So, you love photography, and want to start making some money from it. How do you go about doing that? There are many ways to make money from photography, depending on your interests and skill level. Actually, the skill level isn’t that important, just look at how successful Walmart and JC Penney have become at taking pictures. These are not professional photographers by any means, but that is a whole other topic for another day.
Right now, we are talking about you and how you can make money from your photographic skills. If you like people, you might consider doing some freelance work for friends and family first, and then building on the excellent referrals you get from them. But please, please, please do not offer your photography services for free, even to your own family.
Those in your family especially need to be supportive of your endeavors, so they need to pay you just like a real client would. It still costs you something to take the photos, and have them printed and delivered. The next concern is, where do I photograph my friends or family?
Location, Location, Location
Do I set up a studio in my home, or do I go to them? You can do both, or one or the other, it is totally up to you. Setting up a studio in your house doesn’t have to take up much space. You can have a studio in your living room if you want. You will need about 10 feet of space front to back, and about 6 feet side to side (or whatever the width of your backdrop happens to be).
Equipment
For either a studio setup, or a portable one, you will need a camera, tripod, lighting, and a background. For portraits, a lens in the range of 130mm-150mm is ideal. That way, you can be far enough from the subject so they feel comfortable, but close enough to get a nice tightly cropped head and shoulders shot.
For lighting, you will need at least two lights with stands. The main light will be positioned at a 45 degree angle to the left or right of the subject, and the second light will be placed behind the subject, pointing at the background. This backlight will separate the subject from the background, and eliminate any excess shadows. An on-camera flash is useful for filling in the areas of shadow on the face that is created by the main light.
Background material comes in many different types, from paper to muslin, to a plain colored wall. You can certainly use a wall as a background if there isn’t anything that might be distracting on it, but to be safe it is nice to have a roll of colored paper. Paper is inexpensive and very portable, and you can easily hang it from two light stands. For children and young people, blue is a good choice. For older people, brown is appropriate.
You could also get some colored cellophane (those colored plastic sheet protectors work well) to put over the backlight, and change your plain gray background to whatever color you like. Experiment and see what results you get, and what you like. Be careful with putting colored gel on your backlight, since they get pretty hot and may melt the material.
Next we’ll cover the setup in detail, and issues such as pricing and legal stuff.