So you think you can make Money From Photography! By Lotfi Hamrouni 12/02/2013
Ways of Making Money from Photography: 1
Shoot and Sell Stock Photography - Taking stock photos has never been easier. The principal being simply go out and shoot high-quality photos, upload them to a stock website and then wait for people to buy them (for use in magazines, websites, design – you name it). - If you are thinking about selling stock as a complete beginner, you might be frustrated at first. Many stock photo websites have a high standard, and you may need to brush up on various aspects of your photography before you start seeing success! - Try to shoot one particular style of stock and become good at what you do. Trying to sell a random mix is often difficult. When people view your images, they often look for a collection of the same kind.
Good sites to sell stock photography include: iStockPhoto – One of the best known stock websites, although you have to reach certain criteria to be accepted Getty Images – Sells a high range of different styles of stocks – very pro! Jupiter images – One of the leading stock sites at the current time. Fotolia – Very popular, but with thousands of images, yours can easily be hidden. Shutterstock.com - very popular among corporate clients because it offer attractive package for downloading high quality photos with more that 10,000 images added daily, you'll find something inspiring every time you visit. Recently they created new stock for iphone!
Ways of Making Money from Photography: 2
Market Your Images as Prints
Putting your prints up for sale can be really easy. The hard part is getting people to purchase them! -
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To begin with you could try and upload your images to a printing website, and then just hope someone will stop by and purchase one. If this happens, the website you upload them to will often take a chunk of the profit. In return, they deal with all the printing and posting of the end product. It’s easy to do, but the returns can be minimal. A few sites to explore for this are: Red Bubble – An attractive website with growing popularity Imagekind.com – One of the biggest print websites online Picasso Mio – Showcase to 200,000 monthly visitors with free unlimited uploading Secondly, you could print your own images and then attempt to sell them straight to the customer (or get a local gallery to sell your images on your behalf). This takes more time, but is likely to have a higher success rate. Remember to sell prints which people would want in their houses – a photo of your cat or dog probably isn’t the way to go!
Ways of Making Money from Photography: 3
Get Hired!
Being hired as a photographer is the hardest thing on this list. It can be a slow ride getting to the top. I remember my first time was an exciting experience, being one of the official photographers for Prince Andrew the Duke of York visit to Abu Dhabi at The Club. The next day(24th Nov 2012), I got one of my photos of Prince Andrew in the National Newspaper http://www.thenational.ae/news/uae-news/duke-of-yorkattends-event-at-the-club
The easiest way to start out is to advertise yourself as a photographer to local businesses, friends and colleagues. You might be lucky and find yourself getting your first job. Building your portfolio this way is important, and you’ll receive more work through word-of-mouth if you’re good. My word of caution would be not to take on more than you can cope with. For example, attempting a shoot at wedding without preparation or the correct gear could be disastrous. Don’t accept a job you know you cannot do!
Ways of Making Money from Photography: 4
Buy and Sell Equipment
It sounds silly, but instead of taking photos why not try and sell photographic equipment? If you’re already a photography expert, you’re in a perfect situation to advertise and sell to the correct kind of people. - Simply you can sell accessories such as filters, lenses and to start order a bulk batch of a certain item and then use the internet to sell them. You can also sell your/friends used gear through eBay or Dubizzle. All you have to do is set a reasonable price and deal with people professionally. -
Ways of Making Money from Photography: 5
Share Your Knowledge (For a Price!) If you feel you’ve reached a good enough level to be able to teach people, then go ahead!
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You could always set up a camera club and charge people to come and learn new techniques.
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Offer photography courses to the local communities, school, corporate and Photography companies /agencies.
Are you a “Luck Shooter”? Pin point if you are a “Luck Shooter” before you start Photography Business!!
1- Taking too many photos (500 in 1 hour!) 2- Shooting session take longer that it should 3- Panic, nervous, out of control when shooting 4- Cannot explain later to someone how you took that shot 5- Shy from manual and take same shot with different settings; just in case! 6- Clients get confused as you have taken hundreds of photos and show them only 20; Can you explain to them?
You don’t get a second chance for the first impression!
Are you ready for Freelance Photography Business? And your answer is… - Yes 100% - May be 50/50 - Not really but I will try
Rethink before considering this venture! - Slow down! - Build your portfolio Go back to Marketing Basics - Identify your USP - Adjust the 3Ps Marketing Mix. Products, Pricing & Promotion Keep in mind… You do not need suitcases of equipment or top prizes in major contests to be a successful Photographer!
Making Money as Freelance Photographer
You don’t have to be a great photographer to succeed in Photography Business!
The truth is (many Photographers don’t admit this), there are much better photographers out there but you may be better in selling yourself.
You should diversify your business to better your chances for survival.
Unfortunately, it takes much more than talent to make money as a photographer. To be successful, you have to be able to effectively sell yourself. It doesn’t matter if you want to do wedding photography, sports photography, product photography or simply work for the local newspaper – you have to market and sell yourself and your talent.
How to get Clients? Here are some tips on finding and closing more paid work:
Identify Your Target Market:
Identify Target Clients Within Your Market:
Think Like A Business Person: the only reason someone will buy your photos or use your services
be unique, cover a variety of Photography types and spend some real time thinking about what you want to do, what you really want to do and then write it down. Once you figure out that you want to shoot luxury hotels, then your potential client list is much simpler to put together. Now you have a long list of potential clients, you have to find the way to right person and decision makers. Once you manage to get through now you have to secure business through professional manners by arranging for meeting, presentation, emails, FB, website, etc. is because they think they will make money doing it. Put some thought into the business questions they’ll be asking as they evaluate you and your work: What is the value of these photos/services to my business? Will this help me maintain and grow my clients? What’s going to be my ROI for this expenditure? What is the value of this expenditure relative to other choices in the marketplace? If you can satisfactorily answer some of these questions in your initial proposal to whomever your end client is, you’ll be head and shoulders above your competition and well on your way to winning the business.
Learn How To Live With Rejection:
To be a successful photographer, you have to sell yourself like a pro.
once you start marketing your self, you’ll hear many, many more “no’s” than you will ever hear “yes.” For many photographers, it’s really, really tough to hear things like: “we’re not hiring” or “we don’t need you right now” or “you’re not what we’re looking for” or any other of a thousand forms of the word “no.” Worse yet, in many cases you don’t hear anything at all – you leave several voicemails, send several emails, and never to even get a courtesy response acknowledging your efforts to make contact. It’s frustrating. You may realise that every job you get, there are at least 10 others you have tried for and didn’t get. And for every job you get, it’s only after being politely persistent over time. Unless you are really a successful Photographers and you have a waiting list for Photography projects!
Reliability is your Success Card
Building a reputation for being RELIABLE
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When you promise to deliver the photos in 7 days, you deliver the photos in 5/6 days When you say the cost will be AED 1000, you present an invoice for AED1000 (unless, of course, new things were added that were not in the original agreement) When new potential clients call, you respond immediately and follow up quickly When you do a job you stay in touch and let your client know where you are with the project Following the above tips you build a client list and referrals that testify your reliability and professionalism. Then you should post your updated profile and jobs completed on your website with web links
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What are the options of setting up your Freelance Business in UAE?
Free Zones
License Fees
Period
Security Deposit
Visa Fees
Start Up Cost
Renewal Cost
Twofour54 Abu Dhabi
AED 2,500
1 Year
AED 5,000
AED 2,200
AED 10,000
AED 2,500
Media City Dubai(GPP)
AED 13,500
1 Year
N/A
Package
AED 48,000
AED 35,000
Creative Zone Ajman
Package
1 Year
N/A
AED 7,000
AED 17,500
AED 17,500
Virtuzone Fujairah
Package
1 Year
N/A
AED 6,000
AED 30,000
AED 27,000
Ask the Expert 1 1- Is there a market for Freelance Photographers in UAE? Yes there is a market for Freelance Photography and the best way is to register as Freelance Photographer in Abu Dhabi in particular through Twofour54. That makes Photographers 100% legal and secures their payments from clients when the job is completed.
2- Can Photographers consider this business on full or part time? Part time yes, full time would require experience, contracts with major clients and Media to secure your business. Investment in setting up an Agency or a Studio, need time to build a name that people and companies recognize and rely on.
3- Do companies in UAE give Photography projects to Professional Freelance Photographers or they prefer to deal with well established Photography companies / Studios? Companies in Abu Dhabi require a well established Photography Agency and will not hire Freelancers unless they are officially registered or work with a registered Agency. Some private Agencies will hire Freelancers however it is at their own risk. So they have no claim if anything goes wrong and the Freelancer has no way of securing the funds for his/her work.
Ask the Expert 2 4- How much do studios / photography companies pay for Freelance Photographers? Is it per hour or photo? Definitely not by photo, pricing depends on the reputation of the photographer, and many other aspects. What is the event? How long will it go on for? What does the client want? Editing? No Editing? Corporate? Private? Wedding? How qualified is the photographer? If I photograph a project myself, with the credentials and the client I have worked with I could charge as much as AED8,000 for a couple hour shoot and corporate companies will happily pay it. On the other hand if it is a general event, no special requirements, standard prices vary between 2,500 - 3,000. Weddings usually are priced around AED 5,000 and could be more if includes pre shoot. Basic low cost photographers who are not so specialised can cost something between AED700 to 1000 to hire.
If I was doing a Wedding, I mean sending out one of my team, I would charge no less than AED7,000 and people pay it because usually all the clients who come to us for this service have been referred to us through a previous happy client.
Ask the Expert 3 5- How much do Freelancers charge per hour if they deal directly with clients? Established studios charge AED 500 per hour. Freelancers get paid AED 700 - 1,000 per full shoot irrespective of hours. Companies will not hire any freelancer that charges above that price because it will not be of benefit to them when adding their agency fees. If Freelancers deal with clients directly, they will get approximately AED1,000 if the client is a well established organisation. Small companies will not pay that much for freelancers.
6- Do you have any tips for Freelance Photographers in Abu Dhabi to succeed in this business? Many!! But again this needs a full discussion. In Short, if hired clients require top quality work, know your photography, do not hold back on equipment, and make sure you know how to edit photo's before presenting to client because many would require edited photos and if you are unable to edit yourself otherwise you will end up paying for that service.
Final check list before you start your Photography Business:
Have a passion for Photography and like working with people and making them happy Have a Business Plan Have basic Photography equipments and plan to buy expensive gear as your business grows Have full control of your expenses daily, weekly and monthly Have financial support while setting up your business without debts or loans Make your decision to run a Company, Partnership or Freelance Know how to get clients to start your business Know how to sell yourself
DO WHAT YOU ENJOY AND YOU WILL ENJOY WHAT YOU DO! GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY BUSINESS THANK YOU LOTFI
