27 Ways to Make Money with Photography - Types of Photography — Bessie Young Photography (2024)

27 Ways to Make Money with Photography -

Types of Photography

So, I just recently did a blog post on 7 Ways to Make Money with Photography, but I really wanted to break that down a little bit with different types of photography and ways to make money.

When people think about becoming a photographer they think of only a few things: portraits, weddings, and babies. Yep, that is pretty much it, but there is so much more out there! There are so many different ways to make money with photography though the different types of photography.

I want to open your eyes to the photography world. This is just a short list mind you. There are so many more ideas and options out there. If you can think of a different one leave me a comment below.

Ok, so lets cut to the chase here…

Check out these fun coffee mugs that I design for Photographers, Creative Entrepreneurs, and Coffee Lovers:

1. Wedding Photographer

   • This is where you are going to make the most money for your time. Wedding photographers charge from $1k-15k per wedding. Imagine that!

2. Senior Portraits

   • Senior portraits are super freaking fun! You get to hang out with a gorgeous senior who wants to have their photos taken! Depending on where you are located and what you offer in your packages the sessions can run from $300-$2k

3. Family Portraits

   • These are seriously some of my favorite sessions but can also be difficult depending on everyone’s attitude. Family sessions have a wide range of pricing.

4. Newborn Portraits

   • In my opinion newborn portraits are some of the most difficult sessions, but they are also some of the most creative. These sessions can be a bit stressful and typically last quite a few hours.

   Are you looking to get into wedding or portrait photography? Make sure to download your free Print Release Here!

   Also, check out the Client Questionnaire. This guide is an ebook with the exact questionnaires that I send my clients.

5. Landscape Photographer

   • This is seriously one of the best photography gigs. Obviously I love it as it is one of my specialties. You can do so much with it, but the best part is selling your own landscape prints!

   • Other Ideas for making money here is:

     • Creating workshops

     • Starting a Youtube Channel

     • Selling your prints

     • Winning photography contests

     • Starting a blog

     • Becoming an influencer

6. Travel Photographer

   • Who wouldn’t love to get paid to travel? Well, you can definitely do that these days with all the social media and blogging opportunities.

7. Animal photography

   • There aren’t many people that are strictly animal photographers. This is where you could really niche down and become known for your pet portraits! How cool would that be? Start a business as a pet portrait photographer and get paid to hang out with puppies all day. Umm, sign me up!

8. Instagram photography

   • There are two avenues here. You could either create stock images for other instagrammers, or you could become an influencer on the good ole IG.

9. Concerts

   • Everyone place needs to have an event photographer to show how awesome their event was right? I would just have to say for concerts you may need to wear some ear plugs ;)

10. Festivals

    • This goes along with concerts. Events need good images for advertising.

11. Night Life (think night clubs)

12. Sports Photography

    • If you are looking to get into sports photography on a large scale such as the NFL you might want to start with your local basket ball team, football team, and so on. This way you can start building your portfolio.

13. Special Niches

    • Flowers only, cats only, dogs only, fruit only, macro photography, insects only…. honestly you would become known as the person who takes “XYZ” photos.

14. Business Photography

15. Real estate Photography

16. Events/ Siminars

17. Social Media Photography

    • For social media photography you could either sell stock photos or become an influencer and make money via collaborations and ads.

18. Product Photography

    • This is huge! Think of all the businesses around you that actually need photos for their advertising. I mean really though, there are a bajillion. What you would need to do is create a good presentation to be able to talk with the business and explain why you would be a good fit. You are going to have to reach out to them but don’t do it in a spammy yucky way. You really gotta think about this one.

19. Stock images

    • There are so many places to sell your stock images online. Many photographers frown on this idea, but many photographers make an incredibly good living doing so.

20. Headshots

    • Again this goes with the product photography. Think of all the different businesses in your area that need to have good headshots. There are ALOT!

21. Editing and Retouching

    • Honestly this is becoming bigger and bigger as the photography industry grows. Many photographers either do not like the editing process or just don’t have the time to dedicate towards editing.

22. Photography assistant and / or Second shooter

    • Wedding photographers are in dire need of assistants and second shooters. Get on a photography forum, in a facebook photography group and you will see all the opportunity here.

23. Teaching Photography

    • Youtube channels, blogs, online courses… you can teach photography anywhere you don’t have to be a teacher at a school to start teaching.

24. News papers and magazines

25. Workshops

26. Selling your images

27. Fashion

    • This is a hard rhelm to get into but is definitely an option.

BONUS TIP:

You can also become a photography blogger like I do right here on this blog! How fun is that and talk about thinking outside of the photography box ;) If you want to learn a little more about how to start a photography blog check out this out. I created a post just for you:

How to Start A money Making Blog for Beginners

Ok, so obviously there are so many different ways to be involved in photography and make a career our of taking pictures, but you are really going to have to learn so much to do this. You are going to have to learn social media, business, marketing, branding, website building, and pretty much all the things.

Now, don’t let that persuade you to not do it, just realize that it is alot of work, but don’t worry friend! I am here for you every step of the way. I am here to make your journey a little easier. To help you with all these things, because it is hard and to learn all of this on your own takes alot of research and time. I want to cut down on that time and research for you to get you back to what you actually want to do… TAKE PHOTOS!

With all that being said I do offer alot of freebies and I am adding more and more to the list on a weekly basis. Make sure to check those out on my freebie page :)

I hope this gets your brain turning and helps you realizing how much opportunity there really is in photography!

Wishing you an amazing photography journey!

Bessie