Digital Camera World » Make money from photography

13 ways famous landscape photographers make money from photography

jmeyer — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 23:01:20 +0000

The life of famous landscape photographers can appear to be a glamorous mix of travelling to distant exotic photo locations, taking a few photos in glorious golden light, selling them onto international clients for a fortune before deciding where to travel to next!

The reality is very different. But that doesn’t mean you can’t start living the dream now and selling a few of your best pics to magazines, publishers, calendar companies and more. They might even help you pay for your next lens!

All images and words by Lee Beel

In order to make a success of your landscape photography and to increase the chances of your work being published you should always ask yourself one question when you’re out in the field: how can I photograph the scene before me in order to maximise its earning potential?

Of course, you should strive to capture the scene looking at its best but different clients want different things. Over the next few pages we’ll give you advice and tips for how to really make the most of every photographic opportunity.

How famous landscape photographers make money from photography: 1-3

1 Shoot in the middle of the day
Photographers know that the best light for landscape work occurs in the ‘golden’ hours around dawn and dusk when the low angle of the sun reveals contours and texture in the scene and bathes it in glorious light.

But if you only work for a couple of hours a day how do you expect to make a living? Colours look rich and saturated in harsh light under a blue sky.

It’s worth getting in touch with local interest magazines to see if they can use any of your pictures or if they’d like to keep them on file for future use.

2 Shoot vertical and horizontal
Most of the images published in magazines are in the vertical format. It seems obvious that upright images will be in demand when you know that an A4 page is this shape too.

However, if you look at the vast choice of calendars that are available you’ll notice that most of the use images that are shot horizontally.

This is not to say that each of these markets don’t use images that are shot in the other format. Of course magazines also use horizontal photographs and some calendar companies like to use vertical shots.

So, in order to increase the chances of your work being used you should try to capture a scene in both formats if it’s possible.

I don’t suggest you record both just for the sake of it – only if the scene you’re photographing works in both ways.

3 Compose with text in mind
If you browse the shelves at your local newsagent you’ll notice that most, if not all, magazines (and books for that matter) have the title in a prominent position along the top of the front page and various other text positioned around the cover image.

For this reason it can be a good idea to leave a bit of extra space at the top of your composition and around the edges of the frame so that text can be added if you work is to be considered for the front page of a magazine.

PAGE 1: How famous landscape photographers make money from photography – tips 1-3
PAGE 2: How famous landscape photographers make money from photography – tips 4-6
PAGE 3: How famous landscape photographers make money from photography – tips 7-9
PAGE 4: How famous landscape photographers make money from photography – tips 10-13

How to make money from photography, part 5: shoot property for estate agents

jmeyer — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 02:00:08 +0000

Over the past five weeks we’ve been introducing you to new ways to make money from photography. We’ve looked at selling photos via stock photo agencies, running photography workshops and more.

Click here to read the full series on How to make money from photography

This week, in our final instalment of the series, we speak to photographer John Durrant, who turns a profit from photographing property. Via his Property Photographer website, John shoots houses and buildings on behalf of estate agents.

We spoke to John about how approaches these firms, how much he charges and how much you can expect to earn.

Estate agents seem happy to advertise properties snapped on  a compact – why is that?

The only explanation I can come  up with is that a lot of agents don’t realise they’re in the marketing business. A few photographers knocking on their doors might enlighten some of them!

So is ‘knocking on their doors’  the best way to get business?

There’s no substitute for seeing an agent face to face. Take prints to a meeting to show them your work, although a good website is also an important marketing tool.

How much can you charge?

At the lower end of the property market you might be charging £30-£50 for a job that might take an hour or two, while properties over £1m are likely to involve advanced techniques and additional time in Photoshop. At that level you’ll need to charge £350-£700 per day.

How busy could you be?

The peak selling season is spring, and this year I was flat out, working every day for almost two months. That kind of stress and effort is not for the faint-hearted, but it would typically be followed by a less busy period over the summer.

How to make money from photography, part 4: a new idea to make cash on holiday

jmeyer — Mon, 20 Aug 2012 02:00:56 +0000

So far in our series on how to make money from photography we’ve told you how to submit to stock photo agencies, run a workshop and even teach a night class on photography. In our penultimate installment we suggest a new idea for making cash from your holidays.

There’s nothing like going on holiday and taking pictures of exciting new places, but while you’ve got your camera with you, why not take advantage of the opportunity to recoup some of the costs?

While you could set up a specialist photo holiday and ask others to pay to join you in a photogenic location, the holiday/work bias will obviously be shifted towards the latter as you take on the role of tutor-come-host.

However, you can still potentially make some money and have a ‘proper’ holiday if you think a little more laterally.

For example, when you booked your holiday, it was most likely pictures of hotels, campsites and destinations that helped you decide.

Brochures and websites get updated regularly so, while you’re away, why not shoot some pictures with a view to marketing them to the place you stayed when you get back?

Making £20 for a shot of a campsite would pay for a night, perhaps.

Speculate too…
Similarly, consider shooting images for stock libraries, competitions and magazines – not just photography publications, but travel and holiday magazines as well.

It’s speculative work, but thinking about where you are, who might use pictures of it and, most importantly, contacting them when you get back could cover the cost of more than a few of the meals you had under the summer sky.

Remember…
As in the UK, be wary of including official installations in your shots. Some buildings, such as police stations, army bases or transport terminal are restricted areas and you’ll need to check with officials before shooting (and publishing) them.

How to make money from photography, part 3: teach an evening class

jmeyer — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 03:00:05 +0000

Teaching an evening class won’t get you out of your day job, but it’s a great way make money from photography, sharing your experience with like-minded people and perhaps even learning something from them too.

However, before you can start you need to do a bit of homework yourself.

First off, you need to identify learning centres that run part-time evening classes (although not necessarily in photography).

It might sound obvious, but try and keep them local – you’ll be getting paid an hourly rate that won’t include your commute.

Pitch it right
Take a look at the ‘competition’. Colleges that already run part-time photography courses will obviously have one or more tutors, so you need to approach them with something different – there’s no point proposing a beginner’s photography class if they already run one.

Think your course through and write down exactly what you’ll be teaching on a week-to-week basis and, most importantly, what the students will learn from you (the ‘learning outcomes’).

Once you’ve got your course  plan together, it’s time to make  your ‘pitch’, which means arranging a face-to-face meeting with the course co-ordinator.

This is basically a job interview, so make sure you sell yourself and your course – all going well, you’ll be well on your way to the front of the class and a fulfilling future career.

How to make money from photography: selling via stock photo agencies
How to make money from photography: run a workshop
How to get your photos published in magazines
The right way to submit to stock photo agencies

How to make money from photography, part 2: run a workshop

jmeyer — Mon, 06 Aug 2012 02:00:29 +0000

Last week, in the first installment of our new series on the many ways to make money from photography, we told you about how to sell your photos online via stock photo agencies. This week we’ll leave the internet behind and look at one of the more traditional ways of making money from photography: running a workshop.

Planning and hosting a workshop is a lot of hard work, but it can be one of the most fulfilling things you do as a photographer. What better way to find out more about workshops than to ask someone who does it regularly.

We talked to photographer Chris Weston about his own experience, having walked away from his nine-to-five to pursue a career as  a wildlife photographer and running workshops to share his passion.

What advice would you give to anyone looking to start running  a photography workshop?

There’s intense competition,  so you need to find a niche. And  you must be confident that you know what you’re talking about. Being published in magazines or authoring books, for example, will help you gain credibility.

What would you recommend as the maximum number of students for a workshop?

Numbers can be limited by logistics – the number of seats in your transport, for example – and the level of tuition; the higher the level, the fewer people attending.

What’s the best way to advertise your workshop?

Like any business, you need to explore multiple channels such as magazines, online and a website. Social networking sites are also becoming popular because they give people the chance to get to know you and your style before they commit to spending money.

How much should you charge?

You need to work out the per person cost to run it, including fees to outside contractors, travel, advertising and so on, and set it against your desired profit.

How to make money from photography: new series on Digital Camera World

jmeyer — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 02:00:31 +0000

If you’ve been shooting for a few years, there’s every chance your hard drive is bursting with images of far-flung destinations, local landscapes or the flowers in your back garden. Regardless of the subject, all of your shots have one thing in common – they’ve got the potential to be transformed from pixels into money in the bank. In the first of a new weekly series here on Digital Camera World, we’ll introduce you to simple ways to make money from photography.

Before we begin any discussion about how to make money from photography, you need to ask yourself one simple question: do you want to sell photos directly, or do you want to have someone else do it for you?

If you go down the self-selling route, there’s one huge benefit – you can set whatever fees you like and, as long as someone’s willing to pay, you get every penny.

Sounds good, yes?  It is, but it’s not quite that simple.  For a start, you need to find people to buy your pictures and, even with the slickest website, it’s going to take a lot of work finding people who will spend their money on your shots.

If you do, then you’ve got to enter the minefield of rights negotiation and contracts, which can quickly take more time and effort than you necessarily want or need to devote to it.

PAGE 1: How do you want to sell photos?
PAGE 2: Sell photos via stock photo agencies
PAGE 3: Do’s and Don’ts of stock photography
PAGE 4: Stock photos that sell

How to get your photos published in magazines

jmeyer — Wed, 04 Jul 2012 12:33:42 +0000

Don’t assume that only professional photographers stand a chance of getting published in magazines. Editors are constantly looking for new, inventive and fresh photography, and it may just be that your particular vision coincides perfectly with theirs.

However, don’t go to the other extreme and assume that as soon as they see your work editors will be fighting to get to you first. There are any number of great photographers out there and you’re just one of them – no matter what you might think about the quality of your images (for more tips like these, check out our 50 photography tips from jobbing pros to famous photographers).

Brilliance and style are important, but patience, persistence and willingness to study the needs of the magazines you’re approaching are what really count. Don’t send editors a huge collection of images in the hope that there might be one or two that strike a chord.

What actually happens is any really good images that might be in there will be obscured by a fog of mediocrity. That’s assuming the editor even gets as far as looking at them all.

Any editor will have a glance at six photos, might be losing interest at 12 and if faced with dozens may not even bother to start.

In the following pages we’ll take you through the best way to get your photos published in magazines. We’ll tell you how to make the right approach, offer tips to improve your chances, identify some common mistakes and, finally, answer the all-important question of ‘what will I be paid’?

PAGE 1: Practice Patience
PAGE 2: Making the right approach to editors
PAGE 3: Improve your chances of getting photos published
PAGE 4: Common mistakes when trying to get photos published
PAGE 5: What will you be paid?