How to Diversify Your Income as a Photographer
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Are you making money as a photographer or videographer? Would you like to learn how to make more money as a photographer? Of course you do, so do I
Let’s examine some photography income tips covering how to diversify your income as a photographer or a videographer.
Offer Both Photography and Videos
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Right away, we see an opportunity for how to boost your photography income by adding video skills to your professional offernings. Likewise, if you’re a professional videographer, learn how to make money as a photographer as well.
It makes perfect sense to try to create extra income by adding one to the other since many of the techniques, methods, and tools are the same we’re already using. Most of our fine digital cameras in prosumer or professional levels that we use to craft beautiful images also have outstanding video modes.
A word of caution, though, which actually applies to all of the photography business tips in this article. It can weaken our brand if we don’t offer as high a quality in what we’re adding as what we already do as work.
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In order to qualify as a pro videographer if our mainstay is still photography of some sort, we will likely need to learn new techniques, develop a mindset that works as well for video production as for our regular photography, and practice a lot.
For some of us, that takes a little work, for others it is as easy as a wedding cake baker adding muffins to their menu. While adding video to our photo business seems perfectly obvious to some photographers, some of us may decide to stick to one thing. Which is fine, we don’t want to water down our brand or reputation with subpar offerings.
Microstock Agencies
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Creating a passive photography income flow by signing up as a contributor to microstock agencies is open for many photographers as well as videographers and illustrators. This is typically not a rapid source of huge extra income, but it is a wonderful method to diversify your income as a photographer.
There are some methods for building up this source of passive photography income, such as what types of images or videos are likely to be accepted by the various agencies and what the different types of licensing are.
What’s great about adding passive photography income by means of microstock agencies is that you probably won’t need to change up much of what you’re already doing. If you have the proper releases, you could submit images from what you already have in your image file folders.
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Releases are going to be important for any images of people and for many pics of property such as real estate or a name brand. Each of the microstock agencies I use have clear explanations and expectations about releases.
Some of the tips about using microstock agencies are to continuously check current trends and agency published needs, shoot series of images, include negative space where possible to accommodate ad copy or editorial copy, and to keep updating with new submissions.
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Learn To Fly
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Sure, this could be a metaphor for maximizing potential, but I’m specifically talking about drone photography and videography. Which might help maximize your potential, so I guess it works as a metaphor, too!
Using a drone can add potential income increases in several different fields. As a real estate photographer, including a drone option in a package or as an add on is currently a pretty big deal and should stay an important option from here on out.
As a wedding photographer, depending on the venue, adding a drone view as an option for either stills or video should get attention from your clients. As a one man operation, this may be a little difficult, but it could be worth your while if you regularly use second shooters.
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Most video productions will benefit from excellent B-Roll footage, which a drone works great for. Adding in B-Roll, learning good editing techniques, and adding in slider or teleprompter use improve the professionalism of your videos, thus allowing you to charge appropriately as a provider of superior video.
Most of the better drones for very high quality images and video are large enough to require you to register them and become properly licensed.
Become a Google Trusted Photographer
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Real estate photographers or commercial photographers that have the capability to create 360 degree spherical panoramas can upgrade your visibility to others and diversify your income as a photographer by contracting with local businesses wanting to use Google for their business interests.
Google Street View already has their business storefront showing on Google Maps, but a business can subscribe to a business service from them that goes inside the business as a continuation of a virtual tour.
Realty and commercial photographers may already have the nodal mounts, fisheye lenses, and virtual tour programs for what they already provide to clients, certifying with Google as a Google Trusted Photographer is the way to become the photographer these businesses call to create virtual tours to enhance their Google Maps presence.
Sell Physical Prints
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I saved what I think is the best for last. The best way to diversify your income as a photographer, how to make more money as a photographer, is to sell physical photos. It works for all levels of expertise as a photographer and works for the vast majority of types and styles of photography.
A wedding photographer can sell a whole album of prints. An heirloom album option as part of a full wedding package is a very popular choice. Portrait photographers can sell the images as electronic and as many different sizes.
Physical prints come in many types. Photo paper prints and enlargements, metal prints, acrylic prints, canvas wraps, photo tiles, all look fantastic displayed on a wall in a home or a business office.
Corporate headshots for a company website make great portraits to put in a simple frame for the company office.
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You could print your own enlargements with a high quality printer yourself, or you could use either a printing service or a fulfillment center. Printing services and fulfillment centers make it a simple operation since many of them can ship directly to your clients.
I differentiate a fulfillment center from a printing service in that I usually of a printing service as providing extremely high quality photographic prints while a fulfillment center offers good prints plus a huge variety of other items with your images on them, such as cell phone cases, bath towels, jigsaw puzzles, tote bags, t-shirts, coffee mugs, calendars, and all sorts of other items.
Tell Us Your Photography Income Tips
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I got some of these ideas from fellow photographers I know and have everything in this short list with at least modest success, but there are many more ideas out there for how to diversify your income as a photographer.
Go to our forums on PhotographyTalk.com and let us hear some of your ideas. We get a lot of great article ideas from our members, so thanks in advance!
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