How to Become A Photographer - Freelance Photographer

Becoming a successful freelance photographer is a much about marketing as photographic talent. Having an out standing portfolio is one thing, but to receive regular commission takes a good business head and sound market knowledge. Although working as a professional photographer can be tough, it is undoubtedly one of the most rewarding ways of earning a living.

How to Become a Photographer - Entering Professional Photography

A good starting point is to embark on one of the many college courses available, which range from GCSE to degree level, and higher. These form a good foundation, though most teach only the technical aspects of photography and very few cover the basics of running a business. But a good college photographer course will provide students with the opportunity to become familiar with photographic equipment and develop skills without the restrictions and pressures found in the workplace.

In certain fields, such as commercial photography, it is possible to learn the trade as an assistant to an established photographer. A photographer's assistant will under take many varied tasks, including preparing camera equipment and lighting, building sets, obtaining props and organising locations, as well as general mundane chores. It usually takes only a year or two for an assistant to become a fully competent photographer, having during that time learnt many technical aspects of a particular field of photography and the fundamentals of running a successful business. There is however, the danger of a long-standing assistant becoming a clone of the photographer worked for, and it is for this reason that some assistants prefer to gain experience with other photographers rather than working for just one for a long period of time. The Association of Photographers can help place an assistant.

However, in other fields of photography, such as photojournalism or wildlife photography, an assistant is not generally required, and photographers in these fields have to learn for themselves as they work.

How to Become a Photographer - Identifying Your Market

From the outset, identify which markets are most suitable for the kind of subjects you photograph. Study each market carefully and only offer images which suit the client's requirements.

Usually photographers who specialise in a particular field do better than those who generalise. By concentrating on one or two subject areas they become expert at what they do. Those who make a name for themselves are invariably specialists, and it is far easier for the images of, for example, an exceptional fashion photographer or an award- winning wildlife photographer to be remembered than the work of someone who covers a broad range of subjects.

In addition, photographers who produce work with individual style 9e.g. by experimenting with camera angles or manipulating images to create unusual effects are far more likely to make an impact. Alternative images which attract attention and can help sell a product are always sought after. This is especially true of advertising photography, but applies also to other markets such as book and magazine publishers, who are always seeking eye-catching images to use on front covers.

How to Become a Photographer - Promoting Yourself

Effective self-promotion tells the market who you are and what service you offer. A firs step should be to create an outstanding portfolio images, tailored to appeal to the targeted market. Photographers targeting a few different markets should create an individual portfolio for rather than presenting a single general one, including only a few relevant images. A portfolio containing up to 20 images is enough for a potential client to judge a photographer's abilities.

Images should be presented in a format which the client is used to handling. Transparencies (perhaps duplicated to a larger size for easier viewing and general impact) are usually suitable for the editorial markets, but often more general companies prefer to view high-quality prints. Images can also be presented on CD-Rom and, unlike a traditional portfolio, can be left with potential clients to keep and refer to. Any published material (often referred to as 'tearsheets') should also be added to a portfolio. Tearsheets are often presented mounted and laminated in plastic.

Business cards and letterheads should be designed to reflect style and professionalism. Consider using a good graphic designer to design a logo for use on cards, letterheads and any other promotional literature. Many photographers produce postcard-size business cards and include an image as well as their name and logo.

Other than word of mouth, advertising is probably the best way of making your services known to potential clients. For a local market, a business directory such as Yellow Pages is a good start. Specialist directories in which photographers can advertise include The Creative Handbook and Contact Photographers.

Cold calling by telephone is probably the most cost-effective and productive way of making contacts, and these should be followed up by an appointment for a personal visit (if possible) in order to show a portfolio images. This helps to ensure you will not be forgotten.

Photographer should also use the internet as a medium to promote themselves. A cleverly designed website is a stylish and cost-effective way to expose a photographer's portfolio to a global market , as well as being convenient way for a potential client to view a photographer's work. A personal website address should be added to business stationery and to other forms of advertising together with the usual address and telephone number information.

Creating a website can be much cheaper than advertising using conventional published print media. However, its design should be carefully composed and is probably best left to a professional website designer.

A well organised exhibition of images is a very effective way of bringing your work to the attention of current and potential new clients. As a photographer's career develops, the budget for self-promotion should increase. An established photographer will go as far as producing full-colour mailers, posters, and even calendars, which all contain examples of their work.

How to Become a Photographer - Digital Photography

Digital photography and image-enhancement and manipulation using computer technology are widely used in the photographic industry. Since the cost of digital cameras and other hardware can be considerably cheaper than using large quantities of film, many photographer use this technology.

There are various levels of quality produced by digital cameras and photographers should consider the requirements of their market prior to investing in expensive hardware which is prone to rapid change and improvement. At the cheaper level, 35mm-style digital cameras manufactured by companies such as Nikon and Canon can produce outstanding quality images suitable for many end uses. Cameras like these are now used predominantly for press, PR and general commercial work.

At higher level, a commercial studio photographer use a 'digital capture back', which is a high-quality chip which can be adapted to fit many of the conventional studio cameras. This system is far more expensive, but is capable of producing file sizes which closely compare in quality to a high-resolution scan from large format film. Thus the images are suitable for any end use, such as top-quality advertisements. A photographer who is thinking of supplying stock libraries with digital images should realise that it is often this kind of quality which is required, as stock libraries are looking to supply a diverse range of markets, including advertising.

Image-enhancement and manipulation using a computer program such as Adobe photoshop provides photographers with onscreen darkroom where the possibilities for creating imaginative images are endless. As well as being useful for retouching purposes and creating photo compositions, it provides the photographer with an opportunity to create more unusual images. It is therefore especially useful for targeting the advertising market, where fantasy images are more important than reality.

How to Become a Photographer - Using a Stock Library

As well as undertaking commissions, a photographer have the option of selling their images through a photographic stock library or agency. There are many stock libraries, some specialising in specific subject areas, such as wildlife photography, and others covering general subjects.

Stock libraries are fiercely competitive, all fighting for a share of the market, and it is therefore best to aim to place images with an established name, although competition amongst photographers will be strong. Each stock library has a different specific requirements and established markets, so contact them first before making a submission. Some libraries will ask to see few hundred images from a photographer in order to judge for a consistency of quality and saleability. Stock libraries selling images through catalogues or over the internet will often consider an initial submission of just a few images, knowing that it is possible to accumulate significant fees from a small number of outstanding individual images marketed this way.

Images placed with the library usually remain the property of the photographer and libraries do not normally sell images outright to clients, but lease them for a specific use for a fee, from which commission is deducted. This means that a single image can accumulate many sales over a period of time. The commission rate can be up to 50% of every sale generated by the library. This may sound high, but it should be borne in mind that the library takes on all overheads, marketing cost and other responsibilities involved in the smooth running of a business, allowing the photographer the freedom to spend more time taking pictures.

Photographers should realise, however, that stock photography is a long-term investment and it can take some time for sales to build up to a significant income. Clearly, photographers who supply the right images for the market, and are prolific, are those who do well, and there are good number of photographers who make their entire living as full-time stock photographers, never having to undertake commissioned work.

How to Become a Photographer - Royalty-free CD Companies

Many stock libraries are now marketing royalty-free images on CD-Rom. These companies usually obtain images by purchasing them from photographers for a flat fee or pay royalties to the photographer based on CD sales. Once a CD has been purchased by a client they, in effect, own the images on the CD and are therefore able to reproduce them as many times as they wish, paying no further fees. A typical CD may contain one hundred high-resolution reproduction-quality images in a variety of subject areas, including most specialist subjects.

Although photographers may be tempted to sell images to these companies in order to gain an instant fee, they should be aware that placing images with traditional stock library can be far more fruitful financially in the long term, since a good image can accumulate very high fees over a period of time and go on selling for many years to come. Furthermore, the photographer always retains the rights to his or her own images.