ozmerelda Loc: Osprey, FL

There's an old saying:
If you don't know where you are going, how will you know when you get there?

May I suggest you start with a business plan.

Try Bplans.com. They have a free webinar.

Good luck!

Fotomacher Loc: Toronto

Let me add my 5cents to the dialogue. While I do agree that you need a better camera, it's only so you're not using a body your prospective clients can pick up at Costco. The advice concerning IQ is spot on, which is why I recommend that you buy used. Also, a pro-level body will allow you to make changes without the need to access the laborious menu system. Look at a D700 or any of the D3 series. If you go D700, get a battery grip for more shooting before the battery conks out. Buy a Stroboframe (used) so that you can hold your rig longer and more easily. Buy an inexpensive reflector, 2 sided, with one gold side to warm up the light on your subjects. Establish a price for the shoot including 10 or 12 pp images. More images are more $$. Use a watermark. Have fun, make some money.

Robin Poole Loc: Missoula, Mt

One of the first things you should do to do is identify your market and product. Then play the old Who, What, Where, When and WHY game. Make a portfolio that's compatible with your market. You might have to cut your shooting fee to get into the market but charge more for the finished product If people like what you shoot they'll pay extra for it But WHY do they like it? Maybe you have a style that made a pic that your customer LOVED and that style can be promoted. Good Luck!!!

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Wow! What a memory - or filing system.

jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ

I would imagine that it takes experience. Keep doing what you are doing and eventually you will find yourself making money. It doesn't happen overnight. Start doing small weddings, portraits, and other personal events and you'll get the all the experience you need first hand.

StevenBrownPhoto Loc: Excelsior, MN

I believe, very often, friends and family are just being nice when complementing another's photography. There's nothing wrong with that, but one needs objective assessment to learn from and decide if this is the business for you.

lowkick Loc: Connecticut

One of my sons started a videography business over 12 years ago - by accident. He was a communications major in college, specializing in video, and one of his friends (also a college student) was getting married and asked him if he would video the wedding as a wedding gift. He had never shot a wedding before (his friend was aware of this), but he agreed to try it. Besides, they were college students and the couple had no money to hire a videographer and my son had no money to buy them a wedding gift! Long story short, he shot the wedding and other friends of the bride and groom saw the end result and started calling him, willing to pay for him to shoot their weddings. He built a business on word of mouth by having a quality product and now, years later, he is still in business and getting really good money to shoot weddings.

The moral of the story; If you have a good product, people will find you and use your services. My son learned quickly to look and act professional and to charge reasonable prices (that does not mean cheap) that were within the range of what other professionals charged. He now gets a high price for his work, but he has the portfolio, client list with recommendations and expertise to back up his prices.

Charging cheap prices makes you look like that is all you are worth. Charging reasonable prices gets you into the market place and when people start calling you for your services, then it's time to start raising your prices. It is better to give a quality product at a higher price and shoot fewer sessions than to give a lesser quality product at a lower price and have to shoot more sessions to make money. One session at $200 is better than 2 sessions at $100 each. It is half the work for the same money. It also leaves you time to improve your product and shoot more sessions at $200 each so you can build a demand for your product.

The biggest problem for most start up businesses is under capitalization. If you can't afford to get the equipment you need to start your business, and go for a period of time with little income while you get the business off the ground, you are likely to fail. My son's experience is the exception, not the norm. He had the knowledge and the drive. He had the self pride that demanded that he do a good job. And he had professors at the college for technical advice as well as family for business advice. But his hard work, determination and desire to be as good as he could be was what really got the job done.

tomeveritt Loc: Fla. + Ga,NY,Va,Md,SC

First, are you really serious about starting a business? If the answer is yes, forget about equipment, we started with a D70 and made it fine.

Do you have business cards? Do you have a Website? Do you have a Price Sheet? You can't have a business wo a website, period....

Next, business license, Promotion, contest, i.e. you better have a "Burning Desire" to succeed or forget about it. Your D5100 is not holding you back, come up with a Business Name, print your cards (vista print), get a low cost website (go daddy), tell all your friends you are in the Photo business, you'll find out what people will pay soon enough.

What part of Photo Business can you Excell In, make the decision to be the "Best"? Go for it or forget it. My 2 cents worth.

blacks2 Loc: SF. Bay area

:thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:

tomeveritt Loc: Fla. + Ga,NY,Va,Md,SC

Hogwash, your customers don't know full frame from double frame, your lens will depend on "What The Heck Are You Shooting"??? We used a 10mm sigma for 6 months. Your customer don't give a damn about what size sensor you have, they want the thrill of a Picture.

Equipment will never make you a "Money Maker", you'll need a healthy appetite for making "Bucks $$$" You go into business to make money - Not Make Pretty Pictures. My 2nd 2 cents worth, Good Luck In All You Efforts.

lloydl2 Loc: Gilbert, AZ

get some training on how to start a photography business.. check out sue Bryce she has a formula and is a great mentor. there are always free classes on creative live and tons of stuff on youtube and of course google it.. There is also stuff on kelbyone and lynda.com (these are pay for by the month for unlimited training material.

Ralloh Loc: Ohio

Oops, is this called catching someone with their pants down. I guess the OP didn't think this would be remembered.

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

Making a living from photography is 90% business, 10% photography. You need to be a good photographer who always "gets the shot" required... but that's really the least challenging part of it.

An online forum can only scratch the surface on this subject. Even the most basic business programs will take a couple years of courses at a junior college.

A few short pointers:

Equipment actually doesn't matter very much. In fact, you should spend as little as possible on gear. The trick is knowing what's essential to your business, and what's not.

Instead of gear, you need to put a lot of effort into learning the business. One of the easiest ways is to get into some sort of arrangement with an established, experienced, successful photographer as an assistant, 2nd shooter, etc. Do that for a 2 or 3 years and learn the business from the inside out. Your business model might be different from your mentor's. That's okay... at least you'll have formed a plan!

I cannot emphasize this enough... get it in writing!

By that I mean you should work up a business plan, including a cost of doing business analysis, competitive market survey, and much more. Assuming your photographic skills s are at least adequate... You need to get your business ducks in a row. The business plan will necessarily change as you progress, of course, but getting it down in writing initially is a starting point.

Another thing to always get in writing is a contract with your customers. Don't shoot a job without getting written and signed agreement from all parties of what will be done by whom, when it needs to be done, how much it will cost, when the bills are due and payable, etc.

You may be tempted with friends and family to work over a handshake... one word: don't! Get it in writing! It is often even more important to do so with friends and family.

Also don't take a single photograph of anyone without a signed model release. Get permission in writingto use the photos you take any way you see fit. This is to cover your rear... But a much more important reason to always get signed releases will be revealed in a moment.

Do not simply give people your photos. Give them small, watermarked proofs to select from and sell them prints or digital files of their selections at a profit. This is where you make money... not when you charge $100 for the initial shooting session. When they purchase a digital image from you, they'll need a usage license, in writing from you. In most cases, as you describe your work it sounds as if this will be a personal usage license, where they can share the images digitally or have them printed for personal display, but there is no transfer of copyright and they may not resell/relicense the images or use them in any commercial manner without further, written permission from you.

I can almost guarantee that you will never make even an adequate living making portraits and selling them to the subjects and their families. Very few photographers make a decent living doing just one thing, let alone something as highly competitive as family photography. There are probably only a couple dozen or fewer truly successful portrait photographers in the U.S. There are millions of wannabes who will never make enough to cover their expenses (last time I looked there were 700+ such wannabe photographers advertising on my local Craigslist... most of whom will work for free or almost nothing).

You have to leverage your images as much as possible. What this means is you have to sell your photos repeatedly.... not just once. This is actually the main reason you need signed model releases. Photos of people are in high demand for commercial purposes, and that's where the real money is. Look around, you'll see photos or people being used everywhere.

You can license commercial usages for a wide range of purposes... at a lot of different prices. But only if you have a model release in hand. I'm sure some cheap micro-stock photos are sold without releases from the subjects... but that's extremely risky to both the photographer and the user when the photos are being used commercially. Even editorial users (magazines, newspapers, websites) are wising up and starting to ask for model releases for "soft news" type photos that they commonly get from stock sources. So a model released image is worth 10X, 100X, 1000X as much as one that's not released. I know photographers who over the years have collected $100,000 and more from repeat sales of a single image.

One way to leverage your images is to sell stock photos. Steer clear of micro-stock, where you're stuff is sold for a few dollars. At least get into what I call "mid-stock" where the charge is $25 to $200 per image. Or, if your stuff is good enough, develop a portfolio of higher-end stock images that sell for $200 to tens of thousands of dollars per licensed usage.

There are literally millions of stock photos bought each year, at all the different price ranges. It's okay to sell through multiple outlets and at different prices. I know one photographer who sells stock through six different outlets, as well as directly from his own offices. He has his best stuff on his own website and a couple higher priced sites. His older and more mediocre work is being sold through a couple mid-stock websites. And his oldest and lower quality things can be found on two micro-stock websites. So reserve your best work for the better outlets and don't give away your work too cheaply. You simply want to maximize the profit you get from each sale, as best you can.

Get a bunch of books about the photography business in general and the specialization(s) that interest you, and start reading, gathering info. There are other ways than stock, to leverage your work and develop more revenue streams. Still, if at all possible get a job as an assistant or 2nd shooter instead of "going it alone" and making all the same mistakes others have already made.

And, yes, be prepared once you do strike out on your own. The first few years at least, you'll be feeding your business... it won't be feeding you or paying the rent. Most businesses don't turn a profit for at least two or three years. I know more than a few successful pros who didn't really see good profits for five or even ten years. And there are far more failures than there are successes. So, don't quit your day job quite yet!

As an amateur "in love with photography" you've been able to shoot what you want, when and how you want shoot it, and produce final results your way and on your own schedule. As a pro you'll need to shoot what the client wants shot, when and how they want it shot, and fulfilling their required needs on their deadline. Some people find this kills the love affair with photography... In fact, you almost need to be more in love with business, problem solving and meeting deadlines.

If this doesn't scare the hell out of you... go for it!

OddJobber Loc: Portland, OR

No magic here, Jerry. When I don't recognize a poster, I'll often take a look at their profile to get a better understanding of their experience, interests, equipment, etc., and take a look at some of their posted pics. Takes a lot of guesswork out of answering questions. :D

hb3 Loc: Texas

Perhaps you do too much for little or no pay...swing the pendulum the other way and see what transpires...