Things you should know if you want to make money as a professional photographer

Let's face it, choosing a wedding photographer is getting more and more difficult as time goes on. With the advances of modern technology bringing cameras to most mobile devices, anyone can be a photographer, right?

Wrong.

Being a great photographer or videographer takes a great deal of talent. True photographers don't simply take a picture, they create it.

Do I want the background in focus, or out of focus.
How much background do I want in focus?
Do I want to expose for the window light, or for the room which is more dimly lit?
How long do you have your shutter open?
Are you looking for a crisp image, or a little bit of motion blur?

These are just some of the choices when choosing a proper exposure for a portrait. Similar options are available to videographers.

Any seasoned camera person, whether they shoot stills or video, will have a vision in their mind of what they want the finished product to look like.

One thing to remember is to scout your location in advance. This is a suggestion so that you know what you are up against before your client is in front of you. This saves a tremendous amount of time, saving embarrassment by not having any locations to shoot right when you meet your client. The client sees you as the professional, with a vision. Often photographers will shoot the same location many times, while this is not a bad thing, I always like to make sure that I am not shooting the exact same portrait every time. I always try to shoot from a different angle, or aperture so that each client has a different image.

That being said, I also have many shoots where I didn't scout in advance, and they turned out fantastic! To be a great photographer or videographer, you have to have an artistic eye. I see many photographers take a wider shot and just plan to crop in in post.

Being a great photographer or videographer takes a great deal of talent. True photographers don't simply take a picture, they create it. Often photographers will shoot the same location many times, while this is not a bad thing, I always like to make sure that I am not shooting the exact same portrait every time. To be a great photographer or videographer, you have to have an artistic eye. I see many photographers take a wider shot and just plan to crop in in post.