How to Make Money With Photography
If you love photography like me, you've probably dreamt of making money at the craft. But maybe you've also thought that, without fame or a large Instagram following, actually making money from photography is near impossible. Well, what if I told you it's not? What if I told you that you could make money with photography starting today?
It's true. Photography may seem like something only famous photographers and Instagram influencers can profit from, but really anyone with a bit of skill behind the lens, some editing proficiency and a bit of business development can find clients and work as a photographer.
You see, people need photography every day. Local restaurants need it to photograph their food, clothing stores need it to showcase their clothes, and business executives need it for headshots so that they can look good on LinkedIn. The list goes on and on. Photography is everywhere. And now, with the growth of digital media, photography has never been more relevant and needed.
So, how can you make money with photography? You need to treat it like a business, by honing your skills, building up a client base, and delivering great photos every time so that your customers become repeat customers. Forget all of that nonsense about building up 100,000 Instagram followers. Start focusing on photography as a business, and make money with photography today.
Ready? Here are a few things you might want to think about before you start, and then I'll provide five ways to make money with photography starting today.
Develop Your Skills
This goes without saying, but, to excel in any business or craft, you need to be proficient in it. You don't necessarily need to be the best photographer out there, but it is a good idea to develop a good understanding of your camera, composition, and editing before looking for work as a photographer. Plus, you want to make sure that the clients you do land are happy with their first photos they receive from you, leading to repeat customers.
Thankfully the internet is full of free resources, including this photography blog, that'll help you up your photo game quick, and have you make money with photography in no time. I'd recommend watching some videos on YouTube about your specific camera and the functions that it has, videos on composition, and videos on photo editing. Though not necessary, you may want to pick a photo editing software before taking a deeper dive into how you do it, as it'll be easier to learn photo editing on the software that you use for photo editing. My recommended photo editing software is Adobe Lightroom. Why? Because it comes with an incredible amount of cloud storage, allowing you to access your photos anywhere, and gives you peace of mind knowing you have a back up of all your shots.
Additionally, another great way to learn photography and editing is to find Instagram photography influencers. You can learn a lot about composition by looking at the way they compose their photos. And you can also start to determine which kind of editing styles you like, and then research how to recreate those specific styles of editing.
Now, watching YouTube videos and reading blog articles is great. But the best way to truly learn photography is to actually practice. So get out there and start taking some photos, and see what kind of edits you like.
Pick a Niche
Though not entirely necessary, it's sometimes good to pick a niche (or a few niches) for the type(s) of photography you want to do. Your niche(s) could be headshot photography or commercial photography, or it could be very specific, like commercial photography for adventure and travel brands. Or you could provide services to multiple niches. What I'm trying to get at, though, is that you don't want your niches to be too broad. Otherwise, it'll be too hard to focus and pinpoint who exactly you should reach out too - in the beginning at least.
Instead, focus on the smallest viable market. Maybe you want to take photographs for local businesses, or fashion brands in your province, or headshots for people's LinkedIn accounts. Whatever it is that you want to do, I'd say focus on that (at least to start). And then, as your photography business grows and word of mouth starts to travel, you will likely end up getting pulled into new niches and avenues.
Acquire the Equipment You Need
Depending on the type of photography you plan on doing, you may need to purchase some extra equipment. Having a few different types of lenses handy for different types of photoshoots is a good idea. A decent flash also doesn't hurt. The one thing that I would say is key (other than your camera itself!) is a good tripod. They're the best way to ensure you get the frame you want. And, if you're taking a bunch of headshots and want them to all look basically the same, you'll want to set up your camera on a tripod.
The cool thing about photography is that you don't actually need to acquire everything that you need all at once. You'll naturally start to build up your equipment as time goes by, and on an as-needed basis.
Build a Portfolio
If you've been doing photography as a hobbyist for years, you'll probably already have a good crop of photos you can pick from to build your portfolio. If not, you can always ask friends and family members if you can take some shots of them to build up your portfolio. Or get creative. Take some shots of objects and products you like, or go out on a hike and get some landscape shots. The key here is to showcase your photography skills, your editing style, and the types of photographs clients can expect when they hire you to take photos for them.
In terms of actually making a portfolio, I'd suggest just making a simple website that contains your portfolio (of course!), an about you section, your services, and a contact form or email address. That's it. Website creators like Wix and Squarespace have really nice portfolio templates, and are super easy to customize. I'd probably start there.
Additionally, if you don't feel like making a website or want something to compliment it, start a photography Instagram profile, and only post your best shots. Again, the goal here isn't to build 100,000 followers. The goal is to showcase your best work in one place so potential clients can easily see what your photography is like.
OK. We've got some basics down. Now, ready for some idea for how you can make money with photography? Here are some ideas to get you going:
1. Batch Photograph Headshots
For this, all you need to do is find ten people (it could be friends or family members) who need headshot photos for LinkedIn or their business's website, and have a batch photography day. What is batch photography? It's where essentially you set up somewhere with your camera for the day, and then take batches of photos for several clients. It's a very efficient way of doing photography, and you can make quite a bit of money all at once.
Say for instance you charged the ten people who came for headshots $100 each. You'd end up making $1,000 that day. If you could do a batch photography day once a month, that'd be a decent starting point to make money with photography.
2. Reach Out to Local Businesses
As mentioned above, all businesses use photography to some extent - no matter how big or small. Sure, the super big and badass companies like GoPro and Patagonia use Instagram Influencers and well-known photographers to get their shots. But local, small to mid-sized businesses in your community probably don't. In fact, local businesses would probably be more excited about working with another local small business (your freelance photography business), as opposed to some influencer who lives half their year in Bali.
The best way to reach out to local businesses is to simply send them an email letting them know that you're a local photographer that would love to help them up their photography game. Include a link to your portfolio as well.
Additionally, you can direct message local businesses via your Instagram account. That way, the business will be able to see your photos very easily, as they'll just need to tap on your profile to see what your photographs are all about.
3. Teach Photography
Again, teaching photography or putting on a workshop may seem like something you need a huge following of people for, but you really don't. You can put on a workshop with ten people, or you can put one on with three. As long as you know people who are interested in learning more about photography, you can make it happen. And it can be quite lucrative as well. Depending on how long your workshop is and what's involved, you can charge several hundred dollars per person to attend.
Some ideas for photography workshops could include general lessons on using a camera, composition and photo editing (see any similarities to "Develop Your Skills" section above?). You could also do active workshops, where you take a group of photographers on a hike, and teach them how to photograph landscapes in an actual setting with landscapes.
All-in-all, workshops are a great way to make money with photography - and meet some new, like-minded people.
4. Sell Your Prints
Always wanted to see your prints hanging up on a wall? Reach out to a local coffee shop and see if you can hang your prints on their walls and sell them. Lots of coffee shops do this. You've probably seen them before. Cool photos hanging on the wall at your local coffee spot, with a price tag hanging off the side. Those were put there by photographers just like you.
Additionally, it's easy to put a note on your website or social media account that states you'll sell prints to anyone who's interested. You never know who will reach out.
You can also try selling stock photos on websites like Shutterstock. People and businesses are always looking for stock photos to use on their websites, social media and designs, so there's a chance your shots could be used if you make them available. You'd want to make sure you use good SEO practices on the photos you upload to these stock photo websites though, as they function the same way as a search engine like Google.
5. Promote Another Business or Service You Offer Through Photography
To make money with photography, did you know that you don't actually have to provide photography as a service?
Photography is a visual art, and it can be used to promote literally any product or service out there. If you like doing photography as a hobby and don't care about making money from it, that's great. But, if you have another business that you do use to make money, why not make sure it's got the best photography it can possibly have? Marketing is key with any business, and good photography that stands out from the crowd will not only draw people towards your business, but also help them better visualize and understand the story you're trying to tell them - and sell them.
So there you have it. Five ways to make money with photography, and a few ways to help you get started. Forget the idea that you need to be a famous photographer or an Instagram Influencer to get paid for what you love. Treat photography as a business. Learn the skills needed, build up a client base, and then deliver great photos every time. You've got this.
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