Making Money from Photography in Every Conceivable Way

By Steve Bavister

In this comprehensive manual, Steve Bavister gives an invaluable insight into the business of being a photographer, with tips and examples of how to take great pictures in every genre, including:

• Advice on shooting and selling stock photography
• How to get your work into picture libraries
• Successful strategies for wedding and portrait photography
• Inspirational, high-quality examples from top photographers
• Tips on running your own photography business

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Jan 30, 2006
• ISBN: 9780715335444

Book preview

FACE VALUE

Pictures of people are used in magazines of all kinds. For maximum impact, crop in tight with a telephoto zoom.

One of the biggest markets for photographers who want to shoot speculatively, rather than on a commissioned basis, and who want to market their images direct, rather than through a library, is publishing. This embraces a number of areas – including magazines, calendars, postcards, greetings cards, posters and newspapers – all offering genuine opportunities to make sales.

Buyers are always keen to see good quality work and require new material on a regular weekly, monthly or annual basis, depending upon their publishing schedule. Yes, they have existing contributors – that’s how they’re able to fill their current publications – but the door is always open to newcomers. So don’t feel reticent about making contact. Photographers often feel they’re being a nuisance by sending in work, but nothing could be further from the truth. Publishers need contributors as much as contributors need publishers.

Over the years I’ve spoken to scores of picture buyers, and all but a handful said they were happy to be approached by new photographers.

MAGAZINES

Magazines form the biggest single market for freelance photographers, with thousands on thousands of titles available. Magazine publishing is also one of the most accessible markets, as most editors are happy to hear from potential new contributors. If you are looking to earn money from photography, this is probably the best place to start. Lots of professionals cut their teeth by selling a few pictures here and there to magazines. With titles covering just about every conceivable subject, hobby, age group and occupation, you’re almost certain to be shooting pictures that would be of interest to someone.

 The key to success

In any area of photography the key to success lies in understanding the kind of pictures that your chosen market needs and how they might be used. When it comes to magazines, the principle is simple: the editor needs to have a reason to publish the picture. Rarely, if ever, will editors use an image simply to fill space. The magazine business is too competitive for that, and every page has to work hard to win readers.

Some magazines focus on news, and are interested only in images that have a news angle. Others are more features-oriented, often with a practical emphasis: for example, a sequence on how to plant seeds for a gardening magazine; the effect of fitting a polarizer for a practical photography title; or feeding a baby for a parenting publication. They will also include pictures of products, people, places and anything else that is related to the subject matter – such as fashion in Vogue.

FOLLOW YOUR PASSION

If you like gardening, shoot plants. If you enjoy aviation, photograph helicopters. Start with what you know and you’ll have the best chance of success.

 Stick to what you know

If you are serious about freelancing for magazines, what you must never do is shoot a range of subjects that you know little or nothing about and then try to find a market for them. That’s what a lot of freelancers looking to get into magazine work do, and that’s why so many of them fail. You go to the coast for a weekend and take lots of pictures of boats and yachts. Reviewing them, you think that maybe a sailing magazine might be interested. Or you visit a county fair and photograph dozens of vintage tractors, imagining that they’ll be of interest to a magazine about restoring old vehicles. Well, the images might be just what the magazine is after – but they probably won’t be. Unless you really understand the magazine, what it publishes and why, you’re just shooting in the dark. You need to choose your market first and then go out and take pictures for it. Editors spend a lot of time and effort giving their magazines a recognizable character, so you can assume that their requirements can be summed up as ‘more of the same’.

DRAMATIC PERSPECTIVE

Magazine editors want pictures with impact – and if you want to get published you’ll need to provide it. Here a wide-angle lens and a low viewpoint have been used to create a dynamic view of a conventional building.

 Analysing requirements

Buying a reference title such as The Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook or The Freelance Photographer’s Market Handbook is a good starting point. The entries will help you to avoid obvious mistakes. However, there is no substitute for obtaining a few recent copies of the magazine you wish to submit to and scrutinizing them carefully. Study them feature by feature, and then as a whole. How much importance is given to the photographs? Are they small, medium-sized, or sometimes splashed across a double-page spread? What kind of pictures are they? Very specific or more general? Straightforward record shots, or more arty, creative treatments? Often a magazine will have sections devoted to both approaches to give a sense of pace and rhythm.

Look at credits for the photographs. Do the same names come up time and again or are they all different? Are they all individuals or are some credited to libraries? Most magazines use a mixture of freelance contributors, picture libraries and commissioned pictures. Some also have staff photographers – check out the panel that lists who works on the magazine. If a staff photographer is mentioned, that can limit your potential for making sales.

 Guidelines for contributors

Many magazines produce a set of ‘Guidelines for Contributors’ to assist people interested in writing for them or supplying images. This will tell you about the ideal length for articles, the preferred format for pictures, the fees you can expect to receive and any other relevant information. These guidelines can often be found on the magazine’s website, and sometimes come in a printed form that can be posted to you. It is in the interests of the editors to produce them because they will get more material that meets their needs and less that doesn’t, and they save time by not having to repeat the information. If the magazine does not have specific guidelines for contributors, you can always ask them to clarify their requirements.

 Use familiar subjects

The easiest way to get started is by concentrating on magazines that you are already familiar with. If you have a hobby, such as gardening, snowboarding, caravanning or restoring antiques, then you are already halfway there – you will know which titles deal with that subject, and you should have a good idea of the types of pictures they use.

Common sense dictates that you choose a subject that interests you. For one thing, you will spend a lot of time shooting it, and for another, you will produce better and therefore more saleable images if you have genuine enthusiasm for what you are photographing. Chances are that you have pictures on file that may be suitable – so you will not have to start from scratch. You may be in a position to pull together a submission from existing material. If not, you know what readers will be interested in seeing and can get going without delay.

MAKING IT SALEABLE

Images with rich, strong colours are always saleable because they can be used to brighten up a page of dull text.

When I started freelancing, I had young children whom I regularly photographed. I had hundreds of high-quality shots on file of them doing everything from drawing to eating to sleeping. It occurred to me to target some parenting titles, and I was delighted that two of the pictures from my first submission were used in a leading parenting magazine. I sent in material every couple of months after that, and shots were used regularly. Then I looked for a new market. Realizing that I had lots of pictures of the surrounding area, I submitted some to county magazines – once again with success.

The most important thing is to get your foot in the door. I have found that editors tend to be more receptive to submissions once one of your pictures has been published in their magazine. What subjects and interests fire your enthusiasm? A glance through your pictures will soon tell you. What kind of magazines would be a natural home for the kind of pictures you take? That should tell you where to start.

 Photography magazines

Photographic magazines such as Amateur Photographer and Popular Photography can also be an ideal market for your work; they constantly need pictures to illustrate all aspects of technique, from lighting effectively to mastering depth of field. Some photo magazines have a policy of using readers’ pictures whenever possible, and go to libraries only when they can’t get the material they want from other sources. Features tend to have a seasonal bias, so if you have back issues go through them and note what appears when. During the dark months of winter, you are likely to find articles on winter landscapes, still lifes, birds, studio lighting, fireworks, indoor portraiture, Christmas and using flash. In spring, the focus shifts outdoors, and there will be features on landscapes, filters, portraits and spring itself – crocuses, rabbits, daffodils, lambs and so on. As the sun climbs higher there are summer subjects, including weddings, holidays, reflectors and travel. After that you have autumn, with writers waxing lyrical about warm light, higher ISO settings, autumn leaves and low-light shooting.

Whenever possible, you should supply ‘before’ and ‘after’ shots. And, following the digital revolution, magazines are increasingly interested in sequences of pictures that show digital techniques. When you are enhancing images – even if you are only sharpening them or using curves – keep the original image, any in-between stages, and screengrabs as well.

 Quality counts

Of course, you won’t be on your own in submitting pictures to your favourite photography magazine – many other readers will have the same idea. Don’t let that deter you, however. I have spent many years editing photography magazines, and, in all honesty, most of the images sent in are not suitable for publication. While most submissions these days are correctly exposed, in focus, and otherwise technically competent, most lack impact. Frankly, they’re dull. This means that the opportunity is there for anyone who can produce dynamic, eye-catching images of popular subjects that can be used to illustrate technique features. As ever, use the pictures already being published as a guide to what the editor wants, and then shoot and supply more of the same.

Favourite photographic subjects

At any time of year, there are likely to be articles on the following:

the most popular subjects, including portraits, children, buildings, sport, glamour, travel and still life

different types of composition

aspects of lighting

exposure modes.5

metering patterns

shutter speeds and apertures

lens choice: wide-angle, telephoto,

zoom, specialist lenses.

TECHNIQUE IMAGES

Photo magazines are always looking for images that can be used to illustrate techniques.This picture could be used in a article on composition, shooting at night or architectural details.

HOW–TO SEQUENCES

Digital imaging magazines are always pleased to receive sequences of pictures that show different techniques–but make sure you include ‘screengrabs’ of what you’ve done.

 Portfolio and gallery sections

As well as individual pictures and comparative sets, many photography magazines publish several images by one photographer, usually over three or four pages with accompanying text, in a ‘portfolio’ or ‘gallery’ format. For pictures to be used in this way, they need to have some kind of theme. They might be all landscapes, all taken using long shutter speeds, all in black and white or all composed using diagonals. Whether you specify it or not, any submissions you make will be considered for this kind of slot. So don’t just send a random collection of images; take care that they can work cohesively as a set.

It can also be a good idea, particularly in the early days, to narrow down the type of work you send to photography magazines so that you get known for that area. As an editor, I have a mental directory of who takes pictures of what. When I want nature pictures, for instance, I have two or three photographers who come immediately to mind. Not only do I know they have quality work on file, I also know they have lots of it – many thousands of pictures, covering most aspects of the subject – and they almost certainly have what I want. There may well be many other competent photographers who could supply me with work of an equal quality – but I don’t think of them. Once you have become known as a specialist, you can start to branch out, submitting other material – but in addition to the area you are known for.

Photography magazines also run regular competitions, some on a monthly basis, which can provide a decent income. See ‘Winning Competitions’ for more details.

 Local area magazines

Another accessible market is local magazines that cover a particular town, city, area or county. While their freelance budgets are often modest, they are usually delighted to hear from photographers who either have strong local material or are able to shoot to order. They rarely have a staff photographer and are usually run by a small team, with limited resources either to track down the images or to get out and take them specifically.

The geographical area covered by the magazine may not be large, and the subject matter will therefore be ‘on your doorstep’ – which means that the time and effort involved is often minimal. You might even be able to build a reasonably comprehensive set of images as you go about your daily business, grabbing a few frames here and there when the weather and light is at its best.

A good starting point, as ever, is to get hold of a copy of your chosen magazine and study it carefully. Does it look as if they use freelance material? Is it the kind you could supply? If so, either give them a call or send them an email saying that you are a local photographer with pictures of the area, and ask if they would be interested in seeing a submission. Most will say yes.

If possible, send a selection of photographs of the subjects most likely to be used in the magazine for them to hold on file. In this kind of publication the focus is normally on people, natural history, and heritage in addition to specific locations. Don’t send in anything too arty or unusual, unless you’ve seen that kind of material published. County and local titles tend to have an older, more conservative readership, so shots that are straightforward in style are more likely to succeed.

If your images are right for the magazine, they will steadily get used over time – with a small but welcome cheque following on each occasion. But don’t rest on your laurels. Once you have made your first sale, continue sending material – and if possible get to the stage where it’s you the magazine contacts when they need a particular image.

That’s what happened to me with a local magazine called Stamford Living. I’d had a number of stock images published in it, and had developed a good relationship with the editor, when he rang up and asked me to shoot the Christmas cover – for the following year. With seasonal issues like this, you have to work a year ahead – the Christmas edition needs to be published at the same time as the festive lights go up, so you can’t do it the same year. So I spent a couple of pleasant, if chilly, evenings at dusk in Stamford’s picturesque streets, capturing the scene that was published the following