Making Money as a Photographer
By: Daniel
Making money as a photographer. This is one of the questions I was asked to respond to when I addressed a camera club in LA via zoom.
It’s not an easy question, with no easy answers. Books, seminars, classes and tons of motivational speakers have addressed this issue over the years—not to mention the newly crowned You Tube Certified pros who are now vlogging on this issue. Full disclosure: I’ve never lasted more than about three minutes into a motivational speech before I walk out, but hey that’s me. You might have a stronger stomach than me for that type of (what to say here) stuff. There you go.
First of all in a blog it would be nearly impossible to detail all the ways you could/should make money from photography, so I’ll write about ways that have worked and not worked for me and for others I know and have known in this industry.
One thing to remember. If you shoot people, as I do, you typically have one sales point, the person you’re photographing. No one else wants that photo. If I shoot a senior portrait, I probably have two sale points, her or him and the mother are usually the only ones I can sell to. I can’t post her photo on the wall of a local restaurant and sell it for $89.99. Who on earth would buy it? On the other hand if you shoot a mountain range, you have a much larger audience that could potentially buy your image. But then shooting a mountain range would make me gag, but again hey, that’s me.
Bullet Points:
Learn photography well, especially the type of photography you are planning on going into.
Determine if you’re going to be a full time or part time photographer.
Obtain the equipment you’ll require.
Charge what you’re worth, this relates to point #1.
Read about, attend workshops, maybe schools, etc., for whatever genre of photography you’re going into. Practice. If you’re going to shoot people practice by using relatives or friends. Weddings, attend weddings to observe how the photographer shoots a wedding. Work with a photographer if you can. But learn the craft extremely well before you ever charge a dime for your work. Being a pro photographer is like being a lawyer or doctor, learn your craft before you open your first practice.
Unless you’re a trust fund baby, I recommend starting out part time. Have a day job, preferable one that is a civil service job that has benefits, unlike the vast majority of private sector jobs. Going full time requires clients, referrals, and becomes a hard job. It might not make photography fun anymore. Full time means your entire income is derived from your sales of images. It’s hard to do if you’re just starting out unless you inherit a photographic business from your family.
Buy the best equipment you can afford. Remember if you’re going to be a wedding photographer you’ll need two of everything; two cameras, flashes, lenses, etc. You only get one chance at a wedding to do it right—you can’t risk having an equipment failure ruin their day and your future. I recommend two cameras anyway, regardless of what you’re shooting. If it’s mechanical or electrical at some point it’ll fail, so be prepared for that eventuality. Good equipment helps ensure good photographs.
If you learn well, and can produce photographic work that is better than people with cell phones and point and shoot cameras, (and/or your competitors) you can charge what your images are worth. Charging for your images depends on a variety of factors, but you have to determine what your time, experience, talent, equipment, and expertise are worth. I charge the same for a 4x6 as I do for 5x7s and 8x10s simply because it takes me the same amount of time to post process the images. I’m not selling size, I’m selling my images. Same goes for digital images, same prices. Don’t give your work away—if a client wants it they’ll pay for it, otherwise you keep it. I shot events for Costco and the DMV, Christmas parties, Father Daughter Dances and other large corporate events. I do it on a price plus sales contract. I speculate on making sales, but I also charge them a fee for me showing up that covers me and at least two assistants, in case nobody buys anything. Using one large corporations Christmas party as an example, I knew they would buy portraits, nonetheless the organizing committee had to pay me $500 to show up and by contract put me in the same room as the party/dance etc. And I charged for the photos I sold to the people I shot at the event. It was a good gig for me and I made a lot of money. Never assume, however, that people will buy your images. They might not and if you don’t get any money up front you’re stuck holding the bag.
I realize this is a quick and dirty synopsis of what to charge for your work but it would take a lot more time and space to fully go into all the facets and formulas people have come up with to determine pricing.
