Ask HN: First steps to become a freelance photographer
Hallo, I am 23 years old. Photographie is my hobby since more than two years and I would like to earn some mone with it.
1. Start with family members ? 2. Website necessary ? Or use e.g. Instagram? 3. How to get the first client? 4. Pay for models to get some pictures for own website ? Or give them the right to use the pictures instead to pay ? 5. Get in touch with some photographer and help him/her to build up the set and watch how they are doing the job? 6. Get in touch .... and take shootings that the won´t shot (e.g client has low budget)? 7. How to charge (Per hour or per shooting) ? 8. What was your expirience at the beginning ?
10 comments
[ 3.1 ms ] story [ 33.0 ms ] threadI would suggest leave it at that. Low barrier for entry means fierce competition. However if you want to try you should incorporate all of these points, also make sure you pay for fake instagram followers/comments/likes if you want to even try to start there. (It's standard practice there)
Real estate photography if you focus on high end properties can be lucrative for the time return.
Everything in your list is a way to avoid finding people who will pay you. They are all easier than getting paid. Getting paid is what separates a business from a hobby. Good luck.
That's definitely the way to become a professional-photographer. If you're not getting paid you might be having fun, and you might be artistic, experimental and doing interesting things but you're enjoying a hobby.
When it comes to getting paid to shoot people, with a camera, there are a few routes. The obvious ones are shooting Weddings. I shot one wedding, and "never again". Bridezilla is a term you'll come to associate with very clearly if you're not unflappable.
My niche was photographing escorts, and grandchildren. Sometimes pets, but mostly half-naked ladies and children in the range 4-9. Needless to say I advertised upon different sites for these niches.
Escorts, hair-dressers, make-up artists, and similar professions will need regularly updated pictures. You don't have to charge a lot to become profitable, as usually they're pretty simple to do. You need to know poses, you need to know lighting, but you don't need much equipment (even amateur level stuff will do). Obviously you need spare bodies, lenses, batteries, cards, but you don't need them to be too expensive.
The kind of equipment I used started off was low-end Canon bodies and hign-end lenses. Over time my bodies became more advanced. Something like a 5D MK1 (x2) batteries (x4) CFCards (x8) and a small selection of lenses (24-70 f/2.8, 70-200 f/2.8, 50 f/1.8, 85 f/1.8) would set you back maybe £8000 which is an affordable price assuming you shot 4-8 people every weekend. You can start with smaller numbers of bodies/lenses, and expand over time (as I did).
Beyond the traditional options you could pimp yourself to pre-schools, toddler-swimming-sessions, OAP-homes, maternity-hospitals, and even cancer-wards.
If I had to start over doing this I'd probably look at underwater-bodies and toddler/child-swimming events. Parents love pictures of kids, and although phones are ubiquitous the results won't compare to a decent DSLR in the hands of an expert. Plus babies underwater look AWESOME!
I started with $50/shoot but that translate to less than $15 per hour. But it is really hard to compete on Craig’s List. After initial customers I was getting referrals and that’s where I was able to charge a bit more.
No need of models for your portfolio, ask your friends if they want a free photo shoot.