Although photographers spend hundreds of hours learning the art of photography, the one aspect that's often left out in school is how to actually make money. Here we'll explore 15 creative ways to get your foot in the door as a paid digital photographer.
Method #1 - Selling Stock Photography: Selling stock photography is easier than you may think. Just take some of your best photos and submit them to stock photography sites. They will be reviewed and if it's a good photo, it will hopefully be accepted. You'll get paid about $1-2 every time someone uses your photo.
Method #2 - Screensavers: There's a lot more money in screensavers than people realize. Take a series of photographs along a theme and make your own screensaver. If the photos are good, they'll do great on screensaver sites or on eBay.
Method #3 - eBay Sellers: Speaking of eBay, eBay can be a great source of business. eBay sellers often have very poor photos of images they sell over and over. Set up a local service photographing eBay items.
Method #4 - Wedding Photographer: Photographing weddings is a great way to make a lot of money for very little time. Great marketing and a great portfolio is essential to differentiate yourself.
Method #5 - Restaurant Photographer: Restaurants often need photos of their restaurant or their dishes for their menu's and websites. You can work directly with restaurants or make yourself available to designers who work with restaurants.
Method #6 - Real Estate Agents: Real estate agents need listing photographs of new homes they're listing. Get yourself a few real estate agents you work with regularly and you could quickly be booked with work.
Method #7 - Insurance Photographer: One of the most tedious tasks of getting insurance is having everything in your home photographed. For highly paid professionals, they would often rather pay someone to do the work than do it themselves. Positioning yourself as an insurance photographer is a great way to get started with paying gigs.
Method #8 - Online Dating Photographer: Both men and women often want to have great photos of them taken for online dating profiles. This is a great way to make some quick cash.
Method #9 - Working with Cafe's: Cafe's would often love to have your art on their wall for free. In exchange, you can post your photos with a price tag on their walls until you get a buyer for your art.
Method #10 - Sporting Events: Smaller sporting events such as high school games or little league games often want to have their photos taken. It's a great way for a beginning photographer to get their foot in the door.
Method #11 - Church Directories: A church directory is an album that contains photographs of all their members along with their contact information. Church directories are quite common among churches in higher end neighborhoods. You can easily sell your services as a photographer to help create church directories.
Method #12 - Create T Shirts: T shirts have been and will continue to be great sellers online. Taking photos, putting them on shirts and selling them on eBay or T shirt websites is a great way to make money as a photographer.
Method #13 - Craigslist: Craigslist is a great place to find paying gigs. Hundreds of photographers are using Craigslist to connect with clients. It's the most trafficked classified website on the internet.
Method #14 - Take Portraits: Portrait photography is a highly profitable business models for photographers. There are two ways you can go about doing portraits: Setting up your own practice, or working with another studio.
Method #15 - Photo Blogging: People love looking at images. If you continue to take images people like to look at and publish them, you can quickly build up a following.
You now have 15 great ideas to get you started as a professional photographer. Just one of these ideas can keep you busy for months. Pick the one that resonates with you and run with it!
Method #1 - Selling Stock Photography: Selling stock photography is easier than you may think. Just take some of your best photos and submit them to stock photography sites. They will be reviewed and if it's a good photo, it will hopefully be accepted. You'll get paid about $1-2 every time someone uses your photo.
Method #2 - Screensavers: There's a lot more money in screensavers than people realize. Take a series of photographs along a theme and make your own screensaver. If the photos are good, they'll do great on screensaver sites or on eBay.
Method #3 - eBay Sellers: Speaking of eBay, eBay can be a great source of business. eBay sellers often have very poor photos of images they sell over and over. Set up a local service photographing eBay items.
Method #4 - Wedding Photographer: Photographing weddings is a great way to make a lot of money for very little time. Great marketing and a great portfolio is essential to differentiate yourself.
Method #5 - Restaurant Photographer: Restaurants often need photos of their restaurant or their dishes for their menu's and websites. You can work directly with restaurants or make yourself available to designers who work with restaurants.
Method #6 - Real Estate Agents: Real estate agents need listing photographs of new homes they're listing. Get yourself a few real estate agents you work with regularly and you could quickly be booked with work.
Method #7 - Insurance Photographer: One of the most tedious tasks of getting insurance is having everything in your home photographed. For highly paid professionals, they would often rather pay someone to do the work than do it themselves. Positioning yourself as an insurance photographer is a great way to get started with paying gigs.
Method #8 - Online Dating Photographer: Both men and women often want to have great photos of them taken for online dating profiles. This is a great way to make some quick cash.
Method #9 - Working with Cafe's: Cafe's would often love to have your art on their wall for free. In exchange, you can post your photos with a price tag on their walls until you get a buyer for your art.
Method #10 - Sporting Events: Smaller sporting events such as high school games or little league games often want to have their photos taken. It's a great way for a beginning photographer to get their foot in the door.
Method #11 - Church Directories: A church directory is an album that contains photographs of all their members along with their contact information. Church directories are quite common among churches in higher end neighborhoods. You can easily sell your services as a photographer to help create church directories.
Method #12 - Create T Shirts: T shirts have been and will continue to be great sellers online. Taking photos, putting them on shirts and selling them on eBay or T shirt websites is a great way to make money as a photographer.
Method #13 - Craigslist: Craigslist is a great place to find paying gigs. Hundreds of photographers are using Craigslist to connect with clients. It's the most trafficked classified website on the internet.
Method #14 - Take Portraits: Portrait photography is a highly profitable business models for photographers. There are two ways you can go about doing portraits: Setting up your own practice, or working with another studio.
Method #15 - Photo Blogging: People love looking at images. If you continue to take images people like to look at and publish them, you can quickly build up a following.
You now have 15 great ideas to get you started as a professional photographer. Just one of these ideas can keep you busy for months. Pick the one that resonates with you and run with it!
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