What Is Freelance Photography?

A photographer that is for hire for an array of types of photography is practicing freelance photography. At one point, or another, in the lives of most photographers, there is a period when there aren’t one or two specific photography niches that they specialize in.

Freelance photography allows photographers to hire themselves out in different photography niches, as well as sell their photos as stock photography. Customers hire freelance photographers when they have a need for some quality photography but they don’t have the skills, the equipment or the time to do it themselves.

Freelance photographers typically and often work odd hours. It is not unusual for a photographer to have an irregular shooting schedule, or a photo session at off hours of the day or night. Most freelancers enjoy theflexibility that this allows.

Actually, there are basically only two types of photography:

1. stock photography and
2. assignment photography

Stock photography is the selling of photos after they have been taken (as a rule). And assignment photography is when photographers are hired to photograph people, places and things as determined by thecustomer hiring. The term ‘hired’ can be misleading. The photographer is not an employee of the customer, but a self-employed consultant.

Part-Time Freelance Photography

Part-time photographers can do very well as freelance photographers.

Many photographers use freelance photography:

• to find photography markets that pay the most in an area;
  
• to find out what specific photography types are in the highest demand;
  
• to transition to full-time or more focused niche photography; and
  
• to sell their own photos themselves

My experience continues to be that most photographers freelance. There are just a couple of prerequisites to freelance:

1. A digital camera
2. Internet access
3. Know-How

That’s it! Of course, there is much more needed to be efficient and proficient. But, that is really all you need to get started.

What Is Freelance Photography?

It is a tremendous help if the photographer knows the various photography niches. Many photographers are sometimes confused by the “photography niche” issue. As a rule, photographers want to photograph everything! That’s fine. However, knowing the various photography niches helps photographers in a number of ways.

First of all, knowing the niche will help the photographer understand that standards within the specific niche. For examples, portrait photography is a niche. Within the niche of portrait photography there are niches. Senior portraits and executive portraits are examples of two distinct niches within a niche. The standards of ‘senior’ portraits are somewhat more ’creative,’ ‘edgy,’ and personality-driven. And, of course, the standards for executive portrait photography are dramatically different from those of ‘senior’ portrait photography. It helps the quality of the photo when the photographer knows the niche standards’ differences.

Also, knowing the specific photography niche is very helpful to the photographer in choosing how to communicate marketing messages to customers. Using the ‘senior portrait’ example and the ‘executive portrait’ again, the photographer’s marketing message must be different because one audience is a bunch of high school students. The other audience is experienced professionals. The languages that appeals to them are dramatically different. Knowing the niche helps determine the useful language and categories.

Also, knowing specific photography niches will help the photographer compile great looking portfolios. Some of the biggest mistakes that photographers make are with their portfolios. One mistake is that photographers put too much in their photography portfolio. Sometimes, people portraits are mixed with landscape photography, etc. Although the offending photographers’ intent is to show their work, to the experienced eye, they’re showing their lack of knowledge. With portfolios, less is more! 

Photographers should only show their best. And niches shouldn’t be mixed unless the portfolio is specifically demonstrating the range of the photographer. Unless the ‘range’ portfolio is requested, stick with the ‘less-is-more’ specific niche.

How To Freelance Photography

This is the challenge for most photographers that freelance – knowing what to do, when to do it, where to do it and how! That is a lot to know! But, you can learn over time. It isn’t necessary to “know-it-all” before you start. Knowing the basics, however, is key.

• A good thing to know is that the current growth explosion in the photography industry has a positive effect on freelance photography. The current demand worldwide for photos is not being met by current supply. Freelance photographers can profit from that growth.
  
•  Freelance photography is perfect for home-based photographers. In fact, many people are choosing photography as a source of extra income. This is the perfect fit for the work-at-home-moms of the world.
  
• Knowing what is selling in the market is done through research. Research what is in demand, what are the prices, what is the most lucrative, what are prices, etc.
   
• Knowing how to shoot quality photos is critical. Again, it’s important to know the standards of the different photography niches. Standards of quality are a given. However, within some specific niches there are varying standards – that benefits the photographer that knows the differences.
  
• Editing photos ‘know-how’ is very helpful to the freelance photographer. Digital photos often needsome minor editing. (As a side note, digital photo editing is a photography niche that many knowing photographers freelance in.)
  
• In this digital photography world, knowing how to optimize (make easier to find) web pages, photos,titles, descriptions and keywords will help customers find your photos online.
  
• Knowing ‘where’ to start saves a tremendous amount of time (and money, sometimes – if you don’t know, you might purchase unnecessary expensive equipment that you don’t need).

Knowing where to find good information is the ultimate solution. There is an “information overload” in freelance photography ‘how-to.’ Unfortunately, much of it isn’t that “informative.” Two very good and very informative freelance photography beginning solutions and why they are very good (in my opinion):

• Both provide good ‘how-to’ information on where and how to start. Both also provide very good brief explanationsof the different photography niches. And you will be successful following the steps in both of them. One of them offersmore information about successfully entering the stock photography market. A consistent source of income for the freelance photographer is selling their existing photos as stock. This one provides information on taking photos and selling them to magazines. The magazines’ guidelines, requests, prices paid, etc. are provided
  
• The other resource is also very good and very informative. This particular resource offers a 100% guarantee that their freelance photography course will make you money.

I have both of them. They are both very, very good! Successful freelance photography is very doable and very within your reach.

Freelancing also develops your photography business skills. It’s one of the best kept secrets in photography. But, now you “know the secret!”

Rule of Thirds in Digital Photography

The rule of thirds is a very useful tool for composing images in photography. And to top it off, it’s free! Doesn’t require any add on equipment to your camera, any shoe mounts, anything like that! This article will attempt to demystify the mysterious Rule of Thirds.

To follow this rule, simply take a photo and divide it up into three sections vertically and three sections horizontally. Now, as you can see from doing this there are three boxes on the top, three in the middle, and three at the bottom. The box in the middle of all of them is the center. This compositional rules basically advises you not to take pictures in that middle box.

What this does is makes you have to try and position the subject so that he/she or it is not dead center. This creates more visually interesting images.

When you take a photo of a person, the main focal point will be the eyes. Now, you can take a photo of a person dead center, however, follow the rule still! Put the eyes anywhere but the middle box. You can put the eyes in the top box instead. Their body will be dead center but their face will be in the upper area.

Now, when you follow this rule you also need to be careful to leave plenty of head room when shooting people. This room is space around the head and will make your photo not look claustrophobic. Also, if your person is looking towards the left, leave plenty of room at the left side of the photo and less on the right.

How to Take Good Shots of Landscapes

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Many of the best photographs taken by professionals are of landscapes and scenic expanses of rolling plains or magnificent mountains. However, a major problem of many landscape captures is they usually don’t look as captivating as the real scenes do. The quality of landscape photos distinguish between a professional, seasoned photographer and an amateur. There is a concern regarding the vastness of scene—the detail that should be captured. Details are significant because they tell whether you’re photo is a nice capture or not.

Making good photographs is as not as easy as it seems but these ideas should be able to help you.

What equipment to bring

Quality lenses – Digital SLR cameras are often used for landscape photography, and these cameras use a set of different lenses unlike compact cameras. It’s wise to invest in premium lenses, which do not cause aberration. For landscapes, you should be opting for wide angle lenses.

Tripod – Nice tripods remain still even against strong winds and should have adjustable legs. A tripod is indispensable equipment for a fine shot of a scenery.

Filters – You can use these to come up with photographs with high image quality with vivid colors and well balanced brightness. While these aspects can be enhanced with software like Photoshop, filters ensure that images are of superior quality from the start.

Shutter release cable – This is not the most essential thing you might add in your backpack but comes handy when you’re too worried about the camera shake you’d make with every nudge of the shutter button. The simpler alternative is to use the self-timer option although this is not too reliable with moving subjects.

Durable camera bag – You most probably should buy a quality bag for your photography equipment. Landscape photography could mean you would be carrying loads of gadgets and gears. Backpack style carrying bag would suit you best for long hikes while you find a good spot.

Landscape Photography Tips

1. Watch the sky – It’s a significant element in your landscape pictures. You can have a photo that is dominated by the sky or the foreground depending on which of the two has a more arresting appearance. You may want to catch a picturesque weather drama or interesting cloud formations in the sky on a still that becomes a sky-dominated photograph. You may enhance the sky-foreground color balance by using polarizing filters.

2. Angle of the sun in the sky – The most captivating photographs of landscapes are done early in the morning or late in the afternoon when the low sun rays create a dramatic effect on the landscape and highlight features and terrain.

3. Exploit the weather – One of the most amazing landscape photography techniques in making breathtaking landscape pictures is to consider the weather, which can change the mood of a scene. You may be given to taking pictures on sunny days but watch out for gloomy days with ominous cloud patterns for they can create a picturesque spectacular effect on a landscape. Sometimes, storms, billowing clouds, dark skies, fog, and gusts can create awe-inspiring photographs.

4. Where is your horizon – When taking photos of landscapes, you inevitably would have to figure out where to position your horizon. As implied earlier, horizons in pictures can be at the bottom or top third of the photo—depending on whichever draws more attention, the sky or the foreground. But this rule of thirds can sometimes be broken. Ideally, horizons should be seen on a horizontal stretch across the photograph.

5. Work with lines – Lines can help add details, perspective, and a sense of depth in your photos. Lines needn’t be real lines but hedges, row of trees, or any linear element.

There are a lot more tips out there and you’ll discover them as you get to add more techniques to what you already have. In fact, you’ll make your own unique approaches as you become a seasoned image capturing artist.

…enjoy,

by Roy Barker

www.profitable-photography.com

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