How to Make Money from Digital Photography
Perhaps everyone who has ever taken a picture has wondered how to make money from photography or if it is possible. While you are unlikely to get rich selling pictures (unless you happen to get a picture of a celebrity in a compromising situation), It is not so difficult as you might think to make a few dollars, or even quite a few dollars once you are established. If you have a digital camera, and you know how to use it, you are well on your way. The rest is identifying the type of photography that will become your specialty and then knowing how to market yourself.
First, the Digital Camera
Digital cameras today are much lower in price than even a few short years ago. Even better, the most basic models costing around fifty dollars (in the US) are of good enough quality that you can use them to generate an income.
Digital cameras are a boon for amateur freelance photographers. With a digital camera, you can take as many pictures as you want without spending a cent on film or development. True, you will have to replace your battery from time to time, but that is a modest expenditure. This ability to experiment and take vast numbers of pictures, all without financial expenditure, is the reason that amateur photographers have the potential to bring in revenue from their photos.
There are various types of photography that can make money for you. Here are three:
Stock Photography
According to Wikipedia, stock photography is the supply of photographs licensed for specific uses. Individuals or businesses that need photographs for various purposes may opt to use stock photographs rather than hire a photographer to supply their requirement.
For example, companies and other businesses need a selection of photographs to use for their promotional materials and marketing strategies. Thanks to the Internet, these businesses can locate a web site providing stock photographs, search through a huge database of pictures and choose the ones they want to use.
In most cases, an online service supplying stock photographs will have multiple categories available, all searchable. A customer might run a search for a term such as "skyscraper." When the customer locates a satisfactory picture, he or she pays for the right to use this photograph. The people running the stock photography web site keep a portion of this fee, and the photographer that supplied the skyscraper picture earns a royalty or commission.
If making money from stock photography interests you, then your first move is to visit a number of stock photography web sites. Study them carefully and identify the type of photos that are licensed most often. This tells you that this particular topic is in demand. You may choose to submit photographs of these "in demand" subjects - but it's also smart to submit images of subjects that are seldom photographed. This means you have less competition and although new as many people will search for this topic, when someone does, your submission is more likely to be chosen.
You will need to learn about royalties, copyrights and licences before you begin submitting work.
Sports Photography
If you are a beginning freelancer, it is not likely that you will be granted access to major sporting events or sports personalities. However, this need not discourage you. If sports is something that interests you, there are various other events that you can attend and photograph.
Your best approach is to look for sporting events in your own community. Check the newspaper or local web sites and discover what sporting events are scheduled in your location. Take your camera and attend these events, snapping as many pictures as you can.. After the game is over, contact your local newspapers, especially community newspapers, and inquire about their interest in publishing your pictures. Negotiate a fee, which in this case will likely be on the small side.
Portrait Photography
Taking family portraits is yet another way that you can generate income as a freelance photographer. Families and individuals pay substantial fees to photographers who can provide good quality pictures. Remember that these photos are keepsakes that the family may plan to treasure for generations.
However, if you are interested in taking family portraits, you may need a more expensive and higher quality camera, along with accessories such as a tripod, specialty lenses and lighting. If you undertake to supply prints, you will need to understand paper quality and archival factors associated with preserving photographs.
Understanding Your Camera
If you are interested in taking photographs that are good enough to sell or license, you will need to understand the basics of digital photography beyond the "point and click" method. At the very least, you will need to understand apertures, shutter speeds and lighting. There are many excellent guides and books available that will walk you through the steps of learning how to work with these features. Since there is no cost involved, you can experiment, practice and take as many photos as you need until you have mastered these topics.
Guides
If you are new to digital photography, you might want to check out this guide called Start My Digital Photography or, if you have the basics and want to move to the next level, try Digital Photography: Beyond the Basics
This is just one money making suggestion. Check the article list for more ways to make money with digital photography.
Thank You!
June Campbell
P.S. New to digital photography? Find out how you can take spectacular photographs with your digital camera in thirty minutes or less. Visit StartMyDigitalPhotography.com
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