Thoughts on possibly going semi-pro

Thoughts on doing a little under the table photography for money. Any ideas or recomendations? I have a good portrait lens, and the D800E can allow huge prints if they want that. But I have no clue what to charge on any photos, and could use some advice.
I thought I might even try selling landscapes and/or buildings shots. There are quite a lot of older buildings in my area, that I can work at getting good photos of. I'm not sure how to start selling. But it has to be kept small and under the table.

I know I'll be lucky to sell much of anything, and I think my best chance will be to offer portraits at bargain prices. Maybe start with maybe a portrait of friends cheap or even free, and get them to pass the word around showing what I did for them.

I don't know really. I'm just guessing what might work.

PS. This can't be anything more than mentioned, and not to often nor too long at a time. If I relax, taking my time, and try to get the look the customer is wanting, then maybe I won't screw things up.

Well you can start by setting up an account for stock photos. See where that takes you. Set up your own website to sell prints from as well. Everything is about exposure to public. You can also try and hook up with any local photographers and see if you can work with them first to get into senior portraits as well. There are so many things you can try to help come up with income as not one of them will be any quicker than the other. GL.

Great idea Bill!

I have a few local surfers asking me to shoot for them.

Feel I need at least a 200-400 F4 to get results I would be comfortable selling tho and too busy right now to give it serious thought. I've just emailed folks pics for free so far. With my crop camera and the 80-200 f2.8 results are decent.

My thought would be start out shooting pics for free to spread the word on your talent. You need an Instagram account as well to spread the word on your work. All the local surf talent both surfers and photogs know who I am because of Instagram

Jus a question: Do you have a Computer and Software which can handle your great RAW Files. Don't forget that sometimes you have to display your photos to possible clients as well. Maybe a great Laptop is not that bad

bill can you do a search to see what others (websites) charge, it will give you an idea? good luck.

I just remembered a serious issue with going simi-pro that may stop my attempt. I am now getting some help from the state, such as medicaid and maybe foodstamps. There are rules about reporting any sources of income, and it might also cause issues with my SSD.
But I will check to see if selling some photos now and then would be an issue. Maybe I could barter for things or for help I might need?

I currently have my wife's and my ASUS laptops, and I'm using creative cloud with lightroom and photoshop and portrait proffesional. My laptops are not the best, of that I'm sure. But mine seems to work ok with my D800E's large files. I still need to learn how to add a photo to lightroom after finishing another one from lightroom. Right now I have to close lightroom and photoshop, then pic another raw file and restart lightroom again. A very slow method, and I am sure the wrong way to go about it.

Finding a much better laptop might be a way to solve a bill, though my current laptops and a chair would have to go back. Might save me a lot of money in the long run too, but I need to think about all the effects it would have first.

Thank you my friend for the idea.

Michael Jaeger said:

Jus a question: Do you have a Computer and Software which can handle your great RAW Files. Don't forget that sometimes you have to display your photos to possible clients as well. Maybe a great Laptop is not that bad

Click to expand...

Bill, I would highly suggest if at all possible going to mac in order to process those gigantic files, or bring them down a bit and not shoot in 14bit uncompressed. I hate trying to suggest something like this, but those 36mp files are probably killing your ram. Maybe the possibility of upgrading the ram on the laptop in order to alleviate the processor working harder.

I was going to suggest you buy this shirt I have, but it looks like it's no longer available

Check Out This Semi-Amateur Photographer T-Shirt

Does anybody know what most photogs charge for portraits?

Well I googled it and found senior portraits from one photog runs $25-$70 depending on how much extras the person might want.
Not having a variety of backdrops to work with cuts my options down quite a bit unless I goto unconventional places for unique surroundings, giving the customer something better than just another backdrop.
Anyway it looks like I could earn $25.00 with the backdrops I will currently have, after practicing so there is no surprises in my settings and setup.

Bill16 said:

Well I googled it and found senior portraits from one photog runs $25-$70 depending on how much extras the person might want.
Not having a variety of backdrops to work with cuts my options down quite a bit unless I goto unconventional places for unique surroundings, giving the customer something better than just another backdrop.
Anyway it looks like I could earn $25.00 with the backdrops I will currently have, after practicing so there is no surprises in my settings and setup.

Click to expand...

If you are interested in doing senior portraits, they don't tend to be shot in front of a muslin background. Most seniors can get that type of portrait taken at their schools. Senior portraits tend to be a set of photos taken outdoors in a variety of settings. Here are a couple examples taught by Jeff Cable who shoots some Olympic photos. One is a blog and the other offers a video class that runs over an hour in length. B&H has some very good videos for learning (and so does Adorama).

How To Take Great High School Senior Portraits, with Jeff Cable | explora

Jeff Cable's Blog: Senior portraits of Claire - who is not quite a senior yet

I wasn't really thinking about seniors portraits, but was just trying to find a price range for portraits in general.

hark said:

If you are interested in doing senior portraits, they don't tend to be shot in front of a muslin background. Most seniors can get that type of portrait taken at their schools. Senior portraits tend to be a set of photos taken outdoors in a variety of settings. Here are a couple examples taught by Jeff Cable who shoots some Olympic photos. One is a blog and the other offers a video class that runs over an hour in length. B&H has some very good videos for learning (and so does Adorama).

How To Take Great High School Senior Portraits, with Jeff Cable | explora

Jeff Cable's Blog: Senior portraits of Claire - who is not quite a senior yet

Click to expand...

Bill16 said:

I wasn't really thinking about seniors portraits, but was just trying to find a price range for portraits in general.

Click to expand...

Ah...okay. Sorry I misunderstood although it is something you can still consider doing.

I will try to keep an open mind.

hark said:

Ah...okay. Sorry I misunderstood although it is something you can still consider doing.

Click to expand...