Can you make cash from your camera?

All of us who are photographers would love to make a regular income from the hobby or profession we love. None of us want to be told that it is difficult, it takes time and not many people make it. These dubious dealers give the impression that anyone can make money from their photos. Rubbish! If you take a look at the stock sites and see the quality of images for sale, you’ll realise that unless you are really talented you will never produce the quality that the buyers are looking for. Do yourself a favour. Do a search on the name of the ebook author who makes all of these claims using Google and then go to the major stock sites and do the same. Where are these authors making their money? From you! If it was so easy why don’t they have thousands of images on the stock sites? I rest my case.

Take a look at the guidelines for submission on the stock sites. Every last one of them requires a camera that takes a high resolution image. Some even state that they’ll only accept images taken on certain mid-range to high-end digital SLRs. Don’t even think that you will be able to compete with your compact camera. You stand no chance. Your images are just not big enough.

I have been on seminars given by successful stock photographers from the microstock sites and all them state that it is tough, demands long hours of work and takes a long time to make a reasonable income. Some never make it despite quality, dedication and a lot of effort. It is not a part-time money making machine as claimed by the ebook authors.

So what does it really take to make money from your camera, if it is at all possible for the amateur? You have to make a decision to dedicate yourself to your photography even if it is part-time. Carefully consider the following points:

1. Dedication to the art of photography

If you are not a dedicated photographer striving for excellence in your art there is no real money to be made. Sorry that’s the bottom line. There are so many talented artists producing high quality images that you do not stand a chance if you cannot compete in this field. You need to up your standards and create images that are very high quality.

2. Dedication to detail

Every detail in your image needs to be perfect. This is what the buyer is looking for. He doesn’t come along and say, “now which poor point-and-shooter can I help make money today”? When a buyer is planning to put a photo on a billboard every detail must be perfect. Examine your images and ask yourself, “Would I see this image in a magazine?”

3. Dedication to quality

99.9% of snapshots won’t make it past the stock site evaluators. Their standards are very high. Sharpness, great colours and perfect composition are just some of the factors you must take into consideration when planning to sell your images. You have to be a photographer, either a pro or dedicated amateur regularly looking at the quality of your images and pushing the limits. Look at the books and magazines and compare your photos. Do they compete? If the answer is yes then you are getting close. The ebooks say that there are millions of people looking for photos for the school and class assignments or projects who will buy your images. Get real! If they have the opportunity to buy an ordinary snapshot or a high quality image shot by a top photographer both selling for a dollar, which would they choose?

4. Dedication to discipline

Discipline is key to any hobby or vocation and especially so with photography. You need to be disciplined in your learning and improving your skills constantly. You need to be disciplined in your shooting and editing your images. And, you need to be disciplined in your submission of quality images to the stock libraries and photo sites. It’s a numbers game. The more quality content you have out in the market the more chance you have of buyers selecting your images. You cannot do it on a whim or when you feel motivated to do it. It is essential to have a commitment to the task and a disciplined overall process.

5. Dedicated to achieving results

If at first you don’t succeed try and try again. If at first you don’t get the results you desire don’t give up or try something else. Keep at it until you see results. It’s like the little green shoot popping its head above the soil or the tip of the iceberg. You are building the roots that will support the later growth of your business. If you don’t have a results driven motivation to see it to the end you will not achieve the success you set out to attain.

It’s a hard uphill road to success with photography. The photo world is competitive and saturated with good quality images. If you are to succeed you must break through the barrier from great to outstanding. You must stand head and shoulders above the rest in your quality and excellence.

Article by Wayne Turner
http://www.21steps2perfectphotos.com/

Sunset

Digital photography could see the death of creativity in photography in general. Why such a harsh statement? Here’s why:

1. Lack of thought

As a film photographer the consumable costs of photography were much higher. This forced us to think and carefully consider each shot. There was a greater thought process. Using a motor drive for taking multiple shots was for the press photographers who could afford take thirty six images in a few seconds. For the rest of us we had to think more before pressing the button.

2. The Shakespeare effect

This is the evolutionary idea that if you give a roomful of monkeys a typewriter each and enough time, they will eventually produce a work equal in quality to Shakespeare. There is a similar mindset among digital photographers that if they shoot enough photos, somewhere amongst the thousands will be quality images. You have as much chance as that happening as a monkey.

3. Drive by shooting syndrome

This is similar to the lack of thought in taking a photo. Because of the multiple shot feature in digital cameras and the low cost of digital photography, it’s quick an easy to take an image. Just like a drive by shooting the camera is pointed in the general direction of the subject and a bunch of images is taken. Then you move on to the next target and fire away again.

So what’s the answer? Plain and simple slow down, right down and smell the roses as the saying goes. The creative process is methodical and well thought out. You need to be able to observe, think and then take action. Because digital photography is so quick, cheap and easy the principles and techniques of photography tend to get sidelined.

Here are a few steps to encourage your creative process.

1. Make or allocate time for your creative process

Creativity won’t be hurried. At times it may come to you quickly but this is the exception rather than the norm. So sit down and absorb the environment. Observe your surroundings, subjects and any activity. Let it become a part of you.

2. Be selective

Find something that turns you or rather your creativity on. If this is colour then focus on the rich hues and shades. If it’s an object or subject observe it carefully in relation to it’s surroundings. Now close your eyes and picture the final image.

3. Change your position or viewpoint

By looking at your subject from different angles, heights or positions the image will change as the subject changes in relation to its environment. All of a sudden you see things you never would have seen.

4. Try something different

Shoot a traditional tourist shot of your subject and then look for a shot that is completely different, one you’ve never seen before. Make it unrecognisable. Hire a boat and shoot from the the water. Go to the top of a nearby building or if you’re adventurous climb a tree or lie down on your back.

Creativity is often just doing something different. Something that hasn’t been done before. The key element that I have found to creativity is time. So take your time and smell the roses. Your photography will never be the same again. Put photography, creative photography back into digital photography.

Article by Wayne Turner
http://www.21steps2perfectphotos.com/