DIY Photography

Your one stop shop for everything photo-video

  • News
  • Inspiration
  • Reviews
  • Tutorials
  • DIY
  • Gear
Search

Submit A Story

If you’re making these six mistakes in your photography business, you need to stop it

Jul 16, 2020 by John Aldred 4 Comments

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

We often hear about mistakes in photography. Usually, they’re lists telling us to stop using selective colour or to stop shooting everything at f/1.4. But if photography is your business, there are potentially far greater mistakes that you might be making that while not necessarily detrimental to your photography can be very harmful to your business and your bottom line.

In this video, commercial photography Scott Choucino talks about the six biggest mistakes that he sees professional photographers making, why they’re such a big deal and how they can harm your business.

  1. Allocation of time – Stop researching gear you don’t need to buy right now. Just shoot. Improve your abilities. Stop wasting time.
  2. Believing your own hype – How well your work does on social media has no relation to how well it will be received (or paid for) by clients.
  3. Buying gear – Stop buying gear just for the sake of it. New gear isn’t going to make you a better photographer or make you more money.
  4. Not having a niche – You’ll get better clients and better pay if you’re not a jack of all trades and show that you excel in a couple of specific areas.
  5. Limiting yourself locally – Yes, we all like to work close from home, but if the high paying clients are a little further afield, go looking for them, and charge accordingly to cover the costs.
  6. Trying to follow genres of photography for which there is no market – I see this a lot.

As Scott says in the video, that last one is pretty contentious, but it’s a biggie and extremely common. I don’t follow the commercial world much, but I see and know a lot of photographers on social media who regularly photograph models, and pretty much only models, but then wonder why they’re not making any money.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with shooting this kind of thing, but how can you apply that gear, experience and portfolio to an actual paying market? Because most models these days, especially ones you find online, are charging photographers, not paying them.

If you want your photography to be a successful business, there’s so much more to it than just being a gun for hire. It takes a lot of thought and hard work to succeed and become a viable business – not to mention to be able to adapt and survive through the ever-changing world around us.

What’s the biggest mistake you see photographers making in business?

FIND THIS INTERESTING? SHARE IT WITH YOUR FRIENDS!

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

Related posts:

Stop making these seven mistakes when using a wide-angle lens for landscape photography How to stop making five biggest mistakes new cinematographers make Stop making these mistakes when shooting with a wide-angle lens Stop making these three mistakes and you’ll become a better portrait photographer

Filed Under: Inspiration Tagged With: business, business of photography, business plan, clients, Scott Choucino

John Aldred: from diyphotography.net

About John Aldred

John Aldred is a photographer with over 20 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter - and occasional beta tester - of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.

« Blackmagic is announcing something today – Could it be a full-frame Pocket 6K Pro? Watch live here
Tamron 70-180 vs. Canon 70-200: Lens review for Sony »

Submit A Story

Get our FREE Lighting Book

DIYP lighting book cover

* download requires newsletter signup
DIYPhotography

Recent Comments

Free Resources

Advanced lighting book

Recent Posts

  • Canon shows off a new fold-out 180/360 VR camera at Photonext 2023
  • Extortionists using facebook photos to create AI nudes says FBI
  • Netflix Australia is recruiting for its first Unit Photography Bootcamp
  • Artist takes on Adobe with lifetime creative software suite Abode
  • Instagram actively promoting paedophile networks via its algorithm

Udi Tirosh: from diyphotography.netUdi Tirosh is an entrepreneur, photography inventor, journalist, educator, and writer based in Israel. With over 25 years of experience in the photo-video industry, Udi has built and sold several photography-related brands. Udi has a double degree in mass media communications and computer science.

Alex Baker: from diyphotography.netAlex Baker is a portrait and lifestyle driven photographer based in Valencia, Spain. She works on a range of projects from commercial to fine art and has had work featured in publications such as The Daily Mail, Conde Nast Traveller and El Mundo, and has exhibited work across Europe

David Williams: from diyphotography.netDave Williams is an accomplished travel photographer, writer, and best-selling author from the UK. He is also a photography educator and published Aurora expert. Dave has traveled extensively in recent years, capturing stunning images from around the world in a modified van. His work has been featured in various publications and he has worked with notable brands such as Skoda, EE, Boeing, Huawei, Microsoft, BMW, Conde Nast, Electronic Arts, Discovery, BBC, The Guardian, ESPN, NBC, and many others.

John Aldred: from diyphotography.netJohn Aldred is a photographer with over 20 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter - and occasional beta tester - of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.

Dunja Djudjic: from diyphotography.netDunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.

Copyright © DIYPhotography 2006 - 2023 | About | Contact | Advertise | Write for DIYP | Full Disclosure | Privacy Policy