You’ve probably got a computer already – most people have – but if not you’ll need to budget for that as well, along with a photo-quality printer, high capacity back-up hard drives, and software to ‘process’ and enhance your images. While there are cheaper programs available, as soon as possible you should invest in Adobe Photoshop, which is pretty much the industry standard and capable of virtually anything you might want and more.
Among other things, Photoshop allows you deliver the files in the way they’re required. Typically, publishers, advertising agencies and commercial clients prefer 300dpi TIFFs, along with an index print for reference. Generally you will be delivering them on CD or DVD, though sometimes you’ll need to email them to meet a deadline, in which case it’s standard practice to send JPEGs compressed at a ratio of 8, 10 or 12, depending on the file size.
CONTROLLING THE ENVIRONMENT
To get soft, attractive light you’ll need umbrellas and softboxes, which come in a wide range of sizes.
Background paper rolls come in a variety of colours to suit every need.
When you’re sending files to a lab for printing, perhaps for wedding or portrait customers, there’s not the same need to be concerned with technicalities, since they will have the expertise to sort things out. So TIFFs and JPEGs will be equally acceptable, at whatever resolution they come out of the camera. Of course, you’ll want to work on them first, making sure the exposure, colour balance and cropping are just how you want them.
STORAGE OPTIONS
Removable cards make it possible to capture a large number of images during a shoot.
| 1 | PHOTOGRAPHY FOR PUBLISHING |
FACE VALUE
Pictures of people are used in magazines of all kinds. For maximum impact, crop in tight with a telephoto zoom.
One of the biggest markets for photographers who want to shoot speculatively, rather than on a commissioned basis, and who want to market their images direct, rather than through a library, is publishing. This embraces a number of areas – including magazines, calendars, postcards, greetings cards, posters and newspapers – all offering genuine opportunities to make sales.
Buyers are always keen to see good quality work and require new material on a regular weekly, monthly or annual basis, depending upon their publishing schedule. Yes, they have existing contributors – that’s how they’re able to fill their current publications – but the door is always open to newcomers. So don’t feel reticent about making contact. Photographers often feel they’re being a nuisance by sending in work, but nothing could be further from the truth. Publishers need contributors as much as contributors need publishers.
Over the years I’ve spoken to scores of picture buyers, and all but a handful said they were happy to be approached by new photographers.
MAGAZINES
Magazines form the biggest single market for freelance photographers, with thousands on thousands of titles available. Magazine publishing is also one of the most accessible markets, as most editors are happy to hear from potential new contributors. If you are looking to earn money from photography, this is probably the best place to start. Lots of professionals cut their teeth by selling a few pictures here and there to magazines. With titles covering just about every conceivable subject, hobby, age group and occupation, you’re almost certain to be shooting pictures that would be of interest to someone.
In any area of photography the key to success lies in understanding the kind of pictures that your chosen market needs and how they might be used. When it comes to magazines, the principle is simple: the editor needs to have a reason to publish the picture. Rarely, if ever, will editors use an image simply to fill space. The magazine business is too competitive for that, and every page has to work hard to win readers.
Some magazines focus on news, and are interested only in images that have a news angle. Others are more features-oriented, often with a practical emphasis: for example, a sequence on how to plant seeds for a gardening magazine; the effect of fitting a polarizer for a practical photography title; or feeding a baby for a parenting publication. They will also include pictures of products, people, places and anything else that is related to the subject matter – such as fashion in Vogue.
FOLLOW YOUR PASSION
If you like gardening, shoot plants. If you enjoy aviation, photograph helicopters. Start with what you know and you’ll have the best chance of success.
If you are serious about freelancing for magazines, what you must never do is shoot a range of subjects that you know little or nothing about and then try to find a market for them. That’s what a lot of freelancers looking to get into magazine work do, and that’s why so many of them fail. You go to the coast for a weekend and take lots of pictures of boats and yachts. Reviewing them, you think that maybe a sailing magazine might be interested. Or you visit a county fair and photograph dozens of vintage tractors, imagining that they’ll be of interest to a magazine about restoring old vehicles. Well, the images might be just what the magazine is after – but they probably won’t be. Unless you really understand the magazine, what it publishes and why, you’re just shooting in the dark. You need to choose your market first and then go out and take pictures for it. Editors spend a lot of time and effort giving their magazines a recognizable character, so you can assume that their requirements can be summed up as ‘more of the same’.
DRAMATIC PERSPECTIVE
Magazine editors want pictures with impact – and if you want to get published you’ll need to provide it. Here a wide-angle lens and a low viewpoint have been used to create a dynamic view of a conventional building.
Buying a reference title such as The Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook or The Freelance Photographer’s Market Handbook is a good starting point. The entries will help you to avoid obvious mistakes. However, there is no substitute for obtaining a few recent copies of the magazine you wish to submit to and scrutinizing them carefully. Study them feature by feature, and then as a whole. How much importance is given to the photographs? Are they small, medium-sized, or sometimes splashed across a double-page spread? What kind of pictures are they? Very specific or more general? Straightforward record shots, or more arty, creative treatments? Often a magazine will have sections devoted to both approaches to