Maria Piscopo

There are many photography businesses today successfully using online and social media marketing tools and techniques to make sales. But converting followers or web visitors to actual clients is still more art than science. We interviewed a group of market-savvy photographers to learn their tips on how to best promote your photography on the web. Thanks to our contributors: Marguerite Beaty, Crea8fotos; Lukas Dryja, CEO and Co-Founder of Format.com; Brian McMillen, BKM Photography; and Ian L. Sitren, Second Focus.

While branding might not be as sexy a topic as fashion or travel photography, it’s a critical element to making your photography business a success. Fortunately, we have a good group of educated and experienced photographers to help bring us up to date on what branding is, how to create it, mistakes to avoid, and why it’s so important to your business. Bottom line? Marketing your photography with a strong brand message will give you a competitive edge and get you paid what you are worth. I want to thank my patient contributors for sharing their knowledge and lessons with us: Casey Bevington, Matthew Dutile, Andrew Fingerman at PhotoShelter, Karen Hirsch, Giulio Sciorio, Beth Taubner at Mercurylab, and Daniel Waters at Get Pro Photo. They gave so many good ideas and tips that you will want to take notes!

This column is not about what to charge, it’s about how to get paid what you’re worth as a photographer. Much has been said about the changing of the client/photographer relationship and most working pros agree that we are not in the same game anymore. Both as individuals and an industry, we need to try new and different techniques to take charge of what we charge.

This is one of my favorite topics: photographers doing good works by donating photography services to charities and other nonprofit organizations. In this column, I’ll look at how to make a living while making a difference. For starters, donating your photography to a good cause will help you develop business skills. It will also give you access to people and places for portfolio development and allow you to meet an amazing network of new friends. Organizations you can donate your photography to range from local to global and cover a variety of issues from healthcare and education to shelter animals. Sincere thanks to our contributors for their work: Luke Copping, Tim Courtney, Cathy Greenblat, and Isaac Howard (websites at end of column).