In this edition of Ask the Photo Business Coach, I break down what you need to do (and how long it takes) to make it in the photography industry. Take a look at the steps I lay out in this video.

Looking at photographs is a very personal experience. Everyone has their opinions about what is good art and what is not. When it comes to photographs, some like landscapes, others go for street photography, and others prefer conceptual photography or portraits. It’s all a matter of personal taste. Of course, I have my own preferences, but it is not a particular style of photography that I prefer over another. What interests me are the way a photograph is made and the impact it has on me as a viewer.

Seeing and Believing

Photography these days is moving along two separate, distinct paths. The first is the photographer observing something, photographing it, and printing the image exactly as he or she saw it. Outside of correcting the RAW image for color balance and exposure, nothing else is done to the photograph. No burning in of the corners, no darkening or lightening of the subject, no darkening of the background or dodging of the subject — nothing. What they are telling me is, “This is what I saw.”

In order for these types of images to succeed as photographs, what the photographer saw has to be special — something unique; something that is unnoticed by the casual viewer. A different angle, a shadow, a relationship between between subject and background, anything to tell me that the photographer noticed something out of the ordinary. Then it is transformed into a photograph, something special. Unfortunately, when it does not work, it is because the photographer was working to a formal, preordained plan or statement and the resulting images are no more than a checked-off list to suit that plan. Working this way results in dull, uninspiring images.

Once More, with Feeling

The second path is to view something ordinary and make something special from it — to take what the photographer saw, and then by some form of manipulation such as framing, dodging, burning in, contrast adjustment, adding something personal to the image. I am not referring to extreme Photoshop manipulation techniques but simply the same adjustments that photographers have traditionally used to place their distinct marks upon an image — passion, feeling, something to tell me, “This is what I felt.” That is done by working with the image, changing it in such a way as to put some of the photographer’s heart and soul into it. Dark corners or background, lightened subject, bleached color or color desaturated or super-saturated — all of these techniques may contribute to putting the photographer’s personal impression upon their image.

This is nothing new. Photographers have been doing this for years. Eugene Smith was fanatical about his printing and would spend days working on a single print — bleaching small areas, darkening foregrounds, and lightening shadows until he got what he wanted. Man Ray would solarize his images (exposing the negative to light while processing) to create the surreal image he desired.

In my view, the best images work when the viewer is transformed from an ordinary reality (seeing what everybody else sees) to what the photographer saw and felt when he or she snapped the shutter. These photographs work because they make the viewer want to linger, to explore and involve themselves in to what is happening in the image. If the all the photographer has to say is, “This is what I saw,” I am left unimpressed.

In working to license rights to your photography, you need to recognize that there is a tremendous oversupply of images. So while your images are certainly much better on a quality and artistic level than most of the images out there, unfortunately that isn’t all it takes to make sales. As I said in my most recent post, getting the images seen by potential customers is the big problem.

Here’s a list of the number of images in a few categories at 4 of the major distributors.

Statistics show that the vast majority of customers choose an image from those found in the first 300 reviewed in a web search. Very few look at more than a few hundred images in any category before making a decision either to buy, or go somewhere else. So the question is how do you get your images shown in that first 300.

Customers can’t buy what they don’t see. At most sites the newest images uploaded play a major role in the sequence images are shown. This means that newly uploaded images have a chance of being seen in the first weeks or months after being uploaded. But it won’t be long until they are pushed down below that 300 level.

Using additional keywords to define specific aspects of an image may keep your image high in the search returns for a longer period of time – assuming some customers actually use the words you’ve inputted to search for images. Specifics don’t always help because many customers are looking for more generic images.

Algorithms Have Replaced Editing

Twenty years ago customers would call a picture agency for research, describe what they were looking for and the agency’s researchers would go through the files and pick a selection of images that they thought would fit the customer’s needs. The researchers got to know the best images in their collections and developed a sense of what their customers wanted. New images weren’t sent out just because they were new.

Now, all that personal visual judgment is gone. At the rights-managed and traditional royalty-free agencies the personal judgment of image quality and appropriateness of the subject matter has been replaced by computer algorithms that are heavily dependent on words.

Buyers Often Follow the Herd

The microstock sellers (iStockphoto, Shutterstock, et al) do offer a variety of ways for the customers to organize search returns. One is usually the number of times an image has been downloaded or purchased. There aren’t any good public figures on how frequently customers use any of the sort options, but it is believed that a significant percentage of customers sort on Number of Downloads when it is an option. This gives the customer the benefit of quickly seeing the images that a huge number of other customers found useful and purchased.

In one sense the picture research principle is still working. But, it is now much harder for that new image that has just arrived to ever get seen unless the customer is smart enough to do a search for newest images as well as a separate search for most downloads.

Take iStockphoto for example. The top-selling waterfall image has been licensed more than 2,000 times; mountains, 1,500 times; domestic cats, 1,500 times; and tigers, 1400 times. I encourage you to go to iStockphoto, search for the subject matter in your collection, sort by downloads, see how many times some of the images have been downloaded and how long they have been on that site.

Look at some on the first page, but also look at the 100th and 300th image to see how quickly the number of downloads falls off. This will give you a good idea of the demand for that subject matter.

Traditional Sites’ Methods Mysterious

Traditional sites (RM and RF) don’t offer a variety of search options like the microstock sites do. With traditional sites the search order is pre-determined by the distributor and the customer must take-it-or-leave-it.

Traditionals do use complex computer algorithms that attempt to bring certain images to the top, but often they are based on which images will generate the most revenue for the distributor (lowest royalty percentage for the creator) rather than a visual judgment of image quality and appropriateness that a good editor might make. In some cases weight is given to the number of times an image has been viewed, put in a lightbox, or licensed. Part of the problem is that the information about how the algorithms work is considered proprietary and not shared with the image suppliers.

Some Good News About Microstock

More and more customers are going to the microstock sites to find most of the images they need. Microstock prices, while still low, are going up. Prices for RM images are going down as the sellers of these products try to compete with microstock. Many RM images are now being licensed for prices lower than microstock The proportional share of images licensed as RM relative to the share licensed as microstock is declining steadily.

Most of the RM companies (Alamy excepted) will want exclusive rights to the images (and similars) they accept. To maximize earnings it is important to have your images in as many different places as possible so they can be seen by the broadest possible cross-section of customers. You can put the same images with multiple microstock sites plus Alamy on a non-exclusive basis.

For more information check out: Getting Images Seen, 2011 Stock Photo Market Size and Average Return from iStockphoto.

I’m regularly contacted by photographers wanting to know how they can license rights to their images in today’s market. Recently I was contacted by a nature and wildlife photographer whose work was excellent. This photographer regularly conducts photo workshops where he teaches others how to take great scenic and wildlife pictures. Here’s what I told him.

The challenge is getting your images where customers can see them. Two good specialist wildlife agencies in the U.S. are Animals Animals/Earth Scenes and Minden Pictures. However, today most customers are going to large online databases to find the images they need.

Among the agencies that license images at rights-managed or traditional royalty-free prices are: Getty Images, Corbis, Alamy, Veer, Masterfile, Superstock, AGE (Spain), Marutius (Germany), Picturemaxx (Germany), and FotoSearch in the U.S. (FotoSearch doesn’t accept images from individual photographers, only agents and production companies.) In addition there are four microstock sites – iStockphoto.com, Shutterstock.com, Dreamstime.com and Fotolia.com – that you may want to consider.

Ask Questions Before Signing a Contract

Most of these major RM and RF marketers not only accept images from individual photographers but also from many smaller agencies. If you put your images with a smaller agency with a good reputation chances are that some of the images will end up in one or more of these major databases.

Before signing with an agency that licenses work as RM or RF, ask for the names of the distributors that represent their work. Also try to determine the percentage of the agency’s gross revenue that comes from direct sales to customers as opposed to sales made through distributors. The problem with distributor sales is that the photographer has to give up a double cut of the fee paid.

One of the first things to decide is whether you are committed to licensing your images as RM or traditional RF, or whether you are willing to accept the microstock philosophy of volume sales at much lower prices. If you license your images as RM there is a possibility of getting multi-thousand-dollar sales, but such sales are very rare.

Both Approaches Can Pay Off

The odds of making a big advertising sale in today’s market are about the same as winning the lottery. It’s not that your images aren’t good enough to compete at that level. It’s that they will be competing against so many other reasonably good images. If you put your images in traditional RF the top price you can get is less than $1,000, but the odds of making a sale at all are about twice as good as having an image on an RM site.

Today, very few photographers are earning enough from stock sales alone to support themselves. On the other hand I think there are about the same number of microstock photographers earning in excess of $75,000 a year as there are traditional RF or RM photographers earning at that level.

Making Your Choice

I estimate that worldwide in 2010 there were about 1.5 million RM and about 3 million RF images licensed at traditional prices. During the same period more than 100 million uses were licensed at microstock prices. Chances are if you go the microstock route your images will get used 75 to 100 times more frequently than would be the case if they are licensed as RM.

But while the odds of a microstock image being licensed are much better, the price per license often will be very low. You need to decide if you will be upset when some company uses one of your snow-covered mountain scenes for a website promoting a ski resort or selling camping equipment, and pays less than $10 for the use.

Which approach will work best for you? Before you decide, read more about rights licensing in my next post.

Blogging is a great, free way to promote your photography business. Its benefits include targeted local traffic and networking opportunities with other vendors and venues. There’s the free promotion when your clients share your posts using social media, not to mention the happy client testimonials collecting in the comments.

Websites with blogs get 55 percent more traffic than those without, according to Hubspot.com. More traffic means more leads, and that adds up to more money. There’s just one problem: What if you’re not a “writer?”

You’ve got great photos to show off, but it’s not enough to post pictures. If you want all that good SEO mojo, you need to have at least 100-200 words of text containing the keywords your clients are searching for. All that amounts to a lot of work if you get blogger’s block every time you sit down at the computer.

Lori’s Lazy Blog Strategy

One of my wedding photographer friends came up with a brilliant strategy for writing a blog post. Lori is an extremely talented photographer, but she’d be the first to admit that she writes like a fourth-grader.

Every time she sat down to blog about a recent wedding, it gave her an instant headache.  Yet she’d experienced the benefits in traffic, leads and booked weddings first hand, so she knew she had to do it. One day, Lori had an idea: What if she could get her brides to write their wedding blog post for her?

She knew brides just love to talk about their details, show off their colors and theme, and tell the story of their engagement. She figured they’d do it for her blog if she gave them the opportunity. That’s exactly what they did, and she’s blogged happily ever after.

4 Steps for Lazy Blogging

Here’s how Lori’s Lazy Blog Strategy would work for a wedding photographer:

1. At your final meeting before the wedding, give the bride a list of questions. Ask whom they hired for entertainment, flowers, catering, makeup and hair, and transportation. Ask about the venue and dress designer. Then ask her about her colors and theme. Why did she pick them?

2. When you’re ready to post the photos on your blog, copy and paste the names of the vendors and details provided, and links to their websites.

3. Copy and paste what the bride wrote about her theme, tweak it for readability, add a sentence or two of your own about the wedding itself, and hit Publish.

4. Give your blog post an extra boost by sending the link to the bride and all the vendors you’re promoting, inviting them to share it with their network.  Your clients will no doubt share it with their friends and family.

Strategy Can be Easily Adapted

This strategy works for any type of photography blog post.  Simply ask your clients to include details about the clothes or accessories the kids have on in their portraits, or where she found that amazing maternity outfit.  If you’re blogging about your commercial work, ask the client about the message they’re trying to convey or the story of the product they’re featuring, and credit all the major players of the photo shoot.

The fans following your blog will eat up those little details, and come back for more. Meanwhile, you’re getting great content that pumps up your SEO without having to do any extra work. With the Lazy Blog Strategy, writing a blog post doesn’t have to be a challenge.

How do you come up with client-attracting content for your blog?

My Dec. 15 posting here – “Fearmongers are Giving Photographers a Bad Name” — invited some interesting comments. Although many readers sympathize with the perils of street photography, there are a number who consider it rude and offensive to photograph a subject when they are unaware and without permission.

I get the impression that some readers think photographers are a crass lot, incapable of any feelings toward their subjects. A few suggest that they would never stoop so low as to photograph strangers. I even get the impression that they would like laws passed to enforce this notion.

Pictures Without People

What kind of world would it be if there were laws preventing people from photographing strangers without their permission? We wouldn’t have the magnificent work of Henri Cartier Bresson, Robert Doisneau, Robert Frank, and countless others. Their work would be illegal.

The photographic record of the 20th century would be very different. It would consist of pictures of empty streets, devoid of people. The only pictures of people would be of them standing still, posing for a camera. Cameras would be forbidden at sporting events, public places, store openings, movie premiers, crime scenes, dog shows, wars — anywhere crowds are present.

Snapshots would be allowed, of course. But you would have to take special care when taking snapshots of children and family friends to make sure there are no strangers in the background. When taking pictures at your kid’s birthday party, you would need a signed release from all the parents. Weddings would be difficult, of course. Some guests would sign releases, but others would invoke their legal right not to be photographed.

News reporting would be entirely different – no photographs of people in the news, spectators, crowds or passersby. All newspapers could publish in the way of photographs would be formal portraits of newsmakers. It would be the same for television news.

Where Does It End?

It wouldn’t stop with people. Before long those who wish to protect their privacy would attempt to pass laws prohibiting photography of homes, offices and monuments. That’s the kind of society that can evolve when we allow ourselves to by driven by fear, political correctness, and ignorance.

Photographs harm no one. We all have the right to refuse to have our pictures taken — all we have to do is politely say no. But to presume we are protecting the general public by restricting these activities in others is fundamentally wrong.

There are two ways to go through life. One way is to be timid, constantly worry about offending others, never taking chances, and always siding with the majority. People like that seldom are very creative. The other way is to be out there, curious, hungry for discovery, and following your own path. That is the road I choose to take.

My wedding work outside London and in Indonesia has provided me with plenty of experience posing subjects and trying to capture for them one of life’s real milestone moments. And while there are lots of ways to make great portraits, it seems to me essential to follow three simple rules.

1. Do some homework.

I have a “Poses” folder where I save images that catch my eye. I look at images in magazines, blogs, or even other photographers’ websites. Studying them with a critical eye, I try and note where the subject was placed in relation to light and the objects around him or her. I try to imagine how I would get the subject to ease into the pose without actually having to show them.

I never want to show people how to pose because everyone interprets directions differently. If I were to ask ten grooms to kiss their brides on forehead, I would get ten different kisses resulting in ten different pictures. If I were to show them how I’d like them to kiss, I’d end up with a generic kissing pose, which is exactly what I want to avoid.

2. Direct the subject into a pose, but shoot the moment before or after the pose.

This is all about getting a shot that looks natural. Most people tend to freeze when the camera is aimed at them, and the photographer is left with awkward smiles that make people cringe. The trick is to capture the moment before and after a pose.

For this very reason, I like to crack little jokes as I’m snapping away. If my subject looks a bit stiff, I might say in a jokey-stern way, “If you don’t smile I’m going to make you look fat!” It catches them off guard and they’ll laugh out loud.

If I’m photographing couples, I’ll play them off each other. I’ll get them into the pose I want, for example, a hug. Usually the girl is more comfortable in front of the camera, so I might say, “Beautiful smile, Tara! James … you’re OK.” They’ll laugh out loud, and since they’re already in the pose I want them in, this makes for a perfect picture.

3. Practice.

It’s all too easy to think about what we’re going to do, but when we’re at a shoot and the subject is looking at us and awaiting direction, it’s easy to forget everything. The most memorable lessons are the ones we learn through our own experience.

A spouse, a friend, even a long-suffering mother can be bribed into modeling. And the less photogenic they think they are, the better. My husband hates the camera. I swear he’s able to smell it. Even when I take it out of my bag as silently as I can from behind him, I see his shoulders tense up. That’s what makes my husband makes a great model.

He challenges me to find newer and better ways of getting a natural laugh out of him, and when it comes to an actual shoot, I remain calm because I know that if I can make my husband laugh for my camera, then I can make anyone laugh.

There are dozens of other tips and tricks to make great portraits, such as using props or getting your subjects to interact with the environment, but for me, these three rules are the backbone of a great portrait session.

These three photographs have something in common: They are all about fear.

They are a reminder that every day, photographers are mistaken for perverts, terrorists, thieves, and other weirdos just because of the cameras around their necks. People seem to assume that we are “up to something.”

People who really are up to something probably don’t announce it by walking around with three-pound DSLRs hanging from their necks. I don’t know of an instance in which a person was injured by having their picture taken.

In fact, it seems to me that the only people who might be hurt by having their pictures taken would be those who might be, well, up to something.

Yelling at Kids — and Photographers

This photograph was shot in London. We were walking through a park for pensioners and sat down on a bench to rest. We were facing a tennis court where a very militaristic guy was trying to teach kids how to play tennis.

As he shouted instructions to them, I took a few frames and realized there was little of interest. I stopped, but the instructor must have noticed me. He started shouting at me to stop immediately or he’d have me arrested.

“It’s against the law, you know. It’s a very serious offense here,” he barked before going back to yelling at the kids.

I seriously doubt that there is a law in England about taking pictures of children in public parks.

Keeping His Belly Private

This photo was taken in Times Square in New York.  I noticed the cop’s belly protruding from the side of the building and took a shot before he noticed me.

“No pictures!” he shouted.

“But this is Times Square,” I replied.

“Keep moving, or I will run you in!”

So I shrugged and walked away.

I seriously doubt that there is a law in New York about taking pictures of police officers.

Not-So-Public Park?

This picture was taken at a skateboard park in West Palm Beach, Fla. It was a public park and as I was walking by, this kid shouted at me to take his picture so I did.

I shot a few and decided to go inside and take a few more. But as I walked through the gate a young lady asked in a very officious tone what I was doing. I said I just wanted to take a few pictures.

“Are you a parent?” she asked. I said I was not; I was just a photographer doing what photographers do. She said it was forbidden for people to take pictures of the kids unless they were parents. She told me to leave.

A public park. In a city of which I am a resident and to which I pay taxes to support parks such as this.

I seriously doubt that there is a law in West Palm Beach about taking pictures in public parks.

Privacy and Photography: Where Does It End?

Over the past few years I have noticed that cameras are now forbidden in shopping malls, stores and museums. Who are we trying to protect? And what are we trying to protect them from?

I used to love taking photographs of people in museums, but that is becoming more difficult. I can understand why some museums forbid using flash, but just taking pictures is also forbidden. Some museums even insist you check your camera at the door.

There is a part of me that wants to resist, to confront, to ignore these people, but it’s simply not my style. All I can do is write about it.

Have you been confronted with this attitude? What did you do?

We are so used to getting things for free – online newspapers, magazines, even books — we expect everything to be free.

Some people think photography should be free, and there are those in the marketplace who have done substantial damage to the value of images and assignments. It’s becoming all too common for images to be free, or next to free.

Sadly, we are perpetuating a cycle of free that is now bleeding over to our own bottom lines when the reality is that photography is worth something — a lot.

Mass Media Runs on Photography

Our images make or break magazines, advertising campaigns, and so on.

A pair of jeans sells on the strength of a photograph.

A president is elected on the strength of the photojournalism surrounding his campaign.

Public opinion is formed on our wars overseas by the images that come out of those events.

Weddings are deemed a success after the dust has settled and the wedding album is fabulous.

But magazines are not paying rates commensurate with what they paid even 30 years ago. If photojournalists continue to be paid $200 an assignment only to lose all their rights, that business model can’t be sustained.

What about photography licensed with huge rights being granted at $1? This is horrible for the profession.

Change Has to Start with Us

We as a society need to understand and recognize the value of photographs, and those who create them. Now is the time for a sea change, and it has to start with us. If we don’t recognize the value of photography, no one else will.

In this edition of Ask the Photo Business Coach, I take the mystery out of a call to action. It’s a frequently misunderstood term, and it’s crucial to your success. Learn how to maximize your marketing with an appropriate call to action.

Most freelance photographers spend much of their time looking for new business, which can come as a surprise to new graduates entering the marketplace.

“Basic courses in photography cover equipment, processes, and techniques,” according to the U.S. Department of Labor. “Learning good business and marketing skills is important and some bachelor’s degree programs offer courses focusing on them.”

Some? Seriously? I can’t imagine the irresponsibility of a school sending a graduate off with a diploma without a skill so key as business. Perhaps this is why we find our markets diluted with hungry, idealistic photographers being churned out only to find there isn’t a market for them.

They’re educated, they’re smarter, more savvy, and by default, artistically talented. But having the skill and passion to create visually stunning images is not enough to survive as a photographer. There is a critical need for business savvy – contracts, accounting, marketing, etc.

Setting the camera on Program and hoping for the best isn’t the solution, nor is ignoring that pile of bills and thinking elves will pay them and send out your invoices.

Business Skills Must Be Emphasized

So, what’s to be done? The school of thought at some point was that starry-eyed students would flock to institutes of higher learning under the promise of education leading to higher dollars in our profession.

But look at these numbers from the Labor Department: “Median annual wages of salaried photographers were $29,440 in May 2008. The middle 50 percent earned between $20,620 and $43,530. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $16,920, and the highest 10 percent earned more than $62,430.”

New Generation Must Embrace the Challenge

There is a critical need for a new generation of photographers, visionaries who can make a difference. Whether they come to us through an institute of higher learning or as an apprentice of an experienced photographer, they are a necessity.

Even newly graduated freelancers are professionals and are worth the money they make in the same way that a young lawyer charges for his or her time.

We are business people, part of an industry. We want a good standard of living. That’s why it’s vital that schools teaching photography recognize their responsibility to teach the business skills necessary for their graduates to succeed.

Not long ago I was sitting in my car by a seawall, watching fishermen surf casting. As daylight faded, a nearly full moon began to rise behind them and light up the water in a beautiful silver and blue pattern.

Moonlight Fisherman is a product of experimentation.

Despite how bright the moonlight looked on the water, the exposure times were still far too long for handheld exposures, even when I raised the ISO of my Nikon D90 to its max of ISO 3200. I considered using a tripod, but with such long exposures and with the fishermen constantly moving, I knew a tripod wouldn’t help that much.

Trying Something New, Even Through the Windshield

As an experiment, I started shooting handheld exposures (mostly of this one fisherman) with the lens resting on my steering wheel. I had to focus on him manually because, as bright as the water looks here, the camera was still having trouble focusing and I was shooting through the windshield (something I would never do unless I was after an abstract image and true sharpness didn’t matter).

Rather than try to constrain my exposures to times when he was relatively still, I just ignored his motion completely. In fact, I hoped he would move around to add to the abstract nature of my experiments. I ended up shooting several dozen exposures of him and another fisherman using exposure times ranging from 1.5 to 6 seconds. The lens was almost wide open at f/4.5. As I watched the long exposures pop up on the LCD I began to love the shapes of the soft silhouettes against the silvery blue water.

Making the Most of What You Have

Surprisingly, most of the frames are interesting and each is somewhat unique. The fishermen’s motion, the motion of the waves, and the intensity of the moonlight were constantly changing. I’m really happy I tossed aside my usual obsession with sharpness and experimented using motion and moonlight to create abstract compositions.

You can’t plan a photo opportunity like this, you have to just watch the world around you and do whatever it takes to turn the moment into something visually different — even if everything you’re doing is technically wrong.

Blur is the new norm. Just look at a newspaper ad or a model’s portfolio and see how all too often a retoucher has taken shortcuts and smoothed out skin at the cost of the little imperfections that make each of us unique. In extreme cases, we see people who look computer generated.

A photograph can be interpreted and manipulated in almost unlimited ways. It’s like a piece of music, with the photographer the composer. The retoucher, then, is the conductor, and as such needs an approach that endeavors to preserve all but the sourest notes.

Big Adjustments First

The first step is to take a deep breath and analyze what you have in front of you.

Where are discolorations? Are there any bigger blotches?

A good trick to find those is to hold down the space bar while in Photoshop’s full-screen mode and then use the mouse to move the whole image around. If you’re looking at a static image, your brain adapts quickly and makes discolored areas blend in with the rest.

Another trick is to flip the image horizontally or vertically. That resets your brain and you will be amazed how many new things you will discover that need fixing.

Sweating the Small Stuff

Once you have identified the main areas that need adjustment, move on to the smaller details. Some people print out a reference copy and circle the areas so they don’t forget.

You are looking for blemishes like pimples or eyelashes. Create a new layer and start removing undesired particles immediately with the help of the smallest clone or heal brush.

When using tools like clone or heal, you will want to set the brush hardness to 0 in most cases so that the artificially created “patch” will blend right in. You will also want to make sure to set an origin ([option] for Mac, [alt] for Windows) that is close in both structure and luminance of the area that you are about to fix.

Easy with Enhancements

Once you’ve cleaned up the photo it’s time to enhance the image. Keep in mind that whoever is going to look at the photo has no clue what it looked like before you started editing it. Part of editing photos so they look natural is to edit them at places you least expect. I look at the hairline and see if there are any gaps that I can easily close.

Similarly, I look for blood vessels in the eyes or flaws with the make-up. Then, if you want to pronounce the jawbone or the shininess of the hair, no problem. Just use a slight dodge on the already brighter areas and a subtle burn on the darker ones. You’re just enhancing what’s already there while creating a little bit of locational contrast.

If a rogue strand of hair is bothering you, take it out. But remember that leaving it in will help to make the image look untouched. Personally, I always aim for an image that looks more real than reality.

In all this, be mindful of the model’s dignity. You are having a big impact on how this person is perceived.

With the power of the tool you’re wielding, namely Photoshop, comes great responsibility.

In this edition of Ask the Photo Business Coach, I share some advice on how to find paying jobs in places where you least expect them.

I have a very thin skin. I don’t take criticism well, personally or professionally. Over the years though, as a photographer, I have learned to deal with it.

When you live in a world where you are constantly being judged by your work, you cannot expect that everyone will like what you do. Sometimes criticism can be beneficial, helping you understand yourself and your work from another’s point-of-view.

Negative criticism is everywhere, and the Internet is crawling with it. “Your work sucks,” “Boring,” and “I don’t relate to it,” are all examples of absolute statements that do not invite a response and are not intended to be constructive. They are intended merely as put downs, and probably have less to do with your work and more to do with the ego of the critic.

In most cases these statements do not even address what part of your work is displeasing. The simple truth is that these people are not interested in viewing your work as much as dismissing it.

There’s a Reason It’s Called Constructive Criticism

When someone asks, “What you are trying to say?” or says, “I don’t see the relationship between your images,” or “It’s interesting, but … ,” they invite interaction. The critic is puzzled, curious or ignorant of what you are doing but still is leaving room for dialogue. It is not a closed-end statement.

Often a response on your part is all that is necessary to explain and clear things up. That is what communication is all about.

In some cases people may not like your work and tell you why. There is nothing wrong with that, and it can be a valuable learning experience. Actually, I like such comments the best because they tell you something you may not already know. People can look at the same image and have different opinions.

If someone doesn’t like my photographs it is interesting to me to know why. I may not agree, but I have a devilish curiosity how another set of eyes views my work.

Four Rules for Critics

Every now and then you may be a critic. Here are a few suggestions:

1. Take your time. Nobody is interested in a critique based on 3 seconds of looking at the photo.
2. Be honest. If you do not like the photograph, say why. If you like it, say why.
3. Be positive. After saying why you did not like an image, mention something you like about it. Most bad photographs are not 100 percent awful. Nobody wants his or her ego crushed.
4. Learn the language of photography criticism. Gallery owners, reviewers and collectors have a language of their own. Learn it so you know what they are talking about. It will also prove helpful when you are the critic. Miscommunication can be hurtful.

The most important thing to remember is this: Not everybody is going to like your work. I often go to galleries to see exhibits that I hate, and wonder why that particular artist was selected. Obviously, the curator of the exhibit would not agree.

I look at winners in online exhibits and prefer an honorable mention to the grand-prize winner. I don’t like Picasso, and think Matisse was a much better painter.

That’s my opinion. Of course, it’s all personal. Opinions always are.

Better and cheaper digital cameras. More amateur photographers. Web-based agencies willing to sell an image for under a dollar. It’s no wonder there is so much stock photography available these days.

So what are committed pros to do about this spreading competition?

Specialize and survive.

For more than 40 years, I’ve watched hundreds of photographers enter the profession, stay a while, and get out.  Those who survive seem to have a common trait: They love what they’re doing. Wild horses couldn’t pull them away. They adapt. They adjust. They assess and move forward.

Survivors Change as Industry Does

Outsiders may say, “Too bad for stock photographers. They’ve lost their market in the enormous flood of available photos today.” But the survivors haven’t noticed. They’ve already adapted to new ways of selling themselves and their talent to the public and the photo buyers. They know pictures will never go out of style.

Many stock photographers have wisely moved toward targeting their photography focus to a segment of the market, where they feel comfortable and speak the language of their clients. They have narrowed their personal expertise down to a point where they are no longer generalists; they have planted a flag as a specialist.

They concentrate on building a massive photo collection and knowledge in a specific field, such as health sciences, motor sports, education, deep-sea fishing, and so on. They get so good at their brands that assignments build in a vertical direction for them, all in their area of expertise.

Buyers Prefer Specialists

Art directors, photo researchers, and photo editors prefer working with such specialist photographers. Why? To cover their own tails. They know if a photographer is well-grounded in the subject area they work in, it comes through in the veracity of their work. Editors and buyers now choose photographers based on what knowledge and expertise they possess in the target subject area.

The Digital Age has made all this happen. Clients now have the capability to swiftly find the right photographer for the job through a keyword search. This has resulted in a new opportunity for photographers, veterans and newcomers, to step forward and move forward.

I, for one, see great things ahead for our picture-taking profession.

In Monday’s post, I discussed the tendency of photographers to create websites that have lots of bells and whistles, but that don’t necessarily put the priorities and interests of their audience first. Here are five tips for designing a website with your customer in mind:

1.   Mimic the real world.

If you are a wedding photographer, the look and feel of your site should be similar to a wedding album. It should have the softness and warmth to reflect that event. If you are an artist, your site should be similar to viewing images in a gallery. The backgrounds should be clean and non-distracting — just as if you were viewing photographs on a wall. Remember, your audience is used to looking at images in a particular way and you do not want to make them uncomfortable looking at your work.

2.   Transition is important.

The transition from one image to another should be simple, quick and non-distracting. Soft blends or dissolves are fine. Wipes, smears, revolving boxes etc. interfere with the viewer’s tempo. It is also important that the time between one image and the next be minimal. A dissolve should not take more than a second. A quick cut has a somewhat brutal effect and should be used with caution.

3.   Flexibility is vital.

Going from one image to the next is important, but navigation is key. Most buyers, gallery owners and clients like to flip back and forth between images. They do not always go in a straight line and your site design should consider this.

4.   Plan site architecture first.

The site architecture should be considered first as part of your initial design process. Your navigation bar, page set-up, and flow should be planned from the start. Professional designers do not always have a clear picture of how the navigation and flow should work in your specific business. They need guidance!

5.   Different browsers show different pages.

My browser is set up to show my fonts as Verdana 12 point but my neighbor’s may be set up to show them as Times 9 point. My fonts on a Mac show up smaller than if they were seen on a Windows system. It is important to test your site on both operating systems and with as many browsers as possible. If you want your site to look the same on all platforms, make sure you or your designer knows how to use cascading style sheets. It’s not that difficult to learn, but it sure helps if you want consistency.

This should get you off to a good start in designing a website or working with a designer. You don’t always have to follow all the rules — but make sure when you break them, it’s for a good reason.

There are some excellent photographer websites out there, but the vast majority of them fall short in demonstrating their owner’s best work.

My biggest complaint is the use of Flash. Although Flash is great for showing motion and other effects on the web, it is not a good medium for showing photographs.

First, there is the temptation to take advantage of all those wipes, smears, pop-ups, “Burns Effects” and reveals that Flash has to offer. It might be cool for some disciplines, but in photography, I think these effects are vastly overused.

Try to imagine looking through a picture book, but before you turn every page you have to turn the book over upside down, flip it up in the air, blink three times and only then you can see the next page. That’s Flash.

It’s the same for a photojournalist or fine art photographer; the sequencing of your photographs is of utmost importance. You want your audience to view each image in a series or sequence to tell your “story” and there should be little distraction as you go from one photo to the next.

Effects Aren’t Special

Since most photographers are not Flash programmers, they buy or subscribe to these generic sites online and then customize them to suit their needs. The result is an endless assortment of bells, whistles and special effects designed to appeal to a very broad audience.

They may look slick, but you must ask yourself how this works for your prospective customers. Is this how you want them to see your work?

Some photographers may have friends who are programmers, or even have the funds to hire one. This is a far better solution, but there is still the temptation for a programmer to try to impress his friend/client by utilizing all the effects outlined above.

When designing a website to show your work, the best approach is to view the site through the eyes of your audience from the start.

So how does one do this? I will share some ideas in tomorrow’s post.

Setting up a test session can be as easy as taking a friend to a park — if it’s the right friend and the right park.

A test session is for the purpose of trying out a new technique or piece of equipment, or to shoot something that you hope will end up in your portfolio.

But just because it’s a test, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t adequately prepare for it. The better you plan, the better images you’ll get.

Try to think of everything you’ll need in advance.  I brainstorm until I have five to 10 good shot ideas, then I ask myself which are the three best. I plan on shooting those and making them worthy of my portfolio.

Location, Location, Location

Your first step is to find a location that fits your vision. This may require you to get permission from the property owner.

Think of how you can make this a win-win. I have traded shots of properties for permission to shoot there. This worked great for a builder I met who needed shots of a home he built. I’ve also traded interior shots of a great restaurant for letting me shoot there.

Be creative and be respectful. Put yourself in the other person’s shoes. If they say no, you may have to come up with a new idea. Keep in mind there have been a lot of great shots made at public parks and streets.

When scouting your location, look at the light, and take shots at the same time of day you plan to shoot and from the same angles. Is the available light right? Is there room to set up lights? Scouting will make you aware of issues you need to control before you have models on set looking to you for direction.

For interior shoots, I also recommend taking shots of everything in the room beforehand, so you can make sure everything is put back in place when you finish. Ask the property owner if there is anything of great value in the room and if possible have them relocate it. Bring along boxes and packing material if you need to. Bring cleaning supplies and clean up after yourself.

If you don’t have insurance, check into short-term insurance for the day or week.  It is pretty cheap in comparison to what it could cost if something goes wrong or someone gets hurt.

If something does get broken, bring it to the proper person’s attention and pay for it or give them your insurance information. If it’s a really great location, chances are you will want to come back.

With Models, Go with the Pros

This brings us to models — and to an old adage: “You get what you pay for.”

Whether it’s a paying client or a test, professional models almost always are worth it. I have shot client jobs where we used non-pros to model for us and it has worked out great. But that is the exception rather than the rule.

I am established enough that I can call local agencies and get models for test shots, but some of you may be left working with amateurs or wannabes. Before you plan an elaborate location shoot with someone with little or no experience, meet with them and do a little test at a park. See how they do in front of a camera.

They should be comfortable, relaxed and take direction well. This is a good time to practice your direction. Give your model clear instructions; and give them from their perspective, not yours.

Your model needs to be part of the whole look you are trying to create, because when it comes to lifestyle shoots, it’s all about the right person and the right park.

In this edition of Ask the Photo Business Coach, I share some advice on highlighting your achievements in a high-impact biography for your website.

Fourth in a series.

In the first part of this series, we introduced you to an Ottawa photographer who, when asked about getting paid, joked that “baseball bats work wonders.” In this last installment, we’ll discuss how to swing the legal lumber: namely courts and collection agencies.

Freelancers in all sorts of businesses seem to be in agreement that going to court may be throwing good money after bad. But there seems to be plenty of advice out there about what you can do first.

The Freelancers Union, the industry group that counts more than 150,000 members, says the first step is sending a formal demand letter requesting payment. “We are writing to collect the past due amount of …” begins the sample letter on the group’s web site.

A Tough Situation

Professional copywriter Dean Rieck has some realistic advice on how to handle what’s admittedly a tough situation.

Writing on his blog ProCopyTips, he says, “Ask for immediate payment. Say you want to avoid any hassles like legal action. This is difficult to do. You won’t like it and the client won’t like it. But it has to be done. Still, be professional and don’t say anything you’ll regret. It’s at this point, you may lose your client forever. But then, a client who doesn’t pay is not a client you want. And a client who owes you money will never hire you again.”

After that, Rieck advises, “Pick up the phone one more time. Have a last conversation with the client and try to work things out. Offer a payment plan. Ask your client how to resolve the issue. And if this doesn’t work, your next call should be to a collection agency or lawyer.”

Choosing a Collection Agency

“If you opt for a collection agency,” he says, “try to find one near your client. This seems to have more impact. If you opt for a lawyer, try to find one who specializes in collections and who can follow through with a suit if it comes to that.”

The Freelancers Union’s web site has the name of a firm that gives members a 10-percent discount. It also advises members to seek out other members who are lawyers.

Here, Rieck urges caution. “Be realistic,” he says. “In the end, if clients don’t want to pay, they won’t pay. Collection agencies can work, but not always. And if you file suit, remember that clients can always file a counter suit and claim you didn’t do the work you promised. It doesn’t matter whether it’s true or not, you can sue anyone for anything. So consider the pros and cons carefully before you begin any legal action.”

Outing Non-Payers

But plenty of freelancers seem to endorse “outing” the non-payer. Freelancers Union has its Client Scorecard. Others have similar offerings. But Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn can work too.

In the end, the best defenses against nonpayment aren’t letters and lawyers, but well-written invoices, frequent communications, and a polite but businesslike approach. Being selective about whom you work with helps too, according to one photographer.

He says his secret to getting paid is choosing good clients and being flexible about the definition of “on time.”

Third in a series.

When it comes to getting paid for her photography, New Yorker Giovanna Grueiro has a system. You should too.

In this installment of our series, we’ll explore how having a plan to get paid for each job will keep your businesses — and your client relationships — healthier.

For Grueiro, it seems to be about staying on schedule.

“Typically there is a deadline for each payment,” she says. “The deadline is usually a month after the project has been completed and ready to deliver. There are reminder e-mails with the invoice and statement attached.”

Sending Reminders

To make payment easier, she says, she includes information on paying online through services like PayPal.

Her reminder e-mails go out three days after the deadline, with a warning about her late fees if payment is five days late. At five days after the deadline, another e-mail goes out, with a new invoice that includes the late fees.

“So on top of not receiving the photos right away there are penalty costs,” says Grueiro, who adds, “I have never gone so far as to take a client to small-claims court.”

Blogger Erin Russell, writing for Biz 3.0, also reminds us to amend contracts to reflect changes.

“Changes will happen in every job you do. People change, project goals change, contracts get bigger, contracts get smaller. You should address these changes in the contract. Ideally each change should cost the company or client money.”

Her sound advice takes us through the entire process of obtaining payment:

“Stay on top of your bookkeeping, and if certain clients aren’t paying their bills, politely let them know service will be discontinued. While this only works for ongoing projects, it will prevent a customer from racking up a debt they’ll never be able to pay. In other words, it prevents you from pouring time and effort into a project you won’t be compensated for.

Rising Concern

“Have a letter written, saved, and ready to send for this circumstance. Using the same letter every time will take away some of the situation’s stress and allow you to respond quickly. After a week of nonpayment, a short reminder letter is appropriate. Within this timeframe, the bill might have slipped a client’s mind or there may be a holdup with their financial department.

“Five days after sending a polite reminder, pick up the phone and call the client if they still haven’t paid. You should have obtained contact information for the person who would be paying you at the outset – this is when you use it. Ask your contact about the status of your invoice, and be sure to get a specific date when they plan to send payment.

“If no one answers, leave a message and follow up with email. Your communication should show rising levels of concern as time goes by, but maintain a professional, objective tone.”

Russell concludes, “If you regard yourself as a professional then you and the companies you work for should treat you that way.”

Second in a series.

Having a hard time getting paid for your freelance work? You’ve got company.

Some 44 percent of “independent workers” had difficulty getting paid for their work last year, according to the Freelancers Union, the industry group that counts more than 150,000 members nationwide. It says three out of four freelancers are paid late or not at all at least once in their careers.

“Collecting payment is a big issue that’s been compounded by the economy,” Gary Swart recently told The Wall Street Journal. Swart is chief executive of oDesk, a freelance-management web site that acts as a liaison between freelancers and clients.

Applying Pressure

He told the paper about an especially worrisome tactic: companies trying to negotiate lower prices from freelancers — after the work has been delivered!

As we discussed in the first installment of this series, a good invoice may be the best protection against nonpayment. Getting partial payment up front helps too. Freelancers Union also suggests being prompt sending out invoices and late notices, following up oral agreements with e-mail confirmations, and keeping records of all communications.

But how do you prod a client who’s slow to pay?

The Wall Street Journal story advises: “Get over the embarrassment. Don’t be uncomfortable with asking about money — everyone works with the expectation of getting paid.”

But there are strategies to encourage payment. Find out at what interval the client would like to be invoiced and follow that schedule. Smaller balances can be less daunting, another argument for more frequent invoicing. Offering proof of your time spent in the form of a timesheet may also help convince a doubter you deserve your money.

The Imaginary Accountant

If you’re feeling like a pest, blame your imaginary accountant. If the company is local, offer to drop by to pick up your check. Face-to-face meetings are harder to ignore than an e-mail or phone message. If your primary contact isn’t helpful, find out who is actually responsible for getting you paid.

A quick call to the company should reveal that person’s name and contact information. Remember, people in accounting have little or no knowledge of the work you did or any creative differences you may have had with the client. Accounting people live to pay bills, and your unpaid bill is for them a problem that needs solving. A polite letter to the business manager can include the details of the job and copies of the invoices sent.

Keeping Things Civil

In dealing with the business manager, you can get creative by offering to forgive late charges or accepting a payment plan. Just be sure and keep things civil – this is the person who can pay you, or not – and follow up any phone conversations with a written note or e-mail.

If all else fails, the advice goes, withhold delivery of further work – politely, of course.

The trick, clearly, is handling the situation in such a way that you end up with your money and a client who will call you again. Having accomplished this, it may be time to ask yourself: When that client calls you again, do you want to answer?

Next: Using a reminder system

(Editor’s note: In today’s uncertain economy, freelance photographers are waiting longer than ever to receive payment from their clients. Following is the first in a series of articles by Brandon Cotter, founder of ZenCash, offering tips to accelerate your cash flow.)

When it comes to getting paid for freelance work, Ottawa-based photographer Younes Bounhar quips, “baseball bats work wonders.” But for the less athletic among us, the most effective instrument is still the invoice.

Invoices are even more important these days with studies showing that in this economy, customers are taking longer than ever to pay small businesses — an average of 48 days, according to a survey by the National Federation of Independent Businesses.

Requiring Prepayment

The simplest of invoice terms, of course, is prepayment. Dallas-based Rachael Ellis, who specializes in wedding and custom art photography, insists on it. And don’t give her a check. It’s cash or a money order.

Withholding work until payment is delivered may be the next-most-popular approach. But most invoices aren’t so simple, and freelancers have to get more creative. Many insist on at least some part of the payment up front. It’s collecting the balance, of course, that gets tricky.

Plenty of freelancers use late fees. British photographer Bruno Conrad learned them from his father, a freelancer for 30 years.

“He said to me that you should state, on your invoice, that the payment must be made within 30, 60 or 90 days, and then add a 10 percent charge for each week that the payment went over the stipulated date.”

Conrad says, “It might not make any difference to being paid on time — especially with bigger companies — but at least you’ll be making money off them when they do drag their feet with payment.”

Offering Discounts

Californian Lara White says her company added a $100 late-fee policy just this year because so many payments were late. Others turn the late-fee idea around, and offer discounts for paying on time. In Florida, photographer Ken Hayden promotes discounts for “quick payment.”

Regardless of the terms, photographers seem to agree that another key to getting their money is offering payment methods customers will use. PayPal is a favorite, along with others like Square, the credit-card processing service.

“Nothing like being paid instantly!” one Square fan raves.

There is plenty of help online with invoicing with companies like FreshBooks, Harvest, Blinksale, ShootQ and others. The FreshBooks website boasts, “You’ll actually enjoy invoicing!”

“I get paid sometimes when I completely forgot a client owed me money,” says Texan Jonathan L. Golden. “It’s great.”

Staying Vigilant

A last area of consensus when it comes to getting paid is one very familiar to freelancers: vigilance.

Says Canadian photographer Paul Ritter: “Don’t procrastinate! I start post-processing as soon as I get home from a shoot.”

But it all starts with the invoice, a lesson Stijn Swinnen learned the hard way.

Four years ago, he says, he joined a cooperative photo exhibit in Belgium. One of his works was a large panorama of the city’s main square. The photo attracted the interest of a potential buyer, who wanted to display it in his downtown building. The sale never went though, and the work was damaged – accidentally, but beyond repair.

“They didn’t want to buy it or refund for the damages, so it was worthless for me,” he says.

“My mistake? We never set anything on paper.

“No agreement, endless discussion, no money for me.”

Next: Prodding the slow-paying client

In this edition of Ask the Photo Business Coach, I share some tips and tricks for photographers looking to maximize social media in their marketing efforts.

Last year I wrote a blog post called “21 Signs You’re a Real Photographer Now.” Commenters said the post was elitist, “sexist crap,” “truly pointless,” “self-congratulatory nonsense,” and a “waste of time.”

That must mean it’s time for a sequel.

Here are 15 more clues that you have crossed the threshold from pretender to contender:

1. You don’t say “Lensbaby” without a separating comma, as in “Show me you love my lens, baby.”
2. You don’t mistakenly use a beauty dish for chips and salsa when your spouse has friends over.
3. It’s no longer enough to make pilgrimages to all the natural wonders of the world; you now obsess over being there at sunrise, sunset, moon rise and eclipses.
4. You’re indifferent when the airline tells you they’ve lost your baggage because all your photo gear is in your carry-on. You can always buy new clothes.
5. You’ll rather use sandpaper in the bathroom than low-quality paper for your photos.
6. You get irritated when your browsing history on Amazon gets contaminated by items other than photo gear after your spouse uses your computer.
7. You produce HDR images without the use of software or tripod. Of course, your HDR (“Huge Dumbass Removal”) technique does require that you exit your vehicle on occasion to exclude bystanders who think they’re transparent.
8. You’re not bothered by your competition’s high-end DSLR — especially when you see that their Speedlight/Speedlite is permanently bolted to their camera’s hotshoe.
9. Your spouse insists that you either take her with you, or leave your credit card at home, when you go to the neighborhood camera store.
10. More and more of your Facebook friends want to be tagged in your pictures, even the shy, private ones (and especially those too cheap to pay for profile pictures).
11. You no longer obsess over websites hot-linking your images; you’re now more interested in the number of visitors being driven to your website — and the leads that result.
12. Now that you also shoot video, you insist that every shot has to be done at your maximum aperture for that film-like look, even if it’s a group shot requiring more depth of field.
13. You finally stop obsessing over file size when you realize you don’t even like your own work enough to make a 20″ x 30″ print.
14. You grudgingly decide to show restraint in your post-production after you see the results your 5-year-old gets with your iPhone and the Hipstamatic app.
15. Your Twitter followers are increasing because they are stalking you for your great location finds — even though most of your tweets are about where you had lunch.

Summer is usually a slow period for me. You might say that I am “creatively inactive.”

I tend to stay close to home in Vermont during the summer. And when I try to shoot here, I generally don’t produce much that I like.

While Vermont is a very scenic state, I am not a landscape photographer. I am a street shooter, and there are very few streets in this small state that attract me.

So instead, summer is my time to think, to reflect, and to invent projects.

Staying in Practice 

For instance, I knew that among the thousands of photographs on my hard drive, there were some undiscovered gems to be found. So I recently scoured my files and began salvaging one image per day to post on my blog.

It’s interesting to reflect on photographs that I originally passed over, but that have become more interesting on second inspection — like homemade spaghetti that tastes better the second day.

I don’t abandon my camera entirely during the summer. I stay in practice by shooting simple mini-projects that I know will not produce great pictures, but may instead lead to an “aha” moment.

Staring at the ceiling has its advantages. © David Saxe

And I do mean simple. Over the years my subjects for such mini-projects have included:

• objects around the house
• table tops
• flowers
• building facades
• the ceiling
• my cats

None of these subjects have much creative interest for me, but they often serve to lead me to my next real project. Even in shooting the dullest subjects, I find that every now and then an idea “clicks” — literally.

The Rewards of Discipline

Take building facades, for instance.

I always shoot them straight on, as countless photographers have done before. I do it as a discipline. Through endless repetition, I hope to eventually see the same things in different ways.

I recently spent a few days in Chicago, wandering the streets with my camera. Even though I had left Vermont to visit the big city, I was still feeling totally uninspired.

The light was wrong. My feet hurt. I just wasn’t into it.

So I settled into shooting building facades until my creative juices kicked in.

Finally, I looked at a building across the street from me, and a connection was made. The building was directly in front of the elevated train that goes through the city.

The girders were casting interesting shadows on the building. I looked up and it occurred to me that it would be interesting to look down on this building from the train platform above the street.

I walked up the stairs, paid the fare and for the next few hours I rode the train, getting off and on at various stops — photographing people as they sat in the train, and photographing the streets from the higher elevation of the platform.

Boni Vino Pizza. © David Saxe

All it took was a summer day, staying busy, and an open mind.

As a wedding photographer, I know my job is important. I could argue that I’m the most important vendor at the event, in fact.

After all, I’m the one who will be documenting the day for posterity. 

I’m the one who will be with the bride all day long. 

I’m the one taking the family portrait that will be treasured by the bride’s mother forever.

There to Serve

Those are the things that make my job important. But they don’t make me more important than anyone else at the wedding — especially the bride and groom.

A wedding photographer is a vendor hired for an event, period. I am a servant, just like the waiter serving the guests their food. I am there to serve the wedding couple.

I am not there to make sure the bride accepts all my creative suggestions.

I am not there to persuade them to do a “first look” session before the ceremony.

I am not there to coerce them into posing for sunset photos if they decide — even at the last minute — that they would rather just enjoy the reception instead.

Art Comes Second

I am there to offer professional advice and to work up a shot list for the day.  But I must be OK with the fact that the schedule can change at any time, and I have to be flexible with my plans.

It is their day, not mine.

Yes, I am an artist. But I can never become so focused on my desire to create art that I lose sight of why I was hired in the first place.

Editor’s note: Carl Costas is a Sacramento-based photographer specializing in photojournalism. He is a former staff photographer for the Sacramento Bee. In his first video on visual storytelling for Black Star Rising, Carl discusses the importance of building rapport with your subject.

In May, Peter Phun published an article on Black Star Rising entitled “It’s Time for Pro Photographers and Hobbyists to Call a Truce.” The article has received a lot of comments. I would like to weigh in with my thoughts on the difference between professionals and non-professionals.

First I need to define the word “professional.” The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines professional as someone, “a : participating for gain or livelihood in an activity or field of endeavor often engaged in by amateurs b : having a particular profession as a permanent career.”

My definition is someone who earns his or her entire living from producing images. An amateur may earn some money –- even a lot of money — from the images produced, but photography is not his or her sole means of support.

Image Quality

In photography the question of whether a person is a professional or an amateur says absolutely nothing about the quality of the work. Among professionals (those earning their living taking pictures), the quality of the imagery varies greatly.

Some professionals are able to earn good livings by producing very mundane images because they are exactly what their customers want. Customers are often much happier with a simple, straightforward image than an artistic masterpiece.

Images produced by amateurs can also vary greatly in quality, but it is undeniable that some of the images produced by part-timers are of outstanding commercial and artistic quality. The numbers and range of top-quality images produced by amateurs is increasing.

Most professionals have a bad day and produce weak images now and then. Some amateurs produce great images now and then.

Education and Training

Some professionals point to the training and time devoted to learning their craft and argue that this is a reason why the images they produce should be worth more. This is a false argument.

All that education and experience will not guarantee that the images they produce will better supply the needs of the customer. This is particularly true when purchasing stock images. The customer sees the image and determines whether it meets his or her needs. The education and training of the creator is not factored into the stock photo buying decision.

Another factor that plays into this is that, given how technology has changed the business, much of a photographer’s previous training and experience has little application today. Knowing how to make a color print in a darkroom is of little value in today’s market — but the professional had better be an expert in using Photoshop.

Marketing

Professional photographers are required to devote a lot of time and energy to activities other than actually taking pictures in order to make photography their sole means of support. This includes marketing and general business management activities.

Once an image is captured, there is a huge amount of effort required to get that image to a place where it can be seen and purchased by customers.

Among the things that tends to discourage amateurs are all the work required in preparing images for marketing and in determining the subjects that are most likely to be in demand in order to know what to shoot. Amateurs and hobbyists got into photography for the fun of taking pictures and seeing the results.

They have very specific things they enjoy doing and like to photograph. Money is not a goal.

If they can earn a little from the endeavor, that’s fine, but there is a limit to how much energy they are willing to expend to earn a little extra money or get the satisfaction of knowing that someone liked their images enough to use them.

The money earned from photography is secondary. It is not a sole means of support.

Supplemental Income

Based on the research I’ve done, very few photographers are currently earning their entire living from producing stock images. The number has declined significantly in the last few years.

I also believe that, of those earning their sole living from producing stock, about as many are licensing their images through microstock sites as through traditional RM or RF strategies to license their work. An increasing number use all three licensing strategies.

The growth is among people who look at the income they can earn from stock photography as a supplement to some other primary source of income.

In some cases income earned from stock photography may supplement the income earned doing assignment work, shooting weddings or working as a staff photographer for some organization. In such cases the income from stock photography (RM, RF or microstock) might only be $5,000 to $10,000 a year.

If an individual is earning all his or her income from engaging in various aspects of photography, then I would define that individual as a professional photographer — regardless of whether they are licensing some or all of their images through microstock sites.

Equal Footing

Amateurs or hobbyists do not expect to earn enough from the images they produce to support themselves or their families. They have another job or profession that supplies the primary income for their family.

That income may come from being a teacher, lawyer, administrative assistant, cook, carpenter or any other career you can imagine. If they can earn a little extra from something they enjoy doing, that leads to an improved lifestyle regardless of the actual amount.

In many cases, amateur photographers are willing to expend as much energy learning about photography as their professional counterparts. The improvements in equipment and technology have made it possible for amateurs to participate in the market on an equal footing with professionals.

Professionals simply need to accept this — and adjust their business strategies accordingly.