Real Estate

Start a wedding photography business

Building a successful wedding photography business can be a bigger challenge than you might think. Just because you can take a photo doesn’t mean that starting your own wedding photography business is easy. However, there are certain building blocks one can take that will help you create a successful start in your wedding photography business. The first and most important building block is building an efficient and comprehensive business / creative plan. This is the foundation and should include your goals, your mission, and the keys to success.

Your foundation goals will cover what it takes to produce the same exceptional quality results over and over again, and what it takes to be recognized as a premier wedding photographer. Your mission should describe what you want to achieve and how you are going to do it. Your keys to success should include how you will meet your customer’s expectations and how you will achieve it. How will you be competitive with the services you offer? What kind of earnings do you need to become a successful competition?

Before starting, the first step is to find your identity. Have you figured it out? Be true to yourself and know your strengths and weaknesses as a photographer. Are you ready to start this financially and technically? Do you know your style and identity, and do you do it well? You must know how to describe your photography and your vision. Are you more of a photo journalistic photographer who relies on available natural light and spontaneous moments? Do you plan ahead and pose portraits and incorporate technical lighting skills to give a classic look? Or do you mix it up with both, displaying a full range of capabilities that give it its own modern and contemporary style?

If you know what you want your photography and identity to look like, but have not yet achieved the look, you may need more work on your photography before you can establish your business.

Take a look at your photography and decide what level of talent you have and what potential you have. Be critical of your work, but also have others criticize it for you. Learn to use constructive criticism to improve your photography. If your identity is not where you want it, ask yourself, what needs improvement? Do you know your equipment (camera, lighting, etc.) well enough? Can you read and measure your exposures? Do you have the right equipment, that is, a high resolution digital camera and Photoshop? You need a digital camera to keep up with your competition. Mastering Photoshop and Lightroom and their digital workflow is also of great importance. It is up to you to overcome any weaknesses with proper education and practice before taking wedding photographs.

Photographing a wedding is a great responsibility. Someone has paid a great deal of money and trusted you to document this special and personal day. This is why it is so important to be confident enough to participate in any wedding that comes your way and to do a good job photographing it. Having your skills honed is only part of what it takes to build that foundation of confidence. The other big part of building trust is experience.

We all start somewhere. So once you’ve mastered your photography skills and workflow, now is the time to prove yourself and your identity. The first step is to know its value. Do you think you are ready to film a wedding solo for $ 2000.00? Wait, you don’t have wedding photos for a portfolio. How are you going to sell yourself as a wedding photographer? Well, or you are lucky with someone who you trust and likes your photography even though you have never photographed a wedding. Or you decide to build your portfolio by being a second or third shooter for a more established wedding photographer. This is a great way to gain exposure and experience in the wedding photography scene. A great way to tackle this route is to call all the local wedding photographers in your area and ask if anyone needs a second or third shooter. Once you find work, ask questions and pay close attention to how they run their business and how they photograph weddings. Everybody has a system. How they film the wedding ceremony, portraits, reception, etc. Use this position to your advantage and build relationships within the wedding industry. The more you learn, the faster you will be on your way to becoming proficient. Remember to save money for when you transition on your own.

Once you have a few weddings under your belt, your confidence will lead you at the right time to part ways and become that competition you’ve been working for. When you choose, it should be all or nothing. Either stay second shooter or take the risk and become a competitor.

Having made the leap into the unknown and exciting world of being your own boss. His confidence as a photographer has grown and he now possesses an identity as a wedding photographer. Now you can start your wedding photography business wherever and whenever.

Hopefully you’ve invested in your own digital camera, backup camera, lenses, computer, Photoshop, etc. Your investment needs to have insurance. It cannot be allowed to be stolen or broken; otherwise, all your hard work will be wasted. You must also have CYA liability insurance. You can get photographer insurance through PPA.

Before positioning yourself as a competitor in the wedding photography market, you must know your competition. They are your best models to help you get started. Take note of what they charge for the packages and what they include with their services. Where and how are they advertised? What niche do they occupy and where can you fit in as a new business?

To establish your business you need an address. You can choose a PO box or other mailbox service, such as mailboxes, etc. I prefer MBE because you can choose a mailbox with a real postal address. Not to mention that they have many other services. Next, get a different phone number for your business. To legitimately create your business, you must have a Limited Liability Company (LLC) or sole proprietorship. You can get information about this from an accountant or on websites like legalzoom.

With the rest of the money you have saved, you will need to determine how much will be used for marketing and other expenses. Marketing will be the most essential thing to get your business off the ground. Without marketing you have no business. Your essential elements of marketing are: having your identity, your portfolio and your line of communication.

Through the library of images you have created, choose your best images to use for your portfolio, website, and all promotional and marketing materials. Your portfolio can be made with inkjet prints that you place in an album of your choice, such as the albums provided by Topflight, the photo album store, or you can choose to have one of Asuka’s albums or other labs printed. online printing like Snapfish or Shutterfly. Your image identity is now established and will grow over time. However, now you need your business identity. What will your promotional materials be like? What type of font will you use? What colors will be incorporated? Will you use a logo? It may be a good idea to find a graphic designer to help you with this. Once you discover your business identity and incorporate it into your promotional materials, you must create and print them all at once for distribution throughout the year. Make sure you have the basics like business cards, postcards, brochures, contracts, 8×10, and any other promotional materials you can think of. These materials can be ordered through gotprint.com and vistaprint.com.

Once you have finished your promotional material and the portfolio has been printed, you are ready to create your website. See other sites to get an idea of ​​the site style you want and what it will look like. Find someone else to create a website for you if you are not trained in web development, but having a professional do it can be a bit expensive. Some great alternatives are to use Craigslist or find a student at a local college to do so. Make sure to work with your web developer on creating your SEO (search engine optimization) for the site. This is the most important and is the best way to ensure that you can create a search engine optimized web presence. DIY website template doesn’t do well for SEO. SEO will focus on key copywriting, alt tags, one-way links, and proper site submissions.

You now have a business ready to start seeing some return. People are ready to see your business and it is your job to search and find them. It is your job to know your market and take advantage of it with your presence. I suggest getting a creative ad on Craigslist is a priority. Why is it not free? Now that you have all of your promotional materials in print, where will you distribute them? Research all businesses in the wedding industry on a local, state, or national level and create a directory of them for your advertising. Create your promotional packages with a cover letter, brochure, postcards and a mini portfolio or something that shows your style in more depth. This is a lot of work and can take a while. Get help from friends, family, or repost on Craigslist for temporary help. After you’ve mailed everything, follow up with phone calls to let them know who you are. This will help provide a personal connection to your materials and help start future relationships. Building relationships is very important, and it will help transform the work into word of mouth. Another great way to build relationships and exercise is to participate in the wedding shows held in your area.

Knowing your business and what you offer to your customers and the industry is the most important thing. Just as it is important to know your own identity as a person, it is also important to know your business identity. When the phone starts ringing, people want to see confidence in you and your images. Just remember that images speak louder than words and that cream always rises to the top.

Good luck!