Professional Photography Needs Businesslike Approach

To be a professional photographer means being paid for one's work. To make a worthwhile income from photography requires paying markets to be found before starting work.Above all else freelance photography is a business. If a would-be stock photographer wants to make money they have to produce what the market will pay for; not simply shoot what takes their fancy or they enjoy.

Business Research and Analysis of Photography Markets and Buyers’ Needs

The people who are making money from stock photography, whether on line or in print, do so by doing their research first. Before they do anything a photographer should research the market for the kind of work they can do. This is basic marketing and it is the starting point for any business. The writer should research:

• Who is the customer and what do image buyers need. What publications or other clients use the kind of work the photographer can do? Note “can do” not “does”.
• Do those customers use freelance photographers and do they take speculative work or only commission based on the basis of a query from the photographer?
• How much do they pay and on what basis?
• What rights do they require with regard to copyright usage or exclusivity?
• For on line photographic libraries there are other considerations around choosing keywords to optimise the work so that it appears high in search engine rankings such as on Google or Bing. Otherwise it will not found and read.

Using Photographic Image Stock Libraries To Provide an Income

By creating stock photo images for Alamy patient and disciplined photographers can use their hobby to make money but it is not a "get rich quick" scheme

Any photographer wanting to make money should first master the technical aspects. With stock libraries, such as Alamy, that do not edit the photographer is wasting their own time if they submit technically poor images – they will either not pass quality control or sales will not reward the effort of preparing submissions.

Photographs are not sold but licensed for use; an important point as successful stock photography requires multiple sales to maximise income. Alamy takes perhaps the smallest commission (40%) and charges of any library that actively markets stock images.