Pointers For Starting
A Successful Photography Business
Have you been contemplating with the idea of turning into a professional photographer? Here are reasons why you can take the lead. How often do you find people around you check their Instagram account or open their Facebook accounts and view photos of friends on their recent holiday or from a destination wedding or a fashionista’s “outfit of the day (OTT)” update??
Photos are everywhere around us, a physical form of capturing a precious moment and cherishing that memory for eternity. Photographs are a way of documentation and representation of things such as wildlife, nature, topography, architectural marvels and many more.
Weddings would be incomplete without photos, and how else will someone capture the milestone moments in a newborn child’s life.
Photos and photography have gained even more popularity in the times of Instagram, as people have pre-wedding shoots, maternity photo shoots, baby’s milestone photo shoots and many more. And for all of these photographers are much in demand.
So if you have complete knowledge and take good pictures and are most certainly comfortable handling a camera then you can explore the option of turning in into a business.
A few pointers will help make the process simpler and give you an idea of what goes in to make a start and run a successful photography business.
Tips To Consider To Start
A Successful Photography Business
- Create Marketing Material
Every business involves the selling of something, whether a product or an idea or a service. In the photography business you do not have a product but it is the photos that you will be capturing that you will get paid for. But to sell your service you need to create marketing material by building a prolific portfolio. Your past work and earlier photos will work for you so ensure that the portfolio is diverse. To create an extensive portfolio you can help friends and family with any task related to the field, right from editing images, creating promotional posters, product photography to capturing candid moments. A creative and diverse portfolio will speak for you as it helps customers trust you with their requirements.
- Build A Network
A business needs publicity to reach out to a wider range of customers. To achieve that it is imperative to build a network to meet potential customers. You can join groups on social media, pass out business cards, tell people about your business and all the various projects you have done (not in a gloating manner but just so that they know what you do), participate in local events and make use of digital marketing mediums and social media platforms to display your work.
- Protect Your Work
While you employ ways to reach out to people and build a network it is equally important to protect your work and your portfolio from being misused or from forgery. The best way to achieve that is via the copyright registration process that saves your work from being misused by others or from copying. Copyright is the exclusive and assignable legal right given to the originator for a fixed number of years to print, publish, perform, film or record literary, artistic or musical material. Copyright provides legal evidence of ownership and thus you can save your work, whether posters, pictures, advertising material, etc.
Once you are aware of the pointers, the next step is to ensure that you carry out the following essentials –
- Think of a unique name for the business that is easy to recall
- Register the business
- Obtain necessary licenses
- Have a photo studio in place where you can carry out photoshoots as well as editing work
- Ensure that you have most of the equipment needed for the business such as-
- A good quality camera
- A tripod stand
- Appropriate lighting equipment
- A sturdy weatherproof camera bag
- Lenses for the camera
- Backdrops in the studio for various types of photos
- A variety of props
- Editing softwares
- Computer or laptop
- External hard drive
- A smartphone that has a good camera
- Mobile photo apps
- A photo printer
- A reliable form of transportation for outdoor shoots and assignments
- A website or domain name
- A social media handle and profile
- Visiting cards
- Along with the equipment it is necessary to register for online payment programs as well as accounting programs to help in the concerned department so that you do not pick your head over accounts, which is not your forte
- Necessary insurance for the business and the expensive equipment
Hopefully these pointers will help you successfully run your photography business.
