Handheld shots for long exposures

Your arms aren’t as stable as a tripod. They shake a little, and so for handheld shots, you cannot set your shutter speed to a very low value. Telephoto lenses can significantly magnify distant subjects, but every millimeter of hand motion can mean as much as a meter-wide jump for the objects in the frame. The general rule of thumb is that you can use a shutter speed of up to [1/focal length] seconds. So with a wide, 24mm lens, you can use up to 1/30 seconds approximately, while a telephoto lens with a 400mm focal length will need a much shorter time: 1/400 second. If there’s not sufficient light for the shot, then you need to increase the ISO, decrease aperture value or use the stabiliser if your camera or lens which comes with stabilisation. When none of these options works, then you can shoot using a tripod or lay your camera on a flat surface. If there’s nothing usable around, then you can support with your hands against your body. That gives you more steadiness, and so you can use somewhat longer times. By leaning against a tree, you can improve things even more.

Times Too Long for the Action

You can keep the camera as steady as you want, but if you’re photographing humans or other living beings, their movement in images will be blurry. So, when shooting social events, you keep to a shutter speed of 1/125 second or faster than that. Or at worst at a shutter speed of 1/60 seconds, but in that case, be prepared to risk having blurring in your images. If you want to capture sports, you’ll find that even shorter shutter speeds are required. They can need shutter speeds as fast as 1/400 seconds, depending upon the sport and the photo’s style. Here neither a stabiliser nor a tripod will assist you, so if you’re shooting within a hall with a restricted amount of light, unfortunately, the only answer is a good camera and lens which works well in low light.

Not Using a Tripod

But there are also images that instantly demand a tripod. Special shots like long exposure photos of the milky way or star trail shots or panning of moving cars etc. A tripod can assist you to maintain shutter speeds that are much much longer. But to work with a tripod isn’t as easy as it might seem. We recommend you to research which kind of tripod you may require and about tripod mounts, weights and so on before investing on one.

Leaving the Stabiliser on

While it’s best to leave the stabiliser switched on in low light conditions, there are also cases where it’s best to keep it off. These mainly refer to when capturing photos using a tripod, where a stabiliser will start vibrating your whole body due to the motor. Certain stabilisers only allow you to turn it “on” and “off”, but some also provide a third choice, “on for one axis only”. This fixes the problem of panning etc when the stabiliser is on.

Leaving the Stabiliser off

Photographers many times forget to turn the stabiliser back on after shooting on a tripod. And also, sometimes they might accidentally push its physical switch while manipulating the lens, or while taking the camera out of the bag. That’s why it is best to stay alert and, if the image in the frame is unusually shaky, double-check if the stabiliser is turned on.

Low Depth of Field

Difficulty with low Depth of Field is mainly displayed in two situations. The first is when you are using a DSLR with a prime lens and an f-stop of say f/1.8 which is a great low light choice mostly. It gives you a superb optical detachment of subjects from their background by using bokehs. The trouble comes when photographing more than one subject in one frame who are standing in different focal planes. You need to keep in your mind that for images like these, you have to keep aside the block lenses or increase your aperture value to f/4 or above to keep all the subjects in focus. Otherwise, all it takes is for one subject in the group to take a half-step back or front, and they get out of focus. Another problem shows itself when you are capturing landscapes, and you want to capture both small objects and a far horizon. Sometimes even the highest f-stop isn’t enough, and the only answer is to merge a picture from two images, one focussed closer and the other farther.

Bad Focus

Sometimes the automatic focus in the camera can be faulty too. It is sometimes disturbed by small nearby objects such as bushes behind people or moving objects in the background. Bushes provide lots of high-contrast points that your camera is happy to focus on. So for such a situation, all you need to do is turn off autofocus and focus your subject using the focus ring manually on the lens. Macro shots require high levels of focussing and it is often advisable to use manual focus for the same.

A Defective or Low-quality Lens

Once we get down to minutely examining a photograph on a pixel level, there is a clear difference between an expensive, high-quality lens and a lower-quality one that is supplied with beginner cameras. If you are bothered by blurry lenses, there is only one solution: research about the lenses and spend on a decent one. After the research, you may see there’s also a difference between a good lens and a great lens. If you consistently get bad results when the reviews say you shouldn’t, it’s time to take your lens into the shop for cleaning or other defects.

Bad or Dirty Filters

A good lens is a good beginning, but you can always make it terrible with a filter. There’s no risk with good filters, but look out for low-budget ones as they can pose problems for the lens during focussing which can cause blur and even add overexposed spots on the photographs.

No Computer Sharpening

Knowledgeable photographers always sharpen their images after reducing them down to presentation size. If you just reduce the picture size without sharpening them afterward, your work will probably look unprofessional at best.

You might already be well-known with the above mentioned points, but some might be new for you. No matter what, it is good to be cautious, and, if supreme sharpness is your goal, shoot slow and steady. As soon as something seems fishy, go ahead and look into the problem. Nonetheless, for other problems, you need to understand where they are coming from and try to check if any of the above mentioned things can help you out. Make sure you do not let any dust or other particles fall on the sensor or the lens when changing lenses outdoor. Your reward will be images that are sharp and stand out from the rest.

“I will not harm my subject!”

Every photographer should happily follow this simple rule – even when no one else is watching.

This is not a hard job for anyone, and for those with a true love, nature is always priority for them. Unfortunately, thanks to the huge numbers of photographers who now own professional photography gears, and are perpetually on the look out for nature subjects to capture and instant satisfaction after uploading the images on social media and there are examples of photographers damaging wildlife or habitats in chase of the perfect shot, which has been alarmingly common. Many of it is due to a lack of awareness and knowledge.

Whatever it might be, one thing is sure, if right-minded nature photographers get together, we can stamp out the danger of unethical photography to a large extent and it will also help the beginner generation to learn ethics. Self-regulation is the best regulation, so make sure to follow all the rules before you step into widlife.

Then, now and will

One of the most shocking chapters in the history of wildlife photography in India is the bird nest photography trend that outspread like wildfire in the early 1990s. Battling to other photographers, many photographers skilled a level of harshness and insensitivity that was terrifying. Their practice was a bit simple: they would watch around, or offer money to the locals, for finding the active nests for them. Once the nest of a wanted species was located, the photographer would go and do some gardening – a substitute for removing branches or leaves to get a proper view of the nest. With the obstacles out of the way, nesting activity would be captured from all the angles, sometimes using external flashes placed around the nest. Once the photographer was satisfied with their results, they would leave, exposing nest open to predators. Some photographers even destroyed the nest (or eggs or chicks) so that others could not take capture the image they have.

This battle was in trend for few years, until there was strong stricture from photographers and nature conservationists with a moral sense. The harmful practice finally end when nest images were banned from competitions.

Back then there were very less nature photographers in India, so any harm caused by a few unethical photographers was very less. Since there is no entry exam or test for newcomers, the annual increase in the number of wildlife photographers was tremendous. Cameras and lenses was very expensive due to custom tax duties. It was very hard to see a photographer with a 300mm lens. Film and printing was costly too. And not every photographer had a car to take off in the outskirts on weekends. The kind of budget needed to follow this costly hobby was largely limited to very few people.

But all that was transformed with economic reforms and the technology upgrade. Suddenly, beginners were able to get five-figure salary jobs straight after graduation. At the same time, custom tax dropped down, camera manufacturers started setting up dealerships in India, social media started becoming a trend, and wildlife documentaries on TV and internet lighted an tremendous thirst for travel and photography. Nature photography as a hobby increased like a boom.

While its not a crime with enjoying nature and capture wildlife, how one does it that matters. Enjoyment must always be baked with responsibility. Unfortunately in India, the two rarely go hand in hand. You will mostly see an educated person who’s the wrongdoer rather than some uneducated. And there are millions of educated people with high sound cars, but with utterly no sense of road rule and then there are thousands of educated people with the best cameras and lenses, but very less love towards nature.

Unethical photography? What’s that?

Many photographers likely don’t even think about their impact on nature and wildlife, and may take animals simply as models that exist for capturing pleasure. They don’t even think that their actions can cause stress to an animal. Simply becoming aware of the issues might make any photographer good and helpful. And those who are decent and can think properly on their next outing, and change their behaviour appropriately will be a great help.

For example if we consider one of one of the world’s rarest birds, the critically endangered Great Indian Bustard. This large bird, which is found in grasslands, is extremely shy of human interaction. When it spots a intruder even hundreds of metres away, its reaction is to hold whatever it is doing and fix its eye on the intruder. As long as it feels threatened, the bird will not feed, court or mate. As a result of the disturbing activity caused by some few photographers, the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) was forced to issue a circular restricting photography of the bustard during its mating season.

Damage to habitats can be big too, when many people and their vehicles are found on a particular location. For example, the Hesaraghatta grasslands on outskirts of Bangalore suffered high damages as a result of insensitive weekend bird photographers. Luckily, thanks to the problem being highlighted and talked about on social media and photographers, there has been a change for the better in some areas.

While it’s impossible to measure or list every type of unethical behaviour of every unethical person; awareness, knowledge and common sense are the best guides for every photographer out there. If you think that something you are doing, or are planning to do, may cause harm to your subject or habitat, back it off. It’s that simple.

The way forward

Like it or not, the craze for wildlife photography seems to be growing like anything in India. So it’s better that we work together to decrease the negative impacts. Well as of now we don’t have any ‘All-India Association of Nature Photographers’ to set rules and regulations and supervise behaviour, how do we go about controlling the practice of nature photography by every nature lover in our country? There isn’t any one way of practising it, but that doesn’t mean we should give up our responsibility to protect the nature.

The best and most important factor in changing behaviour of the coming generation might be to set a good example or inspiration. Good inspiration or role models are important in every field, and wildlife photography is not different. If you are a experienced photographer, try to be a good role model for your audience, and lead by example. If newbies are following you and have questionable practices, they will learn and assume that this is how wildlife photography is to be done, and imitate you. If you are seen having respect for nature and wildlife, not only will your respect go up, but your attitude may also put a good impact on others.

After you are experienced, you will definetely also have a lot of followers on social media platforms. Reach out to the professionals once in a week with messages about ethics in wildlife photography. Also try to share the tips with your fellow followers as well as it will make a strong belief on those who are still not aware about the ethics in field.

If you are conducting wildlife photography workshops, start and end each workshops with a strong appeal for ethical behavior when capturing nature. Make your audience take a honest pledge towards ethics. This will definitely impact those who have less knowledge or are less aware. As for those who simply don’t care about nature and wildlife, they will be automatically change their behavior when more and more photographers become humble towards nature and intolerant of unethics.

To multiply your positive effect among the younger generation, the most important thing is not to be distrustful about your knowledge to bring about optimistic behavioural change in other photographers. Here’s an example of something that all have seen in our surroundings: when a area or road is kept clean due to the efforts of some of its locals, others think before littering the place. Even if they do, there are eyes to criticise or shame them, making sure that they don’t litter again, that’s how you bringing everyone into line. In the same way, you can clean up unethical wildlife photography, if we practice together and learn what’s right.

Examples of unethical practices and how to curtail them

While it’s not possible all the time to specify ‘unethical’ in black and white terms, or point out every example.

Please note that some of these activity, in addition to being unethical, are illegal and violate various wildlife and environmental laws. If reported, they could draw in strong penalties and legal action.

Issue 1: Crowding

Too many visitors or safari jeeps gathering around an wild animal in National Park or Wildlife sanctuary, or purposely going too close to provoke a growl or a attack.

Impact:

Causes high stress, and breaks the wild animal’s natural behaviour, such as courtship, hunting and feeeding. In the case of big animals like big cats or elephants, regularly being close to them can be dangerous.

Remedy:

When you sight a wild animal, always keep a safe distance between the safari and wild animal. When you see other safari coming, take a few photographs and leave that spot. If you see any officials, drivers or photographers breaking the rules, carefully take a picture or video of this and report it to someone in authority.

Issue 2: Nest or den photography

Capturing images of mammals at their dens orbirds at their nests.

Impact:

This causes disturbance and stress in animals and they can abandon the nest or den. In the case of big cats, it forces the parents to move their juveniles to another den, which can be dangerous for them. This can also attract other unethical photographers and poachers too.

Remedy:

Avoid capturing images of nest or den. Stay away from newborns or juveniles. This also includes manipulating nest or nest area. Publishers and competitions should be very strict about accepting nesting and den photographs.

Issue 3: Playback of birdcalls to attract birds

Impact:

Wildlife survey have shown that this can cause stress to birds. The available study material advice that replying to call-playback may effect in bird energy, disturbs their territory and can lead to pair break-ups. Playing bird sounds during their mating season can confuse adults from more crucial tasks like mating, guarding the nest, and defending their territories.

Remedy:

Refrain from use of bird calls, particularly for rare and endangered birds.

Issue 4: Handling amphibians and reptiles for photography

Impact:

To start this, picking up and handling wild animals is illegal. It also causes them terrible stress. If a snake is feeding on something, the first response to handling will be to vomiting its food.

Amphibians can be infected with bacteria from your hands, which can be fatal to the individual and sometimes to the whole species in the area. Taking them out of their habitat will cause their body or skin to dry up, and can be tough to survive. Some photographers refrigerate fast-moving reptiles and amphibians in order to slow their activity for capturing images. This is extremely damaging to their body and may even cause death, not in front but after you have moved on from the spot.

Remedy:

Capture images of reptiles and amphibians in their natural habitats without handling or moving them. Work with an ethical herpetologist or guide to ensure that no harm comes to wildlife.

Issue 5: Speeding in wildlife habitats

Impact:

Driving fast to sight a animal or to exit the national park before the gate shuts, not only frightens animals but can lead in animals getting run over. Although speeding is strictly not allowed in wildlife areas, it is quite common to see.

Remedy:

Follow the speed limits. If there is no speed limit mentioned, try to keep low speeds (20 kmph) to make sure that there is decent time to stop the vehicle if an animal suddenly crosses your path. File complaints against drivers who speeds the vehicle.

Responsibility from publishers & editors

We think that it is a responsibility of publishers and editors of wildlife and photography magazines or books, as well as social media pages and Facebook groups, to ensure that their audience meet ethical standards before publishing their images. Photos that are problematic should not be accepted.

Conclusion

We believe that following these rules and sharing them with every wildlife and nature photographers will improve the well being of wildlife and natural habitats. In this field, a photographer must have a good mind and, when in doubt, nature and wildlife should always get the profit of doubt.

Let’s enjoy nature responsibly!

Fashion photography for adults and teenagers are so common these days as the number of photographers and models are rising every time. How many amazing fashion photographs, how many images are used for advertisements surround us at every place. But what if we say that adult fashion photography will soon have a large and powerful rival? Sounds awkward right? but nowadays children fashion photography is becoming more and more in supply. What is the reason for such demand and what does the future hold for this recently appeared genre?

About Children Fashion Photography

Surprisingly, but children fashion photography is not a new genre in the fashion photography industry. These days, children are as serious chic as adults with the growing number of social media pages of children as you will notice. Also modern parents have zero issues with the taste of children’s clothing. Shops and online stores are full of fashionable clothes that make children look quite modern and fascinating. Almost all modern parents try to follow all trends with their children. And modern clothing market has already understood this drift and engages children into fashion advertisements. That is the how this genre is growing a great demand in industry.

The majority of children fashion photography has been made due to the work of fashion designers. Modern world creates fortunate and pleasing conditions for creating clothing collections not only for adults, but for kids too. They know that a lot of fashion models, who have kids now, are not eager to give up the current trend and they try to engage their children in it. The most fastest mode to buy clothing is on online stores, but the only difficulty with online stores is that we only have access to images and nothing else. Believe us that it is easier to choose clothes with images of children models rather than with adult models. And here again we come to a great demand of kids fashion photography.

Before learning about children fashion industry, let us learn out what does it mean to be involved in fashion industry. What is it and what mystery does it hold? So, fashion photography as a special genre of photography entered the market in the 90’s. At this time, this genre manages to win a great part of the market due to a unvarying interest of customers. From the start of 20’s fashion photos began to beat graphics in printing editions of that time. And at the same time, the idea of a fashion photojournalist made an appearance in industry, and since then they work together like a pair that cannot be divided. Hence now there are very less advertisement without photos done in fashion style.

Fashion Photography of present days majorly means images of clothes and accessories of different fashion houses, capturing images during fashion week shows and much more. Due to a huge mixture of required pictures, adult fashion photographs cannot fulfill the whole market needs. And that is how children fashion photography is highly competitive now.

For sure, the demand of fashion images has changed over years and is still changing. A lot of things has changed, and today the picture shot by the photographer is of bigger value than just capturing particular details such as clothes, hairstyle, accessories and make-up.

Tips to shoot Children Fashion Photography

1. Have Patience

   When capturing children you need to be highly patient. This is because that sometimes you may get a amazing bunch of images and sometimes you will get nothing for a while. This is because of the different behavior of the child and this might cause an break in your photography session. So, this is the basic rule that you need to follow while capturing images of children. Don’t hurry up or force them to do a pose, just hang out with chill mind, play and talk with them and finally, they will make an effort to pose for your camera.
   
   
   
   

2. Let the children run the show

   It’s true that you won’t be able to run each and every facet of the shoot according to yourself so why not let the child to run the whole show? This will be easy and work on it with positive impacts.

   For this, follow these tips:

• Don’t try to command the child, it can spoil the whole shoot.

• Don’t feel that the whole shoot is unsuccessful if the child is not doing what you want. Keep on trying different ideas and concepts.

• Don’t be rude to the child. They will be smiling naturally for your session only if they are happy. You have to keep them homely and also, let them know that the camera is their friend.

• Talk with them about their favourites and keep them energetic.

• Let the session go with the flow. Shoot every moment that a jolly child is doing.

• Be alert to capture every facial expression of the child.

• Have fun with the child and you will be able to shoot the best moments.
  
  
  
  

2. Take a lot of images

   The facial expression of children changes in seconds which can result in loosing a good moment to capture. Hence, try to be fast, speedy and capture bunch of images in the same pose. If you have two or more children to capture in a frame, pay close attention to each kid and make sure while capturing bunch of photographs, so that you get everyone’s expression proper. You can always choose your best photographs from the bunch afterwards.
   
   
   
   

3. Shoot from their perspective

   When you capture little children images, you should not capture it normally from an adult perspective. This makes them look tiny in photographs. Getting low to their eye level so you can equalise the perspective and shoot. With that, enter their zone where they are playing instead of standing far from them. Crawl and play with the child to keep them happy. Note that you should also keep your camera safe in such scenarios to prevent it from any damages.

5. Focus on Focus

   When you are composing subjects that are in motion, it requires the perfect settings, training, and tests. All the cameras have various Focus Modes, so to learn this properly, read your manual once and practice it on daily basis to learn it properly. Choose the setting in your camera for tracking the focus of moving subject. That means the camera will not lock the focus when you click the shutter halfway. What it does is that it only tracks the selected moving object in the frame. Now at next step, if you press the shutter more down and keep on focusing a moving object, then the camera tracks the speed and try to focus the object so that when you click the shutter full down, then the camera will capture a sharp picture. It is difficult to exactly explain that what is the perfect option to capture is, this is because there are various camera brands and different models and each one of them is different with its features.
   
   
   
   

6. Burst Mode

   It is important to capture in burst or high-speed continuous mode so as to take bunch of photographs and not miss any moment. After you set your focus then all you have to do is click the shutter to its end and then hold it for sometime. This lets the camera to capture bunch of pictures. Many DSLR or mirrorless cameras have the property of burst or high-speed continuous mode but it may be different in the frames per second rate they are capable of shooting.

What Is Fashion Photography And Where Did It All Begin?

It all begin in the late 1800s that the Parisian Fashion Houses started fashion photography as a proper professional career. However, it was known as a best industry, and the their decision went on for over a few period of time.

In the last one decade, due to the arrival of social media and various photo-sharing application, fashion photography made its way into the different part of the society. Fashion photography, as a job, is still a great choice.

Today, places like Mumbai, New York, Paris, Montreal, Milan, and Los Angeles are known as the best fashion center in the world.

How Can One Get Started In Fashion Photography?

Here are some points one should consider before entering your fashion photography career

1. Learn photography skills –Photography is a art which needs practical knowledge of the equipment and lots of experience. So, it is highly suggested to get a professional diploma in fashion photography to boost your career.
   
   

2. Build your portfolio –Select and hire some good stylists and models, prepare a theme & mood board for your concept, and start capturing pictures. Choose your best images and display it creatively with a good website and portfolio catalog.
   
   

3. Network – Widenyour contact and hire professional stylists and models. Also, talk and assist with professional photographers who have a good base in the industry. Social media platforms are the easiest and best mode to link with makeup artists, designers, hairstylists, photographers, editors and magazines.
   
   
   
   

4. Start sending your work– Be active and send your best images to editors of magazines and media houses. But, before you send your images, learn about their publishing way and send the best photographs that will suit their needs to minimise the chances of rejection.
   
   

5. Create your style – Onceyou start capturing, you will be tend to get influenced by the professionals. While it’s not bad to re-create when you are starting your career but once you learn the art properly, start creating your own style, and after a while, you will be successful.
   
   

What Are The Various Types Of Fashion Photography Work?

Before we start unfold the various photography projects that you can go for, please remember as a general rule that payment vastly changes when it comes to media groups, magazines and top fashion houses.

Fashion/Beauty Editorials

These are the kind of work everyone usually refer to when they describe about fashion photography. It includes models with striking poses, aesthetics, and make-up. It sounds interesting, but for a amateur, it gives more value to their portfolio than the money in the wallet.

Spec Shoot

This needs to be planned to the end beforehand. The photographer must set up a team of stylist, models, and plan on a theme and mood board before capturing. If the results are proper, then the concept is pitched to various publications with a hope to get featured. If you are good at your work, you can get a great prize.

Commercial Photography

This type of photography is generally done to sell a product. Since this shoot brings gives a great income to the company, they keep a profitable budget for the commercial photography. To get selected, you should either have a beautiful test shoot or great portfolio.

A test shoot is a activity where the team, including the designer, stylist, model and photographer, work as a team to do a normal shoot. This is done to check whether they can work together as a team in future.

What Is The Scope Of Fashion Photography?

The fashion photography industry has observed a good increase in its rate from 15% to 20% in the last few years before the pandemic. Yes the pandemic has affected the industry a bit but with the improving conditions everything will be on track in coming time. And with the growth of digitalisation, everything around is moving to visual, which means there will be high chances and more opportunities for the right talent!

Payments

• Catalog photographers normally get paid on month basis, and the income is relatively much less than the fashion and magazine photographers

• In India, if you work as an assistant for a professional photographers, the starting salary usually ranges from Rs. 50,000 – Rs. 1,00,00 per year

• Once you enter the professional level and start your own firm, the salary depends upon your skills and work and your income can range between Rs. 1,00,000– Rs. 5,00,000 per project.
  
  

Please note the above wage is a estimate figure. Fashion photographers can earn less or high depending upon their work.

Perks

• A opportunity to travel to beautiful locations and have a luxurious lifestyle.

• Opportunity to shoot supermodels, and work with best makeup artists, fashion designers, magazines and media houses, creative directors.

• Different opportunities in terms of experience.
  
  

Career Path

As a fashion photographer, you can work however you like:

• Freelancer

• Start your own fashion photography firm

• Full-time job with the media house, clothing and accessories brands, magazine.
  
  

If you have a primary style, and you can work independently, have a great sense of creativity, and good management skills, you can do super well in this photography career.

It has been almost eight months since WHO announced Covid-19 as a pandemic. At the start of this, everyone was optimistic that it will recover very quickly but unfortunately that hasn’t been the case for many business sectors in India. Small and medium scale companies in the wedding industry have suffered immensely. With the functional scale of businesses descending drastically, business have been forced to take tough decisions.

The wedding industry, which is one of the leading services, has been the worst hit. Reports worldwide have classified this sector as ‘Highly Affected, High Financial Impact’. This leaves businesses and photographers with no option but to work on their business growth and findnew and innovative ways to fight the pandemic.

We, as a photography magazine, propose some points of business that wedding photographers need to adopt to sustain the ongoing Covid-19 crisis.

1. Know your Numbers

Experts need to realise their business in terms of pure numbers, especially during the pandemic where every rupee matters. You will need to be highly alert with your money, the cost of operating your company, the cost of earning a client and many other things. Your most important aim here should be to have a net positive in all terms. Photographers, especially working as freelancers, should keep a habit of keeping a note of their finances every month and planning their future steps accordingly.

A net positive is an indication of a firm business and ensures that the photographer is in control of their planning and expenses while still keeping the creative capability of the business alive.

2. Advertising should remain an EssentialPart of the Business

YES, you heard it right. Advertisement and a pandemic are not linked and one should not make the mistake of connecting the two. Henry Ford said, “Stopping advertising to save money is like stopping a watch to save time”.

As every photographer market their best images, promoting your best work that you have captured throughout the last season. Else, you will be out of business competition. Plan a budget for your advertising and marketing expenses based on your numbers, calculate a monthly expense and stick to it. Always keep in mind that the photography industry works on word of mouth advertising more than any other way. So now is a perfect time to reach out to your clients to present your offerings to them.

3. Good Management will take you Places

Avoid buying latest equipment if you don’t need it. Photographers are notorious for spending unnecessarily on latest gears and techs. It is all about the latest expensive mirrorless cameras, lenses and accessories; photographers always want to get their hands on new equipment as soon as it is launched. In scientific terms, this is known as Gear Acquiring Syndrome. Every professional has been there and done that and hence it is advisable to save yourself from such unnecessary acts especially during this critical time.

Always remember, you create the content, not your camera. Companies will keep coming with newer tech every sixmonths. But do you need to upgrade? The simple answer is NO, if it isn’t needed yet. This is the perfect time to create a standard operating procedure on buying new gears and make every purchase worth its cost.

4.Focus on your Service Offerings

With home weddings are safe at the moment, it is definitely not a tradition but more like a trend, at least until the Covid-19 is completely over. Matching your current service offerings with client needs is the key to continuing your business successfully. For example, in a small wedding, clients are not looking at a large team. So, will you work with someone who you can trust to deliver at least 50% of our results? Will you be able to deliver the work on the time? Are you ready to work on smaller budgets? Will you deliver the same value as you did for a bigger wedding?

These aspects need to be given an ambitious look. This means that you need to find some good ways to earn money during the pandemic to earn a good profit. Use your expertise to create new service offerings that are collective and can be used in other business sectors. Reach out to clients and other businesses and offer your new services. Cold calls and emails are something you should start now. Are these things out of your comfort zone? Now is the perfect time to get started!

5. Get ready for the New Normal

The pandemic will not stay forever. The situation will improve in coming months. However, that being said the economy is going to enter a ‘New Normal’ where everyone will be more observant about their expenses.

The last few months have given us a taste of what we actually require and what really matters. This mentality will have a pure impact on the wedding photography industry where the prize size for a wedding may drop, but the value that a client needs might remain the same. In such a situation, photographers need to plan how they can match client’s expectations and still earn profits. Planning in terms of team management, editing work, gears, etc, will help you to face the changed expectations with more ease.