Wife wants to start a Photo Studio.

[pinion9]

I make most of the money and she is thinking about quitting her job and working from home. She has a good eye for photography, and we aren't trying to get rich off of it. Just provide some residual income (2K a month, maybe.) We would run it out of home and use digital photography equipment. I think she wants to do mostly children and senior portraits. Anyone else run a small studio from home?

Edited for clarity.

 

[Phoenix86]

Can you give us 4 pics of your wife?

How much does money in bulk weigh?

 

[pinion9]

Originally posted by: Phoenix86
Can you give us 4 pics of your wife?

How much does money in bulk weigh?

Way to contribute. You should be a lifer in no time.

 

[Mrvile]

On a more serious note, can you provide some pics taken by your wife?

 

[oynaz]

My uncle is a photographer, he does portraits, but says the money is in taking pictures for magazines.

But that aside, according to him portraits taken outdoors are generally much better than those taken indoors.

 

[jimmyjam]

I agree with oynaz. My friend opened a studio and ended up closing it a few months later because most people wanted outdoor photographs so the studio just sat there empty.

 

[zebano]

My wife wants to do that too. She just stays home with our daughter now, so any income would be nice (aka this is a bump).

 

[Lola]

Yes, my dad has one sort of.
He has a business that he takes headshots, model composites, etc and some artistic nudes and the like.
He has a whole studio really nicely set up in his basement, however he has no clue how to work digital equipt.
so, i say, get a name, get registered, and start advertising. She might want to get a portfolio together first. Get some of her friends, kids and take some photos that she can show prospective clients.

Best of luck to her.

 

[mugs]

My wife does most of her portraits outside, but she has studio equipment as well and uses it sometimes.

Your wife isn't going to start pulling in $2k a month right off the bat, a lot of her business will come from word of mouth so it has to build up. My wife is doing it on the side and building up to the point where she'll have a successful photography business in ~3 years when we're planning on having kids, that way she'll be able to quit her 9-5 and still bring in $40k+ a year.

(edit: My wife is doing a lot of portraits for free for friends and family right now to build up a portfolio like Lola said, but she also does some weddings that bring in some money)

(also, a studio setup will run you $1500-2000 on the low end, not including the camera or lenses)

 

[Phoenix86]

Originally posted by: pinion9

Originally posted by: Phoenix86
Can you give us 4 pics of your wife?

How much does money in bulk weigh?

Way to contribute. You should be a lifer in no time.

Who killed your funny?

Sorry, I don't have any relative info or I'd have posted it.

 

[iroast]

Pictures of celebrations would probably get her more money. Weddings, for example.

 

[LordMorpheus]

My mom is a pro photographer, does events (weddings, etc) and portrait work.

We have a studio in our basement, and you'll need to put lots of money into lighting and backdrops to make it work.

My recommendation would be for your wife to go around town and find really nice spots to take pictures, in various parks, this kind of thing. You can use natural light (though you might need someone to hold a scrim) and the studio is free. My mom has several dozen spots around town that she uses in addition to the studio, and if the weather/season is right I like the outdoor shots more.

I'd suggest this at least until you know if the business will sink or float.

 

[Lola]

Originally posted by: iroast
Pictures of celebrations would probably get her more money. Weddings, for example.

the problem with that is the hours. Most weddings are going to be on friday and sat day/nights.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Originally posted by: oynaz
My uncle is a photographer, he does portraits, but says the money is in taking pictures for magazines.

But that aside, according to him portraits taken outdoors are generally much better than those taken indoors.

Actually, that depends more on the lighting. You can get horrible portraits outdoors and great ones indoors. Indoors you aren't subject to changes in the weather either.

BTW-Lighting equipment can be very expensive.

I keep toying with the idea of doing portraits but I'm not sure I want to hassle with all the associated gear I'd have to buy...nor do we have the room for it.

 

[Mrvile]

I work at a banquet center and we do weddings all the time (we're always working friday and saturday nights and it sucks, but we get paid a ton). The hours are long, but we are all used to it, and our hours are actually longer than the photogs we have. So doing wedding photog won't be too bad, and wedding photogs do make quite a lot of money. Probably the best money you can make as an average photographer.

 

[pinion9]

No pics yet. Thinking about getting her a Canon D20 and investing about $1500 in some Alien Bee studio lights.

We live in Alaska, so outdoor photos could be fun.

My best friend takes business men out hunting/fishing at a private cabin during the summer. Several of them have asked about having a photographer come along. That might be worthwhile as well.

She wouldn't quit her job yet. Not until she can get at least 4 shoots a week on a regular basis.

 

[foghorn67]

I can easily dump 10k into lighting. And that's just to start.
Muslins, props, insurance, legal paperwork can add up.

You can get AB setups for about 1500 bucks. But it can add fast when adding modifiers and boxes.

Right now I am running 4 Nikon shoe mount flashes synced with household extension cords. A few more portraits, I'll have some AB's myself.

 

[pinion9]

Originally posted by: foghorn67
I can easily dump 10k into lighting. And that's just to start.
Muslins, props, insurance, legal paperwork can add up.

You can get AB setups for about 1500 bucks.

Right now I am running 4 Nikon shoe mount flashes synced with household extension cords. A few more portraits, I'll have some AB's myself.

Insurance? For what? Legal paperwork? I'm just talking about a little studio for people to come to, have a good time with family and get some pictures taken. I don't want a full blown professional photography studio in a warehouse Although that would be cool...

 

[aircooled]

My co-worker was a self-employed professional photographer before getting into IT. As much as he loves photography, he would never go back to it as a reliable income.

 

[ultravox]

You don't make a lot of money selling pics to magazines unless you get Brittany humpingthe cook or something. Most magazines pay "scale" for a photo which is another word for "peanuts" Again....I don't mean exlusive, much sought after pics.
The money is in weddings...you can charge an arm and a leg for albums etc....throw in a few pic CD's @ whatever a pop and you'll be living the life of Riley.
Aside from all the lighting you have to invest in decor....that is the big trend nowadays here in Quebec. Anybody can take good pics but if you can offer them some sort of unique background they.. love it.
BTW ...studio work is a whole different animal than outdoor natural light photography....takes much thought for light placement if you want to get those unique effects that people like and not have a bunch of shadows that weren't apparent when setting up the shot but stick out like a sore thumb in the finished picture.. Like a low light behind the chair someone is sitting on.
Another money making idea which I personally did for many years is to follow a sporting series and shoot the participants....especially kids . I foloowed the Moto-X circuit here in Quebec for many years and made B+W 8X10's that I would sell to the riders at $4 a pop.. I had guys that would buy 3-5 pics every weekend. This was quite a few years ago so the prices would have to be adjusted . I had my own dark-room and bought film and paper in bulk. I'd shoot roughly 10-15 rolls of 36 every week end and sell the shots the week end after. Moto-X is good for that because there is a race every week end somewhere but I imagine tennis or BMX or soccer would be good too.. . I used to pull in $200-250 a weekend without trying. I'd do color once in a while also like for the indoor supercross events and mount the pictures/. These I'd sell for $40 .
There is also the aerial pictures of peoples houses and businesses. You rent a ride on a helicopter and just shoot like crazy. It's best to have a plan of where you want to shoot first....rich neighbourhoods and big car dealers etc. Blow up the pictures and sell them mounted and framed. .....hard to resist a beautiful picture of your property taken from 500 ft in the air.

 

[Mrvile]

Originally posted by: pinion9
No pics yet. Thinking about getting her a Canon D20 and investing about $1500 in some Alien Bee studio lights.

We live in Alaska, so outdoor photos could be fun.

My best friend takes business men out hunting/fishing at a private cabin during the summer. Several of them have asked about having a photographer come along. That might be worthwhile as well.

She wouldn't quit her job yet. Not until she can get at least 4 shoots a week on a regular basis.

Don't forget to invest in some good glass. A 20D is a great camera but is as useful as a chocolate fireplace if you don't pair it with good lenses. I don't know what your budget is in terms of lenses, but the industry standard is a 70-200/2.8 for outdoors and the 24-70/2.8 for indoors...each of those lenses is about a grand so it might be a bit over your budget. You could substitute with some cheaper, less versatile, but better performing primes such as the 85/1.8 (I actually like primes over zooms). But do not be afraid to invest in lenses - I cannot stress how important lenses are. If you're tight on the money you're better off getting her a 10D or a Rebel XT instead of a 20D and spending the leftover money on lenses.

Bottom line is that she'll produce much better (and sellable) pictures with a 10D and an 85/1.8 than a 20D and an 18-55 kit lens.

 

[foghorn67]

Originally posted by: pinion9

Originally posted by: foghorn67
I can easily dump 10k into lighting. And that's just to start.
Muslins, props, insurance, legal paperwork can add up.

You can get AB setups for about 1500 bucks.

Right now I am running 4 Nikon shoe mount flashes synced with household extension cords. A few more portraits, I'll have some AB's myself.

Insurance? For what? Legal paperwork? I'm just talking about a little studio for people to come to, have a good time with family and get some pictures taken. I don't want a full blown professional photography studio in a warehouse Although that would be cool...

well in that case, look at AB's. Plan on having three strobes. Maybe two to start with.
And unless you plan on making huge group photos, or taking the strobes outside to outpower the sun...get the 400's. I plan on getting two AB400's, and 1 AB800 later.
People might insist on 800's all around, but good luck powering them down, especially in anything less than a real sized studio.(when it comes to backing the lights away from the subject)