The market for photography is $10 billion dollars in the United States and is expect to grow at a rate of 1.8 percent annually.
Still images and video are needed more than ever in the digital age in portraits, business promotion, product photography, food photography, event photography and editorial photography to illustrate articles, news sources and websites. While the costs of photographer and the fees paid to photographers have decreased due to easier to use and process digital photography the need for images is always increasing.
The Photography industry has experienced several changes as digital cameras and post-production technologies have increasingly affected operators. While photographers are benefiting from the changes by increasing their efficiency and availability, consumers are now able to take professional-quality images without the need of a specialist.
Revenue is expected to improve slightly in the next five years as photographer focus on niche markets, such as events, sports and church directory photography.
Common industry services include school and family portraits, special events photography and sports’ photography. As consumers make up the largest buyers of these services, photography studios tend to be concentrated in densely populated areas.
Cities, in addition to being densely populated, have the largest amount of business activity. This leads industry establishments that focus on commercial and industrial photography to also concentrate in densely populated areas although the web allows photographers to find International and Domestic markets.
Top Ways to Make Money With Your Camera
1 – Sell Prints – I talk about how to sell prints of your photographs in my series on Print On Demand sites – https://www.dogfordstudios.com/understanding-print-demand/
You can also sell prints locally at galleries and arts and crafts fairs.
2 – Stock Photography – You can upload your images to a stock photography agency who will then offer them to image buyers and designers to be used in publications, on the web, on products etc.
For example the above image title “Wash Day” and which I sell as prints has also been licensed for use on the cover of a pet magazine in Florida. https://edwardfielding.me/2014/02/07/wash-day-makes-the-front-page/
A few things to remember about stock photography:
- Fine art photographs are not always suitable for stock images and conversely not all stock images make great fine art photographs.
- Stock photographs need to be useful for the business buyers/designers. They need copyspace, they need images that will illustrate the products and services they are selling or support the editorial in a magazine or on a blog.
- A stock portfolio needs to be diverse, constantly updated and have a very large number of unique images to get noticed. If you think you’ll upload 40 images and then kick back and watch the money flow in, you will be disappointed.
3 – Event Photography – Capturing images for an event such as a wedding, party, club, or special occasion is a great way to make money with your camera. Even though everyone has a camera these days on their smart phone, smart people and people with money to spend on the good things in life know that it better to leave important things like capturing the event in pictures to the pros with the good equipment. The pro might be the only one not drunk and certainly the only one in the room fully concentrated on getting the job done.
4. Portraits – From Headshots to Mugshots – the ability to photograph people well is the ticket to success. Landscapes are for the hobbyists and amateurs. Professionally produced portaits are money in the bank for the professional photographer. Learn how to make people look good and you will have a successful photography business.