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What kind of photography is most in demand?

Photographer taking photographs of a model to upload to Go Sitebuilder

Being a professional freelance photographer is the dream for many people. You can turn your hobby into a profession without being tied to an office or a specific industry. If you’ve been thinking about ways to supplement your income with photography or even start up your own freelance photography business, you need to see what photography services are most in demand. 

Family and portrait photography

This could be one of the most common forms of freelance photography. Before you start, think of a niche to help you stand out from the crowd; are you a lighting whiz that specialises in more posed, professional-looking photos, or do you have the people skills to make people laugh and feel at ease for more candid images? Capitalise on your skills and you’ll find yourself getting busy very quickly!

 As this type of photography is very area-based, you will rely heavily on word of mouth to build clients, so make sure that your clients leave your photoshoot having had a positive experience. 

Event photography

You might just be thinking of wedding photography, but freelance photographers are often hired to cover a plethora of different events, including birthdays, christenings, corporate meals and charity events. 

The hardest thing with event photography is working out a price for your work; a beginner wedding photographer could charge around £1000, for example, whereas an experienced one is likely to charge a minimum of £5000. Remember events are often poorly managed, overrun and you might have to deal with the occasional stressed-out event organiser, so make sure it is worth your time. 

Headshots

Corporate headshots can be a very lucrative job once you’ve broken into the market and have a couple of high-quality examples in your portfolio. And it can be fun; many companies are moving away from the stiff, suited-up pained smile and are going for more dynamic images. You’ll need to be adaptable, easy-going and a good people person to make sure your clients feel comfortable in front of the camera. Once they’ve had one good experience with you, businesses are more likely to hire you for more gigs such as events, meetings and team photos!

Taking professional acting headshots is another niche that can make you some money; you can charge upwards of £400 for a session. This is a good option if you are skilled at lighting and like the artistic side of portraiture, but make sure you have some decent experience and are confident in this style; they’re likely to have high standards!

School photography

If you like to be busy, why not approach the schools in your area and offer to do photography for them? Most schools aim to have pictures taken not only of individual students, but also of year groups, sports teams and the whole school once a year. This could end up being thousands of images per school, and another good way of getting income from your photography. 

This will require a lot of planning, and it’s a good idea to hire an assistant if you’re going to be taking photos for a large school.

Product photography

If someone has a fantastic product, they’re going to need a beautiful photo of it to make sure it sells. Product photography is a huge part of digital marketing, and could be a great way to make money. Do you know anybody that is just starting out with a new product? Offer to take their photos for a small charge, and use their images in your portfolio; once you’ve got examples of your work, people are much more likely to hire you for their own products. 

Social media photography

Instagram is one of the most popular social media sites, and it relies almost entirely on beautiful images. Around 71% of businesses use Instagram to promote their company, which means you can capitalise on this by offering to take photos for them. You can contact local businesses and offer “social media packages” where you edit the photos and crop them to the perfect size for Instagram or Facebook. They can then use these photos for advertising on social media sites, which is an important part of any business.

Real Estate photography

If you like nosing around other people’s houses and you’ve got a wide-angle lens, then real estate photography is a great option. Try approaching your local estate agent and compare their amateur photography with some examples of your own well lit, perfectly composed interior photos. When looking for a house to buy or rent, the images are hands down the most important part for house hunters and will be the deciding factor as to whether they get in contact with the estate agent or not. 

There are many ways that you can turn your photography hobby into a profitable business, you just need to decide which route to take. Once you’ve done this, it’s time to make a website to show off your skills! Our website builder gives you beautiful ready made web designs with one-click image galleries so that you can highlight your best work at the touch of a button – read our blog on how to create the best photography website for some more ideas. Try our 14-day free trial today and see where your photography skills can get you.

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How do I know if a photo is copyrighted?

Woman looking at image on tablet. How do I know if a photo is copyrighted?

Using photos copied from the internet can be risky, and you could put yourself in danger of breaching copyright. Since the advent of the internet, it is so simple to right click and save an image, but to keep yourself safe you should never use that photo unless you know the regulations surrounding it! That’s what we’re here for – we’re going to let you know when an image is copyrighted, when it isn’t, and most importantly, when you can use it on your website.

Can you use any image from the web?

Quick answer – no! According to UK Law, when an image is created, it is copyright protected as the intellectual property of the creator. This is a process that happens automatically, so if you upload a picture on your website that you took, other people do not have the right to use it unless you give them permission. Copyright in the UK lasts for the life of the creator plus 70 years from their death, but if the copyright has expired then you are free to use it.  

There are exceptions to copyright, which means you can use any image as long as it is used within limited situations. This includes non-commercial research, private study, and teaching. If you are using your website to sell a service, then you will be using photos for commercial use and copyright will apply. 

How can you tell if you can use a photo?

This is the tricky bit – if copyright is automatically applied without having to apply for it, there are no records on what is free to use. 

However, if a photo has a watermark (often the name of the company/creator written on the image), if it has the ⓒ symbol, or a caption that indicates ownership or sourcing, then it’s generally safe to assume this image is protected under copyright and you can’t use it. 

You might have found a picture that is free to use under the Creative Commons Licensing, but you’ll need to look at the wording in detail. Often these types of licenses are limited to non-commercial use. 

One good way to see if a photo is copyrighted is by reverse searching for the image. Right click on the image and select “copy image address”. Then paste this into Google Images or a site dedicated to reverse image search, like TinEye. This will show you where the image is used, and where it has come from. You can also install plugins for Firefox and Chrome to easily reverse search images. If it comes from a paid stock photo website like Adobe, then leave it be! 

A common question is whether you can use photos from social media, but in the UK, these pictures are still considered the intellectual property of the creator. Social media platforms do have terms in their contracts that mean they can reuse your content, but this doesn’t override existing copyright laws. Essentially, this means that the social media provider can re-use your material (for example, when someone shares your photo on their feed within the app) but that doesn’t mean that anybody can download your photo and pass it off as your own. 

How can you find copyright-free images?

If we’ve scared you, we didn’t mean to! It might seem like all photos are copyrighted, but there are loads of stock photos that are available to use. You can choose to pay for a stock photo provider, like Shutterstock or Adobe, but there are also loads of free stock photo websites that offer high quality photos – for nothing! Here is a list of some of our favourites, and you can use these images worry-free.

What happens if I use a copyrighted image on the web?

If you unknowingly use a photo that is copyright-protected, then you might be contacted and asked to purchase a one-off licence for the use of that photo. Or, if you have used more than one photo from the same creator, they may try and come to a commercial arrangement, where you can freely use their photos for an ongoing fee. 

In the worst case scenario, however, the creator could take legal action and take you to court. This usually ends up being very expensive, as the user will have to pay the licence of the photo, court expenses, and often financial compensation for the copyright infringement, as well as removing all photos by that creator from their site. If it is deemed that you deliberately infringed copyright, then there are criminal penalties. 

The best way to stay safe is never to use a photo if you’re not sure where it came from! If you don’t have a budget, you can use free stock images, but if you’re still on the hunt for a website builder to do so, why not try Go Sitebuilder? They have free access to thousands of stock photos so you won’t have to worry about copyright, as well as easy-to-use galleries and photo editors. Try our 14-day trial and see for yourself!