| Here are a bunch of tips for up and coming | | | | recommend Liability Insurance of at least $1 million. |
| photographers to help manage the cost of operating | | | | You can decide whether you want to cover your |
| a photography business. | | | | equipment separately or modify your homeowner's |
| 1. Image Editing Software. You'll pay hundreds if not | | | | policy to cover it. Often, bundling car, home, liability |
| thousands of dollars to stay current with Photoshop | | | | and equipment to one insurance provider will save |
| products. If you haven't made the commitment yet, | | | | you money. |
| try Paint Shop Pro. It's as feature-rich as Photoshop, | | | | 8. Storage. External hard drives are now under $100 |
| with nearly all of the capabilities, and some of its own | | | | for 500 gigs. You can't afford not to back up your |
| that are unique and allow you to be creative and | | | | data in multiple places. Also buy DVD blanks and burn |
| productive. You can also use most Photoshop plugins | | | | copies of your client and business files to store |
| in this program. | | | | offsite. |
| 2. Desktop Office Suite. OpenOffice, a free suite, | | | | 9. Midwinter seminars. Often a large national lab or |
| available from OpenOffice.Org, has spreadsheet, | | | | group of businesses will sponsor a "tour" of one or |
| word processing, database, presentation and other | | | | more photographers, and provide a mini trade show. |
| tools. You can read and write Office files. This will | | | | Often costing under $100, you get a solid day of |
| keep you from needing to pay hundreds of dollars | | | | education, dialogue, ideas and product awareness. |
| for Microsoft Office products, and you are supporting | | | | You'll come back with a notebook full of ideas. |
| the open source community. | | | | 10. Conventions. There are probably a dozen large |
| 3. Studio Lighting. If you are starting off with studio | | | | regional or national level photography conventions |
| lighting, Alien Bees are tough, functional and not | | | | each year. Pick one every year or two, and manage |
| prohibitively expensive. You can add a light each year | | | | your travel costs by sharing rooms with other |
| and grow your capabilities slowly. And they offer | | | | photographers and planning your transportation and |
| great light modifiers such as umbrellas, stands, soft | | | | dining carefully. You can often save more on the |
| boxes and more. They even have portable power | | | | product purchases than the cost of the convention |
| and ring flashes. | | | | and travel. |
| 4. Print Fulfillment. There are many good and | | | | 11. Web Site. Inexpensive web templates can be |
| affordable labs. Most of them can print far more | | | | purchased for under $100. These templates can be |
| efficiently than you or the shop across town. Find | | | | customized by you to include your images, words, |
| one which will meet your price, quality, product and | | | | color scheme, logo and design elements. Often |
| service needs and will give you a generous sample | | | | hosting can be bundled with this, or purchased |
| print experience. The ability to accept orders from | | | | separately for under $100/yr. You will want your own |
| your computer and ship quickly will be important to | | | | domain name on a site that doesn't have someone |
| you. | | | | else's ads. Also consider building your own shopping |
| 5. Inexpensive Online Communities. There are some | | | | cart and gallery capability if you don't have one now. |
| free forums such as and studiolighting.net which are | | | | Using and the Jalbum engine, you can create great |
| great sources of information on cameras, lighting, | | | | albums on your own website with integrated cart and |
| editing and other technical aspects of photography. is | | | | Paypal payment for under $100. And you can build a |
| a reasonably priced and very professional forum for | | | | blog on your site or another site for free. |
| sharing all manner of business, creative and technical | | | | 12. Studio from Home. It goes without saying that a |
| information regarding most people photography. | | | | home-based studio has far lower operating costs |
| 6. Professional Organizations. Society of Sports and | | | | than a separate property. You can also potentially |
| Event Photographers (SEP) is oriented to event | | | | take tax deductions for business use of the home. |
| photography such as sports groups, but there are | | | | 13. Hired Help. Paid internships are great opportunities |
| overlaps to other business areas as well. Their annual | | | | for younger people to gain experience, and for you |
| cost is very reasonable. Professional Photographers | | | | to have talented assistants. Consider contacting |
| of Americal (PPA) is affiliated with SEP, and is more | | | | schools and universities in the area, or hiring a local |
| business oriented. They share venues for their annual | | | | person who has great work ethic to assist you. |
| conventions. PPA also offers some insurance and legal | | | | 14. Energy. This is both financially and environmentally |
| protection. Wedding and Portrait Photographers | | | | important. Change your lighting, heating, driving and |
| Internations (WPPI) also offers reasonable annual | | | | office practices to lower energy costs. Compact |
| fees and access to great resources and conventions. | | | | fluorescent lights, setback thermostats, good tire |
| Attending a convention periodically will get you | | | | pressure, hybrid cars, trip management, computer |
| charged up and it's often a great way to get | | | | shut-down logic and your printing practices can all be |
| discounts on gear from the trade shows. | | | | utilized to lower your operating cost. |
| 7. Insurance. You need to decide what to insure and | | | | So, now you know how to save a bundle and keep |
| for how much, but as a photographer, I strongly | | | | your bottom line strong! |