Manual Exposure

If you have found that you are gifted at photography and have a desire to set up your own business, why not consider starting a home based photography business?

It is simple to do and you can bring in a steady income with only working part-time. To start your photography business, you should first ask yourself which type of photography you wish to specialize in.

You can take wedding photos, fashion photos or concentrate on portrait photography. Another option that you can decide on is if you rather shoot assignment photographs or create a collection of stock photos.

Assignment photos are commissioned by a client, whether it be a couple getting married or a newspaper. Stock photos are taken by the photographer and sold to the highest bidder. Once you decide on your type of photography business, you will want to get the business organized.

You may wish to write a business plan as well as registering your business with local officials and setting up a bank account exclusively for the business. If you are going to have clients coming to your home to take photographs, you may wish to take out several insurance plans.

The final steps in starting a photography business are buying all of the necessary equipment. You will need cameras, tripods, lights, lenses, backgrounds and any other equipment required for your specialty.

When you buy your equipment, you may wish to establish a relationship with suppliers in order to save money down the line when you need to order more equipment and supplies.

Once you have set everything up, you will want to establish prices and market your business. Once clients see your exceptional work, your business will start booming.    

An Overnight Celebrity of a Kind

John has become a celebrity for the tourists. They flock around him for pictures. These pictures are not the scenic views but something unique, which is not even characteristic of that place. This business is about pictures with unusual and unknown celebrities who accompany John.
These unusual celebrities are John's pets, 5 huge iguanas (Lizards). He stations himself on a busy sidewalk with his iguanas crawling all over him. As people pass by they can't help but stop and look. He seizes the opportunity and offers to take their photographs with the lizards for $10 using a Polaroid camera.

This is a complete no brainer. However, if you don't love animals then this one's not for you. All you need to start this moneymaking business are a Polaroid camera and an animal to start this unique enterprise. If you already have a pet then you can start immediately otherwise you need to find one. Polaroid camera's are easy to get and come pretty cheap too. A good quality Polaroid will cost you about $50. What animal you have as a pet is not so important here. What is important is how you can make them look different and unusual.

Tip: Only use a pet that is friendly and trusted with strangers. You don’t want to take a chance of being sued by a tourist that is harmed by your animal.

Different kinds of costumes is one way of attracting attention e.g. dressing up a big Dalmatian dog as a fireman is sure to attract people. The human-like look or activities are the most appealing ones. You could use things like a fake beard or a fake plastic cigar to further enhance (make unusual) the look of your talented pet.

You could also do combo/extra offers e.g. sell photo frames together with the photo at an additional price. Since this saves time for people and makes the photo look even more attractive, you will find many people don't mind paying even something extra for the frame.

Tip: Ask your client their name and write a personalized quote on the back of the photo as a bonus. These quotes should be pre-prepared and you should just need to fill in the name of your client. A quote having the name of your pet too will make it look even better.

The most important thing with this business idea is that you should be able to attract the attention of tourists. In addition, the more famous a tourist area is, the more prospective clients you will have. Therefore, you should pick the area carefully i.e. an area that is frequented by tourists. In the chosen area, you should choose a spot where people can't miss you. This could be information centers or railway stations or bus stops etc., which are entry or exit points from the area.

Tip: Areas that are not tourist places in themselves, but just transport changeover points, also offer a good opportunity for such a business.

Also, check if the tourists arrive at a place only at a particular time of the year, so that you know the best time for this business. Remember to check the local laws regarding your business before setting up shop. The following are some good resources to learn more about animal clothing: