Stock Photo Agencies

One way to get started making money is with stock photo agencies. Go to their site and sign up. To be a photographer, you usually have to take a test. Easy enough as long as you read the information they give you. Start uploading photos, but be sure to read all the instructions. Remember, there are a lot of other people doing this besides you.

It may take a few days to find out if they accept your photos or not. Be prepared for rejections. If you read the reason why they declined a photo(s) you can use that to improve on your future photos. Don't upload everything you got! Take it slow and easy.

After a while, you will have quite a collection of approved photos on their site, and hopefully by then you will see the money coming in. The more photos you have on that site, the better your chances on making money.

When you've been with them a month or two, and you aren't quite earning as much as you thought you would...remember that you are making money on pictures that would have been sitting in your computer taking up valuable space.

Keep submitting, building your number of available photos. Don't get mad and quit. One day you could be making enough money with stock photo agencies that you will be able to quit your day job. But you have to stick with it and be in it for the long haul.

In the meantime, you can put the money you earn to good use. Pay down that credit card balance, save up for a better camera, make an extra house payment.

Making money with photography

So, you want to make money with photography? One thing you have to understand is that you are going to hear a lot of criticism on your work before you get to the level of pro. And you will have to accept it and not take it so personal.

How and why would you do that? You steel yourself for the criticism and revel in the praise. You need the criticism in order to know what areas you need to improve on. If they tell you your picture isn't crisp enough, sharp enough, or your highlights are blown....whatever it is, you read up on that and you apply what you learned to future photographs.

That is how you take photos that are good enough for someone to be willing to pay you for it. If you want it bad enough, you keep going and never give up. Do that and you will succeed.

Uh-oh!

When I see pictures like this one, I know right away my white balance needs resetting. The wall is supposed to be off-white, not beige. Using the flash on my camera did not correct or even help the situation. Chalk it up to a lesson learned.

Turning off your flash

Okay, so you turned off your flash because you didn't like the way it ruined your pictures. Now what? Pictures too dark? What to do?

1. Raise your ISO to let in more light.
2. Lower your shutter speed.
3. Open up your aperture.

That's the fast, cheap, and easy way to get around the problem. It's a starting point that will bring you to the conclusion that there must be more to it than simply that. Don't worry, there is a whole lot more to it.

Photography Anecdote

Picture a photography exhibit with photographers standing by as representatives of their art. A visitor says to one of the photographers, "These are really great photographs you took! You must have an excellent (i.e. expensive) camera."

Okay, if this makes you feel sorry for the photographer--I'm with you. But if you agree with the visitor, then you simply don't understand that there's a whole lot more to it than simply having a great camera.

You can take great photographs with a cheap camera if you know how its done. And that my friend, is how I started out. Cheap camera's, no money, no knowledge, and no skills. But along the way I did manage to get in a few lucky shots. And I had a lot of fun.

But now it's getting more serious. I want that excellent camera and I will obtain it by learning to take really great photographs with a cheap camera. And I'll share with you what I've learned every step of the way. Sound good?

Custom White Balance

Does white balance really matter? I didn't always think so, but other people did. They don't mind telling you about it, either. After someone complained about the white balance being off in my former picture, I went and did a Custom White Balance on my camera. It's really easy to do!

Now my colors are true and my background is more acurate than before. Which only goes to show that sometimes your camera needs a little more help from you to do the job right.

Batteries make the difference

If you already own a digital camera, you know you paid a lot for the camera compared to film cameras you owned before. But you perhaps justified the upfront cost due to the money you'd save buying film.

You probably enjoy being able to take many more pictures without the burden of having that film developed. You enjoy the instant gratification of seeing the picture without having to wait a week for it to come back.

There are a lot of advantages to digital over film, it's true. But you go through a lot of batteries? And the one(s) that came with your camera lasted how long? One day?

Here's what I did. I bought a couple of battery chargers. My favorite is the 15 minute charger. I can carry the charger with me if I plan to take a lot of pictures. I have the quick charge batteries because when I'm needing to take a lot of pictures, I can't wait 8 hours for a charge.

The batteries are rated NiMH 2000mAh and the package said they were good for cameras and other high energy users such as games. The higher the number is, the longer the battery life and the better for your camera. The 8 hour charge batteries will give you more charges and last longer in camera, but you have to consider your needs.

Think about the old days when they came out with those alkiline batteries and you paid the extra money because they lasted more than a day. This is similar. Go for the higher NiMH rating and you'll notice a big difference, too.

Your camera needs more energy to perform at its highest level. Whether you choose to buy disposable or rechargeable is up to you.