How to start a Photography Business

Who doesn’t love to see pictures? Who doesn’t love to take pictures? I guess, there hardly a person who doesn’t love to get clicked or click. Today, most people wandering around will be seen clicking or getting clicked. People these days try to capture the moments in photographs. And why wouldn’t they? It is the easiest way to relive the moment again by scrolling down the pictures on your hand. 

A lot of people been moving to start their career as a photographer, they are willing to know how they can start a photography business where they can make income from their passion. 

There is no doubt that the photography business can be a big hit seeing its popularity in every area. There is a keen need for a photographer at every event, occasion, party, adventure, etc. Now, people prefer to hire a professional photographer for capturing their important and special days. This increases the demand for a photographer at many places. 

If you have the zeal and talent of clicking the live moments into the photographs, then you can kick start your adventurous photography career. All the things you need to know about this business would be written here in this blog. So, make sure you read this blog thoroughly to get deep knowledge about How to start a photography business. 

Who do you call a photographer?

I think it is pretty clear who we call a photographer. But still to make it clearer let me tell you who can be a photographer and who we can call a photographer. As you know this term is not just kept to one or two kinds of photography. It is wide having so many kinds of photography which people prefer to have. 

So, a photographer is someone who clicks one or other kind of photographs for people, who wants them to. A photographer can be an individual or maybe having a team for support. 

A photographer can work for himself as a freelancer or can start his own business with a team of other photographers or even alone. He just needs to have a zest for working professionally for starting a career as a photographer. 

Is starting a photography business the right choice?

If before starting anything you are wondering, would it be the right decision to choose this or that as a career, then you would hardly progress in anything you want to be. The thing is simple, you must believe before taking a step towards that.

I guess we all get a little scared before starting something thinking whether things would work out in a way as we have planned or not. So, there is a clear answer to this “everything will work out if you stop thinking and start working”. 

Often, we waste our time thinking a lot of stuff without working in that direction which is not right. And because that is not the right thing, we believe that the choice we have made is wrong. That’s where we begin to create problems and blame them for our choices.

No doubt, photography is a good career choice depending on its demand these days. You will find people asking for professional photoshoots from photographers in events like birthday parties, pre-wedding shoots, wedding shoots, travel shoots, etc.

Work is abundant for a photographer in every field from the media to the technical industry, photographs have been taken at every place. Don’t forget that you can also use apps like Colorcinch and Picsart to edit photos easily, which will help streamline your workflow and have your clients be amazed by the results.

Tips to run the photography business successfully

There are always going to be a few things, which you have to follow while running your business. Because you just can’t depend on your fate to follow you. Instead, you will have to make efforts to make things better for you. So, here are a few tips on how you can work on your photography business to make it successful;

1. Passion is important– If you have started this business, there must be your interest in it. So, before jumping into this business you have to make sure that you love every bit of this business. You just need to follow your passion throughout your journey so that you can make a handsome of money from your passion. And your passion must stay forever in what you love to capture. 

2. Create a relationship with clients– When you are just starting your business and new to every client you meet then you should focus on creating a long-term relationship with your clients. It would help you to retain your clients and would take your business ahead. Focusing on a friendly relationship with your clients may build your brand in the market among other people. In this way, you will end up landing on a lot of clients in this journey. 

3. Prioritise and organize your work– At a point in time, you will see that things have become a lot of mess which you are unable to organize. So, rather than reaching there start organizing things beforehand. Give priority to the most important events and organize your schedule according to them. Start focusing on “first in first out”, so that you can prioritize your work properly. 

4. Ask your clients for testimonials– Giving service is one thing and taking feedback is another. And both things are important in starting your photography business. Because if you will only work and would not take reviews, who will trust your services if you have nothing to show the reviews of your clients. After completing a project must ask your client for genuine reviews which you can show to your prospects. 

5. Stay connected to your clients– After completing the project don’t let your clients vanish in thin air, rather stay connected to them through different modes of communication. It helps to build good relationships and also brings you more clients through them. Staying connected to your clients also show your credibility with your work. 

I hope these tips would help you build your photography business successfully. 

Benefits of starting a photography business

If you are following what your heart says, then it is important to tell you the benefits of the same. As you know, every business has its benefit if you look deep inside. Similarly, the photography business also has its benefits. Here are the few benefits I am sharing with you;

1.  Money from passion– You know following a passion is not hard but making a decision to follow your passion is hard. You don’t realize the pros and cons of the same. But when you decide to follow anyways, you don’t care about anything you just follow what comes in your way. It is what determination looks like bold and alluring. If you are reading this blog, you are probably going to follow your passion, and when you do so you are certainly going to make money out of it. 

2.  Interaction with new people– This business is going to make you interact with a lot of new people. As you will go on a tour or for any project at any new place you are going to meet a lot of new people. Those people may accompany you for a long or maybe for a short journey, but you would certainly get a chance to interact with new minds. It will help you to be more outgoing and comfortable with people. 

3.  Chances of good travel– If you choose to become a traveling photographer then you are going to visit a lot of new places and travel a lot. But even if you choose to different photography, you would still get a lot of chance to travel around the world. And traveling will add a lot of confidence in you. It will make you wise and give you a chance to explore the world with your lenses as well as your eyes. 

4.  The flexibility of work– Your working schedule may not be fixed always. You are going to work on your terms at the start. But slowly and gradually you will learn to make a work schedule that too on your terms. So, there is nothing like you should work for 8 or 9 hours a day. You can work for 4 or 5 hours if you manage to complete it on time, no one will compel you to work for certain hours. 

These are some amazing benefits you would have if you start a photography business. Like I said every business has its benefits but if you do what you love, the benefits become more astounding. 

Drawbacks of photography business

Everything has two sides, one positive and one negative and it is important to see both sides when you are starting something. It helps you to take the right decision and make up your mind for a lot of things that may come up while on this journey. So, here are a few drawbacks of this business which I am sharing below for which you must be prepared if you want to make this business successful;

1. Costly equipment– There is no doubt about this point, you are going to bear costly equipment if you are starting your photography business. Because as you know, the things related to camera and lenses are costly in the market, which is not cheap.

At the start when you are not earning things, it will be expensive for you to buy such equipment for your business. And without good picture quality, you will not be going to earn a client. So, it is one of the major drawbacks.

2. No fixed hour of working– The hour of work is not fixed is good, but it is not fixed that it would be in the morning, at the middle of the day or night which can affect your health. Because good health is all everyone needs. You may also have to give your time, holidays, etc. to complete the project.

It may happen that the customer would ask you to work on the weekend because it’s a day off so to save his time, he may ask you to work on a holiday. This is how it goes until you build a brand and a team to work with you simultaneously. 

3. Inconsistent work– As you know, at the start you won’t going to get regular work. There will be days when you will have a lot of work and there will be days when you don’t have any. You must have to prepare yourself for the latter.

It is because you are just starting and no one knows you exist in the market, when you will build your image in the market you will start to get the amount of work you deserve. You just need to be more patient here than ever. 

4. No fixed income– As you have read above, there will be irregular work so it is obvious that you will have an irregular income. Sometimes, you will make enough money and sometimes you will not earn anything. But this should not break you if you want to go ahead because this is part of this journey.

This is how you going to learn and move forward. You only must be ready to understand that you are not going to get a salaried income which is normally fixed, you are going to earn here on your own which takes time. 

These are the major drawbacks you are going to face while becoming a successful photographer. Just hang in there you will reach where you are destined to. 

Can a photography business be held from home?

Saying a direct No to this question would not be a great idea, so here I want to state that, in any case, you are not going to stay at home and click the pictures of your bedroom or balcony. That can be possible when you are just started to gain an interest in this thing.

You may not have an office or work as a freelancer, but you have to step outside and click pictures for your client’s project that cannot be possible sitting at home. 

You can create a photography portfolio or any page on social media to share your talent, where you can gain an audience and the confidence to follow what you want. 

You can start taking freelancing projects and work on them to have a few clients and build a portfolio. 

You can do these things from home, but you can not take shoots from home. For that, you have to step outside and work. A lot of time people take this business for granted and they don’t come to terms with that photography can turn into a great business.

Due to this, this kind of question comes to the mind of people, so to make you understand that it is not any shabby business rather a reputed business. 

Setting up a photography business is not a joke, it’s a whole new thing just like any other business. 

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Steps to start a photography business

After having an understanding of the basic things of this business, it’s now time to start with the process of setting it up. This process will help you know few more things and will build a way for your business to come into existence. So, let’s start with our stepwise guide.

#1 Find your favourite niche

It is the foremost thing to decide when you are starting your business. Before getting sure about anything, you must be sure about the kind of photography you want to follow. This helps you target the right audience and make a clear base of the right clients.

There is a different kind of photographs needed at different kind of places and events, which you will choose to provide. Once you will settle with your niche, you will get the project for a particular need. So, it is good to settle with one type to get particular clients. 

#2 Create a business plan

Do you know how important this step is? It outlines all the things you need to have on this journey of your business. It gives you a brief idea about the important things like which niche you are choosing, the budget you are having, the place you are going to rent for your business, how much equipment you need to have, the name of the business, a form of business entity, etc.

A business plan consists of all the answers to these questions. Also, you can write down your objectives of the business which you want to achieve to have a better set of goals. A business plan is a blueprint of your business.

#3 Choose the structure of your business

When you are starting a photography business it needs to have a business entity through which people will know you. So, deciding the form of business is the important part. Whether you want to run it as a sole proprietor which is a good option, as a partnership business with your known friend, or as a private company, the choice will be yours. 

#4 Get yourself to register

When you have chosen the form of running your business, it’s now time to make it register under a valid act. Running a business without legal registration would land you in big trouble, so always make sure that you are following all the norms of legal business activities.

Even you have to make your business name register so that your name is not taken by anyone else and you have a right over that. Registering the business is one of the important things to do. 

#5 Purchase the required equipment

The first piece of equipment you need is a good camera, on which your business entirely depends. You heard it right the equipment you need here will decide the future of your business in addition to the skills you put.

So, the equipment you are going to need throughout this business is a tripod, camera bag, lighting, high-quality lenses, backdrops, Props, Studio space, reliable transportation, a smartphone with a good camera, computer, zoom lenses, etc.

These are the very important pieces of equipment which you need to have if you want to run your business successfully. Also, you are required to pick the best equipment for your style of photography. 

#6 Plan the investment

You are going to invest a lot of money in this business, for that you need to plan your investment. Planning your investment will help you spend the right amount in right place. You need to figure out things where you will spend your money which will come out as your investments.

The main areas where you are going to spend are into a place, equipment, building a team, creating a website, etc. These would be the necessary things for your business. But spending on unnecessary things would create a mess for your business. So, it is advisable to keep a track of your expenses. 

#7 Choose the right price for your services

This step requires you to be honest about your work and quote the right price for your laborious work. When you are working for yourself, you need to figure out what price would be best for you. If you will not choose the right price for yourself then people would take great advantage of you.

It would be tough for you to decide the price when you are just starting, but you need to consider all the important factors while deciding the price. Like, if the shoot was of 1 hour, then how much time it would take you to complete the editing of the shoot and wrap up the project. Every effort you have put in must come with a worthy price. 

#8 Focus on your target clients

While working in any field, it is necessary to find the audience you are going to target. Clarity on the targeted audience leaves you with no confusion, only make your goals clearer. If you know to whom you are going to target, it will make your work in that direction without wandering here and there. And target audience plays an important role in creating a successful business. 

#9 Promote yourself on social media

Now, when you have started your business and looking for ways to promote it so the first way which comes into everyone’s mind is Social media. We know how eminently social media is growing these days, so we cannot have a better way of promoting our business.

Open different social media accounts and share your daily updates and work with your followers. It will help you to gain a reach to the maximum people. Make sure to share photographs of different projects to show your work to the public. Be active on social media and post regular pictures to gain an audience. 

#10 Make a website

Creating a website for your photography business is another thing to have a focus on. It can make your business reach those people who are working online and have no clue about your business. But making a website can lead them to your business.

The next question you probably have that how can you make a website? Nothing to worry about, you can simply check out our website at Traffic Tail and contact us for developing your website.

We have a great track record of building amazing websites for our clients. You check out the testimonials on our site. Also, we can drive huge traffic to your website which may lead you to have prospects for your business.

#11 Market yourself

Once you are done with everything a business requires, the next step would be to market your business. You know without marketing you cannot be able to reach more customers. To gain a good amount of audience you need to market yourself.

How you can do marketing would be the question you are wondering about? Here are the modes of doing marketing you can use such as words of mouth, advertising, online marketing, social media, etc.

These are the most influential ways of marketing. Otherwise, you can hire us for starting a marketing campaign for your business. We at Traffic Tail has run a lot of marketing campaign for different brands. So, either you do it your own or ask us to do it for yourself, but just do it anyway because it is important. 

Types of photography

You can choose to specialise in different photography styles because there are different types of photography at different places for different events. So, here is the list of different photography styles which you can opt for;

1.   Fashion photography– This kind of photography is generally taken to showcase the new trends in fashion. Like clothing, branding, shoes, accessories, make-up etc to persuade people to buy these fashionable products. These photographers may work for fashion magazines, fashion shows, fashion models, and fashion studios. 

2.   Sports photography– In this kind of photography, generally sports events are shot. Like cricket matches, football matches, lawn tennis, etc they take pictures of people playing sports for different sports magazines, shows and newspaper. 

3.   Journalism photography– This type of photography is generally used for news events. News agencies hire a photographer for news events to take photographs of the event whose story they are telling. 

4.   Travelling photography– This genre is generally chosen by those photographers who love to travel around the world. They take different pictures of different cities and their specialities, different country and their specialities while wandering around the world. 

5.   Wedding photography– This type of photography is seen at every wedding. In this photography, a very important day of a person’s life is captured in the photographs. Wedding photography has been there for a very long time. It is only getting advanced with new themes like pre-wedding shoot. It is added to this genre. 

6.   Wildlife photography– In this type of photography, wildlife on earth is captured. Under this, wildlife animals and mesmerising wildlife are captured to show people how beautiful wildlife is. Also, it is a way of letting people know the importance of wildlife on our earth.

Conclusion

As you will wrap up your reading, you will find that it is not a hard-core career to pursue. All you need proper planning and dedication to make efforts. Therefore, you will see your business going up. Starting a photography business is a choice you will make based on how passionate you are about this career. 

Frequently asked questions

Q1. Are there any specific criteria for starting a photography business?

No. Not at all. There is no specific criteria or education required for starting a photography business. Anyone can start this business. All he/she need to have is the zeal to take their business to ultimate goals. 

Q2. What are the few tips to run the photography business successfully?

There are the following tips to run this business successfully;

• Passion is important
• Create a friendly relationship with your clients
• Prioritise and organise your work
• Ask your clients for testimonials
• Stay in touch with your clients

Q3. What are the benefits of the photography business?

Benefits are the reason most people see good in a business. So, here are the few benefits of this business;

• Money from passion
• Interacting with new people
• Chances of travelling around the world
• The flexibility of working hours

Q4. What are the cons of the photography business?

With benefit comes drawback, so stating few of the drawbacks of this business below;

• Costly equipment
• No fixed hours of working
• Inconsistent work
• No fixed income

Q5. What are the types of photography businesses?

There are following types of photography business, which are as follows;

• Fashion photography
• Sports photography
• Traveling photography
• Journalism photography
• Wedding photography
• Wildlife photography

Q6. Is marketing important for my photography business?

Yes, marketing is of utmost importance for your business. Without marketing, you cannot be able to pitch any of your clients. For generating prospects and gaining traffic to your business marketing plays an eminent role. You can do marketing by way of advertising, words of mouth, online marketing, promoting on social media or simply contact Traffic Tail for marketing campaigns. 

Q7. How can I start my photography business?

Here are the following steps to start your photography business;

• Find your favorite niche
• Create a business plan
• Choose the structure of your business
• Register your business
• Purchase the required equipment
• Plan the investment
• Choose the right pricing for your services
• Focus on your target clients
• Promote yourself on social media
• Make a website
• Market your business