How to Make Money As A Photographer: Commissioned Photography

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By sachphotography
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Thats Me.

There are many different ways to make money by taking pictures. I would like to help you understand how to make money as a commissioned photographer.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Step 1

Network! Network! Network!
The majority of businesses in the world rise and fall due to the power of networking. People often fail to realize how important Networking is. Once you have established yourself among your own network, you will have a network of people sending you work. One way I built my own network was by offering referral contracts. I would write out a contract for people who would refer me business and in turn I would pay then a pay a referral fee.
Step 2

Upon establishing yourself in your network, your next step would be to submit work to places relevant to your niche. If you photograph horses, find a horse magazine and submit your photos to them. If you photograph dogs, submit your work to a dog magazine. In addition to magazines, a good resource to submit to is publishers. While some publishers use stock photography as a source of pictures, many still commission photographers and or use work submitted.
Step 3

After you work is submitted, something to remember is that your work can be and will be used for whatever the publisher desires. You may see your picture in a magazine 3 or 4 different times, and on the other end you may never see it. Once you have established yourself a reliable and quality photographer you have the opportunity to be commissioned to take specific photos requested by publishers.
Step 4

When you receive a phone call for work; how do you react? The key to being successful is to have a plan in writing. I have taken the time to write a generalized phone script for each type of request. If a person calls me I grab a relevant script and go of what I have written. By doing this you sound more confident, knowledgeable, and respectable rather than someone who stumbles through trying to figure out things in their head on a moment’s notice. The biggest thing is confidence in you.
Step 5

Understand your limits. While it is good to push yourself to do better, one thing to realize is that you are not the best in the world and cannot do every job that comes your way. Things to take into consideration are costs, time and equipment. If the commission for your work cost more than or equal to 50% of the income potential, you need to consider whether or not it is worth it to you as a photographer. The time is takes to shoot a photograph is just as important as cost. If a photo takes 10 hrs to shoot but only pays equal to less than 10/ an hr, you need to consider if it is worth it to you. I charge an average of 50-75 an hour. If you are shooting film print and film cost are an important factor as well
Step 6

Use a proper invoice. An invoice serves two purposes, one it helps to keep track of all income, and two is good to be able to reference for other work that may come your way. On your invoice be sure to add: Your name, the date, a generalized description, a breakdown of cost associated and the total amount due to you. Be sure to include some sort of statement regarding a timely payment. I give 30 days to be paid or I will not release the right to the photo and terminate any contract signed. If the company uses the photo and u did not give the rights, you are then able to sue the company for damages.

Comments

simplelife said

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on 8/1/2009 These are good tips for a photographer starting a business. I especially liked the idea of writing scripts for use when answering the phone. Great idea! Thanks.