Sooner or later, most photography enthusiast give some thought to “how to start a photography business.” Unfortunately, there are a ‘few‘ challenges that “doom”us to failure. One of the biggest challenges that we bring is our failure to make the distinctions between our love of photography (re: our enjoyment and passion for photography) and the business of photography (understanding buying and spending habits of people that are photography customers).

For example, many of us think that because our photography work is “so good,”that we shouldn’t have that much trouble selling it. We, sometimes, mistakenly, think that great art and photography “sells itself.” Big mistake! Great photography does not sell itself. In the business world, nothing sells itself - nothing! Knowing this is critical to start a photography business.

Our failure to make the distinction between our passion for photography and our desire to be in the photo business is also evident in how we try to tell peopleabout what we do. For example, photography customers don’t care what type of equipment we use. They don’t care how many mega-pixels we have, nor how much our equipment cost us, nor what brand of camera we use. Photography customers (current and potential) want to know that we can, and will, produce the highest quality photography work for them.

Think about it, the mechanics that repair our cars don’t tell us what tools that they use. The chefs in the restaurants that we patronize don’t tell us what type of pots, pans or stoves that they use. In those businesses, it is already established what customers want and how best to give it to them. In other words, other businesses do a better job of understanding their ‘niche.’ In order to start a photography business that is consistently successful and growing, we must be clear on what niche we are offering and how to sell the benefits of our niche to the customers.

Another mistake that we budding photography business owners repeat is failing to “specialize” (know our photography niche) in what we do. As photography enthusiasts, we enjoy shooting any and everything. As photographers, that’s just fine. However, when we start a photography business, we, mistakenly, try to be ‘all things to all people’ – we take every photography job offered us.

One of the obvious problems with this approach is our failure to recognize how it drastically cheapens the value of what we do as skilled photographers, in the eyes of the customers. Mistakenly, we want our customers (current and potential) to know that we can photograph anything – after all, we’re very versatile photographers! What the customers actually see is that we’re not “versatile photographers,” we’re just someone with a camera that’s available to take pictures when they call us. Serious photography customers (re: those that can afford to spend regularly) want to do business with specialists – photographers that know their photography niche.

Successful wedding photographers are clear on this, as an example of my point. Their ‘primary’ customer (usually the bride) has dreamed about her wedding day for most of her life. She isn’t looking for a vesatile photographer. She wants a “wedding photographer” that can make her ‘look’ as good, happy and beautiful as she has been in all of her lifelong dreams of ‘her day’ - her wedding day. There’s a special skill to this type of photography service. In fact, this niche has more to do with well developed ‘people skills,’ in my opinion. Successful wedding photographers that are clear on these nuances are more successful in business.

Do your research.

• Inventory Your Photo Collection – Take a look at your photo collections. Determine what it is that you 1.) shoot the most; 2.) shoot consistently well; and 3.) enjoy shooting. Identify your and categorize the photos into various niches, i.e. portraits, sports, glamor, pets, children, landscape, etc.
• Research The Photography Markets – Do internet searches using the words “photography niche.” Also, use the type of niche that you think your photos fit. For example, “event photography niche,” “wedding photography niche,” etc. Also, a good source to help identify some of the photo markets is “The Photographer’s Market.” This is a book that is published annually and claims to provide photo buying contacts and information. Online searches are the most useful, in my opinion. Books by author and photographer, Dan Heller are good places to get a better understanding of the vast world of photography, without all the ‘artsy-hype,’ in my opinion. He also has a very informative website – DanHeller.com
• Identify ‘Real’ Markets – Find out what type of photography (of your specialties) your customers currently are purchasing. What type of photography is selling? At some point, you’ll have to ‘balance’ the realities of the different niches. There can be some factors that aren’t consistent across all photography niches. For example, some niches require longer “workflow” (workflow is the post production process of taking photos) periods and tasks than others. Higher quality portraits normally require photo editing – which is time-consuming. Event photography requires the processing, packaging and delivering (presenting) of photos. True story: I went through my large photo collections and found that I had a very large number of outstandingly beautiful flowers. I can’t begin to tell you my disappointment when I found out that there is ‘virtually’ no market of photos of flowers – it seems that everybody has them already, everybody! Lesson learned – identify ‘real’ markets.

Ten Tips To Assist You To Identify Your Niche

1. Identify specialties that fit your style:
2. Determine if you have the necessary equipment for the niche
3. Do you have identifiable and specific skills in this niche area – can you articulate them?
4. Who is your target audience
5. What type of photography do they purchase the most
6. Where are they taking their photography business currently – your competition
7. What will be different about your services
8. Does where you live support your preferable niche
9. Is your niche ‘stock photography’ or ‘assignment photography’ – do you know the difference
10. What is the future potential and tendencies of your niche

Fortunately, the internet makes this information just a few clicks away. The information isn’t difficult to find and learn. Knowing your niche increases your confidence tremendously. Truly know your niche – and your photography business will follow!

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One of the main reasons people buy digital cameras is so they can share their photos with others. Even if you are just going to print your photos for yourself, you will want them to look their best. Here are some tips on getting your images ready for sharing or printing.

1. ORGANIZE YOUR PHOTOS

Delete the ones you don’t like or those that are near duplicates of others. No sense in clogging up your hard drive or CDs with junk. Use a good photo management software program like ACDSEE 7, Adobe Photoshop Album 2.0 or Jasc Paint Shop Photo Album 5 to view, organize and name your images. These programs also let you batch rename so you can give more descriptive file names to a group of photos at the same time. You can add key words and tags to make finding your photos easier. Be detailed in your photo descriptions, not just “John and Laurie.” You’ll probably have hundreds of photos of your kids and it will be harder to find the one you’re looking for. Better to say “John and Laurie waterskiing on Lake Powell, May 2004.”

2. BACK UP YOUR ORIGINALS

Mistakes can happen. It is a good idea to back up all your images to a CD before you start editing or changing them. That way you always have the original to go back to if you accidentally save over an image or made changes to a photo that you later decide you don’t like. CDs hold lots of photos, making it cheap insurance.

3. ROTATE IMAGES

Trying to look at a sideways photo is annoying. Use your photo management or editing software to rotate photos as needed. And if you have any images that are a little crooked, you can fix that using your editing software. Most photo editors have an automatic “straighten” function, or you can manually rotate the image a few degrees to straighten the horizon line.

4. REMOVE RED-EYE

Even with your digital camera’s auto red-eye reduction function, your subject’s eyes may still have red-eye. Use your photo editing software to remove it. Zoom in on the eyes and it will be easier for you to correct the red-eye. I’ve tried a number of red-eye correction tools and find that the one that comes with ACDSEE 7?s photo editor is among the best. It zeros in just on the red eye and doesn’t darken the surrounding eye area like some other software does.

5. CROP YOUR PHOTOS

Crop out unnecessary or distracting backgrounds and focus in on your subject. Most photo editing programs will keep the aspect ratio, so when you draw a box around the area you want to focus on it will crop it as 4×6 or whatever you have specified. That way you won’t end up with an odd size photo. Kodak EasyShare Gallery also has a very good cropping tool for maintaining the proper print size. It comes with its free photo editor.

6. ADJUST LIGHTING AND CONTRAST

Some of your photos may have come out washed out or too dark. You can automatically adjust the color, brightness and contrast of your photos. The better programs like Photoshop Album 2.0, Jasc and ACDSEE also have tools for making manual adjustments for fine-tuning. Be careful not to overdo it, though, or your picture could come out grainy.

7. PREPARE TO SHARE

There are a number of ways to share your images. Several programs, like Roxio Photo Suite 7, ACDSEE7, Photoshop Album and Paint Shop Photo Album allow you to create digital photo albums or slide shows, complete with music, transitions and captions. You can burn them to CD or resize and optimize for emailing directly from the program.

Online photo services such as PhotoWorks, Shutterfly, Snapfish and Kodak EasyShare Gallery also let you share your photos on line, for free. You simply upload your images to their server into your own photo albums and add captions if you wish. Then email your friends with a link to your albums. With most of the online services your photos stay on their servers as long as you have an account with them, for free. Signing up for an account is free, you only pay for photos you choose to purchase.

For hardcore photo sharers, there are also dedicated photo sharing applications such as PiXPO v1.5.0, which lets you share photos right off your hard drive. This is a peer to peer software application that allows you to connect directly with your friends and family to share and view pictures online with no uploads. Unlike traditional photo sharing services, you have unlimited storage and you don’t have to upload your photos to a distant server or wait for friends to log onto some photo sharing site. The application is easy to install and use and it’s inexpensive, around $30. PC Magazine rated it an Editor’s Choice in their January 3, 2005 issue.

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The World Wide Web has become the largest virtual marketplace to buy and sell all kinds of products and services. Companies offering products and services have changed the way they function. Joining the changing scenario are printing companies that are now choosing the Internet to market their services.

Studies show that the augment of online printing was in the United States when individuals tried to overcome offline printers to print their business cards. The primary driver for choosing an online service provider was the huge amount of time and expense associated with an offline printing service provider. In addition, the growth if multinational corporations setting up offices in various parts of the world drove the demand for these services.

Understanding the huge potential of the increasing demand from this business sector, some of the larger printing companies set up their online portals. Online printing companies today are catering to the demands from the big and smaller corporations across the world.

The larger corporations utilize the online printing companies to print their business materials, such as cards, flyers, brochures, booklets, presentations, and other marketing materials. An online service provider that caters to the demands of a company as well as an individual is known as a hybrid company. These kinds of online companies provide higher flexibility and more options for printing business cards, brochures, and offer customized printing services.

The online printing companies offer both digital and offset printing services. Digital printing utilizes the modern technology to offer printing to customers. Offset printing is beneficial to print larger products, such as magazines, newspapers, and other similar products.

Very few of us are aware of stock photography is all about. In this type of photography, the photographer takes pictures of various objects such as people, nature, animals and various others and then he sells them to other people. There is no specific assignment involved into it and he takes the picture of anything. This type of photography is used for printed material such as magazines, websites and brochures. There are various other ways in which stock photography is used. There are mainly two types of stock photography and they are elaborated below:

Right Managed Stock Photography

In this type of photography, stock photos are licensed for limited and specific period of time. It has a defined purpose and if a marketer is in need of stock photo immediately for a specific ad campaign; they can license a photo for that specific purpose and they would be able to use the photo for that time period. The charges of this type of photography depend upon the size of ad campaign for which the advertiser is going to use it. They would be able to make use of it as per their requirements and budget. In case, they want to re-use the stock images; they would be asked to pay additional fee.

Royalty Free stock photography

In this type of photography, the advertiser has to pay the fee for once only and he can use this photo for multiple times. There may be some limitations on this type of stock photography. No additional royalty fee has to be paid and the advertiser can pay the fee for once and use stock images in numerous ad campaigns. This is one of the best ways to make use of stock photos as the fee may be as little as $50.

Depending upon what the requirements are; a advertiser can choose to opt for these types of photography.

Retail and commerce companies in Yorkshire use pack shot photography extensively to promote their products and services, both online and in printed literature. The term has become synonymous with commercial photography for advertisers.

A pack shot, or packshot, is a still or animated photographed image, usually including labeling and packaging, which is used to advertise a product. Pack shot photography is a lucrative way to increase revenue for both the merchandiser and the commercial photographer. Done with flair, it will promote a product’s reputation, stimulate sales and trigger recognition of the item both on and off the shelf. It also gives the customer important details about the product, especially if 360 degree pack shot photography is used.

Pack shot photography requires a high degree of trust between the photographer and their client. In the past, forged and leaked packshots have led to damaged reputations and court cases. Of all the forms of commercial photography there are, packshots probably require the highest level of security and confidentiality.

Types of packshot photography

A packshot can be as simple as a photograph of the product on a white background, or as elaborate as a short, stop-motion animated movie. Commercial photography is almost entirely digital these days, which has opened up realms of possibilities, with a wealth of professional software available to photographers.

For example, let’s look at the centre of Leeds. Packshot photography can be seen wherever you look, advertising foodstuffs, cleaning products, mobile phones, jewellery, toys, motor vehicles and more.

Packshot photography isn’t limited to brochures, posters and magazines. As well as company websites, packshot images can be seen on t-shirts, ties, and sides of buses. Once the packshot has been digitally rendered, it can be used on anything that will take a printed or projected image.

Packshot photography for websites

Website packshots are always taken on a white background. They are purchased as “packs” of 20 or more images, in 2 or more sizes. Once complete, the pack is delivered to the customer in either file format or via their content management system. Some commercial photography companies offer a full media service, while others just supply the shots, leaving the customer to do the post-production work themselves.

360° packshots are a form of online commercial photography allowing the customer to view the item from all angles – as they would in a store. Used on objects of all sizes, it can incorporate zooming techniques and other innovations. Another option is stop motion animation photography, which is widely used on products with moving parts, such as kitchen gadgets and motor cars.

High resolution pack shot photography

Commercial photography is still most often associated with printed media. Professional photographers today can offer digitally enhanced, high resolution packshots for catalogues, brochures and promotional leaflets, as well as for newspapers and magazines.

Packshot photography for print publications usually involves a clipping path. Produced using professional digital software, the photographer will shoot onto a plain white or coloured backdrop and then “snip” round the image, allowing it to be used on an infinite number of backgrounds. The same image can therefore be used on both the company’s print literature and its website.

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