When the general public picture photographers, they tend to envision a creative individual who goes out and snaps away at anything and everything that inspires them; architecture, nature, sports, or whatever assignment they've been put on. It's likely that they never think of the hours we spend marketing, writing proposals, editing, doing book-keeping, etc.
Pricing your work is tricky. Whether you're a commercial photographer, portrait shooter, or selling prints of your artwork, your career depends on your ability to price yourself well. Does your rate sheet have any of these mistakes?
For those of us trying to expand our social media presence, Instagram has been the king for quite some time. So what happens when you put a little money into promoting yourself on Instagram? I tried it and here are the results.
My studio has become a second home, and I invest a lot of time and money into it. Recently, I have been restocking a few essentials I can’t live without while trying to make my shooting more efficient.
An “internal document” from Fujifilm has claimed that Canon and Nikon will lose 50 percent of their market share within three years, while Fujifilm’s market share will climb during the same period.
Deciding to become a professional photographer is an exciting and scary thing: you're following something you're deeply passionate about and turning it into a career, but with that comes a lot of unknowns. This helpful video will give you a general outline from picking up a camera to getting paid.
Many of us love creating photos or video but have a lot of trouble turning that passion into profit. It can be scary to think about what happens when you turn what you love into your job; will you still love doing it or will it just become a job? What if we lived in a world where we create exactly what we want and not sacrifice what we love while still making money?
One of the biggest questions photographers have when starting their business is if they’re pricing themselves correctly. Even seasoned professionals sometimes question whether their pricing is correct. Here are a few tips to ensure you’re pricing realistically and accurately for your services.
As you begin to get bigger and bigger jobs, it will soon be increasingly obvious that much of your success will be derived from the team members you choose to surround yourself with. No matter how good you may be, having an equally if not more qualified team surrounding you can make the difference between an average photograph and a great one.
As professional photographers, there's no doubt in our minds that making photography into a career should be considered "a real job." However, the path you take to become a professional may make or break your career choice.
Very often it’s not the actual skill as a photographer that’s lacking, but rather the ability to ask and help someone solve a problem they have. In this video, Chris Do of Futur shares how you might be able to change your approach and thinking.
If you're trying to build a profitable business, you've probably heard people say you need to build an email list and do email marketing. But is that really so? And what kind of time and resources does it take to actually create an email list? Let’s go through it all and see why I don’t think email marketing is really worth it.
As creatives, many times it is hard to place focus on organization rather than creating images. Without organization your life can become chaotic and disruptive to your workflow. A few tips to help take back your space and your sanity could mean the difference between booking or losing your next client.
Running a photography business and gaining new clients is exciting, but sometimes clients have unreasonable requests. Here’s how to respond to a client when you have to tell them “no.”
Today marks 10 years since I first filed paperwork to start my photography business. It's been quite the roller coaster, and I've learned a lot of things about photography, business, and myself that I didn't expect. Here are some of the highlights from my first 10 years.
A recent trip down memory lane reminded me that sometimes the best place to look for something new, is a to remember something old.
Surprisingly often, simple courtesy is overlooked by photographers when hired to perform work as a peer. These principles sure seem like common sense, so what could be the problem? Take a look at these basic standards of professionalism.
Today’s corporate hard-hitters are busy people who don’t always have time for an entire photo session when they look to you for business portraits. For this reason, you must be prepared to accomplish a variety of looks in a time-efficient manner. This video from Jay P. Morgan of The Slanted Lens focuses on the importance of making short work of corporate portraits.
Having your images stolen and used against your will has all but become the norm for many working photographers. One gig photographer who confronted the record label editing and using her images, however, was greeted with insults as they told her she “doesn’t have the portfolio to back up [her] prices.”
As creatives, we tend to live our passions with every fiber of our being and eventually, some of us try to make money at this thing we once saw as an all-encompassing hobby, but what happens when you really try to make your passion a profession? Are you trying to make your photography a business or are you in the business of photography?
Last week, I had a photographer friend (hobbyist, but very talented) ask me if it was still possible to make a living in photography.
Try searching your own name. Now, what do you see? Most importantly, what do your clients see?
Branding your photography business is the number one way to make your business stick out from the competition. Here are a few mistakes photographers make when they begin the branding process.
2018 is certainly well underway. It’s getting toward the time of year where we start to let our goals slip. In the UK, summer has arrived and it's far more appealing to sit in a beer garden than it is to lock yourself away at your desk.
The age of social media has brought with it a new type of advertising campaign. Companies are more in touch with their customers than ever and are always looking at creative ways to engage with their audience and show a bit of personality. KFC’s latest adverts are doing exactly that, after their released images creatively using fried chicken to imitate explosions.
At the beginning of 2018, I set a goal to read one book a week to broaden my mind and seek inspiration from new places. So far, I've stuck with it. Lee Morris, Mike Kelley, and I decided to sit down on camera and discuss the experience.
Are you thinking of turning your passion of photography or filmmaking into you main source of income? Perhaps you just made the switch or in the process of doing just that. In either case, here are five crucial tips you may want think over before going any further.
The most significant hurdle when running a photography business is booking more clients. If you feel like you’re in a “booking rut,” here are a few ways to help spread your brand awareness and book more photo clients.
Choosing the ideal images for your portfolio can often seem as hard or harder than actually taking the photos in the first place. Most photographers tend to treat their portfolio as a dumping ground for as much work as possible with the intention that quantity is the key to building their credibility. More often than not, the opposite is true.
Sometimes the best lessons in photography can come from sources far from the art world. Last week I saw an image that helped to remind me of one of the best lessons for a successful business and a successful life.
Working day in and day out as a creative professional, I don't put a lot of stock in inspiration as a source of drive and creativity. Some days, you just have to do your job whether you're inspired or not. For me, staying motivated is far more important!
The term “digital nomad” or "location independent" is becoming more attractive to many, led in part by millennials as the world shrinks due to the connectivity the internet brings. Artists, engineers, and developers alike are ditching the normal routines and instead embracing the constant adventure of the nomadic lifestyle.
How does tax day work for digital nomads like travel photographers? File this one under “good to know.” Digital nomads often end up paying way too much in US taxes that they are not legally obligated to pay.
I'm sure you've heard the old saying that if you try to please everyone, you'll please no one. Not only is this something to think about in our everyday lives, but it's an approach us photographers should really be following too.
A few months ago, I showed you how we build out our new 10Gbps network using a Synology NAS device as our central server. This setup is protecting us from a hard drive failure, but our data still isn't 100 percent safe. In this video, I'll show you one simple step to protect your files from all types of data loss.
It was announced last year that Photokina would take place every year instead of every two years. However, it seems like not every brand embraced this change and some of them, such as Elinchrom, have decided to drop out of the show.
The founder and CEO of Patreon, Jack Conte, contacted Casey Neistat with regards to collaborating with his new 368 daily vlog, and got a meeting with Casey due to his creative way of asking for it.
Sure, the photo-focused social media app is saturated. That doesn’t mean you can’t use it to drum up more business. If you’re a photographer wanting more clients, Instagram has the potential to be a powerful marketing tool.
Some of you may already know how big a fan I am of Capture One. Making the change to Capture One as the primary tool for my workflow has sent my productivity into hyperdrive, the photographic equivalent of adding NOS to my tank (or whatever it is they use to make cars fly in "The Fast and The Furious").
I'll start by saying that I have never been a good writer. Words never came naturally to me, and this became a huge problem when I started having to reply to work emails. However, I worked on it and can now share my best email templates with you.
For a lot of us who are chasing a career in photography, we soon come to a bit of a pinch point. We have thrown all our money into cameras, computers, lenses, and lights, so our house is a mess of kit clutter. Here's how to build your own dedicated studio.
Freelancers have some of the best bad client stories ever. Well, next to the IT industry maybe. Can you relate to this one?
In the past few years, the growing number of wedding photographers and their vast range of prices have made finding your value as a photographer challenging. This series of articles will help you to navigate your prices to meet your goals and earn your worth as a wedding photographer.
Blogging has always been a sore spot for photographers. After all, we didn’t become photographers to write, but instead, we became photographers to take photos. So why, then, is blogging necessary for a successful photography business?
Being organized was somewhat of a luxury until I became self-employed; now it's the bedrock of my life. Filmmaker Matti Haapoja walks you through how you can be organized with your work flow.
There is a change happening in work culture. Bosses are more open to telecommuting and being a freelancer can be thought of as being the answer to a modern day working life. Here are some tools and comparisons to provide the best fit for you and the business stage you are in.
Something all photographers have to deal with on a daily basis is how to price their professional work. It’s something that’s not easy to quantify, and each job is usually a different monster requiring its own unique budget.
Monitor color calibration is a desperately boring activity to undergo, let alone discuss. However, if you're a photographer who wants to get serious about their work, it's utterly paramount.
We all have to start somewhere. Taking on that first job can be very intimidating, so here are some tips to make sure it goes as smoothly as possible.
When you run a photography business, client leads are everything. However, if you can’t get potential leads to respond to you, your business can flounder. Here are a few reasons why potential clients may not be getting back to you after they initially reach out.
