make cash from portraits
Portraits are a great way to earn money from photography – this will help you get started
If you enjoy shooting subjects that talk back, maybe it’s time you started making cash from your portraits. You don’t need much equipment if you start by taking outdoor portraits in natural light. Any DSLR or CSC will be up to the job.
You also need to think about your lenses. While a kit lens can produce great results, a wider-aperture standard zoom, such as the pro’s favourite 24-70mm f/2.8, will allow you to achieve shallower depth of field than the f/5.6 maximum aperture at the longest end of most standard zooms. The other lens that’s worth investing in is a 50mm f/1.8, as this will give you even narrower depth of field.
People skills
Along with your photographic skills, taking successful portraits relies on your ability to get the best from the people you are shooting. There are many ways to do this, from cracking jokes to simply chatting with the subject to find out what their interests are. But the key skill is being able to put subjects at ease at the same time as you are shooting amazing images. This means that you need to be completely confident in your photographic technique, so you can concentrate on the person during the shoot and not have to think about your camera settings.
This ability comes naturally to some, but if your people skills don’t quite match your photographic ones then you’ll need to spend plenty of time practising this on any willing subjects (try friends or family) if you’re going to make it as a portrait photographer.
Getting the best out of your subject is only one part of your job, though. If you are going it alone as a portrait photographer, you’ll also need to be able to sell yourself and your services before you can get the work and, depending on your business model, you may also need to sell the prints to the customer after the shoot in order to make money.
Find a style
From using available light and wide apertures to give a soft, dream-like appearance, to under-exposing the background and using off-camera flash to light the subject for a harsher, highcontrast look, the style of your images will have a huge influence on the success or failure of your business. Take a look at the images by many successful portrait photographers and you’ll notice that they will often have a style of shooting that is immediately recognisable. This recognisable style helps them attract clients who want that ‘look’, and also makes their images stand out from those taken by other portrait photographers.
Identifying your style of portrait photography will also help you market and promote your services to the right type of customer. The light, informal look of shooting into the light and using flare, for example, won’t suit a customer looking for a more serious, business-style portrait, while the strong look of overpowering daylight with off-camera flash won’t appeal to many families or those looking for a bright portrait to put on their wall at home.
Marketing matters
You’ve got the photography skills, and you’re great at getting the best from your models, but these alone won’t turn your portrait photography into a business if nobody knows about you. So you’ll also need to spend plenty of time promoting and marketing your services to make it successful. You can start by word of mouth, as even in this digital age there’s nothing like a personal recommendation to help get you clients. Then there are the traditional marketing tools such as business cards and leaflets. Although these aren’t as essential as they used to be it’s still worth having some made, particularly cards, as they are a great way of getting your name and details into the hands of potential customers.
These traditional methods can work well, but they will work much better if they are backed up with a professionallooking website and presence on social media. When it comes to using social media such as Facebook or Twitter, if you already have a personal account then it’s possible to use this. But if this account is full of unprofessional images and comments you’ll need to set up separate accounts specifically for your business.
Pet portraits
Along with traditional portrait photography, there’s also a growing market for pet