Anyone freelance photographer?

[mumofyaz]

Is there anyone out there who freelances / works from home / does weddings or location portraits? How did you get started? What qualifications, if any, do you have? What equipment is minimum to start out? Where do you source your work from? :idea:

[bec79]

Hi, I am not a freelance photographer as such. I don't go 'looking for work" or advertise anywhere. I just do "favours" for friends, etc...
I have a bachelor of photography, majoring in commercial work. Obviously unless you have 4 years to study this isn't an option.:D
Your best bet would be to do a TAFE course...depending on how much you already know...you may be able to do an advanced course??
Also, get as much experience as possible. The more you shoot, the better you get. (Even if this means doing unpaid work). Look at other photographers work, and speak with them...make as many contacts as possible. The hardest part is establishing a reputation within the industry. It goes without saying, you're going to need to advertise...this includes building a website. People will want to see examples of your work, and you will find they prefer to look at a website before coming to meet you.
To start out with you will need a good digi camera. Maybe even a traditional SLR camera. (yes, some people still prefer negatives.) A good flash and some reflectors. Depending on what style of photography you want to go with, you may need some filters. This is a good basis to build on.

Hope this has helped. PM me if you want to chat.

[Pixie]

I don't work for anyone but I have my own business in photography which I am not doing much with right now!

Weddings well you are very responsible here, and you will need a lot of equipment and you'll have to learn a lot about lighting.

I have done a basic photography course as the ACP here in Sydney and I also studied with a Sydney B/W photographer learning a special type of B/W photography. Called the Zone system.

I use film digital you just can't compare I develop and print all my own B/W shots and work on them until I am 110% happy.

I also shoot landscapes using medium format film think huge camera big film etc hard work long time 1 shot can take up to 30 minutes

If you are going to start out do a basic course in photography decide if you want to use film or digital digital is going a long way right now and well worth investing in.

You'll need a Digital camera with a variety of lenses telephoto, 50mm some zooms and standards, you'll need photoshop the latest version which costs around $1200 you'll need a tripod/s camera cases, filters to protect your lenses, brushes to get dust off.

Film you'll need a nice camera, a variety of lenses again, photoshop or some other software to work your images, a scanner to scan film there are special film scanners you can buy they are quite pricey I have two different ones a basic and a professional one. Pro one is heaps better obvisouly. for film you might need a lot of different coloured filters for different situations like night, soft focus etc

My goodness there is so much!
I have been doing it for nearly 3 years now, I have sold a few pictures and been asked to do 3 weddings but I refuse the weddings far to much fuss and demanding brides!!

Good luck and if you have any more questions just ask :)

[mumofyaz]

I have a Canon 500N and a Canon 350D with 28-80 and 75-300 (non-professional and non-digital). I don't have a proper flash and not-sure what to get and not sure if it's worth upgrading lenses to pro without being able to afford to upgrade body? I've seen some reflectors on ebay for about $30 - worth it or not? I have a couple of tripods, a circular polarising filter, a UV filter and of course, cleaning gear. I also have Photoshop CS and I'm teaching myself to use it.

I've been madly offering to do anyone's portrait and weddings lately and have so far produced stuff that the brides / mums have been very happy with (using natural light in the absence of any artificial lighting). I also have a few shots I'm pretty happy with from years of travelling (I prefer fine art landscapes, but a girls gotta eat). I've been a pretty keen snapper for about 15 years now. I reckon my stuff is average at the moment and would like a course to help me get over the line to something I'm really proud of. Would LOVE to do the Bachelor of Photography, but with a toddler and no babysitters, that's not likely. Actually no course is really possible right at the moment and I've talked to a couple of pro photograhers that have said it's a waste of time and I really just need the portfolio and website. I'd still like to do something even for confidence sake.

I was a stickler for film until I bought my 350D earlier this year...now I'm hooked on digital and my 500N hasn't seen the light of day since. I've never used medium format and I'm not confident enough to make the investment in the equipment or the learning. I'd just like to test the waters first before I invest largely and then find out I'm not that good after all!

[creativewarrior]

hi
i did a bachelor of arts in photography and loovvvved it! but my major was website design which is what i specialise in... however ive always offered my photography work on the side for clients, and done a few photography jobs that i got from word of mouth.

for a while i wanted to do baby photography cuz i think that people charge way too much for this when all you really need is a good digital camera (8mp or higher - i have a sony cybershot dsf828) - and most of the time you only get given a handful of prints and the rest on cd. all you need is a good eye, some skill with camera angles and an idea of what poses work well with kids... possibly some lighting equipment too, and a good macro lens for closeups of cute baby feet and fingers :)

with my photography now i mainly sell it on stock photo sites - they all have different pay structures and its not a way to earn money fast, but its a good ego booster when people buy your prints to use for their company or whatever. here are the couple that ive signed up with - http://www.bigstockphoto.com, http://www.fotolia.com/

there are literally heaps of sites around like this and some let you charge heaps for your photos if you offer exclusive use of them - only selling to one person (high quality images), or you can sell unlimited amounts cheaply (low quality) - all covered by various copyright and usage laws too. takes a while to get started as you need to do alot of uploading, go thru approval process's, keyword generation for you photos etc but most of them supply a list of types of images that are in high demand - and photos of people are really high on the list. the site provides you with model release forms etc too

oh and some photoshop skills would be handy if your going digital - handy for removing pimples in photos :)

happy to help you out with a website if you decide to start working from home ;)

working from home is awesome! definatly go for it - it may be slow to get started but the rewards of doing it yourself are great - its a lifestyle that many envy

[3boys1girl]

My hubby is in the process of starting his own photography business at the moment. He is doing a course on the net, not sure what its called but if you want to find out you can pm me and ill get back to you. He has a camera which cost a heap! and Adobe Photshop. Hes just doing landscapes at the moment cause they are a bit easier. Hes taken a few shots and they are GREAT! Can wait to hang them on my walls. We will set up a website and sell them through ebay and markets to start off with. He wants to do the full time course at tafe, but with working fulltime its a bit hard cause the course is only fulltime and runs during the day.
Word gets around that your a photographer, Mick already scored a job with my sons soccer team taking the photos for the presentation day. He found his first job very stressful as he had to take photos of 170 very excitied kids!

Hope everything goes well and pm me if you want me to ask my hubby anything!