agencies (clothing retailers for example)

OR (slightly easier)

• You help produce a photographic portfolio for an up and coming model (where they will effectively just buy the portfolio from you for their own marketing of themselves

With the latter, there is certainly a chance of repeat business as models should always be looking to update their portfolio and, in addition, they tend to get comfortable and more relaxed with a familiar photographer they know and can trust. Plus, of course, there is always a chance that the model themselves could refer you to other models in the industry – there is nothing like the positive ‘word of mouth’ for generating excellent business leads.

To get a foot in the door in this business, contact local clothing stores, catalogues, or modelling agencies. You might have to offer to produce a small freebie portfolio to get yourself noticed – but a little free work now could lead to massive on-going contracts further down the line.

Generally, the idea with this type of photography is to keep the model moving during the photography shoot. A flowing ‘natural’ shot always looks better than a ‘sit them there looking really rigid’ pose.

The next article in the series is :

How To Start A Photography Business

(Part 6 – Wedding Photography Tips)

(Coming Soon !!!)

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Welcome to the third in my series of articles on how to start a photography business. In this article, I’m going to look at the traditional and the modern approaches to selling your photos to people that really want them.

Newspapers and Magazines

This is the traditional method of earning money from your photographs. Now, I’m not suggesting that you turn yourself into your town’s local paparazzi and stalk any Z-list celebrity 24/7.

But, there is always a market for someone with their ear to the ground, who can take quality pictures of newsworthy events. Perhaps talk to your local newspaper and ask what sort of things they look out for when their ‘official’ photographers are in the field (if, indeed they have any).

Remember, it’s not just about what’s happening now. These types of publications are always on the look-out for ‘exclusive’ types of photos that are not going to be appearing in their competitor’s pages.

Go out and purchase some of the newspapers and a selection of magazines to see what topics are being covered in them. From here, you can build up your portfolio of similar photographs, for presentation to them.

Local newspapers should be an easy way in to this career (and it’s where most professional photographers actually start out). It is actually an excellent place to start for the following reasons :

• The competition will be non-existent (assuming you live in a smaller town and not a major city)
• There will be less ‘stock’ photos of your surrounding area – so if a ‘big story’ does break (like a major fire), you might be the only person in the world with a photo of that burnt out church in its original state
• Local amateur sporting events, whilst written about, rarely have photos to go alongside the commentary. And they take place a weekends – so you can perhaps work this around an existing job
• There should also be a plethora of school, charity and social events worthy of your camera – and again small local publications are unlikely to have a full-time snapper at these events
• Don’t forget to factor in human interest stories. Does someone in your area have an unusual hobby worthy of photographing ? (Remember pictures tell a thousand words, you won’t be expected to write articles, the publications will already have people that can scribe wording around your pictures)
• Of course you might want to take a few shorts initially for a portfolio and show them to an editor to gage the chances of them taking on any freelance work from you

For magazines, in particular, think about specialist periodicals (like pets, boats, horses), are they likely to want pictures to ‘fill space’ ? The answer is a resounding ‘yes’.

On-Line Photo Stockists

One area of photography that has boomed in the past couple of years is on-line photo stockists. If you have never seen them, the system goes like this :

• On-line stockists hold thousands of ‘stock’ photos
• They are catalogued by relevance
• People (or organizations) that want particular photos sign up to these sites and purchase credits
• They can then use these credits to by one, or a number of photos
• Usually the better the quality of photo, the higher the charge (so always use high pixels for each photo)
• You, being the author, will either get paid upfront for your pictures, OR you will get paid as and when each of your photos are bought by purchasers – For example 50%, with the on-line site taking the other 50%
• Photos can be about anything (people, or everyday objects like a picture of a computer, a banana, or a telephone) – Basically, if you can see it, you can photograph it. Think of the type of pictures that appear in informational magazines (not the adverts of a particular product though, as it’s not wise to be taking pictures which may cross trademark boundaries)

I will be drawing up a list of the best on-line stockists in the next few days and will provide a link here when I it’s completed. It will detail what their current rates and any restrictions which are in place.

Until then, the next article in the series is :

How To Start A Photography Business

(Part 4 – Playing Your Cards Right)

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Welcome to my How To Start A Photography Business series of articles. The purpose of these 10 articles, is to get you thinking about the possibilities of taking up photography as a business.

I do have another series of articles on this site about how to make money with your camera, but those really just focus on simple ways you could make ‘a quick buck’. This set of articles aims to go a little deeper than that and considers the ‘whole business’.

With that in mind, it is always good to start any business venture by looking at yourself………

Have You Got What It Takes To Be A Freelance Photographer ?

If you like taking photographs, you are well on your way to consider making this ‘hobby’ into a career. However, taking the odd vacation snap, and actually running a business around photography are two totally different things. You really need to be passionate about it. So much so that your camera really needs to become an extension of your arm.

The good news is that there are countless opportunities in the photography world, and it really is up to you which of these opportunities you take. I will explore some of the possibilities in these How To Start A Photography Business series of articles – you just need to be open minded and willing to put in some time and effort to develop (no pun intended) your craft.

This is also the type of business that you can very much start part-time, working in and around your existing full-time job. Some people even find part-time photography more lucrative than their ‘day-jobs’.

With the advancement of today’s digital cameras, it has never been easier for the amateur to take professional looking photographs. That said, you do need to have an eye for a good shot, as no amount of auto-focusing and subsequent image enhancement can make up for a badly framed image.

Where Do I Start ?

There are some obvious areas where you can start in this business, and I shall be covering them in future articles. If you are brave enough, then weddings are actually an excellent place to start – of course it does come with huge risks (not least for the bride and groom), and it can be a very stressful day. But also very rewarding.

Other areas might include : work for newspapers and magazines, home-made greetings cards, working with models or portraits and, a particular favourite of mine, aerial photography.

The portraits and models area can have endless possibilities. Local company leaflets and promotional material, web-sites, hair-dressing salons and clothing shops. It is easy to turn photographs into t-shirts, mugs and mouse mats today – which could add an additional stream of income, or even as an upsell to your basic photography business.

What Equipment Will I Need ?

To start off with, you really don’t need much more than a mid-range camera, possibly a tri-pod (depending on the photographs you are planning), and maybe invest in some lighting (for indoor work). You could consider a printer, but actually, as a start, I would consider getting them printed professionally at one of the many stores specialising in printing. Sure, it will reduce your profits, but there are deals to be done if you are putting a lot of business in the direction of a particular store.

What Else Do I Need To Think About ?

Photography can be seasonal. There is no doubting that work can be found all year round, but if you are going to specialize in any particular branch of photography (say weddings), then you might be restricting your work and, ultimately, your profits.

Let’s take the things I’ve discussed here a stage further. Next up…………

How To Start A Photography Business

(Part 2 – Objectives And Goals)

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