How to Make Money From Digital Photography

You can make money many ways with digital photography. You'll need a computer, Photoshop or some other imaging software, a high-quality SLR camera body and an assortment of lenses. A website can help advertise your digital photography business and let customers preview and order images. A photographer also must start a relationship with a professional photo lab where the finished images will be made. Though daunting, you can make money with digital photography with hard work and desire.

Things You'll Need

• High quality SLR camera with lenses Computer with photo editing software

Instructions

1. Shoot local youth sports teams. Contact local leagues or teams to find those that need a photographer. Most of these shots will be for "trading card"-type pictures, individual portraits and team photographs. Also consider shooting action shots; some photographers have printed pictures on the spot with printers the have brought with them.

2. Take senior portraits. Get your foot in the door by photographing your child or the high school-age child of a friend who will pose for you. Get those sample prints into the hands of other high school students--word-of-mouth advertising works well because teens will shares and show their pictures with all of their friends.

3. Submit your best photographs to a stock photo agency. Once accepted, the photo is available to be licensed for use by clients of that agency. Stock agencies such as Shutterstock (see Additional Resources below) license photographs for a small fee so you'll make only a small amount when you sell a photo. However, once a photo is accepted, it may be licensed many times a year, earning you a regular income.

4. Start a fine-art photography business, selling prints from a website and from attending art shows. Fine-art photography can be a lucrative market; large framed prints can sell for a premium. This type of photography is all on the artist--only the highest quality work will bring profitable prices. Concentrate on subjects such as landscapes, cityscapes, manipulated images--the areas are limitless.

5. Target the magazine cover market. This is highly competitive, but a phenomenal photo taken by a novice can make a cover. Purchase a Writer's Market guide book to get listings for magazines that cover a multitude of subjects. Pick a subject, say saltwater fishing, and when you've shot a great image, submit it to one of the many fishing magazines you find in the Writer's Market.

Resources

• Shutterstock stock photos
• iStockphoto stock photos
• Writer's Guide resource
• Miller's Professional Imaging lab