How to make money from underwater photography

This has been no easy task. My secret? I certainly. I started out looking for new talent on underwater photo forums like Dive Photo Guide and Wetpixel, but while the underwater images were incredible, the marketing skills of many photographers were not. So to help you make money and save the sanity of my fellow photo editors, I ofter you these four tips. Paste them on your desktop, pin them to your fridge, tattoo them on your heart:. I have seen a few of you use your email address as your watermark and hnderwater I could, I would grant you saint status. If you have a website, make the site name your. Obscure names like www. The photographers I work with most are the ones who update their Flicker accounts regularly and properly tag their images with a naming hoe so they are searchable; tagging with the location and species name are the best way to have your images found by people like me. Proper naming saves me the step underwatet having to nake you direct for more information on your image. Photoshelter is one of my all-time favorite sites — if you can afford it — because it has the option to enable HRES downloads of your images. My last words of advice are always, always have your name listed somewhere on the image — in the tag, in the metadata, or in the file. If you do nothing else, this will at least give me a place to start so I can look for your name and hope I find your email address somewhere on mqke internet.

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Underwater photographers take photos and videos of sharks, dolphins, bio-luminescent fish, coral reefs, submerged caves and shipwrecks. These professionals may also work in the fashion industry, shooting pictures of bikini models or taking underwater pictures for local resorts or hotels. Their photos often appear in catalogs, brochures and calendars. Although underwater photographers shoot and edit pictures as other photographers do, they also must know how to adjust to the coloring, lighting and staging challenges underwater. They must also be trained in snorkeling or diving. Underwater photographers usually have high school diplomas. Some earn bachelor’s degrees in photography or take college courses to learn about the equipment, processes and techniques. Qualifications needed for underwater diving range from a three- to- four-day certification course in snorkeling or diving to three months to become a scuba diving master. Other important qualifications for underwater photographers include attention to detail, artistic flair and customer service, interpersonal and computer skills. In , average salaries for underwater photographers vary considerably within the four U. But only underwater photographers with significant levels of experience, or large client bases, earn these higher salaries. Many of these professionals are self-employed and earn more through repeat business.

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Follow us. Welcome to the Underwater Photography Guide. Our idea is simple — learn, shoot, explore. Wreck of the KT located outside Orosei, Sardinia. The point of having a portfolio is to showcase your very best images to potential clients, to gain the respect of your peers, to show your ex-boss you actually made it and last but not least, to impress your mum. Pretty much in this order. Of course not! You will get all the admiration and likes you deserve on Facebook, so your portfolio should only contain those few, top-quality images that define you as an underwater photographer. If you include wide angle it better be pretty good — and vice versa. The kind of images you include could be many things, but there are some rules of thumb you might want to consider. This is certainly not limited to tropical coral reefs — a great looking cold-water reef or even some fresh water eye-candy could spark some extra interest and set you apart from the crowd. Most of the time a stunning shot showing a whole wreck will work much better than a close-up of some rusty debris. It could be wise not to choose the Thistlegorm or any other wreck that has been shot by thousands of others — some of those images have a pretty generic feeling. That is, unless your shot is truly stunning. Since I dive mostly in cold waters, a WWII wreck is a natural choice for me, and on the international scene these images often attract some attention just by being different. I chose an image of the stern of the wreck Frankenwald, a meter ft. German freighter on the Norwegian west coast. I included the wreck of the KT see photo below title to show some warm-water merit as well. If you choose to use any of these animals, make sure the images you present are truly unique — there are millions of great shark pictures out there. I chose a manatee — a cute and adorable animal that attracts lots of attention outside the diving community. Perhaps you have some great crocodile shots or even an elephant? I have seen people shoot dogs, pigs and whatnot over the years, and surprisingly often these images turn up on newspaper websites. Attracting attention by choosing something a little out of the ordinary might be a good thing, but by all means throw in a shark or two if you have some good ones. Of the five types of images, this is perhaps the category that leaves you with the most room to play, where you can really show that you have the eye and talent to capture a unique image, and that you have the creativity others may lack. Good choices for your macro portfolio may be nudibranchs or fish portraits. Try to pick images where the viewer immediately connects to the image — eye contact is very important. It is important to choose something that is easy to identify, colorful and striking at the same time. Striking color and tight, well-composed pictures always make an impression, and for me it is also very important to have a uniform, tidy background to further enhance the subject. A keen eye is necessary to capture these images, not just knowledge of camera settings or finding critters.

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With the help of this post, you should be able to start earning money from your photography, as soon as today if everything goes mohey plan.

I hope to reveal a few lesser known ways that a photographer can make money and find work. So why not sell them? This can be very easy to do and inexpensive, or slightly more difficult, depending on which you choose.

Underwatter the easiest way for anyone to sell prints is to sell them online through a third-party seller, who will do all of the legwork, processing the order, printing and sending out the photos, and providing you with a commission. Another way, which is a little bit harder, is to print them yourself and sell them through shops and restaurants.

Mone the very least, you will have your photos displayed to thousands of people. Have tto ever been to a restaurant and seen artwork hanging up with a price on it? A little while back, something very interesting happened on Flickr, which has helped thousands of people to start earning money from their photos.

If you have a Flickr account, you can now license your photos through Getty images so that when people see them, they can pay to use them, and earn you money. The link will show right next to the licensing information.

I would recommend only showing your best photos on Flickr though, not full albums, because you want to try and impress the nice people at Getty Images. NOTE — This is currently closed for the quarter due to high demand, but keep it bookmarked.

Firstly, if you have a strong hkw of images, and an established relationship, then you will begin to find yourself in a position where they will be contacting you when they need a photographer and they will need one. From here, so long as you have the aspiration, you photograohy expand your portfolio and move onto bigger and better things.

The drom way you can work with them is to go out yourself and capture local events or new stories. You can then take these photos to local papers maks start to earn money always charge them, they have a budget for this sort of thingand get published. Pick up the phone and call your local paper today.

In my experience, a phone call is a lot harder to ignore than an email. When I say buy, I really mean license, because you can continue to sell photos time and time again, and make a good living if you have a large portfolio. Commissions vary depending on the site lhotography use, but here makd a few to consider: iStock, BigStock, and ShutterStock. These promoters all want photos from their club nights, and you can be the one to provide.

If you want photograaphy expand your photography before you start looking for work, then go down to a clubnight with your camera. As noney little added bonus if you enjoy this sort of thing, you start going to a lot of gigs for free. Another great way to make money is to go to flea markets and look photogrraphy old cameras, and then take them to shops, or eBay, and earn a profit. Assisting as a photographer is one of the best ways to find work, and start making money fast. Take some time now and find local working photographers in your area, and contact them, asking if they would like an assistant.

Starting a blog is a great way to get your photos seen. With the exception of about 2 posts, all the photos on this website were taken by me.

But not only that, but I make money from this website. See those adverts on this page? These photos are worth money, depending on what you do with. Check out sites like Mr Paparazzi, where their experts will sell the photos, and you walk away with half the money, which almost always ends up being more than you would have gotten if you tried to sell it.

You can even sign up for text alerts for when photogralhy have been spotten in your area, so that you can get there and take some photos. It looked like a amke had taken it in a playground. My jaw dropped. Hi Mmake Has an old flickr user, I should mae hav missed this information! Thank you again! See you Potography. Thanks Josh for these very helpful tips. I blip, as Grace55 and love it. I have a small collection on flickr but I am still learning and saving for a Canon Powershot. It is amazing what is achieveable with a Kodak Easyshare.

Thanks Josh This is inspiring and the writing is warm, generous and humble. Many thanks. Its really amazing and i love photography. My camera is my. BTW, i have got something to show you guys which can be interested for those who are newbie and want to make money, so check it out here bit. That was a great read. Hi, Josh A Professional Photography is a very lucrative career at current time. Thank photograpphy for sharing money tl tips. Nice article! Look forward for more!

This is an amazing article. Thank you for your candor and motivational words! I am new to the game and needed a little guidance about how to get people to see my work.

My friend introduced me to this website: bit. I am looking to quit my job and make this my profession. I how to make money from underwater photography so excited!!! Great article. Photography has become one of those professions where you really need to present an outstanding work to make it a source of mkae.

Instead of using stock image websites, I try selling photos through hkw own website. This gives me the flexibility form decide my own prices and eliminates commissions. Pixpa is a great platform that helped me accomplish both in a single platform. One thing I want to say is that often before buying more computer system memory, look into the machine underwafer which it would be installed. When the machine is usually running Windows XP, for instance, the particular memory threshold is 3.

Putting in over this would simply constitute just a waste. Interesting blog post. I fell in love taking pictures in my freshman year of high-school and now i am able to follow my passion and get paid while doing it. I decided that since i was able to follow my dream and do it as a career, ill share it with the world in hopes of making someone else dream come true.

You might want to add Clickasnap to this list. Capturing things with perfection is an amazing talent. You Explained it in such an amazing way. This was really cool, some great advice in here, hopefully I can use some of these ideas to make a bit of extra cash in photography, thank you!

What a great list of ways to make money in photography. The advice and suggestions were right on. With a little imagination, anyone can make some decent cash following these ideas. Such a unique way of making money, never heard of making money with the help of photography. I am sure my brother will definitely like it. Actually he is doing photography and I will tell him about this blog, I am sure that this blog will be of great help.

Thank you for sharing this great blog, I nake liked it. Keep up the good work. Tres Bien, P. S check out my blog post on how to start a dance studio with no money to see how I am implementing some of your ideas. Underwarer to start a dance studio with no money-The Complete Guide. Your email address will not be published. Leaving your camera on its default settings will produce blurry results. Business Basics Inspiration With the help of this post, you should be able to start earning money from frkm photography, as soon as today if everything goes to plan.

Share with friends Share. Well. Works in a similar way to frpm monetisation programs on spotify and youtube i believe. Leave a Reply Cancel reply Your ;hotography address will not be published.

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DPG is a comprehensive underwater photography website and community for underwater photographers. Learn underwater photography techniques for photograpby digital cameras and specialized underwateg underwater equipment wide anglemacrosuper macrolighting and work flow. Read latest news, explore travel destinations for underwater photography. Galleries of professional and amateur underwater photography including wrecks, coral reefs, undersea creatures, fashion and surfing photography. Login Register Login. Remember Mony. Dive Photo Guide. By Jonathan Bird People tell me all the time that I have the best job in the world. Not that I don’t agree with them of course, but most have no idea what being a professional underwater photographer is all. They imagine I spend a lot of time relaxing in the sun at warm tropical locations, sipping margaritas and getting paid for it to boot. If. Photograpgy get me wrong, being paid to dive and make photographs for a living is a great job. The problem is that unless you shoot for National Geographic on a regular basis, you are unlikely to make your living solely at underwater photography. I can only name a handful of people who make enough money exclusively shooting underwater still photographs to pay their bills. Many of the professional underwater photographers you have read about in the magazines have found clever ways to augment their income. They work deals with resorts to build websites or develop promotional fgom, they lead guided dive tours, they teach photographic seminars, they sell underwater photography gear. Some, like me, turned to shooting video. Even though still photography is my «first love» and my preferred way to capture the underwater world, for photogrpahy video pays the bills.