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These pages will be updated regularly with new opportunities and ideas - BOOKMARK FoPHO.co.uk and visit us on a regular basis to keep up to date.
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The Photography Resource
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Making Photography Pay
Ever thought about turning your photography hobby into a career or extra income - or have you been working on your photography skills and gaining qualifications but still not sure which direction to take? FoPHO have gathered a few ideas to browse, career paths to consider and possible opportunities to give budding photographers an income from offering photographic services to selling your images.
These pages will be updated regularly with new opportunities and ideas - BOOKMARK FoPHO.co.uk and visit us on a regular basis to keep up to date.
Stock Photography (selling your photos online)
There are many ways to make money as a freelance photographer and stock photography has to be the most popular. Stock photography has become massive over the past few years with the internet making it more accessible and easier for amateur photographers to also try their hand at making some money from their images.
Stock photography, as the name suggests, is a stockpile of photographic images held by a stock photography agency such as Shutterpoint Stock Photography or Getty Images, whom you may have heard of. There are 2 parts to the process:
- The photographers, like yourself, who will upload and add more images to their storage areas day by day.
- The end users, who will purchase these images from the agency for use in magazines, publications or advertising campaigns etc.
When a company purchases an image from the agency, the photographer who owns the rights to that image will be paid a royalty fee, the amount paid varies between stock photography agencies but can be quite a considerable amount. The companies that search for images will put in key words for the image they are looking for and then search through the images that appear
The great thing about stock photography is that once you have a reasonable amount of images registered with 1 or more agencies, you can start earning money, quite literally, whilst you are sleeping. The key with stock photography is only to submit your very top quality images so that you get a good reputation within the agency and also to select good quality keywords that relate directly to your images.
Sign up to a stock photography site and start uploading; you never know how much you could earn...
WHICH STOCK PHOTOGRAPHY AGENCY SHOULD I CHOOSE ? - FoPHO Recommends trying out:
Getty Images
Shutterpoint Stock Photography
To give you a bit of an insight - below is a live update of the latest photos sold through shutterpoint.
Freelance photographers are self employed and specialise in all types of photography including photojournalism, wedding, portrait, nature/travel and stock photography. As a freelance photographer, it is best to specialise in a certain field of photography as this will help to increase your portfolio that you can show to new prospective customers that require you to work in that field. This in turn will increase your reputation and earnings capacity over and above that of the ‘jack-of-all-trades’ photographer. As a freelance photographer, it is also wise to submit thousands of images to stock photography agencies so that during the times when you are not offered work, you will still have an income. Freelance photography gives you a flexible working lifestyle with the ability to travel with your work but it can also be stressful competing for work against other likeminded freelance photographers and not having a guaranteed income.
Photojournalists are usually employed by the press industry, so your tabloid papers, magazines, local and national newspapers and other similar establishments will normally all have a team of full time photojournalists. In addition to this, you will normally find that such organisations will also make use of freelance photographers for any assignments outside the usual remit of their in-house photojournalists. If you have a literate mind and enjoy reporting and documenting through your photography, then this is certainly a career option to consider.
Advertising is an exciting industry where your creative flare can really be let loose, however, it’s not all fun and frolics and is worth bearing in mind that advertising agencies do struggle in times of recession and poor economic climate, and advertising departments are often the first to come under scrutiny when times get hard. However, that aside, working as an advertising photographer can be fun and rewarding getting to see your work appear in advertising campaigns in varying media formats. If you also have a good knowledge of image manipulation then this will stand you in good stead. The advertising industry is extremely competitive so make sure you have the skills and qualifications you need before applying.
Nature & Travel Photography:If you’re self motivated, ambitious and love nature and the great outdoors then a career in travel photography or nature photography can be extremely rewarding. Again in such a wide field, it is best to narrow down your expertise and focus on a certain area or style of photography to make yourself known within those circles (ie. A specific type of animal or bird or a particular geographical area). For travel photographers, again the ability to tell a story with your photos is essential to capture the essence of what you are reporting back to the general public. The rewards for both of these careers lie in the places and things you will see along with seeing your work appear in media publications and websites. Think about which field you would like to specialise in and then learn that subject inside out, once you have done this or whilst you are doing this, speak to organisations and other photographers in this field and see if you can spend some time with them as a ‘buddy’ or backup photographer. This will usually be unpaid but will give you invaluable experience and will increase your portfolio of images.
Fashion photographers are again often freelance photographers brought in for specific assignments but some fashion houses and magazines do employ full time photographers. Studios and fashion houses can be full of opportunities for the keen photographer, from catalogues and magazine stills to catwalk and live events. If you can get your foot in the door and are creative and ambitious then the high rates of pay will reward your efforts.
Most photographers explore photography as a career due to their inner creative streak and in most cases, whichever career path has been taken as a main source of income, outside of that remit of work, the creative streak is running deeper and deeper looking for new ways to create stunning photographic masterpieces. Fine-art photography is the sale of portraits, landscapes and abstract photography, usually to the general public via galleries or the internet to be displayed as artwork in homes, offices, galleries and museums. Some fine art photography is straight from the camera and other examples have been carefully and cleverly adjusted with image manipulation software such as Adobe Photoshop. Fine art photographers will also run commissions so that you can assign them to photograph a particular landmark or landscape.
Wedding & Portrait Photography:
If you consider yourself a ‘peoples person’ and are a good communicator then you should possibly consider a career in wedding photography or portrait photography, both of which can be financially rewarding. Wedding photography will almost inevitably mean giving up one or more days of your weekend and will be required to travel around the area(s) you decide to cover. Portrait photographers will usually either own a studio, share a studio or have portable lighting equipment and background screens which can then enable people and families (and pets..) to be photographed in their own homes. To start your own photography business specialising in wedding and portrait photography, you can simply start by offering to photograph your friends and families and the events they hold such as weddings and reunions etc, However, if you are presenting yourself as the sole photographer for the event then you will have to produce the quality images they expect otherwise you will be unpopular to say the least... It is often worth rummaging through the yellow pages and speaking to local wedding photographers to see if you can spend a day as their ‘buddy’ or backup photographer. This will usually entail carrying equipment and gathering the relevant family members for photo shoots but it will give you essential experience and guidance that you can then plough back into your own business.
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