If you are starting a photography business, the first thing I want to do is encourage you. It can be overwhelming and there are many sources of information out there. Some are a lot better than others. I started my newborn photography studio 9 years ago, and as I look back, I spent a lot of time looking for answers to the billion camera questions I had. If I can, I would like to share with you somethings I wish I knew at the beginning. 

Your Camera Does Not Matter That Much. 

Say what? Yes, you heard me. One of the first questions everyone asks is…What is the best camera for X, (weddings, wildlife, sports, portraits, newborns, etc.). My long time mentor, celebrity and high profile portrait artist,  George DeLoache explained it this way….A camera is like a hammer. It does not matter whether it is a Stanley, or Craftsman or Milwaukee. It is a tool that  does the same basic thing. What matters is the person using the hammer and how they manipulate it to do what they want it to do. The same is true of a camera. 

These days you would be hard pressed to buy a “bad” camera, especially when you are early in your career. Canon and Nikon are the two traditional heavy hitters. But Sony, Olympus, Fiji, Panasonic all make good cameras.

If I had to advise you either way, I would tell you to go with a very popular brand like Canon or Nikon. This is because you can buy  a lot of gear like lenses and camera bodies used/refurbished. This is possible for other brands too, but the selection out there at B and H Photo or Adorama tends to be heavier for these two brands. I would also advise to get a full frame camera if you possibly can. There are advantages, one of which is not have to always multiply your local length by ⅕ or ⅙ .

It Takes Years to Truly Understand The Settings In Your Camera

These days, cameras are handheld computers. They are amazing machines. You will hear people say “Get out of Program Mode” “Learn Your Camera”. And yes, these are good things. But when spoken, these quips oversimplify things. In short, you can only learn your camera by using it, and since there are dozens of ways it can be used, mastering the settings takes time and practice. Many photographers never really understand more than they need to about their camera. To really know what your camera can do, or how to get it to help you create images you want, you have to create as many situations as possible to practice in. Daylight, low light, night photography  studio light, on camera flash, high key and low key lighting, photographing movement, sports and on and on.

When you understand what you are doing, modern cameras are able to automate certain things so that you can focus on the artistic look and style you want. But if you rely on these automations, your images will look average and uninteresting. For example, there are many ways to achieve the same exposure. If you rely on the camera, it will pick just one way out of many. As the artist, you have to know how YOU want that exposure to be made. Otherwise, it’s just a computer telling you what to do. Getting to this point, where you know what you want as an artist and how to use the camera your way,  takes a time. This is why they say, “The first 10,000 images you take are garbage”. 

In addition to camera settings, there are lenses to learn. Yes, learn. Every lens out there has strengths and weaknesses. It has apertures where it excels and others where it begins to fade. You will find yourself asking, “What lens should I use for X? The truth is, there is no right answer. There are some general guidelines and best practices that photographers have fleshed out over the years. But in the end, you have to decide for yourself and understand WHY you are making the choices you are.

Get A Mentor, A College Degree, and/or Become A Certified Photographer

YouTube and The Internet are great resources. This is where I started. But I quickly saw that when I went to try what looked so easy in  the video, a million problems arose. If you are alone with no guidance, it can be very frustrating. I used to go on Facebook Groups to try to get my questions answered. But the responses I would get tended to confuse me more than help.

Most professional photographers offer mentoring. All you need to do is find one near you whose style you like and email them. Getting a real life mentor who you can watch, shadow, and get feedback on your work is worth every penny. If you can, get a degree in photography.

Professional Photographers of America is another place where you can get some reliable guidance. They offer certification that involves a 2 hour exam and then a technical image submission. They also offer in-person workshops, conferences and have an extensive online video library.

Many people see photography as a way to make a quick extra buck. And if you can find people to pay you for taking amateur images, then more power to you. But as the saying goes, “Good photography is not cheap, and cheap photography is not good”.  As you get going in your photography journey, you will see that it is much more involved that you probably thought. Hang in there though and don’t give up. 

Photography Marketing Can Be A Nightmare

The truth is, you will spend about 80% of your time (probably) marketing or chasing down leads. Most photographers will use up clients they may get through existing networks relatively quickly. The key is to keep word of mouth going. In my case, word of mouth has never contributed to my client base. Since most people have no idea what is involved to create a portrait, all they know to do is look at price. And, of course, the majority want to pay the least. Amateurs will do a ton of work for $99 and you cannot compete with that unless you do massive volume photography or you do not care about making a profit.

You will need to find the amount you need to make per client to pay all your bills and have some left over for you. Just to give you an idea,  you should factor in:

• eductation and conferences
• photography gear
• utilities/phone/alarm system
• rent (if you have a studio)
• insurance
• software subscriptions
• accounting software
• online gallery subscriptions
• web site hosting/building/monitoring/online booking/SEO
• things like Linktree
• cost of goods sold
• cost of third party editing
• advertising
• packaging materials
• time on consultations
• time editing images
• time placing orders with labs
• time spent going to networking events
• time and money  spent having  a booth at trade shows and community events
• quality control
• shipping or pickup of goods sold
• reveals and odering appointments
• phone calls
• customer service
• reshoots (rare)
• legal fees for contracts/ city and state licenses
• a management program like Honeybook or 17hats
• And of course, time spent setting up and  photograhing

 You must find your magic number for what it costs for you to do one shoot. Decide the maximum number of shoots you can professionally complete each month/year. Use this to figure your minumum amount you have to take in each session to cover all costs AND pay yourself.

This relates to your marketing because you will soon see that most people out there are NOT your client.  Or, you will have to quadruple the number of sessions you do at a lower price. This is generally  not sustainable. I wish this had been clearly explained to me early on.  So prepare yourself; photography is what you end up doing the least.

Photoshop Is Big Software



Learning Photoshop is another time killer. In order to edit images and to correct less than perfect images (and you will have these), Photoshop mastery is a must. While it can be used for many artistic things, you will need to become fluent in the photography editing part. Do not be fooled and think you can just stick a preset on everything. Invest in quality retouching courses and keep up to date on on the latest changes and additions to Photoshop. Plus, as you improve you will want to enter your images into competition and post processing on these is a huge part of winning. Start learning immediately and never stop.  Be sure to sign up for the PS Virtual Summit each year