TaxiMom Loc: Central Oregon

dba registered as Captured Milestones Photography check

Insurance liability and equipment and transporting insurance check

Working on a photo purchsing site at shootproof.com

working on logo, watermark on business cards

facebook ??? should I shouldn't I

now what??? where do I go from here? Am I crazy????

Should I stop here?

equipment so far
tripod
Nikon d5000
prime 50mm 1.8f lens
18-55mm 2.8f lens
55mm-200mm 2.8f

should i get a fx digital camera? ($3000.00 is my spending limit)
should i invest in a cannon settup or stick with Nikon (pros Nikon useing the same lenses - cons Nikon harder to come by in my area ...

should I stop here and just continue to shoot for fun?

I know that it is hard to make a living at this so I am only going to be part-time either hobbiest or part time pro .... I have a full time job already .....

My skills right now are Senior Pics, Pets, Sporting & Events, Engagement shoots, Kids, mostly toddlers a few baby's under my belt ... I am not comfortable doing weddings so I don't even go there ....

background I have been taking pictures for years, and i have grown in skill and knowlege and would like to re-coop some costs, and sell some of my landscape wildlife photo's. I have never charged for taking or prints. I am tired of people asking me to take photo's and expecting not to pay for anything ....

Anways advice comments or suggetions welcome tell me I am crazy over sensitive or nuts or support me everything is welcome


Debbi
DBA - Captured Milestones Photography

any advice or suggestions

Bret Loc: Dayton Ohio

Web site?....I mean a real web site.

TaxiMom Loc: Central Oregon

no real website yet - where would you start on that? GODaddy.com??? or do a free blog on the photography business ?


more questions lol so more researching .....

JR1 Loc: Tavistock, Devon, UK

I wish you the very best of luck, with the gear you have .............

The questions you are asking etc, I did an all day shoot today and have another tomorrow, three cameras, three flash units, reflectors and more, and that was a simple shoot, I would not even consider a PAID shoot without at least two good cameras, what do you tell your client when your camera packs up half way through an unrepeatable event, all have dual card slots so I shoot RAW and Jpeg and the second card is a backup.

For the time being keep at it, along the lines you are until you have the right gear and experience.

Show your best shots for comment

I am not great, and I KNOW that, see my site, but I have looked at your past posts and I have to say nothing shouts photographer from what you have posted so far.

You asked for honest

CaptainC Loc: Colorado, south of Denver

If you think you are going to sell the type of photography you want to do by posting it online and hoping someone buys something, close up shop now. It does NOT work. The bozos that run these companies will tell you it does, but they are wrong.

The ONLY way to sell portrait work - HS Seniors, pets, engagements, etc., is in person. Online sales is stupid bad. You have to sit with your client and help them decide. You need to SHOW them live examples of what a 16x20 canvas looks and feels like, you need to be their helper. A laptop/iPad is OK, a big screen TV is a bit better, a laptop/projector/screen is the best.

The "secret" is that showing the images is the day they buy - no proofs - nothing online - no exceptions. Agree to that or go to another photographer who will starve waiting for you to make up your mind to buy a 5x7 two months later.

Any thing you come up with to NOT do this is an excuse, not a reason.

For landscape images, online is fine. you won't sell much, but you won't invest much time either.

You do not need an FX camera. Nikon is excellent - I make decent $$ with mine. Canon is great as well, but changing brands is almost as dumb as online sales. The 55-200 is not a 2.8.

You MUST have a website and the website must have very good samples of your work.

Expect 3-5 years to become really profitable and that is assuming you charge for profitability. Anything less than $50.00 for an 8x10 is losing money. That is a fact, not an opinion. However, losing money for the first year of two is to be expected, you just need to be working TOWARD being profitable.

HEART Loc: God's Country - COLORADO

Sensible and wise advice. :thumbup:

Annie_Girl Loc: It's none of your business

CaptainC is correct, took me 2 years of being in business before I saw any type of profit and collect a regular salary for myself.

I also do in person sales, I started with in person sales meetings showing the images on my Ipad and a year ago I moved into my own studio and started doing my sales meetings in my “office” where I am surrounded with samples of my work in various sizes and finishes and show the clients gallery on a large wall mounted TV. Once I finished building my portfolio, I never did anything but in-person ordering, no on-line galleries and no sneak peeks. I do featured sessions on my blog but only after the client has ordered and I only post 2 to 3 images from the poses they ordered.

A web presence is a must, a dedicated webpage and blog page are standard. Depending on your specialty and local market, a Facebook page might be needed as well.

Before you open any business you need a business plan, it's almost as important as your website and camera. Without it you will work yourself right into the poor house.

I also looked at your samples posted on this forum, judging by these (and only these) I would recommend you think twice about jumping into the professional side photography at the moment. Take some time to learn more about your camera and how to compose nice looking images.

G Brown Loc: Sunny Bognor Regis West Sussex UK

consider this:
I run a home maintenance business - i don't want to travel out of county.....30-40 miles for a three hour job charging £15 - £20 per hour.....I put advert in local hardware newsagent shops £3/month...most jobs are local(10 miles) and repeat business. done this since 2001

wife runs a health and safety consultancy...she charges £150 for three hour training sessions she has website(£150 set up)...not many out of county jobs come from it...most of her jobs are local and repeat business from word of mouth. done this since 2007. she gets lots of spam and nuisance calls unrelated to what she advertises via the net.

It aint photography, but how far do you want to travel. decide this prior to deciding where?how to advertise.

NB - do not put adverts in so called trade magazines that phone you....they are expensive scams. buy a magazine that you see free/sold locally...then decide if you want to advertise there. also look at 'free ads'magazines, church mags etc

Business isn't a rush...it takes time and mistakes. do you have a small business advisor at you local council/town hall. use them and network with other local businesses.(they need adverts and staff photo's etc)

You are working alone. look at lone working advice..if not in the US look at UK..be safe first,second and last. if you don't like the look of the venue or area go home. have a friend that knows where you are and will call you once you have arrived at a venue. read the advice make it a routine.

Business accounts in UK cost more money in charges than 'Free' personal accounts. If you can get away with opening a 'personal account' till your business takes off..do it.
accounts are two columns in a book...money paid in money paid out. balance it each week when you laugh more than cry then you're in business.

keep an eye on what you are spending...be realistic..you can go bust real quick and Nikon won't shed a tear. buy what you need when a job is confirmed, not in order to get a job. My tools are cheap and i have lots still 'shiny'from jobs that never confirmed.

good luck and may your god favour your enterprise. Fortune favours the foolish just the same as the wise.

ohallboyz Loc: Boston, MA

All good advice so far.

Branding is something to really work on, it's all about how you market yourself. You could be a great photographer, but if you don't know how to run a business you could be in some trouble :)

Website is a must, and a blog is great too. Facebook isn't what it used to be, they want you to pay to promote posts now so I am not thrilled with them right now.

I would upgrade your camera to a D7000 at least, and I wouldn't change brands if you're familiar with Nikon. I would not use a kit lens at a shoot, no matter what. Stick with the 1.8 prime for now, you can probably get away with that for a bit and spend somewhere else.

Do you have a decent portfolio and do you feel you're ready to charge full price?? You didn't mention where you were with that. Pricing will make or break you, you don't want to give things away.

Annie_Girl Loc: It's none of your business

Facebook is a love it/hate it thing isn't it? If you do go the facebook route, I recommend NOT loading your images directly to facebook, I link my blog post. That way I still have control of the image quailty and the image it's self.

I think only 11% of your fan base actually sees your facebook posts but think of it they way someone explained it to me.

I upload a blog post and tag my client. The post appears on her page and all her friends see it, 4 of her friends that never even thought about getting boudior pictures done now really want to get them done, those 4 ladies contact me and even if only 1 books that 1 session I didn't have before I uploaded the session.

So are you marketing to those that already found you or are you marketing to those that didn't even know they wanted your services? I now think of facebook as a marketing tool to reach those that didn't know they wanted my services. And since it doesn't cost me anything but about 10 seconds of my time to link a blog post and tag a client, even if I don't gain a client from every post, I still think it's worth my time to use the service whenever I can.

Erv Loc: Medina Ohio

Hi Debbi. You might want to look around and find a pro that will let you shoot with him. Probably for free.:) But it will give you all kinds of answers to your questions. Back in the day when I was doing it, it was fairly easy compared to now. Everyone and their brother has a digital camera and thing they are pros. I still shoot with a friend that does wedding and other stuff. It is fun not having all the worries he has.:) But he has to really go out and sell him self to make a living. Lots of folks out there trying and cutting their prices just to get work. I have helped him on two wedding redo's that the first pro's screwed up. Never have I heard of this! But they got everyone back together and posed just like it was the real wedding. I was totally amazed.:)
Erv

TaxiMom Loc: Central Oregon

Thank you for the wonderful advice .....

To address the you aren't ready to be photographer ok fair enough but in my defense the pictures posted on here are either straight out of the camera or edited in photoscape a free on line editing program and arent what I would concider "quality" but my best friend was estatic with her photos.

I have, since my last picture post here, learned how to use mannual mode and light meter on my camera and paid for a 2 hour mentoring session with a pro in my home town who liked my work well enough to ask me to be one of her photographers at a charity event so I must be improving :-). She also said I should concider going pro and I have to start somewhere right?!. I also now use Lightroom 4 and learning how to use that instead of photoscape. I have also only use Bay Photo's and Millers for printing and for now until I am comforable with my quality of work I pay extra for them to do editing to my photo's.

I agree I do have much learning to do but don't we all.


Debb

TaxiMom Loc: Central Oregon

Next question what software would you expect your photographer to use? or what do you use for your business....

I need to get an accounting software I like quickbooks but was wondering if maybe a photographers type software for booking shoots and accounting if there is one out there and what people use?

OH and I am not going out tomorrow and expecting to make a million ..... It has taken me two years $3000+ dollars on equipment and training to get to this point....... Not expecting to bang out my business either. I got the important stuff out of the way so I can continue planning, preparing and moving forward. Even if I decide to not move forward from here the insurance on my equipment is essential for my hobby photography.

Target customers right now would be friends, family, friends of friends from word of mouth they heard that I like to take pictures and I have been told I am good at it .... which I am having a hard time believing but right now but people are coming to me. I haven't advertised or anything. I have been approached by business owners asking me for my card and rates because they like my work so I may be doing advertising photo's too. The next obvious step was getting a DBA in place and insurance for me.

SO I am thinking with starting with a mini shoots with price aroung be $50/75 w/5 customer pics edited full size pictures on a disk (about average for this area) location to be determind later at the time they pick the photo's I think of having samples of the type of photo's they can buy for now 1 canvas, one foam mount my framed 24x36 and some 5x7 and 8x10 on differnt sample papers along with a proof book and sample album. Prints are and will be extra and I am looking into local pricing so I am not low balling or robbing people.

Full service photoshoot are going to be 150.00 to 200.00 for seniors/family groups up to 5 people/animails limited to 2 local locations. in the area so thats probibly what I will be charging Pictures prints and Cds are extra and I am looking into pricing those too. Like I said earlier I am going with 2 pro printing sites Millers and Bays and I am set up with them and actually have gotten prints done with both of them and I am extremely satisfied with the quality and color editing from them.

So yes I have put thought into this and am still planning.

I am gonna do another mentor session to fine tune my picture taking when I get my second camera (not if I get one).

Later on when things move forward I will advertise in my local newspaper. I have seen photographers advertise on Craigslist but I thinking more professional right now.

Thanks for the heads-up about the website scams.... I believe your right about people buying pictures they have in their hands and what they see rather then online ......

Agian thank you for the advice - Keep it coming you may have something I am over looking or more advice so far this is fun

Looking forward to many Trials and Errors....

Debbi

CaptainC Loc: Colorado, south of Denver

I know some will disagree, but to do professional-level work you HAVE to learn Photoshop. Lightroom is nice, but the retouching tools are way too basic. You can start with a Lightroom/Photoshop Elements combo, but eventually you will move up to Photoshop.
If you think you can get by with the free stuff, by all means try it.

You should have a way to keep track of income and expenses. Quickbooks is OK, but even an Excel spreadsheet to keep records of money in an money out will save you HOURS when tax time comes, because as a professional, I am sure you will be paying taxes.

One tiny thing - when you get a website, do not have music on it. It is annoying and if you were to use commercial music and violate the artists copyright, I will report you myself! :-)

TaxiMom Loc: Central Oregon

"One tiny thing - when you get a website, do not have music on it. It is annoying and if you were to use commercial music and violate the artists copyright, I will report you myself!"


DONT WORRY I HATE MUSIC ON WEBSITES ALL WEBSITES!!!! NOT GOING TO BE AN ISSUE :-)

Debbi