buffyjean Loc: Washington, North Carolina

I am needing to make some extra money since my husband passed. I'm always doing photos for no charge. My daughters tells me and others also how nice they look. My problem is I'm afraid they are not good enough and if so I have no idea what to charge. I am posting some I did today. Please give honest opinions, open to constructive criticism. TIA

buffyjean Loc: Washington, North Carolina

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buffyjean Loc: Washington, North Carolina

Having problems posting

buffyjean Loc: Washington, North Carolina

I can't put anymore photos under my post

jdubu Loc: San Jose, CA

More attention to posing your subjects... kids are difficult but they need to look relaxed and engaged. Use your depth of field to separate your subject from the background and watch how your background interacts with your subject. i.e., first shot has the tip of fence coming out of his head... looks like a horn. Work your angles to exclude distractions in your shot.

Check out Roberto Valenzuela's wedding books. I know you aren't shooting weddings, but his posing techniques and tips are universal to any portraiture.

Vietnam Vet

Just for fun lower the highlights slider on the second photo and watch what happens to the overexposed building out the window

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

Nice photos.
Look at professionally done ones of the same type as you are doing.
Your photos, if of your daughters and their children, might be receiving praise more because of subject matter vs objective technical praise.
That said, many people have this bias and you do quite well. Look at backgrounds and keep them simple as possible. Watch lighting highlights and shadow.
Again they look good and you should be able to make money with clients. Be professional. Do NOT discount, if price is too high for clients then cut the service package for a lower price. Otherwise they will believe you jacked up the price. Your discount price will become your real price.
Good luck.

Collhar Loc: New York City.

If you are looking for steady income. A weekly check, I don't believe this is the way to go. i would explore the want adds and continue to do this as a hit or miss hobby that may on occasion produce some extra income.

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

I sell cards to local businesses for resale. If they buy 50 + cards from me I make $1.50 per card. If I sell the same card at one of my photo shows, I make $2.00 per card. Envelopes included of course.

ClarkJohnson Loc: Fort Myers, FL and Cohasset, MA

Not sure what your business experience is, but there is so much more involved in starting a successful business than just taking some nice pictures. If you can afford to take time with this, continue as your hobby, but prepare. Learn how to use lighting and backdrops. Perhaps build a portfolio to show prospective clients. Pull together the requisite materials (equipment, blank contracts) that would allow you to take on a project if and when one came along. One step at a time.

Marketing your services is a whole other issue. I believe that there are forums and other sources of information for people entering the field to cover these and other topics.

Good luck!

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

Sorry to hear of your loss.

Lots of ground to cover with your seemingly simple question.

What business experience do you have? It helps to have some - but a logical, reasonable approach is really all you need.

Making money in photography is 80% business and 20% photography. Your product is YOU, not your pictures. You are trying to make it easy to use YOU by providing all the "added value" that you bring to the transaction, and why they should use YOU and not the next guy that may be less expensive. It's all about the experience, instilling confidence in your prospects that you are competent, you fully understand their needs/wants, and have all the bases covered as far as deliverables are concerned. Never make a promise you can't deliver on, and always ask as many questions as you feel is necessary to fully understand what the expectations are. As you get going, if you have a particularly good experience with a client ask them for a testimonial and whether you can use them as a reference.

You'll need to set some goals, establish how much you want to invest and how soon you want to see some profit - in other words - you'll need some sort of a business plan. It doesn't have to be all that formal, but it should take into consideration all of your expenses, overhead, insurances, maintenance (for camera gear), travel (which may be reimbursable based on how you structure your fees) - but above all, you should have a focus on who your clients are/will be and what you want to sell them and who else is doing what you do - and how you will distinguish yourself apart from the others (the implicit message here is your standard for customer service is what will put you above the rest). Anyone can take pictures like you did, but with some creativity and excellent customer service you can offer something much more special.

Understanding your place in the market - seeing what others are charging, and what you can get away with charging for your own work, and if you can meet your profitability goals is all part of the business plan. A business plan will also help you see if you are on target, and tell you when are you are off, and give you some clues as to how to get back on target.

A marketing plan is another prerequisite. Once you have figured out what you are selling and to whom, and how much you can charge, you'll need a plan to reach your clients. Nothing is off the table - local ads in classified sections of papers, direct marketing, participation in work done for charitable or non-profit organizations, etc, word of mouth, doing a press release to announce your new business, business cards and stationery - all will all help you get the word out and make you look good. You should be thinking about the "hook" - what will it take to get people to notice and consider your services.

Having a high standard of quality may be to your benefit. If your clientele is happy, then this is all you need. If you are less than comfortable with the quality of the images, that's not a problem at all. It's a clear path forward to improvement when you can identify things that can be improved.

Snapshots of kids and families are ok, but for more individual uniqueness take a look at tons of kid and family photos and see which ones capture you. Deciding to move from strict documentation of people (snapshots) to capturing their personality with a camera requires some time and effort and a lot of shutter clicks. You can start by looking at some images taken by other photographers:

https://www.google.com/search?sa=X&sxsrf=ACYBGNQ34bbO5xr1AGwCsi0XrY160siPzA:1577019551778&q=children+portraits&tbm=isch&source=univ&ved=2ahUKEwjZ2b_Rp8nmAhWHW80KHRwZBQEQsAR6BAgKEAE&biw=1920&bih=1097

https://www.google.com/search?q=family++portraits&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwjlgfTVp8nmAhWFRVMKHRfmB6oQ2-cCegQIABAA&oq=family++portraits&gs_l=img.3..35i39j0l9.647250.648351..648695...0.0..0.77.503.7......0....1..gws-wiz-img.......0i7i30.BPqaVnV27NI&ei=qWj_XaWJAYWLzQKXzJ_QCg&bih=1097&biw=1920

Several things that should strike you in these images are the quality of the lighting, posing, timing, expressions, location settings and backgrounds. Most of the better images are tightly composed, with little distraction in the backgrounds - either by utilizing a shallow depth of field or a point of view that simplifies what is behind the subject(s).Find styles of photographers that you like, and try to emulate them. Really bone up on your post processing skills.

This is just a start - there are many books on the subject. You may want to try working for another photographer (paid or unpaid) for a short while to get a sense of what they do. If you live in a small community, don't look for someone there - find a photographer in another town.

Good Luck!

gvarner Loc: Central Oregon Coast

Too much background clutter. Use a medium telephoto and wide open to blur things out.

Silverrails

Nice Portrait Photography. Is that your main interest in Photography?
Have you had an opportunity to try your hand at Landscape Photography?

StaneeRae Loc: Lincroft, NJ USA

If you’d like to learn traditional portrait posing, this was written by a master photographer from NJ. The clothing & hairstyles may be out of date, but the techniques are timeless.
http://blog.kitfphoto.com/Zeltsman/

cahale Loc: San Angelo, TX

Maybe $10 for #1, absolutely nothing for #2, and I'd have to think about #s 3 and 4. First of all, they are too "posey." The subjects are too aware that they are being photographed. Second, too washed out on the last 3. The table lamp, especially, should have been off. I'll stop there. Practice, practice, practice.