If you have a talent for photography, selling the pics you take can be a way to earn a tiny money on the side doing something you enjoy. While it can be difficult to earn a full-time living selling the pics you take, making money with photography is not out of the questions. By finding different ways to market and sell your work, you may be able turn your passion for taking pics in to a business.
Business Considerations
Like any business, you'll need to select the way you need to structure your photography business. Are you going to come up with a business name or use your own name? The simplest way is to operate a sole proprietorship. In case you have a sole proprietorship or a partnership, you can operate under a business name by filing for a DBA. This requires no lawyer, a tiny fee ($35 as of 2010), and basically informs the public that you are doing business under a fictitious name. The DBA option lets you open a bank account under a business name. If your actual name is part of the business name, but you must file for in case you operate under a business name. A DBA does not protect someone else from using the name you select, but it is a lovely suggestion to do research to keep away from using a name that could confuse your business with another. Depending on your state, you can file the DBA with the city or county clerk.
Stock Photography
Before you invest much money in to business start-up costs, market your work through of the lots of stock photography sites on the Web. Use stock photography sites to put some money in your pocket for future business expenses, to build a name and reputation for yourself, and to get a number of your work in front of the public. Working with stock photography sites can also help you get a feel for the categories of pics that sell.
Website Portfolio
Don't neglect a personal Web presence. There's plenty of affordable options for web-site hosting and domains. Get an online site portfolio to promote your work, as well as a domain name that identifies you or the name of your business. Plenty of web hosts offer free domain name registration, as well as web templates designed specifically for generating photograph portfolios. The templates let you generate professional online portfolios irrespective of your knowledge of web design. An online presence will help you turn your name in to a recognizable brand.
Expanding Your Markets
Do any type of photography work you can do to build your portfolio and make a name for yourself as a photographer. Do work for companies and individuals, as well as selling photographs to magazines. Purchase a duplicate of the "Photographer's Market," which gives you submission knowledge to hundreds of markets where you can sell your photographs. All of these sales go toward building a professional portfolio that showcases your skills.
Products
Expand the scope of the products you sell. Don't sell your pics themselves. Sell coffee mugs, keychains, T-shirts and hats together with your pics printed on them. By expanding the scope of your product, you open more avenues for the type of income that can let you operate a successful business selling your work.
