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What does it take to start a photography business?

I am trying to start my own photography business and I have a few questions...?

  • I am trying to start my own little side photography business doing senior pictures and such for people. One of the biggest problems I am having is competing with other new photographers who are giving away their images on a disk for much cheaper than what I am charging for prints. The way I see it is that I do not want to take a bunch of pictures, spend all of the time sorting and editing them just to give them away on a disk and then have the client add affects and then go walmart and get them printer and then try and say they are my work. I know of quite a few photographers who do their session and then sell the disk of images for only $100. I feel my prices are very reasonable ($8 for a 4x6, $12 for an 8x10, 60 wallets for $40, plus my session comes with a free proof book) but still people would rather go to the photographer who gives their images away on a disk for the same price (most of my sessions have came out to a little over $100 for everything). My second issue is that people feel like they can take advantage of me. My clients like to call me at the last minute and cancel or they think they can reschedule for any day/time they please and get frustrated when I can't drop everything else (work) and do their session. My one client even had me deliver her prints because she didn't want to pick them up. This becomes very frustrating. My last issue is that I spend so much time editing the pictures. I want to fix every little thing I see wrong with them and I want to be prefect, but then I spend myself spending hours on each print. Can anyone give me some tips/advice on my business, please, I would greatly appreciate it. If you would like to check out my site please feel free too https://www.facebook.com/pages/Courtney-Strach-Photography/239635352753115?ref=tn_tnmn Thank you so much for taking the time to read this and help me out!

  • Answer:

    The quality of work will prevail. You need to do a survey of all the long established photographers and make a spreadsheet of what they charge for their services. Next using the mid-range pricing, see if you can make money at those prices, enough to make a living Here is a tool you can use to determine how many days a year you have to work and at what day rate (actually the days average billing). http://www.nppa.org/professional_development/business_practices/cdb/cdbcalc.cfm Here is the deal with producing marketable images. You need to get to the point that you rarely ever have to do any retouching. My goal is to spend one hour in front of the computer, processing my RAW files in Lightroom for every four hours I shoot an assignment. You need to get to the point (eventually) that you only take one shot of the product and know that you have the correct exposure, white balance and composition. Yes, there are times that you have to shoot a lot. Shooting basketball is tough because many great shots are missed because an other player jumps in front of your amazing shot at the wrong moment and perhaps the worst is officials moving into the frame, just as you press the shutter release. You seem to be suffering from a common problem many new photographers face. Had you learned all your photographic skills using film, you would have become a disciplined shooter and would have learned to trust your cameras light meter. There are only 36 shots on a roll of 35 mm film. Each shot has to count and be as near perfect as possible and this takes some time just setting up each shot which includes any makeup necessary when shooting fashion, special lighting techniques for products, fashion and portraits and absolute faith in your cameras light meter. Good luck and keep moving forward.

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1- One of the biggest problems I am having is competing with other new photographers who are giving away their images on a disk for much cheaper than what I am charging for prints. Don't compete on price, compete on quality. Would you hire a photographer who has this in his portfolio: http://youarenotaphotographer.com/the-red-glow-of-matrimony/ Or this: http://flic.kr/p/bnzgdA But yeah, we understand how you feel. People just look at the price and make their decision solely on that factor. That's why you have to learn how to sell yourself, separate yourself from the Guy with Camera (GwC), the uncle bobs and the rest of the "I have a nice camera so I'm professional ... yup!" crowd. Sell your service, sell yourself. You aren't selling photos, you are selling a service ... your service! You do that by marketing yourself to the proper crowd. You want to avoid the bargain hunters on craigslist, kijiji, groupon and all that. They only care about saving a buck and will nickel and dime you to death anyway. You don't want those clients anyway. Charge a higher amount and offer a good service and you'll attract a better class of client. 2- I feel my prices are very reasonable ($8 for a 4x6, $12 for an 8x10, 60 wallets for $40, plus my session comes with a free proof book) but still people would rather go to the photographer who gives their images away on a disk for the same price. Don't simply charge per prints. You need to charge a sitting fee to cover your expenses for the shoot (travel, wear and tear on your car, gas, equipment rental ... so on so forth) and cover a portion of your business operating costs (web hosting, domain name registration, business licence ...) I've got a good explanation on pricing here: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AqQCqxUJ0QeTv3DSPPRLTm_sy6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20120525093704AAMNI1G Read my answer there. 3- My second issue is that people feel like they can take advantage of me. Welcome to the wonderful world of Vendor/Client relationships. These videos sum up well how we're treated. Pay The Writer (just replace Writer with Photographer and it applies 100%): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mj5IV23g-fE Be aware he's a cranky, foul mouthed old man but his points are still valid. :) Vendor Client Relationships in real world relationships (satire): http://www.scofieldedit.com/content/project/scofield-vendor-client-relationships 4- My last issue is that I spend so much time editing the pictures. I want to fix every little thing I see wrong with them and I want to be prefect, but then I spend myself spending hours on each print. I took a look at your work and your pictures are ok. I've certainly seen much worse but you still need a bit of work. Some of the images are a bit out of focus or shot with too shallow a DoF, you have some noisy backgrounds, you need to learn how to use fill flash ... You seem to have a decent grasp on the basics but there's still a lot of work ahead of you. You need to get better at being a photographer and you'll spend less time in post processing. My images take, at most, 30 seconds in post processing each. I adjust the white balance, adjust exposure a smidgen and move on ... that's it. Then the client sends me a list of images they would like some heavier editing done (small distracting elements removed from the frame, removal of blemishes ...) but I do weddings ... I hand over a disk (I charge appropriately for this) with anywhere from 500-700 pictures ... spending even just 1 more minute per picture would result in anywhere from 1 to 2 days of extra work (8 to 11 hours), that cuts down on my shoots profitability significantly. Master your art and you won't have to rely on Photoshop to fix your pictures. Something else I would recommend is get a bit of lighting gear. Get a good shoe mount flash and learn how to bounce: http://flic.kr/p/bo12ws Get some cheap, manual only, shoe mount flashes (YN460II for example) and some radio triggers (pt-04 for example) and use those as studio lights. Here are a few examples: http://flic.kr/p/8mggaa http://flic.kr/p/9bWK3U http://flic.kr/p/9bWM7w http://flic.kr/p/9XLiPi Using good light properly will make all the difference in terms of colour and contrast and will help your images pop.

Eric Lefebvre

Photography can be a really competitive business. Check out this article: http://phlearn.com/jay-cole-marketing It gives some great advice on business and marketing and finding your niche, what makes you stand out from all the others and how to expand from there. Hope this helps!

Phlearn

write yourself a business plan... work on your skills... people who give away their images on CD/DVD are idiots... they have no control over what happens to their images... and then they complain when their client sticks badly edited images all over Facebook... learn about writing contracts with your clients... especially with regards to cancellation and resceduling - giving certain amount of notice... and then you are covered for affecting other clients... at the end of the day, you are at the mercy of your clients, BUT you have to cover yourself... or you'll suffer...

Forlorn Hope

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