One of the hardest, cringiest things any photographer can do is go back and look at the images they created early in their career. In this video, Lee Morris and I revisit some of our best and worst images taken prior to launching Fstoppers.com. How bad are these photos? Let's find out!
ChatGPT has taken the world by storm, and while it has some people rolling their eyes at the invasion of AI, it has a lot of potential as a business tool, and it is well worth taking the time to at least consider if it is something you should incorporate into your workflow. If you have not checked it out yet, this awesome video will show you five different ways you can use it to improve your photography business.
Becoming a full-time photographer can be a really exciting time, but it can be tremendously difficult to know when it is the right time to take the risk and step into the world of running your own business. If you find yourself considering that move, check out this helpful video that features an experience wedding photographer sharing three things to carefully consider before you make the jump to professional photography.
Where you invest your money as a professional photographer is one of the most important decisions you can make, and as such, it is something worth of careful consideration to ensure you are not wasting your money on unneeded gimmicks. This helpful video tutorial features an experienced pro sharing what he invests in to ensure he can do his job easily and deliver the best possible images.
Social media is a necessary evil for a lot of photographers, as it is the place where many potential clients will see your work and first contact you. However, with so many platforms and the need for continued, consistent posting, you might wonder where your time and efforts are best spent. This great video features a filmmaker discussing the results from a two-week experiment of posting to TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts.
Today, we will talk about one of the most necessary and the most dangerous ingredients in a creative career.
Prints will always be in style: no matter how good digital displays are, people love tactile manifestations of images for a variety of applications: homes, offices, and more. So, how do you go about selling prints in 2023? This excellent video tutorial will give you a wide range of useful advice.
When going freelance in any profession, you will get faced with rejection after rejection. Not getting enough love on social media, emails not being replied to, and inquiries not leading to bookings are frustrating parts of running a self-employed photography business. “Don’t take it personally,” they say. But how?
Without a doubt, social media has revolutionized the experience, dissemination, and even creation of photographs. Social media platforms like Instagram and Twitter have leveled the playing field in a lot of ways, allowing photographers to instantly share their work with hundreds or thousands of followers. Combined with the availability of high-quality cameras in smartphones and social media algorithms, the number of images disseminated to the world has absolutely exploded. Despite this democratization of the craft, has social media actually diminished the value of photography?
What if I told you there is a social media platform on which you can earn money whenever somebody likes your content? And it's not owned by a big corporation but is governed by its community. In this article, I share my experience with such a platform that has been around for several years already.
Shutterfest stands out as my favorite photography conference to attend each year! As I write this, I am wrapping up day three of the affair. I always look forward to the various workshops, lectures, and unique experiences available throughout this fun-filled event like no other.
Exactly what does it take to be “lucky?”
How many times have you had a promising conversation started with a potential client, only for them to simply stop responding to you, never completing a booking? It is a very frustrating but also very common experience. This helpful video tutorial shares some useful advice and techniques to decrease that ghosting rate and land more clients.
It can be challenging for many photographers to get qualified leads, but there are steps you can take today to enhance your online exposure and lead generation.
A few brief words on why it sometimes pays to have more hands in the kitchen when cooking up a creative project.
In this article, I share my experience with a new NFT marketplace called Fantasea.io. There's not much information available about it online. The domain has been registered just a little over a month ago, and the homepage currently feels like a work in progress. Because more and more photographers seem to get contacted to sell NFTs on this site, it's important to determine if it's legit.
It’s time to spring-clean your photography website! Don’t leave it until you've finally shot that new body of work you’ve been meaning to shoot. There are several things you can do to your website to freshen it up without shooting new images first.
I just got a new camera! Well, sort of.
Collaborating with models for trade shoots, often referred to as TFP (Time for Print), provides a wealth of benefits to both parties involved. In this type of collaboration, neither party charges for their services, but both receive valuable assets in the form of high-quality images that can be used to build their respective portfolios.
Your portfolio is your calling card and is the place where most potential customers will make the decision to pursue hiring you or not. As such, your portfolio deserves a lot of careful consideration. This helpful video tutorial features an experienced photographer sharing five tips to help you improve the quality of your portrait portfolio.
On the never-ending camera buyer’s merry-go-round? Here are a few lessons I’ve learned along the way.
As a photographer, understanding your place in the market is essential to the success of your business. Whether you are just starting out or are an established photographer, it's important to have a clear understanding of your competition, your preferred target audience, and demand for the photography services you offer.
Being a professional photographer can be extremely demanding and can easily lead to burnout and/or a loss of passion for the craft. And yet, many professionals persevere into that dangerous territory out of the need to constantly churn out fresh material. It does not always have to be that way, though. This interesting video features a seasoned professional discussing how he stepped away from his camera for a couple of months but still moved his business forward.
LinkedIn is not just a platform for jobseekers; it is a powerful networking and marketing channel for entrepreneurs, such as photographers. If you ever serve other businesses with your photography, then LinkedIn is a great place online to find and connect with the right people in your niche. As they say, it’s not what you know, it’s who you know.
You can be proficient with a camera and lighting and have a strong creative voice, but to find success as a professional photographer takes strong business skills as well. If that is something you are new to and you would like to improve, check out this great video tutorial that will give you some helpful advice for the process of booking new clients to help you increase your chances of landing the job.
Let’s chat a bit. Have you ever stopped to think why you chose photography over all other avenues of artistic expression?
One of the challenging things about running a photography business is that, unlike a regular job, we have to give ourselves all the structure to stay on track and to be productive. If that is something you struggle with, check out this fantastic video tutorial that will show you five useful hacks to make you a more productive photographer.
No doubt, you need to be good with a camera and have a strong creative voice to find success as a professional photographer, but there is a lot more to that life than simply taking images for money. If you aspire to be a professional photographer, check out this great video that will show you the ins and outs of a typical photographer's day and everything it takes to keep a business running.
Price lists can be dangerous, but they can also be great. How do you know if you should reveal your hand and have one displayed on your website?
Like it or not, social media is one of the primary means of disseminating your work and communicating with potential clients nowadays. As such, it is important for photographers to know how to effectively engage with it and leverage it for finding customers and advancing their careers. This great video presentation features a photographer who is highly successful on various social media platforms sharing some of what made her successful and offering some helpful advice so you can do the same.
In last week’s article, I discussed three mistakes to avoid when building a career as a photographer or filmmaker. Today, let’s look into three broader concepts that you might want to lean into.
When you have gained a lot of confidence in your ability with a camera and have built out a nice portfolio, you might start thinking about going professional. However, even though it absolutely takes those aforementioned items, they are not enough on their own. It takes a good amount of business savvy to create a reasonable income from photography. This helpful video tutorial will show you five essential items that will make your business life a little easier.
What does it really take to get by in an industry where any Tom, Dick, and Harry has it in them to harvest likes on images like basking sharks devouring krill? Who’s doing it better? Well, everyone, right? What’s happening, day to day, week to week in the life of an active professional photographer? Well, I’m laying it all on the line. Telling it like it is. Here’s a desperately honest account of what happens in an average week for me, an honestly average photographer.
Artificial intelligence is everywhere, from editing photos to writing text, to generating "photos" out of thin air. This technology is going to revolutionize every facet of the world, and photographers need to be ahead of the curve or risk being left behind permanently.
Very few people jump right in to running a photography business full-time. The vast majority start out slowly, doing photography on the side while they maintain their primary income from another job. That can be a particularly stressful time, but as this excellent video essay details, with the right mindset, you can become more intentional and focused and achieve your goals sooner.
Though it takes a lot of skill with a camera and in editing, being a successful professional photographer takes a lot more than just those. If you feel comfortable with your skills and your portfolio and you are wondering if you are ready to make the jump, check out this fantastic video essay that features an experienced professional detailing how to know if you are ready.
If you’re thinking of making your love for photography into the thing that pays the bills, here are a few pitfalls which you might want to avoid.
Being competent with composition, camera settings, lighting, and post-processing and having a strong creative voice are all requirements for becoming a successful professional photographer, but they are far from the only things you will need. Making money from your images is a totally different animal, but this helpful video tutorial will give you some important advice that will give you a better chance of finding success in the professional world.
As a photographer, it's important for you to understand the significance of branding in your industry. While it may not seem obvious, branding is just as important for small businesses like yours as it is for large corporations. Branding encompasses much more than just a logo. It is the first interaction a potential client will have with your business.
You can put in the time to become competent with a camera and editing and build out a portfolio you can be proud of, but actually monetizing your photography is an entirely different beast and something many talented photographers struggle with despite their image-making capabilities. If that sounds like the boat you are in, check out this helpful video tutorial that will give you 10 things to consider when building out your photography pricing model.
What skills other than knowing your camera kit and how to take a good photo do you need to make your fledgling photography business work, grow, and be sustainable while still standing out from the crowd? What tools do you need and what websites are good enough to bookmark and check daily? These five tips will help you on your way.
Over the years, the fine art and commercial art communities have slowly wised up, learning how to run their businesses as businesses and saying no to free work. So, why are these famous artists working for free when it comes to the Super Bowl? The NFL surely isn't struggling for money, so shouldn't they get paid? Should any artist, famous or unknown, work for exposure?
Today, I will definitively answer an age-old question. Or perhaps, more likely, pontificate on something that all people and all artists have been asking since the beginning of time.
2023 is the year of AI, and the industry is exploding with a wide range of tools that can make your life easier, whether that is through editing, running your business, or other tasks. This excellent video tutorial will show you five such tools you should consider taking advantage of to save time and improve the quality of your images.
Today, we’re talking websites. What are the dos and what are the don’ts?
A couple of weeks ago, I published a piece on the Jack of All Trades Photographer, which covered the plight of the gigging photographer just starting out, doing what he or she can to build portfolio content and generally begin to make a living from it. Imagine my surprise when just a few days later, the topic was covered by straight-talking, commercial super talent and formerly of this parish, Scott Choucino!
It's devilishly simple, but this marketing tip by a renowned wedding photographer absolutely exploded his numbers. I think it's applicable to many types of photography, so to learn what it is and how you can implement it, take a look.
In the world of cinema camera technology, RED has established itself as a major player. Starting off as the underdog, they have pushed industry stalwarts to innovate or die. However, a recent revelation has sparked concern among competitors and consumers alike. RED is preventing other camera manufacturers like Sony, Nikon, and DJI from innovating by enforcing its broad patent for on-camera compressed raw video.
