The journey that a photographer takes in turning an enjoyable pastime into a full-fledged career is a common path that that describes the origins of many photography businesses. With limited business experience, hobbyists-turned-entrepreneurs often make incorrect assumptions about what makes a photography business successful. There is one particularly common misconception that holds a lot of photographers back in the early stages of starting a business.
When we are learning about photography, everything we hear and read is centered on studying our craft and improving our skills. We read up on composition, lighting, exposure, and color. We acquire an unhealthy obsession with gear and lenses that will allow us to create better images. So when we finally take the step of starting a business and charging for our work, it’s only natural to have developed one false assumption: that the critical factor to the success of our business is the quality of the images that we create.
The image of this golden retriever puppy was taken during my first "real" paid dog session.
Don’t get me wrong - a technically sound photography skillset is the foundation that supports any photography business. But these abilities alone won’t get us very far. Why is that? One of the reasons is that many people do not understand the difference between a good photo and a great one. Furthermore, there is much more to providing an amazing photography service besides producing quality work. Marketing, branding, selling, time management, and customer service are just some of the skills needed to grow and sustain a photography business. For many photographers, myself included, all of these skills are completely foreign when the prospect of starting a business is first being considered.
Think of someone who you consider to be a successful photographer, whether they are popular in your region or internationally. Are their images really that much better than those of their competition? Sometimes we look at established photographers around us, and because we know they are successful, we automatically see their work in a better light. The reality is that the success of a photography business depends more on the ability to effectively run a business than having photos that stand out.
This leads me to my best piece of advice for any photographers who are thinking about starting a business, or perhaps have just started to work part time: invest in educating yourself on how to grow your photography business. There are many readily available resources on developing business skills, both paid and free, that specifically pertain to photographers. If you’re looking for a place to start, one free resource I found extremely helpful is the Sprouting Photographer podcast, which discusses many facets of the business of photography, and was named as one of the “Best of 2014” iTunes podcasts by Apple. Reading blog posts and watching YouTube videos are just some free ways to get your feet wet and learn about the various aspects of running a photography business. Investing in knowledge on how to develop your business skills, rather than on becoming a better photographer, may be the most critical decision you make when starting your photography business.
Very much true. As Sal Cincotta said: "I'm not a photographer who happens to be a businessman. I'm a businessman who happens to be a photographer."
Sadly in my region I market in, the "successful" is the high volume photography studios. Not by photographers but by the majority since the majority are the walmart clients. I sadly will need to degrade my quality output by 70% at the least and make a cookie cutter template for every client and maybe profit 1%.
Sounds like you should move, unless you are exaggerating. 1% profit isn't worth me sitting in my chair to read client emails. In the Turks & Caicos I can charge $700/hr for weddings. More competitive locations will demand more out of you, but the rewards will go up exponentially..
Yea. At best out of the 50 photography businesses in my region, maybe 2-3 are full time businesses. The rest are part timers, AND keep their pricing/numbers to STAY part time... so their "profit" is not counting their labor so any cash flow outside of travel costs they tend to assume is straight profit. I know... I was like that! (S&B) Now trying to offer a high end senior experience is impossible to sell... even explaining the value of that service sounds expensive so it scares everyone away from even contacting me. In-person consults are too much of a hassle... my region is the walmart perfect area. Fast, cheap, and easy is the key to success here. How can I do that without killing my quality output? I got plans to move...
Hey Chris, sorry for the late reply. That is tricky. How well-connected are you in your community? It seems like the only way you will attract clients that are willing to pay for quality work, are those that know you through a connection personally - if people doing a standard google search are comparing you to a Walmart studio and they are bottom-line-number people, you will always lose. Ultimately I still think a move is required..
Since this is publicly searched I'll PM ya ;-)
Checked out the sprouting photographer link and it's just click bait
Did you go to the Podcasts section Rob? There are hundreds of photography business podcasts free for listening.
Thanks Jordan, I tried it again and it worked fine this time
"many people do not understand the difference between a good photo and a great one." very true ....
Yes, like this photo of the dog with the tree sticking out of it's head...poor lil fella
I can guarantee you the client didn't see or care about it- all she saw was her pup and she paid full price. It is always staggering to me the images my clients end up picking for print or for albums... it's never the best work from their portfolio! My client recently printed a TEST SHOT as a 40x60 framed piece...
I agree with you there Frank. I always try to guess the photos that my clients will choose, and I'm almost always completely wrong.
Whenever I read anything from photographers talking about having to lower their prices, competing with what in essence is the weekend warrior, quality of photography out there, etc... it just burns my butt.
The field of photography/photographers has been allowing this to happen since about 2000. So I have obviously been around for awhile. I shoot film and digital so I am not against digital in anyway, but no one can tell me digital did not have a hand in this. There was a time where you did not find a single photographer anywhere that did not have an intitial sitting fee of $75+. That got you your time with the photographer and your images taken. After that you got to come in and view your images. After that you ordered your prints. There was none of this put them on a disk and let them go to walmart or anything else. Even when Digital fist came out, and up to around 2010 or so I don't ever remember doing that. I still don't.
However, when it got to the point where everyone was getting a DSLR for their birthday or Christmas or just bought one, suddenly everyone was a professional photographer. Didn't matter how good or bad they were, they were offering to do weddings for $100. They stuck the images on a disk and said here you go. They didn't do anything to the images, they literally just put them on a disk. Clients would come to professionals where we were going to charge let's say $1500+ with a lot in that, but they heard about someone that would do it for $100. They got the disk, saw how bad the images were and they had the balls to come back and ask us to fix the images. For free nonetheless.
Eventually, people just got to the point where quality didn't matter. It was all about the cost. Were they going to get a disk, how many, etc...
If your work is really that good; why are you going to want to have your work printed out at walmart or somewhere else? You could be the best photographer in the region, but once someone prints it out somewhere other than a professional lab, your work is going to look like an amateur did it. Think about the quality it is going to display. It is your work that is going to look like crap.
There are still a lot of photographers out there that hold true to the knowledge that they are worth what they charge. Their work demands it. They know they are not going to get the clientele that wants it all for $50-$100. They understand that their clientele are going to be the ones that are willing to order the large wall prints for their homes. They are going to be willing to pay that $100+ sitting fee.
You have to be the one to decide what your work is worth. You can't let the weekend warrior determine what your work is worth. If you are worth more than the weekend warrior; find the clientele that is going to value your work. Photographers allowed our field to be cheapened, to allow the general public to lose respect for what we do.
No one else is going to be able to change that expect for photographers. Until we start to change what we destroyed, no one is ever going to have that respect back. Everyone has a camera of some sort today. Everyone thinks they can do what we do. They can't. We have to make them understand why they can't.
I'm still learning all of this. Hell, I probably shouldn't even putting myself out there yet to make a buck. But one thing I have seen, even as just a hobbyist, is that this is work. It may be digital, but it takes time touching up an image so it looks good. That time is valuable. So just because everyone has a digital camera now, and everyone can get a decent image from an iPhone, I'm not going to undercut myself. And from my very short experience, those $50-$100 clients, are more trouble than they are worth.
Very well said Scott!
Absolutely agree. I am sick of amateurs and "soccer-mom-photographers" devaluing our industry. For those starting out that can't justify charging high prices, if anything at all, my advice is simple- you are NOT ready to work with strangers. If you need to practice, practice with the same friend over and over. The more and more you let people get away with paying photographers little to nothing for work, the more you strengthen that as the norm. My sitting fee is $350 for an hour and that includes a web gallery and low-res files (i.e. 900px). They have 30 days to invest in a higher resolution upgrade or preferably a print or album order. None of this $100 includes all your edited images on disk bullshit.