It seems every day, a person with a camera is more in demand than ever before. Everywhere you look, there are people snapping photos of everything from their family to buildings. However, if you want to make money as a photographer, you need to have more than just a good eye for photography.
There are several factors that go into making money as a photographer. To become a successful photographer, it is important to understand each different part of the process.
This article will provide tips on how to make money as a photographer and get your career off to a great start. There are 6 different parts to this article, as follows:
1. What is Photography
2. Photography 101: How to Become a Photographer
3. Marketing: How to Work With Clients
4. Equipment: the Tools You Need to Be Good
5. Marketing: How to Advertise and Work With Clients
6. How to make money as a beginner photographer
Let’s start by defining what photography is!
What is Photography?
Photography is a way to capture the world around us. It’s a storyteller, a recorder of events and objects. It allows observations that would otherwise go unnoticed or be forgotten to be captured and shared with others. Photographers use their cameras as a tool to share pictures of the world around them. In the past, photography was only used for documentation of people, places, or things. However, it has since transformed into one of the most influential art forms in the world.
Today, there are photographers who use their work to change the way we see the world. A good photographer can create something new and different, just by using the power of photography. This is what makes photography so powerful as a medium.
How to Become a Photographer
Are you in love with photography? Do you have a passion for capturing the world in unique ways? If so, it’s time to become a photographer! There are many ways to start your photographic career. However, one of the easiest ways is to become a freelance photographer.
Starting a freelance career comes with many benefits. For example, you are not tied down to a specific company or corporation. This gives you a lot of freedom because you can work for any company or even start your own. This is also a great way to learn how Photography Business works and how to move in this industry.
The only downside of being a freelancer is that you will need to work hard. You will need to build a portfolio of work to show to prospective clients. But, if you’re willing to work hard, it will be worth it in the end.
Once you start a freelance photography career, you will find that you have the opportunity to work in many different fields such as:
1. Fashion
2. Portrait Photography
3. Landscape Photography
4. Sports Photography
5. Wedding Photography
6. Travel Photography
7. Architectural Photography
8. Commercial Photography
9. Corporate Photography
10. Food Photography
Selling photographs is a great way to make money. In fact, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, photographers have an average salary of $43,290 per year. Becoming a photographer can be a difficult process, but with some patience and perseverance, you will find success!
How to Find Clients
There are two ways to find clients:
1. Local
If you are new to photography, it can be difficult to know where to start. You will need to build your portfolio of work. But, you can start by visiting local businesses or organizations to see if they are looking for photography services. Another way to build your portfolio is to get involved in local photography events. This is a great way to build a portfolio and network with photographers in your local community.
You can also join local photo companies to take on photography jobs. This will not only give you the chance to gain experience but will also help you to build your first portfolio as well.
2. Online
If you are new to photography, it can be difficult to know where to start. You will need to build your portfolio of work. But, you can start by visiting local businesses or organizations to see if they are looking for photography services.
There are many photography competitions that you can enter to help build your portfolio. However, there are thousands of photographers in the US alone so you will need to be prepared to work hard to get clients.
How to advertise and work with clients
What makes a great photographer? Passion, skill, and creativity. All of these things are necessary to succeed in the field. But they’re not enough. To be successful, you need to know how to advertise yourself and work with clients as well as establish a strong portfolio and network.
One way to start is by getting your name and number out there. It is important, as a photographer, to get your name out there before you have a lot of work. If you don’t know who to contact, or you don’t know how, start with local photographers or organizations that you think would benefit from your photography services.
Once you have a good portfolio you will need to showcase it to people. The best way to do it is to promote it on social media and start to get noticed. It might take some time to see the results of this method but if you are patient and consistent you will definitely see them.
How to Showcase your Porfolio
Another great way to promote yourself and to make sure people see you as a professional photographer is to have a well-done website. Nowadays it is really simple to buy a domain and build a website from scratch.
Among the best and cheapest services you can find:
- Namecheap + EasyWP
This first option is really good because you have everything organized in one place. The average cost per month to have a domain with Hosting, WordPress, and Elementor on Namecheap is $5-$8 per month. This setup is really easy to use and gives you much more creative choices when it comes to creating a portfolio website.
- Wix
If you want something more user-friendly that does most of the job for you, Wix is a great option. The only problem with Wix is that you have some limitations in terms of designing your website. Creating your website on Wix is very affordable since you can build your website for free basically. The only limitation is that your domain will have the Wix extension before the name you chose for your website.
If you chose to have your own domain without the Wix extension, it costs around $14 per month
How much do photographers make?
Photographers make a good living. A professional photographer can make an average of about $41,000 a year on photography jobs alone. They can make as much as $56,000 a year working for a newspaper or magazine. This is from shooting portraits and other assignments.
A lot of photographers also earn money from side work such as weddings, family photographs, and events. If you want to earn more, you can start your own photography business. This is the way to go if you want to control the amount of time you work, your work schedule, and the type of work you do.
Many photographers opt to become part-time photographers to find out whether it’s a viable business opportunity. Typically, they should look for ways to attract more clients and charge less for their shoots. To begin, they should set aside a lot of time for client outreach.
After you have successfully completed a couple of prosperous years, you can raise your rates and probably will have a fully scheduled calendar of shoots.
How to make money as a beginner photographer
There are several ways to start making money as a photographer online.
Sell Stock Photos
Photographers have been able to make a living by taking photos for decades now. There are a few different ways that photographers can sell their photos, but the most common is to use stock photo sites like Shutterstock or Getty Images. These sites are built for photographers, so they’ll have categories and tags that match your exact photos. Usually, these sites have a sliding fee scale based on the size of your photo.
If your photos are popular on their platform, you may be able to make a side income off of them. This process takes time but if you are consistent and upload new photos regularly, you will in the long term succeed and make a living out of these websites.
Join Photo Contests
Photo competitions are a great way for photographers to learn, grow, and even make money. Photo contests are becoming more popular because of the rise in self-published books and public awareness campaigns. One of the advantages of photo contests is that you can enter them for free, so there is no cost to being creative! Some contests have different categories with prizes ranging from $25-$5000. So what’s holding you back?
These are some of the best Photo Contests available now:
- Nikon Small World Photomicrography Contest
- Prix Virginia International Photography Prize for Women
- Smithsonian Photo Contest
- Sony World Photography Awards
- Istanbul Photo Awards
- International Photography Award
- iPhone Photography Awards
- Leica Oskar Barnack Award
- National Geographic Your Shot
- The International Color Awards
Conclusion
In conclusion, there are many ways to make money as a photographer. Your job as a photographer is to know your audience, understand what they want, and deliver it. It is also important to be creative and take on new things with a positive attitude. With a little research, time, and effort anyone can make money as a photographer.
If you are interested in improving your photography skills, check out this article!
I hope you have found this article helpful and let me know in the comments below if you have any questions!
