Why You Don't Make Money From Your Photography

Thursday 5 March 2020, 11:22 by Elja Trum | 6,977 views | 4 comments

This article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.

It is difficult to make a living from photography. Many photographers are asked to work for free. Photographers have a problem. There are a lot of us.

So there is a great deal of supply.
Even a great deal of very good photography.

Unfortunately, demand for photography is low. There are relatively few photography assignments available. Clients therefore have plenty of choice and can offer low, or even no, fees.

When you don't do it, there are ten others who are interested.

So it's good to realise that your photos are worth nothing if free, or almost free, alternatives are easily available.

You can complain that there is no money to be made from photography, or about other photographers who work for less money, or that people don't want to pay for your knowledge and expensive equipment, but it changes nothing.

You don't quickly pay for something yourself if you can get it for free.
There has to be added value.

The only way to get paid well as a photographer is when you are the only one who can deliver what your client is looking for. There must be no easy alternative way to get similar photos.

These days, everyone has a camera in their pocket. A camera that is perfectly capable of taking good photos. If you take photos that anyone can take, no one will pay you for your photos.

Your photos become valuable when they are scarce. You can't create scarcity through better equipment. Even scarcity created by a particular technique is relatively easy for others to copy. Scarcity through equipment or technique is only temporary.

The only way to make your work truly scarce as a photographer is through your reputation. Your photos become valuable because you are the person who took the photo.

If you are what makes your photos unique, there is no cheap alternative. No one else can be you. Making money from your photography is no longer a problem.

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About the author

Elja Trum is the founder of Photofacts and online photography course website Photofacts Academy. He has been writing about photography since 2006. Elja is also the author of (Dutch) books on composition, black-and-white photography, flash photography and portrait photography.

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4 comments

Tom wrote on Sunday 8 March 2020 at 21:40 | reply
I completely agree Elja. You put it well!
Translated from Dutch.

Dennis Tichelaar wrote on Tuesday 10 March 2020 at 14:07 | reply
I completely agree. Well put.
Translated from Dutch.

Louis wrote on Wednesday 11 March 2020 at 09:04 | reply
... and that is exactly what few people (want to) understand.
It is not the camera but the person who makes the settings AND who has the inspiration that ensures a photo has the "wow factor".

Recently I went out together with my daughter, she with a compact camera and me with a DSLR and although we walked past the same trees, flowers and shrubs I have to honestly admit that almost all of her photos were better than mine.
Especially in terms of composition, incidence of light, depth of field, ...
We do that every now and then and afterwards discuss why that or that camera position, setting, ...

Later that week I walked the same path again with her photos in mind, in an attempt to take "better" photos and sure enough, although they were often just a "copy" of hers I noticed that I had learned something from it again.
We are both amateur photographers who enjoy it and if I can learn something from it, well that makes me happy

And it's a good thing I don't have to earn my living from it
Translated from Dutch.

tjip ridder wrote on Saturday 14 March 2020 at 20:37 | reply
There is a big difference between accidentally taking that one beautiful photo and making series of photos on commission. I now work almost exclusively on commission for business clients who provide me with the specs the photos need to meet. I do have to be able to deliver those, and if I manage that, the clients become regular customers. That’s how you build a network that you can genuinely make some money from.
Translated from Dutch.

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Elja Trum

Photofacts; everything to do with photography!

Would you like to take better photos and keep up with what is happening in photography? Photofacts publishes articles that teach you something about photography — from a product announcement to a practical shooting tip or a look at a website. Photofacts covers photography every day and is a hobby project of Elja Trum's that got out of hand. The articles are written by a team of volunteer authors. If you would enjoy writing one or more articles for Photofacts, do get in touch.More about Photofacts

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