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Chapter One: Brief History of Photography
The process of making photographs first came to the public's attention in 1839. For several years before that, a few scientists had been able to make pictures, but these were experiments kept largely confined to laboratories. Then in 1839, France publicized a process of producing pictures on metal called the daguerreotype, so named because of the inventor of the process – Louis Daguerre. The following year, an Englishman named William Talbot invented the calotype. The calotype was a process by which pictures were produced on paper with the light parts of the image showing up as dark and the dark parts of the image showing up as light. These were the negatives. The positives were produced on yet another piece of paper pretreated with special chemicals and presto – photographs, as we know them today, were born. Two decades later, Frederick Archer would invent a process of producing negatives on glass instead of Talbot's process of using paper. This allowed for the mass production of prints. These prints were also of much higher quality and greater in visible detail.
One early characteristic of photography, which separated it from other forms of art, prevailed from the earliest days of the invention and continues to this day. Unlike other artists, photographers need to know very little about the means through which they produce their art. Painters know how colors are produced. They know to mix one color with another to produce a third color. The canvas on which they paint is no mystery. For sculptors, too, the process of producing apiece is simple in nature. The clay is molded then dried.
However, few photographers can explain the mechanics that allow an image to appear 5
on paper by simply pushing a button. Moreover, they don't have to know. Even the earliest cameras, which were clumsy and enormous in size, required little technical knowledge on the part of the photographer. The ability to produce art through a means that required little time and even less technical skill appealed to the public masses. Particular among them, in the early days of the camera, were trained artists who were not talented enough to make it as painters. In fact, it was from this group of failed painters that photography produced some of the best and most successful photos in the early days of this craft.
Because photography was so new, the earlier practitioners of the art experimented quite a bit. From their experiments came a wealth of images that are, to this day, considered some of the best in the field of photography. Much of their work was done for their respective governments, photographing historic monuments and places of particular importance for their countries. Work was also found taking portraits of the wealthy and famous, who were already quite used to sitting for painters. But for the most part, these early photographer snapped anything and everything, simply for the experimentation and the adventure, heedless of the need to sell or create art. Photography as a full-fledged business dominated by professionals did not begin until the late 1800s.
Chapter One Summary
• • • People first began taking photographs in 1839 and although initial photography equipment was big and cumbersome, it required less talent than it does today. Daguerreotype was producing photos on metal and calotype was producing them on paper (negatives). As early as the 1800s, professionals began working and full time professionals.
Chapter Two: Introduction to Photography as a Business
The primary logistical problem that faces photographers who wanted to make money from their art was finding clients who were willing to pay. Photography as a professional endeavor suffers from the fact that it does not cost very much to own a camera, purchase film, and pay for development of that film. In recent years, the purchase of film has become optional first because of the ubiquity of disposable cameras and now because of the wider public's access to digital cameras. This latest development has also all but obliterated the need to pay for developing photographs.
Despite all these obstacles there does exist the potential to make photography a professional and more importantly, a successful business. One trick is to specialize in one or more fields where it is not as feasible for the client to produce his own pictures. Usually, for clients who themselves are in a business related to photography this will be because they require a quantity
or diversity of photos they cannot supply themselves. For the run of the mill public, however, this will usually be because of an event they are participating in and therefore cannot take the pictures.
Chapter Two Summary
• • Finding clients isn't necessarily easy but it is doable. Specializing in one or more fields is a great way to gain clients and become a successful photographer.
Chapter Three: Going Professional
The field of photography has always been a booming business potential. Despite the fact that few people know this, enough of them have figured it out and have created a market saturated with photographers who consider themselves professionals. Because of the advent of digital cameras and the Internet, more and more people are attempting to make a go of photography as a professional career either on a full-time or part-time basis. However, the chances for making a decent career out of photography are still good if one goes about it the right way. Magazines and newspapers purchase more than 60 million photographs each year. Many of these photos are taken and sold by professional, already-established photos. Despite this, there is plenty of room for beginners who are passionate about photography and are willing to specialize.
Getting Started There are three primary considerations you must approach in deciding how to go about getting into the photography business. First, ask yourself whether you need or could benefit from additional training to become more skilled at taking pictures. Second, decide in what area of photography you would like to specialize. Third, consider whether you want to be more of
an amateur photographer making a little money on the side, a professional photographer running your own business, or something in between. Answering this question will have important financial and tax implications for you.
Photography Training What makes photography different from many other art forms, such as painting or sculpting, is that anybody can take pictures. All the knowledge that is required is where to press the button on the camera. There are issues such as lighting that need to be considered to make the pictures appealing to the eye. However, automatic and digital cameras have made lighting yet another burden removed from the person holding the camera.
Where photography education comes in most handy is in the artistic arena. That is, for people who take pictures meant to be used as art or décor. The quality and type of pictures meant for this arena differs dramatically than for pictures taken to accompany a newspaper story or magazine article, where the picture is meant to illustrate a point being made in writing and not meant to stand alone as a statement. If your intention for entering the photography world is strictly artistic, to see your photographs gracing the walls of art galleries, you would probably benefit from taking some photography and art classes.
If this is not your intention, then you may be better off taking the money you may have spent on photography school to purchase film and equipment and learn to improve the quality of pictures you take simply by taking many pictures. Indeed, most professional photographers learned their craft as they went along, without benefit of any formal training. Another way of getting some training is to apprentice with an established photographer or get an internship or part-time job at a studio.
If getting classroom education is important to you and just something you would be more comfortable doing before calling yourself a pro, it isn't necessary to spend what could amount to thousands of dollars for an art degree. Most every city and town in the country has a community college where residents can take a photography or art class. You may also want to
call your local photography studios, as they sometimes offer a variety of photography classes during their off hours.
Areas of Specialization Beginning photographers are well advised to stay away from certain markets which are already saturated by professionals and which are exceedingly difficult for novices to break into. Well known national magazines and big city newspapers deal almost exclusively with professionals they have used in the past. Many of these magazines and newspapers also have their own staff of photographers. Trying to sell pictures in these markets can be an exercise in futility and has caused many photographers to quickly drop their dreams of going professional. This does not have to be a situation you find yourself in, if you take the time to figure out what areas you are passionate about photographing.
Pet Photography This is an area of specialization perfect for photographers who are also animal lovers. Pet owners are notorious for spending lavishly on their adored parrots, pooches and kittens, and also like to show them off. Pictures are a perfect way to do this. Advertising your services to pet owners can be as simple as posting cards or flyers on the bulletin boards of pet stores.
Wedding Photography Weddings are perhaps the one occasion in people's lives where pictures are always wanted. A beginning photographer has an advantage over established wedding photographers because they can charge less, especially if they have little overhead such as a studio to pay for. Most everyone knows a friend or family member who has an upcoming wedding, and advertising your services may first be by word of mouth. Bridal journals are another good place to advertise. Check out your local newspaper's announcement section and send a card directly to the engaged couple, advertising your services and specifying the price you will charge to photograph their wedding.
There are some basic pictures that are always taken at a wedding, so that gives a beginning photographer a leg up on the whole process. You already know that the bride will take a picture alone and so will the groom. Then there will be bride/groom photos and, from there, it will gradually expand to include more and more of the family and the bridal party. It is important before the day of the wedding to get a list of the important people the couple will want to have additional pictures of. Usually these are parents, grandparents, maid of honor, and best man. You'll need to be around to take pictures of the toasts that are given to the couple, the cutting of the cake, and the throwing of the bouquet. Become familiar with the basic setup of the wedding service, especially if the couple's religious practice differs from your own. For example, the couple will want to have a picture taken when glass is broken at a Jewish wedding ceremony.
It would be to your advantage if you could take as many pictures as possible before the actual ceremony. Brides and members of the bridal party are notorious for being late in their preparations so, often, the groom and his groomsmen may just be standing around waiting. This is a perfect opportunity to pull them aside for pictures and to take group pictures of the audience. Don't forget that the couple will also celebrate wedding anniversaries, so be sure to mention to the newly marrying couple that you are available for taking pictures five years down the road. Older couples in the audience should also be approached since 25th and 50th wedding anniversaries tend to involve big celebrations.
Family Portraits Parents love to take pictures of themselves with their children. It is a way to remember them young and chart their growth. Becoming a family portrait photographer requires very little overhead. Often families will want the pictures taken in their own homes. And even if they don't, you can use a room in your own house as a 'studio.' Simply purchase a decorative poster or sheet to tape to the wall and you can use that as a background. Advertise your services where families frequent, such as the local library or the local supermarket. The traditional yearly school pictures are also taken by portrait photographers, so once you have a nice-sized portfolio, contact your local school district and find out the procedure for putting in a bid for the school picture contract. Many towns and cities have several school districts within their borders, so are aggressive and make bids for all the districts that are a comfortable distance from you.
Local Newspapers While big city newspapers and national magazines are almost impossible for a novice photographer to make a living from, small town newspapers almost always use freelancers. Their budgets often do not allow them to keep a full time photographer on their staff. And even in cases where they do have one, that one photographer could not possibly cover all the events of one town or county. Small town papers are more involved in local events and local personalities than they are in national news, which is covered by papers better financed for such work. In fact, small newspapers get their national and international news from press conglomerates and wire services. The bulk of their time, therefore, is spent covering events of local interest.
By attending council meetings, high school sports' games, weddings, parades, festivals, religious events, and even parties of local VIP's, a photographer can make a good sideline selling pictures to the town's paper. In addition, by maintaining a good relationship with the paper's editors, a consistently decent photographer is likely to be called upon as a freelancer for the paper.
Trade Journals Trade journals are those that are geared to a specific specialty. There are trade journals dealing with just about everything imaginable from roofing to hair braiding and from herb growing to woodworking. You probably have a hobby or an interest that is rather specific and, chances are, there is a journal devoted to it. Do a general search using the Internet or your local library's reference section for keywords relating to things that interest you. Once you find a journal on that topic, flip through several issues and see what kind of photographs they publish. You may stumble onto a lucrative business opportunity that few other photographers would think about.
Along the lines of trade journals are special interest magazines. These are more general than trade journals but they, too, are geared toward a specific topic. While trade journals are often available only through subscriptions, specialty magazines can often be found at large, well-stocked magazine stands. Specialty magazines might deal with hobbies such as rock climbing, knitting, gardening, or weightlifting. There are also specialty magazines for mothers of preschoolers, African-American teenagers, nursing professionals, vegetarians, dairy farmers, etc. Chances are there are specialty magazines you already pick up on occasion. If you gear your photography business towards interests you already have, you are much likelier to stay interested and succeed financially.
Commercial Photography Banks, mortgage companies, insurance agencies, and real estate agencies all deal extensively with photographs. Banks and mortgage companies need to keep updated and accurate records of the properties in which they are invested or own. Because so many 16
companies are merging and becoming national, there is a growing need for subcontractors to assist them in keeping track of properties that may be hundreds or thousands of miles from their headquarters. It isn't cost-effective to keep full-time or even part-time employees in every locality that the company may own properties. It is much more efficient to hire photographers on a freelance, as-needed basis and that is where you come in.
The obvious properties that come to mind when one thinks of banks and mortgage companies are houses. But boats, apartment buildings, shopping malls, and other structures housing businesses all have mortgages on them. Some mortgage companies that hire freelancers may be near you, so start by checking the yellow pages. Once you get in touch with them, let them know you are available on-call for photographing properties and give them your general geographic parameters; that is, let them know how far you are willing to travel. Just as it would be inefficient for you to drive miles to take just one picture, it would also be inefficient for the mortgage company to hire you to do this. So more likely than not, when you are called for an assignment, they will have a list of places they need you to check out.
When you go see these prospective clients in person, don't forget to bring along a portfolio tailored just to the kind of work they would need done. Take great pictures of houses and other properties and remember to photograph all sides both up close and from a distance. This will approximate the kind of work you would be doing for these clients and will impress them more than candid black-and-whites of your Uncle Sal.
Website Photography Just about everyone these days is setting up his own website, it seems. The desire to be on the worldwide web just might rival the desire to start one's own photography business. Both those who want to put together their own websites and professional website designers need photographs. Of course, this need is only perceptional. A website can be up and running just fine by using nothing but text. But websites look better with graphics and pictures and website owners and designers know this. Website owners and designers, though, are not necessarily professional photographers and do not necessarily have their own stock of pretty pictures to paste on their website in order to draw the online masses to visit them.
A professional photographer who is computer savvy can make a business out of licensing their photos specifically for this use. Actually, a professional photographer who is just moderately competent with computers can make a go of this specialization. What you need is lots and lots of photographs and the ability to post them on the website that you will create, or the ability to needle a friend into creating a website for you. Once that is done, you want to use keywords for search engines that will draw website designers and ordinary folk to your site to browse all the great images that could be gracing their website. Presto – a business is born.
The downside? It should be obvious. Because your images are already online, what is to stop those website coveting folk from simply copying the images they want from your website and posting it on their own? The answer is 'Not a heck of a lot.' This is where the importance of copyrighting comes in. Make sure that all the photos you post are registered with the U.S. Copyright Office before you post them. Place your copyright symbol and name directly on the photograph by digitally superimposing them so that, if infringers are caught, they can be slapped with extra fines for removing them.
Aerial Photography Are you not only a photographer but also a daredevil, a risk taker or simply someone who loves to fly? Aerial photography may be the specialization for you. There are several groups of clients who are in the market for photographs that need to be snapped from up on high. Real estate developers are one. Aerial photographs allow them to better configure the plans for the residential or business communities they wish to build. There are aspects of any natural terrain that will be important for builders to take into consideration but are only clear from an above-the-site view.
Local and state government entities also need aerial photographs. These photographs are used for everything from making maps to determining city and town boundaries. Aerial photographs are also great for artistic projects that you may later sell for use on postcards, calendars, or posters. The trick is to take advantage of your time in the air because hiring a pilot will be an expense significantly greater than expenses incurred in other photography specialties. While some of this expense can be passed onto the client, you can take advantage of already being up in the air by snapping as many pictures as possible, so that you do not need to re-hire a pilot when it comes time to build your own portfolio. 19
Advice from Patricia, owner of Pets Love Pictures Too!
"Choosing the right specialty is so very important if you truly want to excel in the photography business. I myself started on a part time basis while working as a real estate agent. When just starting, I basically took on any assignments that came my way. Weddings, family photographs, and soon found that I totally excelled at creating awesome pet photographs. I guess this is because I have always been an animal lover and believe that I am totally intoned to their inner beauty so that became my niche. I now photograph pets, dogs, bird, cats, ferrets, turtles and even pigs. The coolest thing about my pet photography business is that it is always fun to find interesting poses and to get my subjects to participate but the rewards are so worth it when I find just the right shot to capture each animal's unique personality"
Chapter Three Summary There are three main considerations that you must consider. First, ask yourself whether you need or could benefit from additional training to become more skilled at taking pictures. Second, decide in what area of photography you would like to specialize. Third, consider whether you want to be more of an amateur photographer making a little money on the side, a professional photographer running your own business, or something in between. Professional training may be more beneficial for artists looking to see their work on galleries, etc but for those seeking to make money, practice is the best form of education. It is typically better to specialize than not specialize. There are so many specialties including but not limited to wedding, pet, commercial, and aerial photography. As the saying goes, "The Sky is the Limit".
Chapter Four: Advertising Your Services
No matter how good a photographer you are, no one will hire you to do projects for them if they do not know that you exist. As is the case with every business, you must advertise your existence or close up shop. Advertising is most critical when you are first getting started. As the years pass and your reputation builds, you will get more and more clients coming to you because they heard about you from other satisfied customers or because they saw your work somewhere. Even then, you will want to be consistent about advertising but, depending on just how successful you become, it may not need to be the forerunning concern of your business that it should be when you first open shop.
General Advertising Your most basic form of advertising will and should be through your local town or city's yellow pages. This may seem strange advice considering the ubiquity of the Internet, but people actually still use the yellow pages and use them extensively. This is especially so for consumers who are searching for services that, by their very nature, need to be provided locally. A couple getting married in Missoula will not hire a photographer based in Miami to take pictures of their wedding. The Internet may be a great place to find photographers but the Missoula phone books will be a quicker way to narrow down the choices to the local possibilities.
Wedding photographers should also seek out the places that engaged couples would visit in planning the celebration of their nuptials and get permission to post flyers or leave business cards advertising their services. This includes tuxedo rental outlets, catering
companies, and perhaps most importantly, bridal gown shops. Most hometown newspapers have a society section where they announce engagements, weddings, and anniversaries, usually on a weekly basis. Ad space for those pages are sold specifically to businesses that cater to people involved in such events including, of course, photographers. Similarly, pet photographers will want to advertise at pet supply stores and veterinarians' offices and portrait takers might consider contacting school districts in their area.
Even photographers whose specialty would not be in need by the vast majority of the public should advertise in the yellow pages. Insurance companies or real estate mortgage holders needing photographers to document their properties may simply look in the yellow pages under "Photographer' to find generalists, and think how pleased they would be to find your name and a notation that you do exactly the type of photography that they are seeking.
Internet Advertising It is wise to advertise in places that are specific to your geographical locale but it is equally as wise to advertise on the Internet. Though people still do use the yellow pages and still find photographers through posters in stores and other public places, the number of people who automatically let their fingers do the walking across their keyboards to find providers of services they need is just too large to ignore. And it is growing by leaps and bounds, as you no doubt know. In addition, the population of people who use the internet as their primary source of purchasing products and services is considerably skewed to the young. It is wise business sense to make yourself known well and early to this population.
In order to set up a website, you will need a service provider. Don't be nervous if you don't know anything about building a website. The company from which you will purchase a web address will provide you with relatively easy-to-follow instructions and tools to build a rudimentary site. They will also provide the means through which you can enter the keywords related to your business that will allow your website to pop up (along with a list of others) when an internet user types in a search term.
If you are willing to spend the additional money, you can also pay to have your website among the top sites that will appear in any given search for which your keywords are entered. Of course, the more you are willing to pay, the more visibility your site will be given. For those photographers whose only or primary means of sales will be on the internet, it makes sense to spend as much as you can to get the best returns, providing of course, that what you spend does not ultimately cut into your profits so much that they are virtually non-existent.
On the other hand, the cost of this, as well as general advertising, can (and should) be considered when fixing the price for your prints in the first place. For the photographer who wants to advertise on the Internet, but knows ahead of time that she will only take on local projects, it is imperative to put in the name of your state and hometown in your list of search terms, as many people will use geography to quickly narrow down their list of possible photographers from whom to choose.
Advice from Samantha, owner of Pictures Rock
"I'm going to be honest with you. Advertising isn't cheap but it is so necessary if you want clients. Before I placed an ad in the yellow pages, all five of my clients came from word of mouth. Although word of mouth advertising can work (if you're willing to wait), you should always use it in combination with other methods if you really want your phones to ring off the hook want your business to grow fast. My advice is to try out a bunch of nontraditional and traditional advertising methods and then see what works and what doesn't and then do more of what works. That's what I did and it worked for me."
Chapter Four Summary
• • • It is always better to advertise than not. Traditional and nontraditional advertising can work. Word of mouth is very good in combination with other methods. You should always try various methods and then do what makes the most sense according to your specific specialty.
Chapter Five: Markets for Your Photographs
Marketing Strategies for the Photographer Whilst marketing strategies sounds a mouthful, it means putting more bucks in your pocket. Marketing is the commercial phase of transferring a product from one owner to another. In other words you generate more sales. It has never been easier for the photographer to take effective steps to generate these extra sales. There are more photographers' than ever before, but the market has also boomed exponentially, so it makes economic sense to cash in on that boom. Whilst there are many effective steps you can undertake, they do have International, National, and also local effects, some will have an immediate effect, and others will have a long range benefit,
Immediate Local Impact.
You do not have to have a PhD, in photography to work out that the area, fifty miles from your front door, is the geographical area you know best. To widen your net in your immediate area will have immediate impact. Your Marketing Plan Many people will say, "hey I'm creative I don't need this "****!", but everyone needs a business plan in the modern world; it is your orientation course, it tells you where your at, and where you need to be, as well as the steps, that will help you to achieve your individual goals. Identify the area you wish to exploit. To keep you on track all the time write it down. It may appear time consuming, as indeed it is, but it is a document that you can refer back to often, and see if you are achieving your individual targets. No one else need ever see this document, but it is important that you are able to identify your strengths and weaknesses. Otherwise you are doomed to fail, it may be easier trying to set up a wedding photography business in the Vatican City! Outline of a marketing plan.
Market research.
How does your customers rate you? When you deliver your finished product send out a preprinted questionnaire. Word of mouth is the most effective form of advertisement, but it does not have to be a positive feedback. If people are not hiring you for the second time, because of a mistake you made the first time, then you need to know about it, to be able to take corrective measures.
Like any other business the photographic business has an element of repeat orders. If you have photographed someone's wedding well, they may not want you on the honeymoon; but your name may well be remembered when "official" photographs are needed for the birth of a first child, or a christening. If you are not getting your share of repeat business, why are you not getting it? 27
You cannot rectify the problem without isolating it. In this aspect it will throw up your competitors strengths, and you need to know how strong they are. Is there a weakness there you can exploit, either by undercutting their prices, or by going the extra mile on service. You need to know where exactly you stand in your local workforce and in relation to your competitors. Unique marketing points
What makes your individual business unique? These are the points you need to communicate when carrying out target marketing. When you have taken commissioned photographs, are you willing to send a free photograph enlarged, preferably one that "tugs at the heart strings" because it's content is emotional. Are you prepared to go that extra mile where service is concerned? If you exceed your customer's expectations every time you work, then you will get repeat business. Repeat business is your cornerstone to success. Sloppy work, and inattention to detail always yields sloppy returns.
When offering your services to individuals, for any form of "people photo" are you prepared to scan and restore a possibly damaged favourite old photo? That may offer you the commission.
Are you prepared to give the customer a free compact disc, with the images on? • Exploit potential.
There are millions of people with both pets and cameras. However it is harder to take a professional photo with yourself and the mutt in it! B Are you exploiting the add-on services to their full potential. Sometimes people love their animals more than other people. Animals always exert an emotional pull. Get yourself a picture of a dog the cuter the better, and have it made into a tee shirt, or get the image transferred to a coffee mug. Go to the local park near where you live, and wear this tee shirt. You don't need your dog! - just the camera, and offer to have one made when someone admires the tee shirt (after taking the photo).
Have some business cards printed, and go and cover local sporting events and contests, there is always someone without a camera, especially if they win, they will want a photograph. Or you
may like to consider joining a local society, and advertising yourself as a photographer, there is nothing as effective as word of mouth advertising, all the money paid for advertisements cannot beat it!
Find out exactly what your competitors are doing, what exact services, are they offering. Email them, or telephone and ask, as a prospective customer. If you have the e-mail then you have a permanent copy for future reference. You also need to check these prices periodically and keep your information current. You need to know how competitors there are, and whether or not your pricing structure is competitive. Other variables should be considered, the customer after sales service, and their promotional services. • Identify your target audience.
By careful analysis of your competitors' strengths and weaknesses, you nay be able to find a gap in the market that you can easily tap into. If you are not able to analyze this information for yourself, speak to a professional who can! Primary customers If you specialise in wedding photographer, then you primary target is the newly engaged couples, are you reading the engagement ads in your local paper. Can you persuade a local jeweller to place an advertisement for your services in his shop? • Articulate your short, medium and long-term objectives.
Is it necessary to target more customers, can you handle the excess demands on your time, without letting your existing client base suffer? Or are you looking for a wider client base for existing photographs. Where can your business realistically expand? Sometimes it is necessary to be exceptionally ruthless here, I want to be a millionaire overnight will not do, you have to have specific and achievable gaols. Without this a marketing strategy is doomed to fail. The have to be able to measure that the steps you are taking, are creating the results that have specified. If you are trying to maximise profit, it is better to aim for an increase in turnover of about 3%, over the course of a year, than say I want to treble my profitability. Profit objectives state the bottom line progress you want your marketing efforts to achieve. You
may set the goal of achieving 2 percent profit in your first year, and increasing it by 10 percent every year hereafter. Do you merely want a larger share of a particular sector? If this is the case, how and where can you target your intended audience so that they are aware of the services you are offering? • Strategies
This is the most central aspect of your plan, you have identified, where improvements can be made and it is necessary to capitalize on market tools. How are you going to entice new customers' to buy your goods and services? Whilst this can be done on a national level, the immediate impact is in your local area. You can improve your business relations, by brushing up your PR skills. If you have realised that there is a gap in the market you can advertise and target the specific audience. This can be done by direct mail. An instance here is if you are a wedding photographer, read the engagement columns of the local papers, these are usually extremely specific, such as Mr R. W. Smith wishes to announce. There may be a lot of Smith's in the telephone directory, but they should be traceable. Another idea would be to read the banns for future marriages. These all give you a target clientele to send direct mail to, or contact personally. Ask your local church leaders, if they would be willing to give out one of your business cards. You have to decide how much time, and money you are prepared to devote to this, and set a time limit. You should be able to assess within three of four months whether this strategy is working.
If you intend to advertise in the media, then you should have a list of the publications, the cost of this exercise and how long the advertisements should run. Your local paper may have discounted rates for a long running advertisement. The same rationale applies if you intend to run radio advertisements.
A timetable will allow you to follow up any business leads that you have, a blitz of an advertising campaign, can be destructive, as you have not got the time to spend to follow up on all the enquiries. Remember to take into account the cost of other expenses, as a result of this campaign, such as postal rates, and any other printing costs that you may incur. Within this schedule you have also to ensure that the printing can be done in the time span you have allocated. If you cannot follow up any generated leads, then don't make them in the first place. 30
It is always more expensive to generate more customers that to keep existing one's as there are always extra cost. It may even mean an extra member of staff. You may find, that after looking at the budget of a targeted campaign that this option does not fulfil your best interests. It might be better to widen your net of sales.
More Ways to Widen Your Net Locally
Passive Advertising
This is local advertising on the local radio, and in the media. It may work for some, but for others it is not an effective a way of generating new income; because in some regions the cost is prohibitive. Don't underestimate the areas that can give you free advertising space. The supermarket billboards, other connected businesses, such as your local developer's. This form of passive advertisement means that the process is often more effective when it is ongoing, which only increases the expenditure. Recent marketing research has also suggested that it is better utilised with other services that use your time rather money, to keep yourself in the public eye. Get yourself in the public eye •
Increase your profile
Is there a new restaurant opening near you, or one being refurbished, if so, ask them if you can provide free décor. Take photographs and frame them, making sure that you place your name and contact number within the frame. Whilst you are at it talk them into letting you take the photographs for their new menus or cocktail list, or use their cocktails as décor. Nothing tastes as good as actually looking at a cocktail with the correct lighting. • Run local seminars.
Run a local seminar for free, and get your local paper to cover it. Perhaps take the children from your local school out on a photographic field trip. It may not necessarily get your work
shown, but as children are an emotive topic, it will get theirs shown. You will have the added benefit of the kudos, as the person who organised it. You may also get some commissions as a result of this. You can always run a free seminar for adults as well, even if you do not have an office, see if a local church will donate their hall, or use a school, or college. • Charging for field trips
If you are known and respected in your area, then perhaps you can consider charging to take people out on a field rip. This is only for the gregarious, as the interest factor may be just as much in your lifestyle, as your work. Also bear in mind any additional insurance costs that you will require here. • Ask your local paper
It may be worth checking if your local paper is interested in a series of ongoing articles about photography in your area. They may be prepared to pay you for this series, as they are always looking for material of local interest. If you do not feel that you are competent to do this then ask all your local radio stations if you can give a talk, about a specialist photographic subject, or photography in your area. • Use your website as a promotional tool
If you have a web site maximize it's potential. Set up a forum to discuss local issues, donate several pages to a local amateur sport's team so that they can use it as bulletin board. The possibilities are absolutely endless here, focus on what would benefit your local area, and generate publicity.
If you do not have a web site get one for free with Yahoo. If you do not know how to create one then use Rent a Coder. You ask for people all over the globe to create you a site, they will send in a quote and you decide whom you would like to commission. The initial outlay is low, and also the cost of maintaining a site is getting cheaper all the time. Having your own web site also establishes that you are committed to the business of being a photographer. If you are really smart, you can devote several pages to a local group, with member's under twenty-five, and get them to make you a site, and you have only to pay your annual fee to host it.
Work for a non-profit organisation.
One of the challenges facing photographers in a competitive field is to find an emotive image. To work for a non-profit organization is an extremely cost effective way of allowing you to promote your work. It does not matter what cause you work for and whether it is national or local, but find something that you are really passionate about. There are many opportunities here, as many of the non-profit organisations need your work as much as you need the publicity. It can be a local fund raising event. Other alternatives are an organization that uses plenty of images as promotion, or send out a high number of newsletters.
If you have not got an option to work for an existing organisation, then consider starting your own local campaign, about an issue that concerns you personally. Every area has a community issue that needs to be addressed. This may well be time consuming, but it will catapult you into the public eye. The Encyclopaedia of Associations lists all the major organizations in America, volunteering in Australia, is the equivalent link for Australia, these links will demonstrate the criteria you need to join. It is also useful in finding a cause that you can feel involved with. Without doubt other countries will record that information, check with your local reference library, or the Chamber of commerce.
Geography will to some extent dominate what this will be, for instance it will be time consuming to work for "save a whale", if you are in the center of Australia, but there will be a local environmental issue that will need to be addressed. The advantage of working within your local community, are more diverse than just maintaining a high profile. If you are involved then it is feasible that you can call on local director's, of the organization. Whilst it is unlikely that you will get a direct commission, their endorsement of your work allow you to use that as a promotional tool. It will also increase the number of people who will talk about your work. It would not be unreasonable if after completing some work that you ask for a client testimonial, you do not have to be paid to request this.
It may also mean that you will be working in conjunction with more seasoned photography and you will have the opportunity to learn new techniques. You may get a film company to sponsor you for the price of the film and development costs, if 33
the cause has a high enough profile. If this is not a viable option, then ask your local suppliers to sponsor you, it will give them the opportunity of free publicity as well. • Volunteer Work
When you are first starting to market your photographs you are spending more time marketing, than actually working on creating images. However getting your work noticed, by future potential clients is important. Read your local paper and if you notice that there is a local charity, or a non-profit making organisation having an event; offer to be their professional photographer for free. Your time will be better spent, with high profile events, but getting published at any level is the first step to recognition.
Another way to get your work shown is to try and get local businesses to show your work. There is an enormous potential here. Perhaps your local butcher wants to demonstrate to his customers, how he cut the meat, he may allow you to take photographs and display them in the business. Or perhaps a local supermarket is undergoing major renovations. Perhaps they would be prepared to display before and after photos.
All these ideas to keep yourself in the public eye are especially beneficial, when you are working from home. Thirty years ago I owned a business that was worth twice the price of an average home, I earned more than my Doctor, but I could not get financing on a house, because I was self employed. I was regarded as a fly by night, even though my assets meant my wings were severely clipped. Times have and are changing, but this residual feeling towards a self employed person has partially remained, These efforts gives you a real profile as a genuine person, and this can only increase your personal respect in the business community. No business survives on a permanent without good will and respect. Everyone on this planet has encountered a cowboy; make sure your image is professional. • Grit your teeth and shadow a politician
Ask a local politician if you can shadow him for a day or a couple of days. All elected officials at whatever level need publicity far more than you ever will. You can also guarantee that they will work that publicity to their best advantage. If you are willing to take the pictures, they will work to get them published. However if you are going to choose someone with contentious views, make sure that you agree with them, unless you want to get 34
caught up a possible backlash. A great time to do this will be just before an election, particularly if that person does not look as though they are certain to be re-elected. • Local Photographic competitions
There are also International photographic contests, run by Kodak, and Olympus, entry forms are often available online, and also in photography magazines, but the standards here will be extremely professional. Having a win in a local photographic competition increases your standing as a professional. If you have won make sure that you prepare a press release for your local papers. Exercise a precaution and read the rules, under certain circumstances a competition will be organised where the entrants will lose all copyright. That means that a competition has just been organised to get in loads of pictures at no cost, if that is the way for you, fine, but do read the small print. • Make a contribution to an online encyclopaedia
Wikipedia is a free online encyclopaedia that anyone may edit. It is mainly in English, French and German, but they also use other languages, You retain copyright of the article and the photographs. • Professional associations.
Whilst you are checking out your local Chamber of Commerce, it may be worth your while to consider joining. It will widen your network of contacts. Not only will it help you cooperate with other photographers, but also remember the local business community, often are the wealthier people. These are all potential clients and many a deal has been struck as a result of a casual conversation.
Are their any local professional groups you can join? This will not actually help you get new customers, as most of the other people will be in your field, but it may be useful to get your face noticed!
Remember though that if you have cut priced your work, to a level others regard as unacceptable, you may have made yourself a "pariah", and the community may not be so prepared to help you. If you are unsure about how to realistically price your work, then have a chat with a local established competitor. He may not be thrilled to have more competition on his patch, but he will be more amenable to one offering a similar price structure. It is worth 35
asking what factors he assessed when making up his price structure. This can be more informative than you imagine, if there is a hidden costs, that you have not estimated, it may help you to take a more methodical approach to evaluating your costs. However in a free market economy there is always a place for someone who is prepared to work cheaper than anyone else.
Whilst discounting your prices will surely bring you business at least in the short term there can be a huge downside. If another photographer feels that you have literally taken the bread out of his mouth, he may feel aggrieved, and take retaliatory steps, such as bad mouthing you to his entire customer base. Whilst you can probably live with that, suppose he tells the local tax authorities, about a sideline you have developed. If you are going to go down this road, make certain that you are squeaky clean. If this strategy is going to make you vulnerable consider the consequences carefully. You never know when you will need the help and support of the "local competition" Also you need to establish whether or not you are a serious hobbyist who wants a bit of extra pocket money, or do you want to make photography your career. • Discounting your price structure.
Photographer's can compete in a free market, and can undercut another's pricing structure. In the past the way forward for photographic agencies was to streamline all their work processes, thus keeping cost down, and increase their volume of sales. The Internet and digital film has had a major impact on the climate in which a photographer can work. Digital photography cut a major cost, film, and sometimes even development costs. It was at this point that the photography business really blossomed, and it affected how images were supplied. As the supply of images became larger, the individual price of each image dropped. Here the individual photographer became king; the industry was no longer dominated by agencies. When each individual photographer has to work independently to work out their market strategy, which means that the most successful will establish market precedents.
Take into account your realistic overheads, including the depreciation of your equipment, your insurances, legal fees, accountancy fees, repairs, travel time and costs, subscriptions, and possible rent, both of equipment and studio space. If you are using digital technology, spend
some time explaining to your client, that though it is more expensive, it can offer them higher quality work. The more the client understands new technology, the less likely they are to balk at paying for it. If you have had another career, and want to transfer your energies into being a photographer, remember that there is more to it than taking photographs. A lot of your time at least initially will be spent marketing your business. You need to build up a firm network of contacts. If you wish to make a career out of it contacts are important, but also knowing the ins and outs of how the business works is also important. Price structure is important here. A photograph has a price dependant on two values. On the one hand it is a commodity, like a washing machine or a bicycle. In this respect you just look out for the best value in your price range. However despite it being a mass produced commodity it also has a value as a unique representation it usually glorifies something else. Taking into the extra value to the buyer, a photograph can command its own price. The art of pricing this product is certainly not precise, and no two buyers will agree on this. To balance and command the additional value is an art.
This extra value should not be diminished to the basic price of a piece of paper. Perhaps is you do not fully realize this concept, them you may consider hiring a sales representative on a commission only basis.
Clever marketing increases the price of this piece of paper, with an image on it, and correct marketing can enhance the value of a photograph, making it a work of art rather than a printed image! Selling is the business of transferring ownership or rights of an article from one person to another. Conversely negotiating is fixing a level that the buyer wants pay, and the value he has set on it, and what the seller will accept. You cannot begin to market any product, unless you have perceptions of its value. • Primary Research
To see if you are carrying out all the services, which are required locally, do some primary research when you deliver your photographs. Add a pre-printed questionnaire, so that you can evaluate the feedback. Calculate your aims before doing marketing what does your business need from it. Do you know the sales each sector of your business is generating, do you need to
widen the sales or do you need new customers? How profitable is each sector. Will it benefit your business to discount your prices? Are uyou wasting your time in areas that you like to photograph, but in fact they give financial remuneration. If you are developing an on going style here it may be relevant. Otherwise look for other areas to exploit. • Raising your profile nationally.
There are several non-profit organisations, which display images along a certain theme. Consider attempting to get them to produce on of your images. Non-profit Art Organization offers a complete listing, for the United States. It is split into states, so that you can target the most prestigious, or the one that will give you local fame. The same site also offers information on grants for fine art photographers'. As this is a very subjective and wide branch of photography, you do not necessarily have to be a specialist photographer to cover fine art; it can be a sunset, as well as a image of a Leonardo Da Vinci. • Resources
The 2005 Photographer's Market is a useful resource for photographer's it covers, over two thousand listings for book publisher's, art fairs, businesses who need photographs. However again this has to be considered a long-term game plan. For a variety of reasons the publishers may not be bothered to look at your work. It does work if only on the principal of the numbers game, if you contact fifty publishers there may only be one or two positive replies. Sometimes this feels like banging your head against a brick wall, but if you persevere, you will eventually hit gold, by the sheer number of people you have contacted. In certain cases it may be worth contacting a specific publisher again; maybe the publisher had a bad hair day, the last time he was contacted. Edison's quote is applicable here "genius is one percent inspiration, and ninety nine percent perspiration!"
Perhaps you are also a talented writer as well as photographer. Contact your local paper regarding articles, which can be accompanied by a photograph. If you do not feel confidant about writing yourself, try contacting a local creative writing class, and ask if there is anyone interested in joining you as a team.
Take a good look at your portfolio, and try to target the people most likely to need them. Have a look at postcards, and contact the publisher their address is usually on the back. If you own 38
the copyright, to the photograph you can have repeat sales. Perhaps the image has more than one use. Is it any use to a publisher? Check out your local library for lists of specialist and general publisher's
In this respect use your local Chamber of Commerce; there may be a publisher near you. Phone and ask for an appointment to show your portfolio. If your portfolio is large enough and good enough it may be worth considering publishing a book for yourself. Again your reference library can help with a specialist publisher. If that option is not open to you, have a look at Amazon, and check the publishers who may have an interest in your work.
Widening your client base by selling stock photographs.
Stock photography differs from assignment photography, in that you make an image, on a speculative basis. It is not commissioned, and may never sell. This stock business was founded in the Nineteen twenties, (yes that is correct there is no typo here). Its chief function was to sell the images that did not sell when an assignment was finished. It had a lower price, because the buyers just bought them on speck
However the market grew out of all proportion twenty years ago when stock libraries became online. Two things happened, it put the pricing structure out of the hands of the agencies, which had until this time dominated the market; and placed it firmly in the hands of the individual photographer. The second thing to occur was the stock market altered the supply of the photos chain, and anyone could buy a photograph quickly and cheaply on a WYSIWYG, what you see id what you get theory. There are several types of stock libraries online. Once you have submitted some photographs to them, and they then sell the right for others to reproduce them. The price structure of this type of photography is variable, and dependant on when and where it is sold. Someone may want one print to place on a private web site, or it may go into a travel brochure with a print run of nearly a million. Once the library has sold your photograph, then they deduct a percentage of your commission for their marketing costs, and a profit for themselves.
There are pros and cons to selling stock photography. The biggest plus is that if you are not good at selling, then someone can undertake this aspect of marketing for you. Also it does free your time, so that you can take more photographs, and the bigger your portfolio, the greater your chance of generating more sales.
Also in most cases you always retain the copyright; which leaves you free to make many sales from one image. The biggest disadvantage is that you have to take a long-range view here. It can take a long time for your photographs to be shown on line, you cannot guarantee or even expect to make money immediately. Another point to bear in mind is that stock photography libraries, want you to sign for an initial time period, which may be years, so it could be a while before you can be sure you have chosen the correct company. For this reason it is often necessary to undertake commissioned work as well especially in the early stages.
The buyers of stock photographs find them cheaper to use than to get a photographer out on an assignment. As they work on the WYSIWYG theory, "what they see is what they get", they know if the photograph is going to be any use. The popularity of stock libraries is growing.i To sell stock photographs you can use more than one agency to represent you. This way you can appeal to an international market, or you can create a website and represent yourself. Another offshoot of the stock market business is that the stock agencies have branched out to find editorial or advertising work for their photographers.ii
How to choose a stock library.
There are general stock libraries on the Internet who will market all types of photography. The question is how can you find the best agency for you. Sell Your Photographs has a library and thousands of listings for you to inspect and contribute to should you choose to. If you decide to sell stock photographs it will probably widen your scope as a photographer. Remember that the clients who buy stock photography are not just in the printing and media business but they are also printing calendars, and the greetings card market.
If you are considering playing the "stock market", remember a few basic rules, it is not all
about creativity. Treat every agency as a very valued client, communicate with them regularly so that you can listen to market trends, the market has become more discerning as it evolves.
Also they are more likely to invite you to collaborate on certain projects, if they know who they are. Another downside of this method of marketing is that hundreds if not thousands of images are added every day, one of the reasons they can take so long to get on line. The net result of this is that images, which are old, are not seen. The reasons for this is that buyer's reach a saturation point, they have looked at so much that they cannot see the woods for the trees, So to utilize this sales tool effectively you have to keep adding to your portfolio. In fairness most stock agencies try to treat their photographers equally, in the inimitable words of George
Orwell in Animal Farm, "SOME ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHER'S". So keep on top of it, it is better to choose a library that is prepared to assign to you an individual sales representative, and then you can establish a rapport. What makes a top photographer for a stock agency is • • • Someone who has been shooting images for years, with an age of at least twenty-five years, Photographers with a proven track record in a specialist line, or at the very least a huge portfolio, which is comprised of images which are instantly marketable Photographers who moved up in the ranks within the agency.
The lowest common denominator is years. Big players who swallow up small agencies dominate the market now. If you have an enormous portfolio it may be better to join the big boys as a little fish in a big ocean. However there are new stock agencies growing, whilst their contacts may not be huge, you can start of a medium fish in a goldfish bowl and grow with the, In this respect I am talking about displaying the qualities of a top-notch photographer making a serious living.
For many semi pros and pros and even amateurs, the notion of a few bucks extra income is attractive. In the real world 98 percent of the wealth is in the hands of 2% of the population. It sure looked to me when researching this article that the majority of buyer's stick with one big 41
company, and they but at least three quarters of the images. Equally three quarters of the business seem to go to the seriously dedicated professional photographer, who is prepared to put in the dedication and time and effort to make it a full time business.
This is an advantageous idea, if you are a specialist, as the sales representative that you have selected, will have the contacts in your field. Also a buyer may be more predisposed to see a sales representative, as they will be carrying the work of more than one client. This may also work for you if you are not within commuting distance of a big city.
Freeing Your Time to Take More Photographs
Hiring a Sales Representative
For some the idea of any form of marketing is an anathema, some people are just too creative, to combine being an artist, with the more prosaic demand of running a business. For these people, or for the just plain lazy, there is actually anther alternative. You can engage an established sales representative on a commission only basis. Remember that this involves no cost to yourself, other than producing a creditable portfolio, but your earning power is diminished, because when a sale is negotiated you will lose part of your profit in commission. The commission is around thirty percent of the net sale.
This is an advantageous idea, if you are a specialist, as the sales representative that you have selected, will have the contacts in your field. They will have a better idea of the true value of the image, and if it is good enough they will be able to successfully negotiate the price. Also a buyer may be more predisposed to see a sales representative, as they will be carrying the work of more than one client. This may also work for you if you are not within commuting distance of a big city. Selecting a Sales Representative
The photographer's market book, has a complete list. If you are situated within a cosmopolitan 42
area, but still decide this is the way you want to go, then also try phoning the large advertising agencies and asking for the names of their most consulted representatives.
Whether to be a Generalist or a Specialist
There are more theories on this one than I have had hot dinners, and believe me that's a lot. It is difficult to give a comprehensive answer. If you are just shooting images as a sideline then it is not really that important. However if photography is going to be your career, then it is a different ball game. Obviously if you are a city person, and hate the great outdoors, then nature photography is not a wise career choice, it is obvious to say concentrate on perfecting your techniques in an area you enjoy.
Choosing your specialist area also involves your personal temperament. For instance to really get the best out of your images when shooting people then you need to have a rapport with them. It is necessary to able to instil into them the confidence that you have that you can make it work. If you are really passionate about one area, it makes sense to specialise, particularly if your temperament is suited to that type of work. Other areas where it is more likely you will become a specialist is perhaps in marine photography. There are practical considerations here, the equipment tend to be more capital intensive, as a camera has to be waterproof, diving is still in most of the world an expensive hobby, and not everyone can do it. However it does combine well this travel and or nature, as well as people in an outdoor setting. It does not make economic sense to combine this with portrait photography. My own personal perspective as a seriously dedicated amateur photographer is that if you have a passion, or specialise in photography that needs special skills, such as photographing food, and providing the area is marketable then specialise. My perspective as a businessperson with over thirty years experience is that it makes economic sense to generalize in areas that are compatible. However there is no easy answer to this one, it depends on your skills, preferences and circumstances. The only thing that I can add both as a businessperson and as a photographer is that if you are going to generalize do three or four areas really well. The reasons for this is that specialist areas need specific techniques, and it is not really possible to concentrate on all of them, unless you have been to photographic school and have trained as a specialist
photographer (in which case you will not be reading this, because you will have studied the aspects of marketing in that study period).
However it occurs to me that there is another aspect here if you specialize, it may be easier to market your work. Particularly if that specialist area is constrained geographically. If for instance you specialize in photographing deserts then it may be easier to get a gallery on or near a big desert to exhibit your work.
Equally your work may be attractive to postcard manufacturers. Under these circumstances, it may be advisable to work as a specialist and sell as a generalist. Another instance if you specialize in traditional images for Christmas greetings cards, then the work may also be sold as nature photography, equally food photography can also be marketed as fine art. When I started to write these articles, I did not promise a formula for you to be a millionaire overnight (if anyone knows that please e mail me immediately.) Nor did I promise it would be easy, each and every one of these steps take time effort, and or money, and all take thought. What I can guarantee is that the market for photographs is increasing, and you are able to take effective steps to take advantage of these. If you consider each step in relation to your business plan you will take immediate steps to capitalise on your business. Every business needs a strong base; ands each step outlined to you has given you a stronger base. All of these proposals are a trade off, for some people's gaols stock photography will not work. I cannot tell any one individual how to run their business (at least not for the price of this article!!) however they are sound guidelines, and you must use your own judgement as to how you use them, within the constraints of your personal circumstances. I wish each and everyone of you success in your business, but unless you put the work in no one else can do it for you, nobody said it was going to be easy kid, but it is achievable by everyone, irrespective of gender, race, age or geography. If you want to be a millionaire in a week, maybe you should try Vegas. If you are specializing in something like wedding photography or school portraits then you have a built-in market for your work. The trick is simply advertising and getting them to choose your services over the services of your competitor. For those professional
photographers who take pictures first and try to sell them later, you will need to have some sense of what markets are available for the product you have to offer. You will also need a sense of how much time you can realistically devote to tracking down buyers in these markets and convincing them to purchase your prints.
Postcards This is probably the most difficult of areas for the professional photographer to specialize in. There are those whose business is exclusively selling postcard photographs but those numbers are tiny in comparison to the number of people who try to make this their specialty. Most photographers who sell postcard photos do so as only a tiny part of their regular photography business. Even more common, postcard companies spot photographs they like and contact the photographer directly, either to purchase that specific image or to hire the photographer to produce images for them.
The reason for the difficulty in this area is that the amount of money it takes an individual professional to produce postcards is almost the same amount of money they can make from selling them (if they can sell them at all.) In other words, even for those who are 'successful' at it, they make little or no money. In addition, the time it takes to deal with postcard companies or to visit individual gift stores or tourist spots has to be added into the cost to produce the postcards. Once the photographer's time is taken into consideration, it is more likely that he will lose money by attempting to specialize in postcards. Instead, photographers who happen to have images that they think may make beautiful postcards might consider retaining the services of a stock photo agency instead of specializing in this area.
Calendars The difficulty in producing calendars lies in the limited time factor. Calendars are purchased almost exclusively between October and December. Any calendars not sold by the end of the year for use the following year are lost inventory and lost profits. Further, the cost of producing calendar photographs is higher, because they are bigger in size than the average picture. These two obstacles are the ones specific to calendar production, but this
specialization also suffers from the same "cost of production vs. price of product" problem that afflicts the postcard photography business.
Art Galleries For many photographers who consider their pictures to be high art, thinking of art galleries as a market in the economic sense may offend their sensibilities. But the buyers of pictures for show, whether for an art gallery or for the walls of one's home, constitute a market as surely as buyers of photos intended to illustrate a fashion magazine. And even if you consider your photographs to be art, if you intend on making a living as a professional photographer, you are going to have to sell prints. That is where the business aspect of art comes in and, to be successful, you must educate yourself about the market for artistic prints.
The jackpot for sellers of artistic prints is to draw the attention of an art patron. An art patron can be thought of as an art connoisseur. They are the most sophisticated about photography as art and tend not to have much concern about price. If your work is good enough to be shown in art galleries, this is where you are most likely to first encounter an art patron who may be interested in your work. There are also art patrons who are less into the artistic aspect of photography and more into making investments. These patrons will buy prints that they think will substantially increase in value, either because of that particular print's qualities or the potential they see in the photographer.
The down side to all this, of course, is that art patrons are hard to find because there are so few of them. Less than five percent of art buyers can be considered patrons and they tend to become loyal to a select and small number of artists. If you are lucky enough or talented enough to draw the attention of an art patron, the most important step in your career may be how properly you maintain a relationship with that patron. You should keep in contact with the buyer who shows interest in your work and let them know what projects you are working on and when future shows will be held. Those particularly interested in you may be a source of occasional income by selling directly to them before the prints are even offered for showing at galleries.
Art collectors are similar to art patrons, only with smaller pocketbooks and less sophistication regarding artistic technique and style. But these are people who tend to really love the prints they buy and are, therefore, willing to spend more than most people, as much as they comfortably can. Because they have fewer dollars to spend, art collectors may find themselves out in the cold when it comes to competing with art patrons for prints. Art collectors, therefore, are a group that the beginning photographers should court aggressively, since it will be some time before their photographs will be at the price level of more experienced and established photographers. This strategy makes even more sense because many art collectors eventually become art patrons. If you already have established a relationship with one of these crossover art patrons, it may become a significant boost to both your career and the value of the work you have done in the past and will do in the future.
Ninety percent of all prints are purchased by people trying to decorate their home or office or by people who just happen to see a picture that appeals to them. These buyers are extremely cost conscious and not very sophisticated about art technique and style. They buy pictures because, to them, they are pretty or happen to match their living room curtains. The identity of the photographer is of little concern to them because this is not the standard they use in making purchases. Depending on repeat purchases by specific buyers in this segment of the market, therefore, is not a doable option for maintaining a professional career. But obviously, this is where the bulk of income comes for many artists, simply because casual buyers and decorators are the vast majority of the market for prints.
Because the bulk of print buyers are not necessarily art connoisseurs trolling art galleries and other 'obvious' places for pictures, photographers have to be aggressive about getting their work out to be seen in as many places as possible. This is a business truism: the wider the audience for your work, the likelier you are to find buyers. Approach businesses such as restaurants or gift shops and offer to decorate their premises with your photographs, in exchange for the right to sell the prints that hang there. Enter your work in contests both regional and national. Post your work on websites. Rent a booth at the local festivals that many towns hold several times a year and show and sell your prints there. Develop
relationships with professional interior decorators so that they become intimate with your work and can recommend your prints to their clients.
Advice from Paul, owner of Paul's Photography Studio
"I sell the majority of my prints at local art galleries. It is a relatively inexpensive way to get your name out there. My advice is to get to know as many art gallery owners as you possibly can and show them your portfolio. Then follow up with them to see if they are interested in featuring any of your works. This is what worked for me and it can work for you too."
Chapter Five Summary
• • Familiarize yourself with your market and make sure that you know the advantages and disadvantages of producing calendars and postcards. Consider marketing to art galleries and always be on the lookout for clients so that you can aggressively market your products and get your name known.
Chapter Six: The Business of Stock Photography
Stock photos generally refer to pictures that already exist in the portfolio of a photographer. These pictures may or may not have been taken for a specific purpose or a specific client in mind. But, by the time they reach the level of stock photos, they are being sold to buyers who need them for catalogs, books or advertisements. Basically, stock photos are comprised of pictures depicting everyday things and everyday people.
There are instances when buyers of stock photographs are seeking specific images. For example, a magazine for horse lovers and horse breeders will need lots of different pictures of horses. The subject matter, or what the horses are doing and where they are doing it, are likely not to be very important. A photographer who happens to already have many pictures of horses could sell them as a group. But for the most part, the stock photography business is a way for photographers to make money from pictures that are not already earmarked for a specific purpose or a specific buyer.
The major consideration when deciding to sell stock photos is whether a photographer should sell directly to buyers or work with a stock photo agency. Stock photo agencies do all
the marketing and deal directly with client buyers. From the photos that are sold, they take a certain percentage and pay a smaller percentage to the photographer. This may seem counterintuitive to the novice photographer. Why give someone else part of your income to sell your pictures when you could sell them to buyers directly and keep all your money? It is possible to have your own stock photography business but changes in the industry brought on by digital cameras and the internet make this proposition exceedingly difficult.
Before digital cameras and the Internet, the biggest problem facing both sellers and buyers of stock photographs was distribution. In order for photographers to make a profit in the stock photo business they had to deal in bulk. Not only did they need a vast supply of photos, they also needed to cultivate relationships with several buyers. Furthermore, there was the expense of delivering these photographs to potential buyers, waiting for them to accept and pay for the pictures or reject and return the pictures, in which case the process would begin again. This problem for the individual photographer was largely solved with the birth of the stock photo agencies. In return for the convenience of time, the photographer gave up part of the income they would have made from selling their pictures themselves. Though agencies typically keep more than fifty percent of the picture's selling price, photographers find that, by dealing with these agencies, the expenses saved in time and postage, as well as the time freed up to take more pictures, actually put them ahead financially in the end..
The Internet and digital cameras practically solved the problem of distribution. Stock photography, more than any other area of the photography industry, has been transformed by computer technology. In fact, those wishing to work in stock photography nowadays have little choice but to do so digitally. But while technology solved one problem, it created another. The ease of making pictures and contacting numerous buyers simultaneously has flooded the stock photography market with pictures taken by everyone from seasoned professionals to computersavvy teenagers with their first cameras. This has created a situation where selling stock photos is more difficult than ever.
Where buyers first made out like bandits with the increasing number of photos available, they, too, are now suffering from the market saturation of pictures because they have
to sift through so much more stock to find a product that is useful to them. In turn, this has created a situation in which novice photographers are finding it difficult to be noticed because overworked buyers are going back to established photographers who have a record of accomplishment and with whom they have worked in the past. Those who are still determined to get into this business despite these obstacles are finding that specializing in one or two kinds of stock photography improves their prospects.
Advice from Trina, purchaser of stock photography "I purchase stock photography all the time and will continue to do so as my various entrepreneurial efforts grow. My advice to photographers is to use their creativity when taking shots and ask themselves if they would buy a particular shot. In addition, you should also sign up with as many places as you can. I personally recommend istockphoto.com because they have a sound reputation, stock photos aren't too expensive, and seem to help one get maximum exposure for photographs."
Chapter Six Summary
• Stock photos generally refer to pictures that already exist in the portfolio of a photographer. These pictures may or may not have been taken for a specific purpose or a specific client in mind • • • Stock photography, more than any other area of the photography industry, has been transformed by computer technology. Stock photos are typically sold to buyers to use in books, magazines, and websites. You can make great income by selling stock creative photographs.
Chapter Seven: Photography Equipment
Digital vs. Film Camera There is no difference in the types of pictures digital and film cameras take. Both cameras are adequate for taking pictures at night or in bright sunlight, of action or portraits, of long distances and close-ups. The results depend on the knowledge of the person holding the camera, not in the camera itself. But there are reasons why one might choose digital over film or vice versa.
Digital cameras are best for those for whom picture taking is extremely casual, like snapping shots of family outings or of the kids' baseball game. Digital cameras are also a good option for those who plan on taking a lot of pictures. Though digital cameras are more expensive than traditional cameras, if you take enough pictures, the money saved on film and processing will eventually offset the original expense of the digital camera. Digital cameras are also best if you plan on posting lots of pictures on the Internet or if you simply like to have your results immediately but want better than Polaroid quality pictures. And if your picture taking purposes do not require super large prints, the digital camera may be the way to go.
On the other hand, many magazine editors still require that the film negatives be submitted along with prints. If you work for several clients in this category, it may not benefit you to spend the money a good digital camera requires. Film cameras also, of course, allow you to develop your own film, which many people consider a hobby in and of its self. And film cameras are the way to go if you should need prints larger than 14x20.
SLR vs. Point-N-Shoot There are also basic differences between film cameras that should be taken into consideration before making a purchase. The two basic types of film cameras are SLR cameras and point-n-shoot cameras. If you are considering taking your photography to the professional level, you will need to purchase an SLR camera, not the lightweight sometimes-disposable point-n-shoot variety that does not allow you to choose your focus and other features. SLR stands for single lens reflex and refers to the way that the camera is built. The three important components of the SLR camera are the body, the lens, and the film.
Quality of pictures depends on the film and the lens. That is, when purchasing a camera, it is important to get the best quality lens that you can and not worry so much about the body of the camera. The body of the camera is more cosmetic than anything else. Cameras can be bought in kits to make the mixing and matching of lens and body possible. An initial investment for a beginner who wants to get a decent start will be anywhere from a couple hundred dollars to over a thousand dollars. The exact sum will depend on just how sure you are that you want to, and can, make a part-time or full-time career out of photography and, of course, on what your personal budget will allow. As with any major purchase, you should shop around for the best prices and best quality of equipment, not forgetting to concentrate on the lens.
Lens You will need longs lens and short lens. Long lenses are good for portraits and zoom shots. Shorter lenses, also called 'wide angle' lens, are used for inside shots and landscapes and such. If you can afford it, try to purchase an IS lens for your long lens option. IS stands for image stabilization. This technology produces slightly sharper pictures of night scenes and also prevents blurring due to a shaky hand holding the camera. For a beginner, the IS lens may allow you to produce better pictures than you might otherwise be capable of, while working on other skills such as medium, lighting, and subject, in addition to marketing yourself. Wide angle lenses don't come in an IS option, since the problem of hand shaking is a lot less likely to occur with a shorter lens.
Both wide angle and long lens come in varying mm ratings such as 75-300 on a long lens or 20-35 on a short lens. If money is less of a hindrance to you, then purchase the lens that offers the greatest mm range. Otherwise, in order to narrow down your choices when doing research for purchasing equipment, make note of the mm of the cameras used to take pictures that are most like the ones you would like to take.
Film The quality of the film you use will determine the quality of the pictures you produce far more than will price and fanciness of the camera you use. But there is no such thing as the 'best' film. Some film is better for picking up details. Other film is better for showing contrasting colors. In other words, there are pros and cons to all film and the type you use will depend on what kind of picture you want to take and the look you want to achieve. You are almost guaranteed to need more than one type of film. Deciding which brand or the exact type will ultimately be a matter of trial and error as well as personal preference. But there are some basic differences and, once you know them, it will make the choosing process a bit easier and quicker.
The two basic types of film that exist are called positive film and negative film. Positive film may also be referred to as slide film or transparency film and negative film is sometime referred to as print film. Positive film produces an image that you can see simply by holding it to a light. Negative film, on the other hand, reverses the color of the original image. Lightness in an image appears as dark and dark areas appear light in negative film. Negative film also reverses image that are in color, not just black and white or light and dark.
Both kinds of film also come in differing latitudes and that determines the range of light that can be captured with that film. The film's latitude is also called a stop. Each stop, or level of latitude, lets in a certain amount of light. Moving from one stop to the next higher up doubles the amount of light that is let in. The greater the latitude range of a film, the more it can capture very bright and very dark areas of the same image.
Positive film has more limited latitude than negative film. Positive film tends to have
anywhere from three to five stop levels. Negative film has up to nine stop levels. But the latitude limitation in positive film is the same quality that allows it to produce pictures that are more brilliant and sharp in color and smooth in texture. Negative film, while allowing for pictures with more range in color and lighting because of its greater range of latitude, produces images where the details are less fine than that produced by positive film.
In other words, in order to get the most detail, capture the most nuances in color and see the clearest contrast between light and dark areas, a photographer would use positive film. Doing so, however, would limit the ability to see extremes of light and extremes of dark in the same image. In order to get a more extended range of light, particularly useful for images that include shadows, a photographer would use negative film. In return, the images would be grainier than with positive film and the colors would be more muted.
Besides the latitude of different film, photographers must also consider the film's speed. Film that can be purchased at your average discount or department store comes in ranges from 100 to 800 speed. The higher the speed, the quicker the camera's shutter clicks. This allows for taking pictures in lower lighting. Higher speeds also reduce the likelihood of producing a blurry picture because of a shaking hand. But the side effect of higher speed is more graininess and haziness. Lower speed film is better than higher speed film for most photographs and actually costs less as well.
For all kinds of film, limited latitude or extensive, low speed or high, it is very important to store them properly to avoid them being degraded. Film is best stored away from light and heat. Even freezing film will not hurt it but, of course, it must go though defrosting before it can be used. Therefore, storing film in the refrigerator is the best option to keep it preserved and ready to use immediately.
Advice from Daniel, owner of Sunrise Photography
"Choosing the right equipment is so very important when you're establishing your photography business. My advice is to really do your research and decide what your short and 57
long-term goals are. If you're only interested in working on a part time basis then it wouldn't be economically feasible to purchase a 1500 camera to start and to purchase pro grade film. Instead, you might purchase a cheaper but effective camera and regular film and once you've mastered that you can move on. I myself started off with a Canon Elan 7 and upgraded to a Canon EOS 3 with my profits and to me this was very smart indeed."
Chapter Seven Summary
• There is no difference in the types of pictures that digital and film cameras take. Both cameras are adequate for taking pictures at night or in bright sunlight, of action or portraits, of long distances and close-ups. The results depend on the knowledge of the person holding the camera, not in the camera itself. • Digital cameras are best for those for whom picture taking is extremely casual, like snapping shots of family outings or of the kids' baseball game. Digital cameras are also a good option for those who plan on taking a lot of pictures. Whereas film cameras are best if you plan to submit to magazines. In addition, they allow you to develop your own film, which many people consider a hobby in and of its self. And film cameras are the way to go if you should need prints larger than 14x20. • • Long lenses are good for portraits and zoom shots. Shorter lenses, also called 'wide angle' lens, are used for inside shots and landscapes and such. If you can afford it, try to purchase an Image Stabilization (IS lens) for your long lens option.
Chapter Eight: Legal Considerations for Photographers
Model Releases A model release, which is a document signed by the person who is being photographed or the person who owns the property that is being photographed, stipulates the use and/or limitations of use for the picture and notes any compensation that may have been given. The first thing to know is that, despite the name of the document, it is not intended only for professional models of the runway variety. Anyone who is the subject of a picture is considered a model.
The other thing to know is that the model release is not something that is required by any kind of law. The reason they are used is that despite the lack of a law requiring a photographer to get a release, not getting one can open up the photographer to civil lawsuits brought by the model in the photograph. The model is the only person who can object to the use of his or her image. Note, however, that minors cannot sign model releases, so permission to use their image must be obtained from a parent or guardian.
Getting a model release in any and every situation may be your safest course of action, but there will be situations where getting a release is not possible. There are also situations that do not require a release. Since model releases are not required by any law, this last statement should be read to mean that there are situations when, despite the fact that you didn't get a release, you are not likely to be hauled into court and sued by the photo's subject. Then there
may be those sticky situations where you will not want to get a release because you are reasonably certain that permission will not be granted for use of the photograph.
Although there is no law mandating that you get a model release, there are laws which make it very easy for photographers to be sued if they do use pictures without a release. The most common and clearest reason for needing a model release is when the picture taken will be used for commercial purposes such as selling, advertising, promoting, or supporting a product, a political viewpoint, or religious idea. This is a where model releases are always needed, or at least highly advisable.
Model releases are not needed when the subject of the photograph cannot be identified. Most of the time this will be quite obvious: either you can or you cannot make out the face or other identifiable features of the person in the photograph. But beware, because this standard is subjective. There may be little stopping a person from filing a suit claiming they are the person in the photograph (whether they are or not) and claiming that their lawsuit is reasonable because they did not sign a release and did not receive compensation. This is a far-fetched scenario; however, if it does occur, you should be aware that the decision as to whether or not the person is identifiable will be left up to a court and will probably cost you some legal fees. Again, when it is possible, the best option, and the way to avoid a situation such as this, is to get a model release even if you know the model will not be identifiable.
Model releases are also not required when the picture is intended to be used for news stories. This is because of the First Amendment right of free speech. Newspapers, magazines, and even school textbooks can use photographs of people who are clearly identifiable, without obtaining a release for the photo. Of course the photo in the newspaper or magazine must accompany the news story (or be the news story itself) and not be used in an advertisement. That use would trigger the model release requirement.
There are instances when you cannot use a photograph in any medium for any purpose. This has to do with how the picture was taken. You cannot sell or use pictures that you obtained by breaking the law, not even for use as a news story. So breaking and entering or
trespassing, two tactics of very few but very bold paparazzi, makes any pictures you take absolutely useless. But taking a picture of public figures doing things in public, which they would rather not let the rest of the world know about, is perfectly fine to sell to news outlets, just not for advertisement purposes. In a situation such as this, a model release is not needed, not to mention that it would likely not be signed even if it were presented to the subjects.
The other important part of getting a model release is the compensation. A model release is considered a contract and the contract is not complete unless there is value attached to it. Value does not necessarily mean money. Releases can be signed in return for a copy of the photograph or in return for services. Fashion models will often sign releases in return for the photographer agreeing that the pictures taken can be used in her portfolio to secure additional fashion modeling jobs. But for photographs of the run-of-the-mill person on the street, exchanging services for the right to take the picture could be more trouble than it is worth, so a token dollar or two is usually enough to satisfy both parties.
Finally, oftentimes photographers will have a need to take pictures of a group of people gathered at a public place such as a festival or park. Even if some of the people are clearly identifiable, as long as the picture is not 'about' them or clearly intended to single them out, a model release and, therefore, compensation is not required.
Property Releases Pictures of people may require model releases. When pictures are taken of property the release needed is called a property release. Determining whether a property release is needed is similar to determining whether a model release is needed. The main issues are whether the property is identifiable and what the intended use of the photograph is. A picture of a private home or business taken from a public street and meant for non-commercial use does not require a release, even if the property is identifiable. A picture of the same property taken on the premises (which would be private property) requires a release regardless of the use. As a matter of fact, permission in this case is usually needed even before taking the picture, as it
would be required to gain access to the property in the first place. Otherwise, this may constitute a case of trespassing, which would make any use of the picture illegal.
Trademarked Images Trademarks are used to identify a specific brand of product and are usually logos, such as McDonald's golden arches, artwork like the Mona Lisa, or buildings such as the Empire State. Trademark holders have the right to limit the use of their trademark and have the sole right to allow their use. This applies to photographers as well. Taking pictures of a trademark for your own personal, non-commercial use is perfectly legal, of course. But once that photograph is meant for display, whether or not that display is for a commercial reason, you need to obtain permission that goes beyond a simple model or property release. Just as in the case of model or property releases, however, there are exceptions for use of the images of trademarks. If the picture of the trademark is intended for news, editorials, or satire, then this use is considered protected under the First Amendment and permission is not needed.
It is also common for certain trademarks holders to not pursue cases of illegal use that they may have, because it is simply not worth it. Pictures of the Empire State Building, for example, are so ubiquitous and are worth little compared to the cost it would take to direct legal action against a photographer who failed to obtain the proper permission for its use. Still, as in the case of model and property releases, photographers should obtain permission for use of images of trademarks, whenever possible, because it is better to be safe than to be sorry. The United States Patent and Trademark office has a search link on their website that allows you to quickly determine whether or not an image you have photographed is trademarked and thus might require permission to be used in anything other than a private setting, for news, or for art.
Copyrights Copyrights differ from trademarks in that a copyright is something that a photographer can obtain to prove ownership of his own pictures. Photographers, like writers and other artists, can give permission for their work to be used by others. This permission can be in the form of a contract, which stipulates that the photographer will be paid for use of the picture or
pictures. Photographers can also give permission that their work may be used for free. But even though permission is granted for use of the picture, the ownership of that picture is still retained by the photographer, unless he specifically and legally transfers his ownership to someone else. In this case, the copyright and all that it entails would transfer to that new owner.
You may not automatically own the copyright to your photographs if those photographs were taken under a work-for-hire situation. For example, if you work for a magazine or newspaper, and taking and submitting pictures is part of your job description, the likelihood is that both the pictures and the copyrights to those pictures belong to your employer. That would mean, once you left that employer, you would have no right to use, sell, or distribute the pictures you took under their direction.
Although copyrights come into effect as soon as you take a picture, it is still necessary to register your work for complete protection. If others use your images without your permission and are caught, they are not likely to have to pay you much more than they would have paid you had they received permission in the first place, if your work is not registered. Most photographers do not register their work. And many illegal uses of images are not even known to the original photographers. So for many end users, it actually makes more sense, both financially and time-wise to simply infringe on a photographer's copyright.
But if your work is legally copyrighted and someone infringes on that copyright, you could be in for a huge windfall. The law is set up so that the copyright holder can collect not only the legal fees he spent defending his copyright in court, but also up to $150,000 per image used without permission. A new law even provides additional compensation to the copyright holder if the infringer removed the copyright notice from the image. The copyright logo, therefore, should always be on your images, even though the logo is not required to be present to make your copyright legal and official.
In order to copyright your work, check the United States Copyright Office's website for information. There are different forms, procedures, and deadlines, depending on whether your
image is published or unpublished, the date of publication, or if it is a single image or a collection of images. There are also different forms that are acceptable to submit copies of your work to be copyrighted. Sometimes film negatives will be acceptable while other times your best bet might be to have a video copy of your images. Advice from Peter, an attorney "My advice is to find a legally sound model release and have a licensed attorney review it. Then, make sure that you get all models or their legal guardians to sign it at all times. In addition, you should also get a copyright stamp and mark every one of your pictures with copyright signal, your name and the year to ensure that your rights are protected."
Chapter Eight Summary • A model release, which is a document signed by the person who is being photographed or the person who owns the property that is being photographed, stipulates the use and/or limitations of use for the picture and notes any compensation that may have been given. • • • Model releases help protect your rights and help you avoid lawsuits so if you intend to sell your photos then you should get them from the subject or the subject's guardian. Model releases are not needed when the subject of the photograph cannot be identified. A property release may be needed when the property is identifiable and depending upon the intended use of the photograph. For instance, a picture of a private home or business taken from a public street and meant for non-commercial use does not require a release, even if the property is identifiable. However, a picture of the same property taken on the premises (which would be private property) requires a release regardless of the use. • Taking pictures of a trademark for your own personal, non-commercial use is perfectly legal, of course. But once that photograph is meant for display, whether or not that display is for a commercial reason, you need to obtain permission that goes beyond a simple model or property release. • Copyrights differ from trademarks in that a copyright is something that a photographer can obtain to prove ownership of his own pictures. Photographers, like writers and other artists, can give permission for their work to be used by others. This permission can be in the form of a contract which stipulates that the photographer will be paid for use of the picture or pictures. • In essence, photographers should obtain permission for use of images of trademarks, whenever possible.
Chapter Nine: Financial Matters for Photographers
Speculative vs. Non-Speculative If you decide that your photography business will consist of you trying to sell pictures you have taken on your own without the direction of another or without having been hired to take those specific pictures, then you are engaging in speculative photography. Many people in this category are stock photographers. Photographers who take pictures hoping to sell them to newspapers and magazines for specific stories are also in the speculative business.
As a speculative photographer, there is no guarantee that you will ever sell the pictures you have taken if you and, even if you do sell them, there is no guarantee as to when you will get paid for them. As a speculative photographer, you may end up finding a buyer for a picture you took years earlier for your own use or enjoyment, before you even entertained the thought of becoming a professional photographer. One advantage however is that as a speculative photographer, you own the images and hold the copyright to those images, but you license the right for another person to use those images through a contract.
On the other hand, non speculative photographers take specific pictures for a specific client who hired them for that purpose. Non-speculative photographers include specialists such as wedding and fashion photographers. They get paid upfront fees to simply photograph the event., time you are hired to take pictures and you are paid regardless of whether or not the hirer purchases reprints, you are engaging in non-speculative photography. As previously stated, the main benefit of non-speculative photography nis that you are sure to be paid for the work you are performing. On the other hand, there is nothing stopping any photographer from doing both speculative and non-speculative work and, in fact, many do both.
Sole-Proprietor vs. Incorporation Most professional photographers in business for themselves do not incorporate and are considered sole proprietors, which is just another way of saying you are self-employed. Along with your regular income tax forms, you would attach a Schedule C form. This is the simplest form of business because the paperwork is minimal and already closely resembles your general income tax filings. However, sole proprietors should be aware that they are much more likely to be audited than other types of businesses. This is because the Schedule C is notoriously the most common method used by people to evade taxes. The IRS knows this, of course, and so pays especially close attention to those who file them.
Maintaining your photography business as a sole proprietorship also affords you very little legal protection against lawsuits or divorce. If you use your house, as your studio and a client were to have an accident there, you as the sole owner of your business would be liable. Your homeowner's insurance policy would likely come into play in this situation but, because of these liability concerns, insurance companies may automatically increase your rates or simply offer you less than the best coverage as soon as you declare a sole-proprietorship. Also, if you are married and happen to live in a community property state, your spouse owns fifty percent of whatever part of your photography business you conducted while you were married.
Setting up your photography business as a corporation prevents some of the problems associated with sole proprietorships, but doing so is decidedly more complicated. The level of
complication depends on the type of corporation you set up. The "S" type corporation was designated specifically for individuals who own their own small companies as opposed to a corporation being owned by a conglomerate.
"S" Type Corporations The "S" type corporate designation allows your company to earn money without having the IRS tax you twice, if you happen to also have another job. It is also a beneficial designation to declare if you aren't exceedingly wealthy and the money it will take to get your photography business off the ground is going to cause you to lose money on the effort in the beginning. When you lose money from your "S" type corporation, the IRS allows you to offset such losses with the income from your other job.
In essence, though you may lose money in the start-up of your business (or at any other point in your venture), you will get a slight tax break because of it – or at least not have a tax burden because of it, if your corporation is registered as "S" type. Any losses the company suffers can be reflected on the owner's personal income tax returns, where the losses can be deducted from the total income, which is to be taxed.
"C" Type Corporation The "C" type corporate designation is the one with which most people are familiar. Most of the big name companies and brands we are familiar with are "C" type corporations, simply because, for most of American business history, this was the only type of corporation that existed. If you owned a company, big or small, one employee or ten thousand, you were a "C" type corporation, plain and simple.
"C" type corporations are stand-alone entities. They pay taxes on their income after adjusting for allowable deductions. That is, whether they take in income or suffer losses, that money or lack of it, stays within the company. The exception is when owners pay dividends to their shareholders. This exception is what brought on the desire by small business owners to
have a different corporation. When a business makes profits, it pays taxes on those profits. Then when they pay dividends to their shareholders and share the profits with them, the shareholders then pay taxes on what is, in essence, additional income.
The problem for the self-employed photographer using a "C" type corporation should be immediately obvious. The business that pays taxes on its profits, and the shareholder that pays taxes on the dividends, is one and the same person. In other words, under the "C" type corporate designation, self-employed small business owners were being taxed twice. Hence the creation of the "S" type corporation.
This is not to say that the "C" type corporate designation is wrong for all self-employed small business owners. The corporate tax rate is lower for "C" types than for personal income taxes, for one. Secondly, by keeping your business a completely separate entity, you prevent the corporation from becoming a community property and avoid vulnerability in the case of divorce.
And third, there is a built-in disincentive to using the "S" type corporation. Because of the higher levels of fraud associated with "S" types, business owners using this designation are required to pay a minimum of $800 a year in taxes, regardless if the company makes money or not. This is not the case with "C" type corporations which, therefore, may be a better designation for the photographer starting her own business, depending on her best guess for income expected in the first few years.
"S" Type vs. "C" Type At-A-Glance The bottom line is that there are pros and cons with both the "S" type and the "C" type designation. The "S" type designation is almost as administratively easy to handle as simply declaring yourself a sole-proprietorship. Built into the "S" type is a level of protection against creditors that is stronger than that found in the "C" type. The tax advantages are ultimately greater in the "S" type corporation. Despite the $800 minimum tax for "S" type corporations, most photographers who own their own small business find that this is the better corporate
designation for them, overall.
LLC Corporations The third type of corporate designation is the LLC, or the Limited Liability Company. This corporate type is almost never suited for those in their own photography business. It exists for cases where there are a multitude of partners in a business who are not actually involved in the running or working of the company. In other words, they are simply investors. If the people who are actually involved in the working of the company were to be sued for negligence, for example, the other partners would not be liable.
So incorporating as an LLC is simply a way of getting others to give you money for your company while assuring them that they will not be held legally accountable should anything go wrong. Huge photo studios or chains of photo studios might consider this type of corporation. The average small business photographer need not bother and instead should concentrate on choosing between "S" type and "C" type, depending on the one best suited for his particular situation and needs.
Sales Taxes Once your business is up and running, you will hopefully begin to sell pictures or take on clients who will hire you to do photography projects for them. Just as you pay taxes on almost everything you buy, from boots to bowling balls, and on services you receive from cable installation to car washes, you, too, will have to subject your paying clients to this IRS mandated tradition. There are exceptions and rules to tax sales that you need to be aware of.
The first thing you will need is a business license, if you plan on selling from your place of work (even if that place is also home) or if you plan on selling to the public. Contact your local tax commissioner's office to find out the exact procedure for your town. Once you have the business license you will also need a resale license. Resale licenses are generally provided by the same authorities that provide business licenses. Again, you'll need to find out
specifically for your locale.
If you plan on selling your photos exclusively online, you may not need a business license and you also may not need to pay sales tax. This will depend on the state in which you live. The laws vary. Your state's Office of the Secretary of State would be the entity you contact to find out the tax and business license laws for where you live.
Once you have your resale license, you need to determine the type of client you are dealing with, because this will determine whether or not you will charge them a sales tax. If you are selling pictures to a client whose business is to then turn around and resell those prints, then you do not charge a sales tax. That is, there is no sales tax when the transaction is between two business entities.
If you are selling directly to a public consumer, then you must charge them a sales tax. The tax will be a percentage of whatever your bill to the client is. The exact percentage depends on the state in which you live. The tax board of your locale will let you know what the sales tax is, if you are unsure. If you are selling online and you have determined that your state requires you to collect sales tax, you need only collect sales taxes from customers who are buying from, or live in, your state. Out-of-state sales transactions are not taxable.
Then there is a special sales tax case that many photographers are subjected to because of the nature of their work. Many photographers do not sell the ownership of their pictures but rather the license, or right, to use them. This is the case, for example, if you are doing freelance business with a newspaper or magazine. In these cases, whether or not you will charge the client a sales tax will depend on your state's particular law. Once again, check with your local tax board.
So, if you live in a state where there is no sales tax required for licensing a client to use your photograph, and if you are charging that client $400 for the license, then the pay you collect would be just $400. If the client were to request something like a physical print, instead of requesting that the image be transferred to them through the Internet, you could charge them
an additional $5 for the print plus $5 for postage. In that case, you would collect sales taxes on the print and postage cost, not on the entire $410 owed.
More Advice from Peter, an attorney "Seek the advice of a qualified attorney and an accountant at the very beginning and make sure that you completely and totally understand the advantages and disadvantages of sole proprietorships vs. incorporating and that you correctly file your taxes. I counsel men and women every single day that simply started a home based business and went with what was easiest, a sole proprietorship. They didn't give incorporating any thoughts and didn't properly file their taxes. Now several of them are experiencing legal ramifications and/or face cases with IRS simply because they didn't know what they were doing at the beginning. So, don't let this happen to you. Seek professional help now and take your business photography business seriously."
Chapter Nine Summary
• Sole proprietors should be aware that they are much more likely to be audited than other types of businesses. This is because the Schedule C is notoriously the most common method used by people to evade taxes In addition; it offers little legal protection against lawsuits or divorce. • "C" type corporations are stand-alone entities. They pay taxes on their income after adjusting for allowable deductions. That is, whether they take in income or suffer losses, that money or lack of it, stays within the company. The exception is when owners pay dividends to their shareholders. • The "S" type designation is almost as administratively easy to handle as simply declaring yourself a sole-proprietorship. Built into the "S" type is a level of protection against creditors that is stronger than that found in the "C" type. The tax advantages are ultimately greater in the "S" type corporation. Despite the $800 minimum tax for "S" type corporations, most photographers who own their own small business find that this is the better corporate designation for them, overall. • The third type of corporate designation is the LLC, or the Limited Liability Company. This corporate type is almost never suited for those in their own photography business. It exists for cases where there are a multitude of partners in a business who are not actually involved in the running or working of the company. In other words, they are simply investors.
Chapter Ten: How Much Should You Charge?
Knowing how to properly incorporate and pay sales taxes is good for keeping the IRS off your back, but the average beginning professional photographer struggles with the issue of just how much to charge for their services and for their prints in the first place. What you will charge, and just how you will go about it, depends on what kind of photography sales you are involved in. There are three basic types and it actually is most common for photographers to be involved in all three. There are art sales, commercial licensing fees, and client assignments. Art Sales Art sales are when you sell your print – sometimes frame included, sometimes not – and the buyer's objective is to have it to look at. They may want to look at it in their home or their office or art gallery, but the basic premise is that art sales is the sale of decorative photography. For some photographers in the business of selling prints for art, the question of pricing is taken out of their hands because they sell through galleries, distributors, or agents who represent them.
For the do-it-yourselfer, a basic step to take is to visit an art gallery and find photographs that most closely match the style you produce and see what the selling prices are.
Once you do that, you will have a general ballpark idea of how high or low you may want to set your prices. This is especially a good step to take if you are planning on selling your work locally as opposed to through the Internet. Prints will sell at different prices; depending on what part of the country you are doing your business.
There are two caveats to this way of setting prices for your prints, however. First, the prices you see at galleries or other distribution points will include a certain percentage for the gallery and distribution center owners. These percentages will vary and it isn't likely you can find out what the percentages are just by asking. The second caveat is this: pricing art for sale to collectors and decorators isn't the same as pricing other products. Lowering your prices won't necessarily make you more sales. This is because unsophisticated art buyers are the price-conscious ones. They will tend to nitpick about your price, no matter how low it is, and then they tend not to buy anyway.
On the other hand, serious collectors and art patrons are less sensitive to price, as they are more aware of quality and value, not to mention they tend to have deeper pockets. Pricing your art reasonably but out of the range of the unsophisticated consumer will drive many of them away. What this will do is free up your time to deal with the higher end consumers who, though smaller in number, will be more likely to purchase your prints if they are good in quality and technique.
Licensing Fees For those who sell the license to use their images, there are actually computer programs designed to help you determine how much to charge. These will not be helpful in all cases and, in fact, often fail to consider some serious factors. For example, these programs tend to deal with general magazines, often national in nature. Those photographers who specialize in a highly specific field might not be getting any help for pricing, even if the client they are dealing with also has a circulation of 30,000 subscribers. Thirty thousand subscribers to a fashion magazine is bound to mean something totally different in terms of photograph license fees than thirty thousand subscribers to an electronics journal. The programs may also provide a range of
prices, as well as an average price for certain images, but this does not tell the professional photographer if that average is a result of the bulk of images being licensed at the extremes of the ranges.
Nevertheless, they provide a starting point for the professional photographer who is wondering what price to quote to a magazine interested in using an image for a news story or for an advertisement. One relatively decent program is called Fotoquote. This program uses price information and statistics in the photography industry from the previous sales year to determine their numbers, so at the very least they are up-to-date.
Direct Client Sales This is the most common type of sale that photographers engage in. The photographer is hired specifically to shoot pictures for a predetermined use. This is the kind of sales that specialists such as wedding photographers, school portrait shooters, and others are involved in. Even these sales, however, come in two different types: general direct sales and work-for-hire. Where the difference is most important is in who owns the images.
Most photography specialists will set up shop and then have customers come to them to have pictures taken. The pictures are taken and sold to the client, but the photographer actually retains the copyright to those images. In other words, what the photographer sells to the blushing bride and groom after their wedding are not the wedding pictures, but a license to use those pictures as they see fit. Usually, of course, this means for albums that will become dusty in a few short months or for websites promoting the new and blissful union. The photographer, because he retains his copyright, can also use those pictures as he sees fit. (This is something that should be made clear to the client –even if only in the fine print – in the contract that is signed prior to the project.)
As far as the price that should be charged for these direct client sales, it completely depends on the specific specialization, the time that it will take to complete, and other expenses that will be accrued. Again, the first best step in determining what you should charge will be to
check out what others in your special field are charging. Call or visit your local wedding photographer or portrait taker and simply ask about their fees. Check several professionals in your specialization, since there is bound to be a range of fees charged, even if slight. Besides asking about the fees, ask how long they have been in business. This will allow you to gauge prices charged in conjunction with level of experience, which will help you determine what price seems to be justifiable based on your own level of experience.
Don't forget to calculate your expenses into the price that you quote. There is a wide range of expenses you may need to take into account. Some of these expenses will need to be stated directly in the contract while others will be built into your overall price. Determining which expenses fall into which category depends on the nature of the task you are hired to perform. Certainly, you should think about the cost of your film and the cost of developing the pictures. These are expenses that need not be itemized separately in your contract but are part of your overall price.
On the other hand, if you are hired to do a photo-shoot that is a considerable distance from your home or office base, you may choose to charge mileage and tolls, if applicable. For projects that are time consuming, it is not out of bounds to charge an hourly rate for your time. Wedding photographers, for example, often have to be on site and at the wedding for almost as long as the ceremony and celebration lasts. Taking the religious service and the party together, this can be as long as seven hours or more. It is perfectly fine to charge a rate for your time that is in addition to the price of the film, the finished product, and other expenses that you incur. Follow the same technique that you used to determine your photo prices to determine your hourly rate: find out what other established photographers in your area charge as an hourly rate, when they do charge such rates.
For photographers who are truly beginners, brand-spanking newbies, the value of doing work for free, or at radically lower prices than the competition, should not be overlooked. If you do not already have a stacked portfolio demonstrating your prowess in your particular area of specialization, consider offering free or steeply discounted packages to the first few clients who show interest in hiring you. The benefit to this tactic is threefold. You will build your
portfolio, gain experience, and make contact with people who may serve as paying customers in the future.
A work-for-hire project, on the other hand, is when a client pays a fixed fee or pays you an hourly rate and then takes ownership of the images, including ownership of the copyright. How this happens and becomes different from the general direct client sales is that the client requests it and it is written into the contract. Clients who ask for this usually don't really need to have the copyright and ownership, but do so because of some misconceptions about the benefits of retaining the copyright or misconceptions about what calamity will befall them if they allow the photographer to keep those rights.
The downside for the professional photographer in a work-for-hire situation is that the pictures could be ones helpful to his or her career, either as samples for a portfolio or, more likely, an income generator through stock photography sales. On the other hand, there are some work-for-hire contracts that are so specific to one person or to one product that losing the copyright would cause little distress to the photographer, since the images have such limited use or future value.
More Advice from Samantha, owner of Pictures Rock "My advice is to charge according to your experience. If you're just starting off, you should be more concerned with establishing a solid client base than making huge profits Once you've done this, your clients will come to you and you can up your price based on your experience and creative talents. You in essence can then start making the big bucks. I did this and it worked for me now I make a six-figure income and have more clients than I ever dreamt possible"
Chapter Ten Summary
• • • Art sales are when you sell your print – sometimes frame included, sometimes not – and the buyer's objective is to have it to look at. Prints will sell at different prices, depending on what part of the country you are doing your business. When setting prices, you should keep in mind that the prices you see at galleries or other distribution points will include a certain percentage for the gallery and distribution center owners and pricing art for sale to collectors and decorators isn't the same as pricing other products.
The artist who wishes to make photography a serious profession must remember that specialization, passion and dedication are key to making it successfully. A photographer willing to specialize in a field which is not already saturated by others photographers is more likely to get clients and build a consistent and growing clientele base. Of course, one must not choose a specialization solely because few other photographers in your geographical area are doing it. In fact, this may be a serious warning sign about the viability of such a specialization. A specialization should be chosen because who are truly interested in taking pictures in that area. Nothing will sink a business faster than taking multitudes of pictures day in and day out depicting something you have absolutely no passion about. Spend sometime dipping your professional toes into three or four fields to get a feel for them before you finally pick one. And remember, depending on your clientele base, your own time availability, and your own interests, you may ultimately decide on two or more specializations on a permanent basis. Finally, a successful photographer will need plenty of dedication. Photography is a field in which you will spend as much time trying to find clients or trying to get them to pay you afterward, as you will actually snapping away pictures, at least in the beginning. The importance of proper advertising cannot be overlooked. Nor can the importance of having clients sign contracts which clearly state the payment that is expected of them and when that payment is expected. Proper paperwork keeping is essential and along these lines so is proper maintenance of tax records. Photography is a field is which many unprepared people are entering because it seems simple on the face. Snap a picture, develop a picture (or print one out), hand it over and collect money. It takes much more work than that and the photographer who enters the profession willing to put into practice the hints listed here will be well ahead of the pack.
References PICKERELL, J. (1992b) Taking Stock. Available from Jim Pickerell, 110 Frederick Ave., Suite A, Rockville, MD 20850. 2(3):Jan. ROSENSTOCK, S. (1995) RE: Rough copy of Stock FAQ (LONG!) May 20.
PICKERELL, J. (1992b) Taking Stock. Available from Jim Pickerell, 110 Frederick Ave., Suite A, Rockville, MD 20850. 2(3):Jan. ii ROSENSTOCK, S. (1995) RE: Rough copy of Stock FAQ (LONG!) [e-mail to J. Day]. [Online]. e-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com, May 20.
Notes. Specialised stock libraries slr film Flora and fauna Address: A-Z Botanical Collection Ltd, 192 Goswell Road, London EC1V 7DT. Library Manager: James Wakefield Tel:. 020 7253 0991
Fax: 020 7253 0992.