Photography NicheHave you determined what your photography niche is, yet? If so, you are ahead of the game. If not, get started! Defining my photography niche/s helped me to focus on the most profitable market for the photography that I most enjoy shooting. Finding your niche/s will help to layout the road map to your success as a photographer. Defining and determining your niche is one of the key elements in your success as a quality photographer. The more selectiveand narrow your niche, the better able and effective you can be in your marketing activities and efforts. Answers to your photography questions are available by simple clicks! Here’s a tip – Search this website and/or the entire internet for the best answers to your specific questions. There are also valuable and informative resources to quickly bring you up to speed on what works best for your photography – whether you’re amateur or experienced.
What is a Photography Niche?Niche: nich, noun – A situation or activity specifically suited to a person’s interests, desires, abilities, or nature: ex. Found her niche in life. Also, niche: A special area of demand for a product or service. Let’s be clear. A good photographer has a lot of knowledge about generalized photography. When practicing photography, photographers should shoot a lot of different and varied subjects. However, when it comes to building and maintaining a successful photography business, focusing on a photography niche is critical for success. Of course, most photographers have many different images of many subjects in their collections. Successful photographers know their niche and target their marketing efforts, activities and resources to a specific audience (a small but specialized customer base seeking your services). Being focused on a specific niche is critical for success in the stock photography market. List the photography markets and specializations that you want to serve as a successful photographer. Use the information below to categorize various photography markets. The entire photographers’ market is simply enormous. Photographers involved range from hobbyists to occasional part-timers freelancing to the ‘superstar’ photographers who command fees of $15,000 a day. And, in between are literally thousands of photographers competing in almost every niche imaginable. In such an enormous playing field there has to be a niche for every focused and committed, hard-working and competent photographer. But the question is – where? At the most basic level the business of photography falls into two very broad categories:
Assignment Photography NicheAssignment Photography is photography commissioned by a client. Assignment photography can be thought of as custom photography, done to meet client’s unique needs. Advertising of specific products, executive por traits, weddings and other special functions, sports events, school photography, and many other photos are shot on assignment. Most photographers will spend their entire career shooting on assignment. An at tractive aspect of assignment photography is that there is little to no upfront financial risks for the photographer. No money is spent by the photographer until an agreement is signed. Stock Photography NicheStock Photography is photography shot on speculation, in advance of being sold. Stock photography began as an outlet for the hundreds of thousands of photographs taken on assignment. Eventually, a market developed and flourished that had photo marketers forming stock agencies to market a wide selection of generic photographs. Having the images available as stock gives clients a lower cost (but evenly priced) option. It gives consumers a high-quality visual experience that they might otherwise miss. And, best of all, it gives the photographer the opportunity to earn income from photographs that otherwise would stay in a drawer or on a hard drive forever. Everybody wins! As the business of stock photography grew explosively, supply was steadily outpacing demand, and the field became even more competitive. Stock photography quality has risen, and shooting specifically for stock has replaced the concept of using the stock agency as a place for surplus photographs. Many photographers spend part of their time shooting specifically for stock, taking advantage of the opportunities provided by being on location for an assignment. Other photographers specialize exclusively in shooting for stock. Stock photography can be a lucrative market for photographers, but given its competitive nature some rules to assist you in attaining success are worth keeping in mind:
It is not unusual for photographers with reasonably well developed stock photography niche portfolios to generate thousands of dollars from the resale of a single image. Quite a few images have generated tens of thousands of dollars in resales over the years. It is much less risky to build a stock portfolio part time alongside an assignment practice, expanding more heavily into stock as you gain experience and become known.
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