Starting an Online Photography Business in Four Easy Steps
 |
| "Lily Pond" -Image by Elyza Rodriguez Photography |
Starting an online Photography Business, especially a Landscape
Photography Business, is challenging, especially if you are not tech savvy.
Yet, if photography is your passion, like it is for me, and you have the
willpower, you can overcome any obstacles. And I am here to help! J As I travel on my journey as a landscape photographer, I invite
you to come along with me, so you can learn from my experiences what to do, and what not to do. Please believe me, I will be completely
honest about what works, and especially what doesn’t, because I want to give
you the advice I would want as a new photographer.
Step One
This first step is obvious. Take pictures, lots and lots of
pictures, of whatever is meaningful to you. For me, it’s the perfect sunrise or
sunset at the beach, or anything involving water. So, when I can’t make it to
the beach, I head over to one of the many parks with lakes or streams that we
have here in Central Florida.
One thing I had to learn, because I am my own worst critic, is to
not erase photos. Now after I shoot, the first thing I do is to upload my
pictures to my computer, without erasing any of them! Many images have died an
untimely death as I delete what at the time does not seem absolutely perfect.
Learn from my mistakes, don’t erase anything. I have found that just by waiting
a few days to review my camera roll again, many pictures I planned on erasing
are actually incredible shots.
Step Two
Get advice. While I don’t know many people in the photography/blogging
biz, I did not let that stop me. I started learning by watching videos I found on
Youtube which focused on these three areas: photography, starting a photography
business, and blogging. I was able to create a blog and a great looking photography
business website simply by watching videos. Unfortunately, there was still a
major hurdle that I needed to get past which might surprise you. More about
that later!
 |
| "Sunrise Skies"- Image by Elyza Rodriguez Photography |
All of my advice did not come from Youtube however. I enlisted the
help of some tech savvy people (aka teenagers I know) to solve a major problem
I was having with my photos. Without a solution, I am afraid I would have been stopped in my tracks. Here's why. When I first started taking photos,
I discovered how to minimally edit them by adding contrasts, etc. and rotating
the horizon as necessary (honestly, no matter how careful I am, I tend to take
photos of the horizon at an angle), and also how to completely change a photo
by adding cool effects. It sounds incredibly silly now, but I would upload
photos to Facebook and then transfer them to Instagram to edit them. After picking
up a printing order of over one hundred terrible photos, I discovered my error! The customer
service representative explained what I’d done wrong. By moving the photos into
Facebook and Instagram, I had reduced the file size. So, when I tried to print
them to a regular size, the pictures were pixelated (grainy) and the color did
not match the original files. Needless to say, I had to find a way to maintain
the quality of my original photos. I knew I could edit them in Photoshop, but I
needed a cheaper (or free), but similar alternative. My savvy advisors
suggested I try Gimp, a free download, or Sumo Paint (online), which had all of
the free features I needed without losing picture quality.
After reading lots of online
reviews, I went with Sumo Paint which seems to be very similar to Photoshop. At least, the $4/month
version is, but I found I could get by with the free version. Again, I
generally use very little editing. Still, it was difficult for me to figure out
what I was doing at first, even after turning to Youtube videos (Can you tell I
am a big Youtube fan?). Admittedly, I am definitely an editing newbie, so
layers, adjustments, and filters are mostly beyond me. Plus, when I started, I
kept erasing my photos.
Editing Your Photos- Quick and Easy
1. First, either Google search SumoPaint or type in this URL, http://www.sumoware.com/home/.
You can log on easily by clicking either Facebook, Google, or Twitter at the
top.
2. Click on the “Try Sumo Paint” button. If using the free version, you’ll
want to minimize the Advertisement, Color Picker, and Swatches boxes on the right toolbar by clicking the arrows.
3. Find the photo you want to edit using Open from
my Computer, found in the File drop down box at the top of the page. I will normally reduce the size of the
photo while editing in the Info/Zoom box on the right to about 14%. *On a few
occasions, I have saved only part of the image, so my rule of thumb is you’ll
save what you can see.
*At the bottom of the frame, I will grab the right corner to expand
the background, so my picture is surrounded by grey (important for the ease of
rotating the picture).
4. Click on the Free Transform tool on the left bar (a square
with a dot in the middle); then, place your cursor to the upper left corner of
the photo. Hold down the right mouse button as you drag your cursor to the bottom
right corner to encompass the entire photo.
*If you mess up at any time,
just click the left arrow at the bottom of the tool bar.
5. Place the cursor
outside of one of the corners until you see a rotate arrow appear (It looks like a backwards letter C). Right click to make your adjustments. It took
a lot of trial and error and almost purchasing another editing product to
figure this out!
You're Almost Done!
6. Once you have finished rotating your picture, it will be necessary
to crop out any white edges that are now showing. Select the cropping tool (on the left bar next to the Free Transform button). Then, like you did to rotate your image, right click and drag to fix your photo. It's easier if you start at an edge where you see the most white showing. Make sure to crop out the white edges from all four sides. Don't worry about cropping too much. If you make a mistake, use the undo arrow at the bottom of the left toolbar (not the back button, which will erase all of your work. I have done this too!) to go back to the previous step.
7. Finally, select
Auto Levels in the Adjustment drop down box and then you are done. Obviously,
there are a lot of other tools you can use, and Youtube videos to help you, but
this works for me.
8. To save your edited photo, go back to file and select Save to My
Computer. You’ll want to save it as a JPEG at 100% for the best quality. I
always change the name of the file so I don’t erase the original. And that is
it! Once you have edited your photos, you are ready for Part Three.
In the next part of the series Starting an Online Photography
Business, we will take a look at how to create your photography business
website and start selling your work. Until then, please check out my webpage by clicking on the image below and let me know what you think. I'd love to hear from you.
 |
| "Harness the Light"- Image by Elyza Rodriguez Photography |
