1. get equipment that is marked down
When I say get equipment marked down I do not mean you have to get items all under 20 dollars that are low quality. There is plenty of ways to get high or medium-high quality equipment for a price that is good for watching your wallet. Facebook Marketplace is a great place to start. Amazon is another good one to reference I have gotten several items from there that do a good job for a good price, especially my ring light and flash.
2. Learn how to make lighting work with you, not against you
This one is definitely easier said then done. The sun and light does not work with you, you have to work with it. This could be done by trying to shoot 15-30 minute mini sessions in the golden hour. If there 15 minutes you are still getting roughly 16ish sessions done and if you price it right that is quite an efficient way to make more money. Also showing up to the location an extra 20 minutes early or so so you can play around with shots and see what settings you need especially if lighting is a lot harsher than you expected it to be that day. A lense hood is never a bad idea either.
3. shoot in free locations/dont rent your own space
When you shoot in parks, or fields like I do you don't need to worry about a permit or renting a studio. While having a studio is best to have the most control over the environment you are shooting in it definitely isnt frugal especially with the market right now, maybe it is location dependent and I am bias because I live in Raleigh, NC but either way it'll save you at least 2k a month making a rough estimate. Whenever I shoot at lakes and such I don't attract a lot of attention so if your worried about people bugging you, don't be.
4. focus on skill, not how fancy and how much gear you have
So many people focus on how nice and new there lense or flash is or how many of whatever they have thinking that makes you next level. While yes it does improve your quality and how versatile your images can be, that isn't a trademark of what separates good photography from great photography. You can have all the gadgets in the world but if you don't understand composition and lighting and how to pose and all the other technical thiings that go into taking a photo, it doesn't matter. At first I was embarrassed because all I had was the bare basics when I started, but once I was taking photos and noticed how happy people were with them, it didn't matter. This of course means practicing the craft and being willing to learn and know your camera.
5. get creative with diy props/backgrounds
Some prop ideas for this could be bubbles, balloons, confetti. All of these are thing s you can buy at the dollar store. Or if you are trying to go no expense whatsoever tthen why don't you get out your holiday decorations. There is so many holidays in a year there has to be something in your closet you can reuse. I was doing a special edition paint splatter session and I didn't want to spend money on brushes so I just used a whisk and it worked just fine to hold the paint and get that affect on them.
6. find a inexpensive photo editing platform
I will not lie I am an Adobe person and use Lightroom Classic for my photo editing because it has never steered me wrong but there is plenty of free editing platforms. Some of them include Photopea, GIMP, and Canva. I use Canva a lot for my social media posts which if you feel the need to jazz up your Instagram or something on your site I suggest. If you want. If you are willing to pay a little bit but not too much Adobe offers Lightroom on its own or you can get the photography package which is 22 a month which is what I have and I get everything I need out of it.
Leave a comment
0 Comments