How to start photography as a business

[Woodie69]

Hi all

I'm new to PH so this is my first post and would appreciate your help and advice on where to start with photography as a business.

Don't want to do weddings just portraits and possibly baby and children.
Advice on how to start, kit I'd need oh and cheapest place to buy please

I've been doing photography for a few years now as a hobby and absolutely love it!

Thanks in anticipation

[Simpo Two]

There are many ways to find work at local level. One idea might be to approach your local amdram company and offer to take photos for their programme (these have small portrait photos of the cast, usually poor!). From there you could find yourself immersed in the local community and word-of-mouth etc.


If you want to make a living out of it, well, that's another matter though!

[Taita]

I forget the name of the guy on here who has just gone pro - it might be james_tigerwood? Check his profile and then search his topics - there is LOADS of good stuff in there.

ETA I found JTW profile and it doesn't look like its him based on his role: http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/profile.asp?h=0...

But someone will be along with the correct info shortly

[DibblyDobbler]

This is the thread I think is being referred to: http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

My 2p worth is to go in with your eyes open - it's a highly competetive market and you'll be up against a lot of talented and dedicated guys... however young Rob is making a go of it as you can see and is doing very well so it is possible! Good luck

[singlecoil]

Woodie69 said:

Advice on how to start, kit I'd need oh and cheapest place to buy please

You are making your questions far too wide, and the answers would (and actually have) fill several books.

Imagine if someone posted here saying they wanted to get into driving, what sort of car should they get, where from and how should they drive it?

The first thing you need to do in order to get the info you want is to provide info, give in order to receive.

e.g. how much do you already know, be specific, don't just say you've been doing photography for a few years, say what sort of photography, what sort of equipment you have, how you use it, what sort of results are you getting etc etc.

Hopefully you've got the idea by now.

By the way, you will need a way of getting the work you propose to do. How are you going to get your customers?

[Simpo Two]

singlecoil said:

By the way, you will need a way of getting the work you propose to do. How are you going to get your customers?

This is the crucial thng. Everything else can be fixed with money and practice - but with no customers your annual earnings will be £0.00 (less the cost of gear).

Weddings are where decent money is, if you're up to it. Babies, you can keep 'em!

[singlecoil]

Simpo Two said:

Babies, you can keep 'em!

I took some pictures of 4 month old twins recently. It was possible to get them to open their eyes long enough to snap a picture, but not both of them at the same time.

[steveatesh]

Hi W69, as an enthusiastic non professional here I admire you for going for it if you love photography, hard work but importantly you will be in charge of your own destiny. As the others have said there are two aspects to this, taking photographs and running a business.

There are plenty of tips available for baby shoots (if you have not done one of course) on YouTube and elsewhere. I've done one babyshoot for family and i have to confess I was anxious but enjoyed it, and I ended up with a number of shots for the happy family. They want another shoot so I must have done something right!

On the business side you will need a bit of a business plan, nothing special if you are self funding but enough to guide your development of the business. For example a list of potential opportunities such as children's party planners, mother and toddler groups ( sorry, parent and toddler groups of course!), maternity wards, prices you will charge, competition in your area, marketing plan such as social media and website etc etc

It will help if you are experienced with handling children and babies of course, but you also have to manage the Parents too!

I hope you can do it if it's what you want to do. There is no reason why not if you put the time and energy into it. Let us know how you get on, as per the original poster in the thread linked too.

[singlecoil]

Mrs Brown and Mrs Green both make cakes. Mrs Brown's cakes are competent and anyone buying one would find nothing to complain about. Mrs Green's cakes are noticeably better than Mrs Brown's. Anyone buying one of hers would be very happy with it. Thing is, which of them is going to sell the most cakes? You would think it would be Mrs Green, especially as both women charge the same prices.

The answer is Mrs Brown, because she has a cake shop in the high street, whereas Mrs Green just has her kitchen, a website and a Facebook page.

[Simpo Two]

singlecoil said:

Mrs Brown and Mrs Green both make cakes. Mrs Brown's cakes are competent and anyone buying one would find nothing to complain about. Mrs Green's cakes are noticeably better than Mrs Brown's. Anyone buying one of hers would be very happy with it. Thing is, which of them is going to sell the most cakes? You would think it would be Mrs Green, especially as both women charge the same prices.

The answer is Mrs Brown, because she has a cake shop in the high street, whereas Mrs Green just has her kitchen, a website and a Facebook page.

Mrs Brown also has a large fixed overhead from Day One which she may or may not sell enough cakes to cover. I'd rather make half as many cakes for double the profit, and I won't go bankrupt if I only sell three.

The answer of course is that it depends on the type of business. People buy cakes from shops not mail-order. By contrast people are well used to looking for photographic services online, and remember the OP is not Peter Jones, it's a pocket-money hobby.

[singlecoil]

Simpo Two said:

singlecoil said:

Mrs Brown and Mrs Green both make cakes. Mrs Brown's cakes are competent and anyone buying one would find nothing to complain about. Mrs Green's cakes are noticeably better than Mrs Brown's. Anyone buying one of hers would be very happy with it. Thing is, which of them is going to sell the most cakes? You would think it would be Mrs Green, especially as both women charge the same prices.

The answer is Mrs Brown, because she has a cake shop in the high street, whereas Mrs Green just has her kitchen, a website and a Facebook page.

Mrs Brown also has a large fixed overhead from Day One which she may or may not sell enough cakes to cover. I'd rather make half as many cakes for double the profit, and I won't go bankrupt if I only sell three.

The point of the story is that the selling is more important than the making, and needs to be top of the agenda for anyone contemplating photography as a business.

Simpo Two said:

The answer of course is that it depends on the type of business. People buy cakes from shops not mail-order. By contrast people are well used to looking for photographic services online, and remember the OP is not Peter Jones, it's a pocket-money hobby.

He is already doing it as a hobby, the title says business.

[Simpo Two]

singlecoil said:

The point of the story is that the selling is more important than the making, and needs to be top of the agenda for anyone contemplating photography as a business.

I said that in my second post. I took your cake shop comment to mean that he needed business premises - like a kitchen maker might have, for example.

Anyway what do I know, I only made my living as a photographer for 10 years and I did that by finding a niche and marketing and selling it.

singlecoil said:

He is already doing it as a hobby, the title says business.

Semantics; what counts (assuming he has the right standard of work) is the income.

[singlecoil]

singlecoil said:

He is already doing it as a hobby, the title says business.

Semantics; what counts (assuming he has the right standard of work) is the income.

Semantics can be important, and they are in this case. Hobby is a fun activity, business is to do with making money.

[Simpo Two]

Agreed, but if you enjoy your business - as I did - indeed as you have to do if you shoot weddings - is best of all

[Berz]

Based on my experiences while helping the missus set up her photography business I'd say the below (shamelessly stolen from the other thread) sums it up very well.

RobbieKB said:

Absolutely. In fact, I've been reading and watching a lot on the business of photography and most successful photographers say it's 80-90% being good at business, 10-20% being good at photography.

[Woodie69]

Sorry if I was a bit vague with my questions guys I’m a PH virgin.

Photography is a hobby for me and I’ve mostly done landscapes so far but wanted to branch out to portraits etc.

I currently work with children and I’m used to taking photos within work to support evidence of children’s learning. Mind you I know it will be a challenge and a different ‘kettle of fish’ so to speak as of course professional photography is completely different.

I’d like advice on lighting please, I’m not thinking of having a own studio (I’d be more of a Mrs Green) so gear that’s easy to transport around. So advice on soft box, clamshell lighting, beauty dish and speed lights please

From a business side, yes I’d like to be successful, who wouldn’t! But I’m in a position for it to be pocket money so to speak.

[singlecoil]

Woodie69 said:

I’d like advice on lighting please, I’m not thinking of having a own studio (I’d be more of a Mrs Green) so gear that’s easy to transport around. So advice on soft box, clamshell lighting, beauty dish and speed lights please

You need to tell us how much you already know about this stuff.

And you don't need all that stuff at this stage anyway. All you need is a respectable camera and lens combination, a portable background of some kind and speedlite with a head you can point at the ceiling or wall. A clear picture with a clean background will put you ahead of 98% of people who take pictures with phones etc.

[RobDickinson]

Babies, esp new born , you better know how to pose them safely etc!

As for gear two things ...

Theres a lot of it out there, a lot of it is good, most of it is irrelevant.
The best gear is quite often unnecessary for pro work and wont provide a better return


Point 1 - figure out how and where and what you are shooting. Indoors/Studio or outdoors, clients house etc.

any camera body these days will provide adequate images, pick a decent prime or zoom in the range you need for what you want. get lighting if you need it ( probably) - anything involving people is all about connection and emotion , plus lighting.

Point 2 - just because that £2000 lens is a bit better than the £200 lens doesnt mean the clients will notice or pay more for it. Business is business. A £2000 lens is often (not always) an indulgence.


Biggest thing about any business is running the business and getting customers. Mostly its not about the photography.

[Woodie69]

Thanks to everyone for your advice, I'll make a start on a business plan.

Oh! and I'm a she not a he