How much work to make $600 per month?

Here's the deal.
I am a legally blind individual looking to get back to work.
I am capable of taking good quality photos as I can still see decently but not enough to drive or do detail type work without technology assistance.

This does not effect my photography abilities and I have a method of safe reliable transportation.

I talked with my vocational rehabilitation counselor showed him some of my recent photos which impressed him. He then told me that I can start a careen in photography if I can make minimum $600 per month.
They are willing to help me afford any needed equipment and any needed training.

Here's what I need to find out.

How many (average) days work is required in each of the below fields to make $600 profit per month?
How much income (average) is made per job?
How do you advertise?

Stock photography
Landscape photography
Portrait photography
Pet photography

I can work in either North East PA (Pocono mountains near Scranton) and/or Central NJ.

Making money in photography's tough. The first year you shouldn't expect to make any money, but should work to build up your portfolio and experience. You could alternately start at the low end, offering portraits for a small sitting fee or no sitting fee, and charge for prints. A sitting fee that's given as print credit helps reduce the time wasters.

A really good portrait photographer working in the medium to high end market can make sales of thousands of dollars from a single 1-2 hour portrait session. A bad portrait photographer can make nothing.

The investment required is probably:
- Two cameras (you MUST have a backup if you're shooting professionally)
- Two flashes (backup and off camera lighting)
- A couple of lenses (backup, and a range of looks, wide to telephoto, with normal not so important IMHO)
- Perhaps a studio, or portable backdrops, but they're not essential, just really helpful.

I can't help with stock, landscape, or pet photography, they seem like hard ways to make money.

I wonder if you could think of a unique marketing angle to push your business.

The work to pay ratio varies way to much to give a simple answer. It depends on what your market is like. And what part of that market you want to fill. It could be literaly a quick afternoonn shoot on one day. Or you could be runnung your butt off every day.

Give us a better idea of what you want to do. We can answer a lot better.

What are some of the more common methods of advertising?
How would you find the going rates in your area?
How would you start?

I live in an area with:
Apparently very few local competitors (haven't noticed any obvious advertising.)
Plenty of opportunity.
Lots of beautiful nature photo opportunities.
Town has a lot history (Birthplace of the American Railroad)
Area has a large population of summer camp kids.

Google adwords has been the most succesful method of advertising for me. Yellow pages is another way. How would you go about finding a portrait photographer if you wanted one yourself?

Use google to find competitors, if their prices aren't on their website call up, tell them you're another photographer and you don't want to undercut them and ask their prices.

I'd start out as I said above, a low sitting fee with decent print fees. Prints from a portrait session should start at about $50 for a 6x4, some charge WAY more. You might consider not linking price to print size, as the print is the cheap part of the business.

I'm a portrait/wedding photographer, but I'm going to answer more on the portrait end of it all.

This all really depends on the customers you get, and their needs. It also depends on the cost of the prints you pay from the lab. I have my own studio, and a great lab with terrific prices. I average between $75-$400 per sitting. I don't charge sitting fees because the area that I'm in is very lower-middle class and people just can't afford a lot of pictures on top of a sitting fee. I sell my prints between $5-$10 per sheet, only because I couldn't sleep at night if I charged more (no offense to anyone else, you just have to know my location to know that this works). I work 7 days a week, either at the studio or at home working on pictures, color enhancements, advertising... I do weddings also, but the studio itself makes about $2,000 a month on a slow month, senior portrait season is a good time for me. Of course I make much more doing weddings as well.

Like I said, on average I make anywhere between $75-$400 per sitting. It really depends on the customer and what they need. If you're photographing a single child, then Mom and Dad will get what they want, plus some extras for family. Depending on how many shots you take and how much you're selling prints for, you can get a decent profit on that. Now, if you're doing a family of maybe 2 or 3 generations, you have a better chance of selling more prints. You do the whole group, then break that down into smaller groups. You do the individual families, then all the grandkids together, then the kids together with grandma and grandpa... this will become a very long post if I go into all the different options there. But in this situation, you may have 2 or more families placing orders, so the profit potential is significantly greater than the sitting of that 1 child. Christmas is the best time for a portrait photographer, other than senior portrait season. Your sales will be much higher for family portraits during the holiday season, because you can upsell with cards, or deals on 4x6s for people to include in their Christmas cards.

A website is the best form of advertising. Almost everyone uses the internet. But when you're starting out, it's hard to get a body of work together to show off your skills. Make sure everyone you photograph signs a model release so you can legally use their image on your site and in other ads. Once you have the site, then you need to register with Google and Yahoo. You don't HAVE to use Adwords, just simply being on Yahoo! Local and Google Maps will bring enough business to start out. I don't advertise in the phonebook, or in the printed newspaper in my town. We have an online newspaper that has better advertising rates, and has more readers per day than the printed paper. I advertise with printed papers in other towns because their rates are better. I have an ad on the online newspaper's main page, and when we're offering specials or new products, I splurge on a bigger ad for a week or so. I also have some work hanging in local restaurants, and I pass out a business card to every cashier I run into. I leave brochures at all the other restaurants and I go to the reception halls in the area and leave brochures with them. They might not pass them out, but some employee might read it during a break, and give me a call somewhere down the road. The people you interact with may not need your services at that particular time, but they'll think of you later on should the need come up.

As a matter of fact, I went to the dentist when we first brought the studio to this town. I struck up a conversation with the receptionist while I was in the waiting room, and mentioned I was a photographer. I gave her a business card, and went in for my cleaning and never saw her again... until about a month ago when I photographed her sister's wedding!!! The bride never really told me how she found me, but now I know!

I am fairly young for the business, I'm 24. I started my business when I was 21, I only did weddings and senior pictures on location. We (my husband and I) moved to Shelbyville last year, and opened the studio a few months later. Business was slow, especially since we were new to town and no one knew who I was. But even after a year, we are now one of the top studios in town. Don't worry about under cutting others in the area, you charge what you feel is right.

tim, I'm sorry, but $50 for a 6x4??? That's gotta be a hell of a profit margin! Is it printed on gold? I personally charge $50 for a canvas 8x10.... but to each their own. Like I said, I'm from a small town, and people around here have to work 5 hours just to make $50.... I just can't see charging that much for 1 picture. If I were in a big city, yeah... I guess I could.

Hi,

Here's a thought...

Your best bet might be to try to get a job as a photographer or photography-related somewhere to start with, with an hourly wage or salary.

Stock photography is a usually a "supplemental" income source that photographers tap into, in addition to some more basic, regularly paying job. You need a large body of work to sell stock, and most times need a specialization, as well. Model and property releases are critical to making decent money selling stock for commercial usage. Unreleased images might still be sold for editorial usage, but what's paid on average is probably one tenth the price for an exact same image used commercially... maybe less.

A portrait/pet photographer usually has a relatively high overhead and a lot of upfront costs. First you have to evaluate if there is a void in the market you can fill. Then you may need a studio, with the ongoing monthly costs. Also, you will need a lot of pro lighting equipment and the knowledge of how to use it effectively. And, top level lenses and equipment are usually necessary. Now, there are some ways to reduce costs... such as doing location work only, working without a studio. And, pet photography probably needs less investment than people portraits (but the two can go hand in hand, too).

With portraiture, it really pays to have a regular contract such as school portraits, year in and year out, in addition to the more piecemeal jobs that will come your way in time, if you are good and stand out from the competition.

Landscape photography is a tougher nut to crack. It's got to be incredibly competitive. I don't think Ansel Adams made significant income from it in his lifetime, and would have to wonder about other "great" landscape photographers over the years, too. I would think your work would need to be very, very good and have something that sets it very much apart from all other, in order to hope to succeed as a landscape photographer. Even then, it might take decades to really see it as a viable source of income.


Taking a "regular job" could give you the opportunity to learn the business of photography, which is what so many overlook in their passion to "be a photographer".

If you take a job, just be a little careful about non-compete clauses and other stipulations that might limit you eventually in ways you don't like.

The "hourly job" I am suggesting can be as basic and simple a gig as 40 hours a week with one of the chain photo stores or at a local one hour processor. A pro lab or photo studio might be better.

It ended up taking her an entirely different direction, but one of my step daughters saw her career start this way. She loved photography and, while on vacation there right after college graduation, fell in love with Seattle too. Still on vacation, she almost immediately found a job at a professional film processing lab there.

Within six months, she was offered a job by an ad agency that was a client of the film processing lab. Somewhere during this time period, all her photo equipment was stolen and she sort of put her career plans as photographer on the back burner.

Within less than another year she was offered a job by one of the ad agency's bigger clients: Microsoft. Fast forwarding a decade or so, she retired once from Microsoft (where she was a director and head of her division in her early thirties) to devote time to her family, but ended up going back to work for them when they made her an offer she couldn't refuse.

So, my point is to start somewhere and see where it takes you. Start small, and learn while someone else issues you a weekly paycheck, if at all possible. Get a gig where someone is not only an employer, but a mentor who will help you learn how to do the work you really, really want to do.

Establishing a small, independent business is not something you should do lightly. You really should have enough savings to carry you for at least two or three years, which are usually unprofitable in most new start ups. Wildlife photographer (especially birds) and mid-life career changer Art Morris (www.birdsasart.com) said that his first ten years were pretty tough, hand-to-mouth living while working hard to establish himself, which has now done very well.

Now, I really don't want to discourage you, but you need to be careful if you want to work in photography.

But the business of photography is changing rapidly right now. It's currently flooded with people who aspire to make it their career. Digital SLRs and digital darkrooms have lowered the "price of admission" so dramatically that there are literally thousands of people who feel this is their calling and they are rapidly changing the landscape, rocking the industry right to it's core and even very well established and highly experienced pros are having to rethink and revise the way they do business.

Extreme specialization and narrow, but highly vertical marketing efforts are a couple methods of coping that photographers are having to learn.

The rapid growth of the Internet has made international stock image sales very convenient and far more efficient, but also has given rise to micro stock where amateur images are sold for a few dollars, diluting the prices paid for stock images across the board.

It's also reduced the need for assignment photographers, not only because there are millions more stock images available now, but also since it's so much easier now to hire a local photographer on the other side of the world, rather than send someone there and incur all the costs associated.

Staff photo positions are being cut in many traditional print media, which are under pressure because their ad revenues have been undermined heavily by the Internet. So the media have had no choice but to cut costs heavily, and salaries and benefits are a big part of their costs. So, these media are using more stock, more stringers, and even more reader submitted photos.

Advertising I'm not getting into in much detail, because I could literally write a book. Plus recommendation would vary wildly, depending upon the specialization you choose. If you are serious, I suggest you take a couple classes and/or pick up all the recent books you can on advertising and marketing. I will mention that a website is a key component today, but cannot stand on it's own. It has to work very synergistically with various other forms of advertising and marketing.

There are many opportunities, but I would encourage you to take it a little cautiously and one step at a time. If you can work to identify a specialization that appeals strongly to you, and then to gradually build you body of work and recognition for it within that specialization, this can take you where you want to go in time.

AdrianeCale wrote in post #5663533
I

tim, I'm sorry, but $50 for a 6x4??? That's gotta be a hell of a profit margin! Is it printed on gold? I personally charge $50 for a canvas 8x10.... but to each their own. Like I said, I'm from a small town, and people around here have to work 5 hours just to make $50.... I just can't see charging that much for 1 picture. If I were in a big city, yeah... I guess I could.

I am not going to speak for Tim, although that is also my first name, however I would like to offer an opinion on pricing.
Having spent a few hours with a very successful photographer I am raising my prices. First, location will often dictate a range of prices, charge more than the market can bear and you will have no customers. I think once you add up all of your time and expense $50 for a 4x6 is not out of line. I am adjusting my pricing so people will buy packages giving them a bigger bang for the buck. You don't want to waste your time with people who will only buy on the low end robbing you of working with higher paying clients.

AdrianeCale wrote in post #5663533
tim, I'm sorry, but $50 for a 6x4??? That's gotta be a hell of a profit margin! Is it printed on gold? I personally charge $50 for a canvas 8x10.... but to each their own. Like I said, I'm from a small town, and people around here have to work 5 hours just to make $50.... I just can't see charging that much for 1 picture. If I were in a big city, yeah... I guess I could.

NZ$50 (US$40) is the average priced charged by portrait photographers for a 6x4 at a recent meeting of my professional organisation, here in Wellington. There are a lot of entry level photographers who charge less, plenty of good photographers and studios who charge more, and a lot of people who have no idea what the market rates are. Hobby photographers tend to charge low prices and ignore the overheads. I know of photographers who charge something like $200 for a 5x7" print (not sure if that's framed or not), such as Tania Niwa, a kiwi photographer based in Sydney. For a large framed wall print from her you're looking at at least $1000, maybe more. She's one of the best portrait photographers in the world though. Good professional portrait photographers regularly get orders measured in thousands of dollars. I'm considering a flat rate of $100 per print for everything 8x10 and smaller, because the cost of the print makes no difference really, it's my time that's valuable. It's only when you get over about 20" that the price of the print is significant at all, and it's still trivial compared with the sale price.

An 8x10" mounted canvas print here costs about NZ$99 (US$80). The cost of the print has to cover my equipment ($15K+), my insurance, my accountant, office equipment, my travel, my time to take the photo (sitting fees are the price to have me turn up), the time to process the photo and send it to the lab, package it, and send it to the customer. My expected hourly rate is around $200/hr for short jobs, so by the time you add that up i'm going to be charging at least $200 for that print. Anyone selling a print for $10 must be dealing in massive volume to break even or make money.

Location is important, small towns probably demand lower rates. Minimum wage here is about $12/hour, but professionals on contract work can earn anywhere from $60 to $120/hr. That's the market I aim for.

Overall my message is most photographers undersell themselves and their work, and have no idea about their overheads. Joining a local professional organisation is one of the best things you could possibly do for your business. Joining www.digitalweddingforu​m.com is also a good start, they have a portrait section too.

yeah, see in Illinois, our minimum wage is $7.50!! I think it's supposed to go up a quarter in a month... Some of the factories around here pay about $12 per hour starting out, but not a lot of people can really afford to pay $40 for one of ANYTHING! Especially now with gas prices being so high. I know the US has some of the lower gas prices in the world, but we're just not used to paying $4 a gallon, yet. And if you're working out of town, like my husband, you have to work 2-3 hours just to make enough money to get to work and back for 2 days. I mean, I would rather have a full tank of gas than a 4x6! The economy here is at a steep decline, but I never wanted to be the "Rich Person's" professional photographer. I'm middle class, I like dealing with low to middle class folks. Don't get me wrong, I love a rich customer, but that's not who I'm marketing myself to.

You're all right, you really do have to pick your market. If every other photographer in your area is more for the upper class, then why not hit the untapped market? You're not undercutting them, you're filling a hole they've left. Not every family can afford to shell out $500 for their kids senior pictures, and other photographers know that. Just take a good look at your location and see where there is a need. I make DAMN good money with my prices... I have a great lab that is my well kept secret that prints on archive quality paper, and I make a great profit margin even when I sell a 4x6 for 5 bucks. I could raise my prices, my work is well worth any price I charge, but i've been able to pay the bills this long and still had money to splurge on other things I probably don't really need. So until I branch out and have multiple studios that I have to support, I don't plan on going any higher.

Before I opened my studio, we were borderline poverty stricken. We barely were able to pay the bills. I know what it's like to not have money, but want things that mean something to you. So I do business the way I wish other people could. I'm not out to make a million dollars in a year. It would be nice, but right now it's not going to happen. As long as I can pay my bills and go to bed at night feeling like I've helped someone, I'm a very happy pro!

Minimum hourly rate is about the same here in the uk.But our petrol, your gas.is £ 1.14. a litre. over $4 a litre. As much as you pay for a gallon.