Suggestion on what should be my next "must have" for building a photography busienss

Must have customers

You have some good gear posted here. I find the list is never ending!

Just a thought....

Include in your budget, an allocation for school attendance, at least one in-depth seminar each year, usually lasting from 2-5 days in length.

Also have constant web site development/refreshment in your plan. Speaking of plans do you have a business plan? Consider taking classes and working on your selling and marketing skills as well as the true costs of having your own business. With photography gear getting to look more alike between professionals and other folks, the differentiation between us because of gear is diminishing. I find many gigs I work someone will have the newest fancy gizmo thinking I can do what he's doing.

Things you are missing:
Tripod, monitor calibration tool, printer, external hard drives, flash bracket, flash ttl cord, and reflectors.

Going into the photography business goes beyond gear. There's a lot to learn dealing with the business and administration side of the matter, down to marketing, designing packages for customers, coming up with selling strategies and being all the time in constant salesman-mode.

I'd say with Bill that you need to learn a lot more, not just about photography, but also about what it involves as a business. However, before you take the plunge, I'd suggest you start small and step-by-step. Can you come up with images that sell? How about cards? Can you sell your photos that way? Try making cards with cardstock from The Photographer's Edge, for instance. Offer prints to restaurants or businesses to hang in their walls, create an electronic portfolio through a website... But, first and most important, read about this "dark side of photography" (business) here in P.Net, elsewhere and in books.

Here is a good source of ideas too: the Nikonians' Forum on Becoming a pro.

One last thing: this was the advice I got, a long time ago, when I was inquiring about making some money from my hobbie (just to pay for more toys). I jotted it down... but never bothered to do it because I later realized that turning my hobby into an occupation would kill the joy of photography to me (and I have a nice, secure day job that pays the bills). However, if you cannot conceive life without a camera (neither can I but that's another subject), and are willing to go seriously into this, plan your steps carefully. And remember always that you're NOT the only photographer in town! Being aware of the competition keeps you on your creative toes.

Good luck!

BTW, Irene, after looking at your portfolio I saw you have a really good eye. Have you thought about stock photography?

None of the 5 things you mentioned. You need a business plan and a marketing plan. The SBA can help. As your business grows add more equipment.

As you add more gear and move into areas, like lighting and marketing , that you are not comfortable with, weeklong intensive workshops such as those offered by the Maine Photographic Workshops or the Santa Fe Workshops are good investments.

Thanks so much for the answers so far.

To give you all a bit more information -

I mentioned I am a SAHM. We do just fine with one income, but hey, extra $$ is always welcome!! I just absolute love taking photos, learning about photography and photo processing. I spend so much time on this stuff now, that I feel if I can make even a few extra $ on the side, that would be nice. I feel that I really don't have much to lose.

I plan on taking this very very slowly - right now I am just very much into the learning stages, offering free photos to friends and relatives to get as much experience as I can.

I also am fairly familiar with the absolute importance of a good business and marketing plan. My pre-kids education and career included a BS and an MBA in business along with quite a few years experience in marketing and product management. That is another thing that makes me feel I may have a bit more of a chance of success than others in our area. I know marketing, and I know how vital good marketing is.

I also live in a small town. Yes, that definitely makes for a much smaller market, but it also works to my advantage in some respects. We have very few creative photographers around here. A friend is getting married next year and she is having the hardest time finding a good photographer (I am definitely NOT up to that challenge yet). The local photographers are very old school - very cheesy shots, forced poses, uncomfortable looking photos. I definitely feel there is a need in this area for something other than the "studio" portrait photographers. In addition, I am lucky enough to be married into a family who is extremely active in the community. My husband is a HS teacher and a very well liked HS coach. He definitely has many many contacts. In fact, the engagement pictures I took were of a former student who he keeps in touch with. Once I feel comfortable with my ability and feel ready to be "in business" I am pretty sure I won't have a hard time finding potential clients. Although I am well aware I need to deliver a great product in order to be successful.

Thank you so much for your suggestions. The idea of a seminar is one I did not consider but it a really good one. I will have to look into that further.

There are countless people - me included - that want to make some sort of a living from photography. Normally, people with only a year of experience are completely wet behind the ears, but in your case I think you have a bit of talent. (from what I saw from you photostream)

As to the "must haves" I would suggest that you put in at least 1000 hours behind the lens and more than that amount in Photoshop. I've done much more than this in the past 4 years and I can tell you I have a long ways to go.

I'm afraid there is really no other way.

Good luck! I think you can do it. You have that X factor.

I'd say go get a tripod that's for sure.

While the D40 is great. If I was doing a lot of portraits and the like I'd want to be able to use off camera flash, which the D40 won't do unless you have a cord, which is limiting... so I'd say get the D70 or D80 if you're poor, and D90 or D300 if you're not.

I don't really know much about the business of photography, but if you want to do it, I suggest you learn the biz!

Also, it doesn't matter when you're a beginner and no one is looking for you...but you really really shouldn't be posting your full sized images on flickr like that. Those lovely portraits, unless they're your best friends or relatives (in which case you shouldn't be charging them anyways), are going to get STOLEN when the people in them find out that they can merely take your flickr photos and not have to pay you for prints. probably not an issue for you at this point...but it will be! don't be too trusting. I tend to limit the maximum dimension of anything I put on the internet to 800 pixels wide or tall.

best of luck to you!

Hello Irene, Ellis Vener has some very good suggestions, I will add a few of my own. From the market you are looking at breaking into, have a marketing plan and get some cards. The next thing I strongly suggest is take a junior college course or an adult school to give yourself a basic foundation and knowledge base to start from. Looking at question, it tells me you have some major gaps in knowledge. The type of photography you want to do will dictate the gear.

My point of view on gear (I know a lot of people will disagree with me) is it should be towards the bottom of the priority list. Realize in the market you mentioned 2/3 of your business will have more to do with selling yourself, people skills, the image, and ambiance than your actual shooting skills. As you break into the market, and find your niche, that will determine your gear. If don't own it you can rent it. Before you start spending on gear make sure you have the clients to support it.

If I was forced to pick a piece of gear, it would be an extra camera body like a D90 or D300, but again that is low on the list. A business plan, marketing plan and business cards are a higher priority.

don't buy a tripod if you won't use it. don't buy a flash if you won't use it.

make sure you are actually going to use the gear you buy.

agree with numerous others here, the biggest expense in terms of both time and money, is the marketing of your business.

get well known among your friends, coworkers, etc. as the person who can take photographs but not for free.

you will need a portfolio, carry a wallet with pictures you've taken of models or your family. make sure they are good. this is probably the easiest way to get started.

for rapid viral marketing, give people a big discount if they manage to get 1 or 2 other people to sign up for a photoshoot with you. and so on. that kind of marketing can turn into a real snowball, you may find yourself swamped with work.

for software the only thing you ever need is adobe photoshop and bridge. lightroom is not necessary especially if shooting in a studio environment, and i think with a d40 it would be more of just a pain. the only time lightroom is nice is if you want to do something called "tethered shooting" which lets the image you just took come up on your computer screen. you need lightroom and nikon camera control pro for that. again i don't see the point of it with a d40.

agreed do not post full size pics on flickr without a big huge watermark embedded in the pics. that is one area where lightroom might be handy for doing it en masse to pictures, but just be careful about that. people are picture thieves. i've had people even try to airbrush out the watermark in one of my sakura pictures from japan - desperate!

good luck with your journey..!

I know nothing about the photography business. I do know some things about business though. I'd suggest getting a job w/ a professional photographer.

As far as equipment. I would think if you are making a living off of photography you will need 2 camera bodies. What if one breaks on the job? A d80 or a d300 would make a great primary camera and use your d40 as the back up. I'd probably learn towards the d300 because it is so well built.

Also if you are doing portraits you must have a tripod and a flash. The sb600 is a good choice.

If you have the budget for more lenses...

I've heard the 85mm is one of the best portrait lens you can buy. I would think a 24mm or 28mm would be good for indoors. I love my 28mm 2.8 and 50mm 1.4 for portraits and they cost very little.

Your next "must have" is "Paying customers." And if you do not yet have them, you need a good plan to get them, and the willingness to change it when it needs to be changed. The only piece of equipment I would buy would be a second body, like a D 300 or D 200 or a D 90, and a tripod. Everything else you might buy has to come out of the true profits of your business after you figure in payment for your own time and effort. You cannot delude yourself that your time is "free and without any cost." If you really want this to be a part time business you have to run it as a business! After all your photography business could be just working for another photographer--no investment required, and you get paid!

Joe Smith

>people are picture thieves.<

When I first started putting my photographs online - currently most of them are pbase.com - I wondered about this. I have discovered, sometimes in round-about ways, that my images have been used without my permission, most recently by a real estate agency in Oregon. Righteous indignation communicated in a stern email to the offenders, with a request for massive amounts of money as compensation, has been my response.

Thinking it through has brought me to this conclusion: no pictures online, no sales online.

If someone or some entity has used my photographs without authorization, and without my knowledge, I'm not going to sweat it. On the other hand, I've sold my photographs off pbase and other websites, without specifically marketing them, many times. This has happened because those who purchase photographs have discovered that images can be had, sometimes for free, by contacting photographers through pbase, flicker, etc., rather than using stock agencies, and paying what stock agencies would charge. Google really has leveled the playing field.

Recently I was paid for a cover shot for a visitors guide of a national monument in California, and for an image that appears on a web page marketing the rental of farm land in eastern Europe; other sales have included several photos for a Spanish language version of an American Honey Institute holiday brochure, a book cover, a photo for the association of Great Pyrenees dog owners, etc. Three years ago, an editor in London found my photographs online, which led to my hire as the author and principal supplier of photographs for a book about Yosemite, published by Random House.

My photographs have been represented by a few stock agencies over the years too, and of course that's good to have. Every little bit of marketing/promotion helps. If I'd take the time to aggressively market those photographs I have stashed online, I'm sure I'd have far more sales. With or without marketing, if I didn't have some of my photographs on pbase and other web pages, I would have made zero direct online sales from them.

HI Irene, After looking at your photos on flickr I come away with two impressions - you have a good eye and you have a knack for making people feel comfortable in front of the camera. I owned my own photography business for over twenty years. I actually made my full time living from photography and had up to a dozen employees at any given time. Thankfully I sold my business (and actually got paid off) just prior to the revolution of digital photography really exploded with the advent of affordable dslr's. I'm now in a completely different line of work. I had a regular studio and did LOTS of school photography. I mention my background because I want you to know that I know what I'm talking about. Everyone I know who's still in the photography biz says that the market is absolutely FLOODED with MWC's -- That is MOMS WITH CAMERAS. Producing great photogrpahy has never been easier, but making a good living has never been more competitive. If you really want to develop your interest into a part-time or full-time business you don't need to buy ANY piece of camera equipment right now - with the possible exception of a backup body (for now a used d40 would be just fine). Keep doing what you're doing now -- taking LOTS of pictures. Heck, with digital it doesn't COST you anything. And it's lots of fun I have to second the suggestions to develop a business plan. Talk to someone from SCORE (it's a service org. of retired business executives) about identifying a NICHE for your business. Really zero in on a well-defined market and a plan for how to tap into it. When you've really done your homework and determined your direction you won't have to worry about what equipment you need because those needs will become self evident. Go for it.

irene, some good advice up above. as far as your gear list, you do know that the 85mm nikons wont AF on a d40, right? for indoor/low-light stuff, the sigma 30mm is great, and their new 50/1.4 is supposed to be even better wide open. that would equate to a 75mm lens--perfect portrait length--on a DX body, while the 85 might be a bit long. both of these have HSM, so for D40 users, they're great. you might also want to look at the tamron 17-50 and 28-75, both of which have been upgraded with built-in motors. sigma also makes the 50-150/2.8 EX HSM which may not be as good as the cream machine for bokeh, but is just a notch below and covers the entire portrait range, besides AFing on a d40.

if i were you, i'd upgrade my glass (and get a flash and/or other external lighting) before getting a new body, since that will make the biggest difference in IQ.

also, you only have one prime right now, so getting lenses that will AF on your current body might be a better investment than investing into a new body. it may not be worth it to spend $1000 on a d90 since you will still be limited by slow variable apertures (and upgrading to a d80 wont give you any improvement in ISO performance over a d40).

Looking at your Flickr stream, on the photography side, one thing I would recommend that I didn't see above is the purchase of a diffuser.

Since you like natural light and also like to shoot with the subjects in full sun at times, there are a few shots in your stream that have failry hot skin on the highlight side (eg. leo framed 7, leo framed 3, Day 120, leo framed 26, leo framed 24, etc.).

That's not to say that those shots look bad. They don't and are quite pleasing, but a diffuser would help you to control those highlights and hold detail on the light side of the face. Since you are probably working alone, a stand for the diffuser would also be of use as well, although that isn't as good as finding someone to assist.

A simple 5-in-1 (white diffuser, white reflector, silver reflector, gold reflector, black) is fairly cheap, but from what I see in your Flickr stream, I think its almost a natural choice for you (and I'm sure you'll find some really creative ways to use it because you seem to have a fairly natural eye for a shot).

Regards,

Peter

Hi Irene,

Going thru your thread and after watchin your beautiful photo stream over flickr i shud say, u have a collection of very pleasant and warm photos and ur subjects show very little inhibition / stiffness before ur lenses, kudos to your photographic and people skills! :-) considering ur moderate arsenal of equipments, u hav done quite well.

as a bystander, i was just thinking, say being affluent ... today you spend apprx 3000 $$ in equipment to start your business tomorrow and after one year or two - if your business fails to fly or say u get other priorities - then u may hav to sell off all of your extra gear (at a loss) that u dont need as a hobbyist or just hav to let them collect dust in your cupboard and swallow the depriciation cost. it just can happen.

there can be another way; my guess is, if u start a new business in a small town, probably u will not get more than three paying customers / a month for next six months. if that is the case then u can consider hiring equipments for first few gigs and then, say after 10 or 12 gigs you may decide to buy the equipments you hire most frequently. in this manner u will only buy the equipments u need most and if u see ur business is not doing as good as expected and you need to close your door then you will have lesser amount of loss to absorb.

besides that, u can buy a tripod / at least one flash / one shutter release cord / one extra card any day if u must visit the store. :-)

Regards, Mizan

Irene, this topic already got a lof of discussion, but I must chime in since I am almost exactly one step ahead of where you are now. It sounds like we have a lot of the same goals and experiences. I started out a hobby photographer, became an enthusiast, and am now booking my first few weddings. Here's what I have learned.

Versatility and quality of lenses is an absolute must. Having a clear "upgrade path" to more professional equipment will also reduce the cost of your expenditures in the long run. Right now for you I would recommend soaking your money into two lenses that offer equivalent zoom range, but much better bokeh, sharpness, and fast-focusing performance. Those two lenses are

The 17-55mm f/2.8 with VR The 70-200mm f/2.8 with VR

These two lenses give wonderful professional quality pictures that will give you both the bread and butter portraits and landscapes while still offering the speed and DOF to do wonderful artistic work as well and in low light no less. But keep in mind, your best artistic work will be done with prime lenses that have wide apertures such as the 85mm f/1.8, 50mm f/1.4 and so on.

Irene, many of the other suggestions are good about tripods, flashes, business cards, business plans, calibrators, etc. The list is truly never ending (lol). Right now, forget all that and go get your lens gear and ENJOY photography. You can have the right business plan, business cards, pro website, tripod, flash, and still not be able to book one event because you can't afford a lens after all that: ) FYI, you need the lenses more than you need an upgrade to the body of your camera at this point in your career, but you should upgrade the body within the next 6-12 months to the D90 (not D80) or before your first wedding (whichever comes first).

After you buy your lenses (and protective filters), give yourself 3-6 months of shooting every week all over your local area and get to know the romantic little nooks and corners around you.

www.photobrilliance.net

Irene, I think it is great that you have found a hobby that you are considering taking to the next step. After reading your post, I have several suggestion. of which you may disregard all. The following statements are just my opinions.

There are certainly times when natural light portraits will work, but learning about light and having the ability to control it is really essential. Usually when I hear someone saying that 'flash just looks unnatural', I take that as meaning 'I don't know how to really get the most out of my flash to make my shots look natural'. Generally, a flash will add contrast and depth, and sometimes sharpness. Visit strobist.com and also planet neil (google) to take your flash to the next level. BTW, skip the SB-600 and go for an SB-800. They are on runnout and you should be able to pick them up at a great price. The SB-900 would be even better. So far I have resisted.

A tripod is also an essential bit of kit. I recommend a Gitzo with an Arca-Swiss style quick attach system on a ball head.

The last thing you need to buy at the moment is a new camera. The D40 will do just fine, and take images just as good as my D3 will in most conditions. You should be thinking more about the lenses. The 50mm 1.8 you have is a great lens. Two more lenses would cover just about everything for starters. They are the 17-35mm AF-S 2.8 and the 70-200 AF-S 2.8. Stick with proper lenses as opposed to the DX lenses if you can. You will be thankful in a couple of years when you do upgrade to a 35mm camera.

Lightroom 2 is a fantastic program and I find that I am using PS less and less. Make sure your computer has plenty of ram because number 2 is a memory hog.

My last suggestion is that you joins some associations. I am not sure what they are where you live, but this is a great way to network. People in the industry are your friends and generally the best source of knowledge. This is particularly true when it comes to photography as a business.

All the best.

Irene, I haven't seen anything in here about publication costs, beyond business cards, websites and fliers. Sooner or later, you or someone else is going to have to publish that image in order to get them to the customers. This process can be, in and of itself, as large a consumer of your time and resources as the actual image making. This will go back to the question of who are your customers, what is your model, etc.

Like most semi-pro amateurs, I give away more products than I sell. Your business model and goals will affect your process a lot. However, I'll tell you that for all I've seen written on photography, with the exception of maybe website design, there is an almost total absence of discussion on the layout and framing of a print. Framing and presentation is by itself its own kind of business. If you do direct retail, you're going to either have to do some of this yourself or get the services of those who do.

If you do it yourself, I'll tell you up front. From years of amateur painting and photography, I know: you are going to have to log in your hours on the layout table. In order to complete the communications cycle and get that photo on the wall, someone is going to have to prepare that thing for display. It's repetitive, factory-style work. Not a big deal if you do one at a time; do "another hundred" and the repetition will set you daydreaming. It's one of the chores that has to be done by someone. That someone is likely to be you. It's okay. It's rewarding. But, it's something you don't come across very much in photography books or discussions.

I'm convinced, however, that devoting time, energy and resources to layout, packaging and framing can mean the difference between sink or swim in the very small business of a part-time cottage industry trade in photos. Something to think about.

If you don't address it, in some kind of way, you will end up with a large collection of unseen photographs or illustrations. Good luck. J.

I don't think I emphasized this enough. When I say, Takes up your resources, I mean, also, that it's going to cost you. I mean like, another $250 in matboard at a time. The cost of the lenses you are considering could easily be eaten up by presentation and display costs for prints.

Watch the framing, presentation, packaging and display costs. Nothing adds overhead like framing. These analog display costs can go through your budget like Godzilla through Tokyo, if you are not careful. J.

Again, thank you all for your responses. You definitely have given me a lot of things to think about. I appreciate the honest advice.

As I mentioned above, I am very familiar with developing marketing/business plans as I did this professionally prior to deciding to stay home with my kids. I agree it is vital to a business' success to have a concrete and comprehensive plan of what you want to do. Honestly though, it will be a few years before I could really commit myself to being a serious photographer. I have 3 kids, my oldest is 7, my youngest is 3 and my 5 year old is severely disabled. So I have my hands just a bit full. What I really want to do at this time is start building up a portfolio and truly learning what type of photography is my niche. I then hope to start, very slowly, doing paid work - maybe one or two jobs a month. And, once my kids are a bit older, I can then get serious and really work on putting together a business plan, identifying my target market, put together my pricing strategy and then start marketing myself.

At this point, I may invest in LR2. Since my husband can get a substantial teacher discount, it wouldn't be a huge investment. And I love processing photos so it really serves as a great new toy for me!

I think I will also consider getting another prime lens such as the 30 1.4 or 85 1.8 and a flash. The 24 - 70 2.8 zoom would be incredible to have, but the cost is just out of my range at this point. But definitely is on my list of long term items. And yes, diffuser/reflector is definitely a must have with a very low investment.

Again, thanks SO much for all of your input. I know the market is flooded with MWC's but I refuse to let that stop me. The advent of digital photography has made it very easy to so many more people to consider being professional photographers. And that is not necessarily a bad thing. I personally think all the increased competition has resulted in a significant increase in the quality of photographers available. Some of you may disagree...