Freelance Photography As a Living by Murray Edwards

So you have purchased a digital camera and now you are ready to go out and make a living as a photographer. Easy you think, take a few pictures, sell them and you are off to the races. Not so quick my friend, unless you are extremely lucky, the road to success is a difficult one. Let us face it, making a living in the amazing world of photography can be fun, but there are many difficulties along the way.

First off, what type of photography are you going to perform? Weddings, portraits, events, editorial or commercial have you given that any thought? Are you going to be one of those who will upload your photographs to a micro-agency and be ecstatic when you receive twenty-cents when someone makes a purchase and downloads an image? Oh boy, you are on your way now!

Wedding and portrait photographers must have the ability to deal with a group of people who are stressed and at times, not very rational. Do you have the right personality to ease a bride to be as she breaks down, or smile while a mother attempts to gather the children for that special family portrait?

Looking to do event photography? You will need to form relationships with the local the baseball and softball leagues, golf courses, racetracks, chamber of commerce, and any form of organization that has or performs civic activities. The ability to review and print on-site is almost a must these days. Be sure that you can accept credit or debit cards for those who do not have cash and desire to a purchase on-the-spot.

Now for editorial and commercial side of things, make sure you understand when and where releases are required. In most cases, the use of an image to tell a story, used in a newspaper, textbook or magazine article, does not require a model or property release, however in some cases a publisher will require one. For any commercial usage of an image that has a recognizable face or facility, get a release. Carry a handful of releases in your camera bag; it will save you much aggravation

Understand your licensing options. If you do not care how the image is going to be used and as long as you have the proper releases then you can provide your customers with a Royalty-Free license, just know that they may, for the most part, reuse the picture as many times and in any manner they desire. You have basically given up your rights to how your hard work is going to be presented.

A Rights-Managed license provides you and your client more control of image usage. Basically, the client agrees to use your picture based of a selection of criteria. An example, suppose a magazine wants to use your image for a inside ¼ page spread with a production run of 25,000 issues and they want exclusive usage of that images for six months, then you charge appropriately.

Having fun yet? You are just getting started, just wanted to begin to educate those who believe that the business of photography is as simple of picking a camera and taking a picture. There is money to be made, just be sure you have a good understanding of the industry before you make the jump and do not leave your daytime job to soon.

Murray Edwards is a freelance photojournalist covering the Southern United States.
http://www.freelancephotog.com/
http://pa.photoshelter.com/c/murrayed

Call for Entries:First Asia Focused International Photographic Competition

Amateur and professional photographers from around the world are invited to enter the 2009 'Asia Without Borders' Photography Competition, the first internationally-promoted online photography contest organised by the award-winning ASIAN Geographic Magazine.

"We are looking for extraordinary photographs from both amateur and professional photographers that capture the striking images of Asia's land, people, architecture or wildlife," explains ASIAN Geographic's Business Development Director, Leslie Quek.

Entries will be judged over three rounds announcing thereafter, one winner and one runner up in each of the four categories. In addition, an overall grand prize award will be up for grabs. Over S$20,000 worth of prizes await the victors of ASIAN Geographic's first online-delivered international photo contest.

Eligible adult participants may enter the contest by submitting up to 15 photos in any or all of the three open categories: Faces of The Earth, Faces of Asia and Faces of The Wild. There is also a Young Photographer's category - Faces of Freedom - for 21-year-olds and below. Entries should be made online at: http://www.awbphotocontest.com/

The closing date for entries is 30 September 2009 at 23:59 hours, Singapore time (GMT +8)

A selection of the best entries will be exhibited at a public show in Singapore where the final shortlist of 20 images will be judged by a panel of professional photographers from around Asia.

All winning and runners up images will also be published in the December Photo Annual Edition of the ASIAN Geographic Magazine.

The grand prize winner will receive a Canon EOS 5D Mk II, a Jet Airways ticket from Singapore to Delhi and a Lowepro equipment. Each category winner will receive a Canon EOS 50D camera, a Jet Airways return ticket from Singapore to Delhi and Lowepro equipment. Each runner up will also receive Lowepro equipment.

New and existing subscribers of the ASIAN Geographic Magazine can enter the contest for FREE. Non-subscribers are required to pay an US$8 fee to submit up to four images to any eligible category or US$15 to submit up to 15 images.

Photos can be black-and-white or colour, shot with a digital camera or with conventional film. For details of official contest rules, visit: http://www.awbphotocontest.com/rules.php

Fourth Annual Photography In The Parks Photo Contest

As springtime rolls in, Canon U.S.A., Inc., a leader in digital imaging, is encouraging Americans to visit their national parks and photograph their beauty with its fourth annual Canon Photography In The Parks Photo Contest*.

The contest invites photography enthusiasts, from May 15th to September 30th, 2009, to enter by submitting their "Inspirational Nature Images" the theme for this year’s contest. Photos taken at any park or monument in America can be entered through the Canon Digital Learning Center Web site at: www.usa.canon.com/parks.

New this year, Canon will have two contest divisions for photographers between the ages of 13 and 17, and a separate division for adults ages 18 and older. This will enhance the contest experience by allowing aspiring teen photographers to compete amongst their peers.

After entering their photos through the Canon Digital Learning Center, potential contest winners will have the opportunity to forward an e-postcard of their submitted images to friends and family as a fun way to share their photographs. Winning photographers from the Photography in the Parks Photo Contest will receive some of Canon’s hottest photographic equipment. Along with some of Canon’s hottest equipment, the Grand Prize winner will receive a trip to a National Park.

As part of Canon’s Parks Program, a team of photographers will be touring four National Parks from June through August. At each park, the Canon team will host free photography workshops and provide Canon’s top-of-the-line camera equipment for participants to use at no charge. Each class will teach various photography techniques and explore many of the camera functions as participants take a walking tour of the park. Visit www.usa.canon.com/parks for details and a schedule of workshops.

Online visitors and Web surfers are encouraged to browse the Canon Digital Learning Center and take advantage of the various educational resources that Canon has to offer for novices and advanced photographers alike. The Canon Digital Learning Center provides a schedule for a wide variety of Live Learning classes across the country with renowned photographers as well as online resources and tips. The site also features online tutorials for beginners and professionals to learn their way around a digital SLR camera and inkjet printer and unlock the full creative control of digital photography.

Photo Contest to Showcase Work on the Mission Field

Adventures In Missions (AIM), a nonprofit organization based in Gainesville, GA, launched its first Missions Photo Contest in a quest to gather photographs of ministry in action from around the globe. The purpose is to cast a vision for what God is doing in the mission field through a collection of compelling photographs that tell the stories.

AIM founder Seth Barnes was inspired to start the Missions Photo Contest after seeing an image taken of an orphan at a care point in Nsoko, Swaziland. "I saw this photograph and was so taken by it. It captures a soul, a moment, a place and a ministry. It's like visual poetry," he says. Barnes wants to share this experience with more people -- and he wants more photos. "As I continued to stare at it [the photo], I thought, 'We have so many good photographers...we need to showcase their talent.'"

The ultimate goal is to publish a book of the winning photographs that shares the stories and images of reaching out to people in need. "I think it will help cast a vision for what God is doing," says Barnes.

Anyone is allowed to submit a photo of ministry in action for consideration in the contest. Prizes are $3,000 for first place, $1,000 for second, $500 for third, and $250 for fourth and fifth place. Judging will happen in three rounds, and contestants must enter a photo by June 15th to be considered in the contest. For complete contest rules and submission instructions, visit http://www.adventures.org/.

Profoto $10K Call for Entries for Photo Assistants

Profoto has launched an international photo contest for assistants. Each month a winning photograph will be selected and that assistant will receive international exposure through a full-page ad in photo magazines, be featured in a new web site (http://www.profotoassistant.com/), as well as having his or her work published in web and print articles, blogs and Podcasts. Grand prize, chosen from the monthly winners, is $10,000 in Profoto lighting equipment. Second and third prize winners receive $2,500 and $1,000 worth of equipment, respectively.

"Our objective is to celebrate the creativity and hard work assistants experience every day," said Anders Hedebark, President of Profoto. "In many studios the assistant is responsible for specifying, renting and setting up lighting equipment, so we feel it’s time to provide a community for recognition and exposure."

In addition to the contest, assistants are invited to attend a reception and studio shooting session where they can use and learn about the latest Profoto gear, the Pro-8 Air. The events will be held in many international cities, including Stockholm, Paris, London, Milan, Madrid, Barcelona, New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Miami, and Los Angeles.

Assistants can send up to four photographs each month to www.profotoassistant.com/gallery/. The contest ends on the last day of each month and winners will be announced the 15th of the following month.

Tips For Breaking Into Freelance Newspaper Photography by Peter Phun

So you've honed your skills to the point where you are confident you can get a good picture in any situation.

Have you thought about freelancing for a newspaper? Photojournalism is one of the most challenging, exciting types of photography.

As a result, it is also the most competitive fields to break in to. So what do you need to start?

Reliable Transportation

This should be obvious, but it's intentionally high in this list. All the skills and the best gear in the world without the ability to get on scene is pointless.

Decent photo gear

I consider these minimum requirements:

2 bodies is a minimum requirement. Though you may use one, the other is your backup. (at least 8 megapixels)

a wide angle, a telephoto, a fast 50mm lens, and at least one flash. As to the exact focal lengths, that would depend a lot on what you plan to shoot. Sports shooters need upwards of 300 mm, sometimes even longer lenses depending on the sport.

a good number of memory cards. If all you're shooting is jpegs, then you might be able to get away with 4 to 6 4GB memory cards. They're cheap compared to the past, so don't sweat it. Exactly how many is hard depends on what you're shooting. Again sports shooters will require more of this as well.

a laptop with a WiFi card. The platform Mac or Windows doesn't matter. Just like for your camera, Nikon or Canon, it's just a tool.**optional Mobile broadband card for laptop**

Photoshop Elements is a minimum, the full version is nice but unnecessary. Most of the time, all you have time for is saving your jpegs to the newspaper's specs, attaching captions and then transmitting it to the paper via the internet by either an FTP client or emailing.

cellphone for communicating with editors at the paper.

Optional but not vital is a police scanner. I don't advocate running off and chasing fire trucks and ambulances but sometimes being at the right place a the right time with a camera is all it takes.

Writing, reporting ability

Writing and reporting go hand-in-hand. You may not need to write a full blown news story, but you do need to be able to write accurate descriptive captions.

So proper grammar and ability to gather accurate caption information like names and ages is very important.

If you consistently provide wrong information and the newspaper has to print a correction each time, they won't be calling you back.

Good knowledge of current events and sports

If you're looking to shoot sports, then good all round knowledge of a variety of sports is important. Since popularity of different sports are very regional, I'll leave it to you to figure that out.

Obviously expect to know Australian Rules football and cricket if you're Down Under, baseball, hockey and American Football if you're in the US and etc. In sports expect to know quite a bit about all types of sports even if you've never played it.

If you're covering a tennis match, for instance, do you know how the players change sides on the tie-breaker? And how do they score the game? If you don't understand how the game is scored, how do you know when the last point of the match is coming up?

Keeping up with news is especially important. When big names come through your community and you're on top of it, this is a great way to get your foot in the door. The newspaper may or may not have the personnel to cover everything so your contribution may be welcome.

Even if they don't use your pictures, you've made first contact. Although it takes years of hard work and dedication to get into the business and there are college degrees offered in photojournalism, starting out as a stringer at a newspaper is achievable if you study publications.
If you're interested in sports, then subscribe to Sports Illustrated. In my next post, I'll discuss how to get your foot in the door at a newspaper.

Read a more detailed article on how to start freelancing for newspapers.

Peter Phun teaches photography at Riverside City College. He does portraits, weddings and editorial work. He writes about photography, Macs and the internet. He also designs websites and is a stay-at-home dad.

Previously, Peter worked as a staff photographer for 18 years at The Press-Enterprise, Southern California's 4th largest daily newspaper. He is the webmaster for the Mac user group in the Inland Empire. For more information about this Riverside based photographer, visit http://www.peterphun.com/

Freelance Digital Photography - Simple Tips On How To Get Started Fast by Terry Edwards

Photography is considered a hobby for many people. It just takes a good camera, a vivid imagination, and a great subject to capture to be in the field of photography. Even little ones can be interested in photography because many cameras nowadays are just as easy as point and shoot. You can even see the image before it actually comes out in print through a tiny LCD at the back of the digital camera. But did you know that if you love photography and are very enthusiastic about it, you have the opportunity to make money from it? Yes, you certainly can and you can even do it online.

One way to earn money from your freelance digital photography is to sell your photos to stock photography sites. This is the first step that you can take to earn money from your photos. This may not give you a big amount of money overnight but in time you will benefit from selling your photos to these sites. You do not even have to quit your day job to upload photos to these sites. Treat this like a second income opportunity and you will do just fine.

Most stock photography sites will pay you a fixed rate based on your photos' sales and there are some that give you entire copyright to your photos so you can charge your buyers with your own rate. You find out much more on this lucrative business at the end of this article.

To achieve effective sales of your photos online, you have to keep some things in check. Since the photos you will be submitting to online stock photography websites, you have to keep in mind the things that the buyers might want to buy so that you can take photos that will be appropriate for their use.

Regarding image quality, your photos must have no noise and be in focus. The colors should also come out sharp and balanced. And since these photos are to be used for a variety of purposes, you should not put a logo signifying ownership to you. You should also be able to categorize your photos correctly with the right keywords so that buyers will have an easier time looking for your photos which can give you impressive sales in the end.

If you are a newbie to photography but would like to try your hand at producing outputs for stock photography, there are certain things that you have to take note of. Of course, you must know how a digital camera works and investing in a good one is probably the best you can do especially if you want to make this a career. To make sure that you are able to update and upload your files as fast as you take your pictures, an internet connection is required.

The most important thing to do when planning to be a provider of stock photos is to take hundreds of relevant digital photos. Signing up with stock photo websites must also be done as well as learning things like coming up with the proper keywords, etc. so that you can start providing photos for your account on these websites.

Now that you have an idea of how to earn money from freelance digital photography, why not try your hand at it? Who knows, it could be the start of a more profitable photography business.

You can find out more about Freelance Digital Photography as well as much more information on everything to do with making money with photography and DigiCamCash at http://www.digicamcashreview.com/