Photography Business Forum

Hey gang, I am new here and was looking for some business tips on what you think is vital to a start up photography business. What sort of branding tools do you use and what has been successful? Does facebook or any social media avenue help you generate leads? Or is it just...

Good morning everyone. So I will going to an Art festival in a lovely town called Fuchu in Tokyo next month. It was a lottery to get in and I was lucky enough to win! So I will be selling T-shirts of my photography company as well as postcards of my images and most importantly...

I am in the process of setting up a website for selling my fine art photographic digital art to the public. I have chosen a lab to fulfill my orders, and in setting up the site, they list their cost to me for prints, and then I must fill in how much I wish to charge the public...

My wife and I are moving to LA towards the end of the summer.  Any advice on how to quickly reestablish my business?  Thanks in advance

I shot a destination wedding in Jamaica two weeks ago, but at the same time, I see more business disappearing every day to "uncle Fred" who will do it for less. Or for free. Not great work, but money seems to trump everything now.

I am an amateur photographer, and have got a press pass from another photographer for a 2 day music festival at the end of june. There will be 3 stages plus a comedy tent and a chefs kitchen.  There will be some big name music acts, big name commediens and big name chefs...

Hello I know many of you have been ask the same question sometime in your life, to bring your camera with you to an event or party. I received this email today and I started to wonder....would it be right to say no? but how to say it without been rude, what words to use?Would...

I have a couple of local agents that want me to shoot some photos of upcoming listings.  I currently do not have a wide angle lens because I am running my business debt free and don't have enough to buy one yet.  What are my options?  Thanks!

Hi, I have been asked to shoot a 5K race for a non-profit organization rasing money for a scholarship in honor of the organizers son who was tragically killed a couple of years ago a car crash.  I don't want to charge her anything, and I'm not. But she said that people...

Tax time is upon us here in the US. I am looking at the depreciation schedule in the fed tax code and they say that camara equipment has a 5 year depreciation. They also have an option to take 100% depreciation on the first year you put your gear into service ( section 179 )....

I've been browsing lots of different pay and free website hosting sites and I can't make up my mind. I'd like to be able to choose the design and layout etc, but I know nothing about web coding, so I need something thats pretty straightforward and easy, but still capable of...

I'm in the first stages of starting my photography business (building my portfolio, offering free sessions), and I was just wondering if anyone would be willing to share a copy of the model release form that they use?

Hi all, For the the last couple of year's I've been shooting theatre and stage performances in my city (population 500K) as well as headshots/portraits of actors/musicians. I really like the exposure it has given me and the work, although it is not very lucrative.  I'm also...

In trying to develop a workable solution with bridal couples who have no idea how much a wedding should cost (they are out there, kicking tires), but know what they are budgeted, how much of that budget, percentage-wise, should be allocated to their photography expenses?

I believe people download photos from my website and use in their blog without my permission, commercial website, soft ads. etc.. What will you do? Send months to contact them?

Is there a preferred workflow software / management system that photographers are using? I shoot weddings and would like to be able to effectively and efficiently manage the galleries, my customers, online sales and all the peripheral business of shipping, handling, collecting,...

We've finally joined the ranks for the rest of the civilized world - Canadian photographers now automatically own the copyright to their work, whether it was commissioned or not! http://canadagazette.gc.ca/rp-pr/p2/2012/2012-11-07/html/si-tr85-eng.html

I'll be starting a new job next week at Magenta Photo Studio. All flack aside for that fact I will be going to work for them, my concern is the clause/contract they want me to sign. It's a non-compete/non-solicitation which I am fine with for the most part, except that they...

Hello, fellow photogs! I could use some of your suggestions today... I posted the same question hours ago on the Assignment portion of Shakodo with no response. Hopefully a second post in the Business section here gets someones attention... I need help pricing out this job and...

I am somewhere between an amateur and semi-professional and have been asked to photograph a baptism inside of a church, followed by portraits of the family's children outside. She wants to use one of the photos for her Christmas card this year. I usually only do portraits,...