So there’s a few things I believe you will need to start a photography business. These are my own opinions, many people may not agree with them, but these are the things I found most important when I decided to start a photography business.
Camera & Lens
Obviously you can’t start a photo business without getting yourself a camera first. Many people may see this as the first obstacle because some cameras can cost an arm and a leg, but you may be surprised to find out that this may not be the case afterall. The first thing you must consider when buying a camera is the type of work you want to be doing. If you are someone that wants to photograph sports and wildlife you will need cameras with more advanced specifications, and in this case they will run you quite a bit more money than someone who wants to start out with portrait photography. The same can be said for someone who wants to photograph weddings and events. Let’s just assume you want to start out shooting outdoor portraits, such as graduation, maternity, and engagement sessions, which is the way I started.
There are actually a ton of good cameras that are extremely low priced that would do just fine when shooting portraits. I first started with a D3400 that came with a couple of kit lenses which I felt were not adequate for capturing the images that I wanted to capture. I ended up purchasing a 50mm 1.8 lens which looked absolutely stunning when capturing portraits. This combo was in my bag for a year and got me through many paid sessions.
Here you can see an image from my very first paid session using a Nikon D3400 & a 50mm 1.8 lens.
You can get a D3400 or a D3500 with 2 kit lenses for around $400 brand new. You can also purchase a 50mm 1.8 lens for $200. If you decide to go the canon route you can get their entry level DSLR for around the same price. You can also go mirrorless and purchase an entry level Sony camera which may run you a bit more.
The point is that these are great entry level cameras that will give you great results without breaking the bank. You can even pay considerably less if you decide to buy used gear. I would recommend you start with a good entry level camera and you get yourself a good prime lens to start taking some really nice portraits. In the future you may decide that you need a more advanced camera system, but its always good to learn the basics on an entry level camera because more professional systems may be a little overwhelming for beginners.
Give Freebies
The next thing that I feel is essential when starting a photo business is giving freebies. Maybe you have a family member or friend that you can take some pictures of for free. Not only does this provide very valuable practice time, but you can also start using the best of these photos to start building a portfolio that you can show your future clients.
Adobe Photography Plan
I highly recommend you get the Adobe Photography Plan. In fact, I find it essential for anyone who will be shooting professionally. The plan includes Lightroom CC, Lightroom Classic, and Photoshop CC. Lightroom classic is what I use to edit all of my photos and it is an amazing program that makes editing extremely user friendly. If you're someone who likes to do more intense edits, Lightroom and Photoshop work perfectly together. This plan also comes with a free version of myportfolio which is an online portfolio that adobe gives you access to when you're subscribed to the photography plan, which is perfect for showcasing your images at their full resolution. If you didn't notice, you're actually in my myportfolio website! So I highly recommend subscribing to this service. It is $10 a month, but that's nothing compared to the amount of useful tools you get.
Google Drive
The delivery of your photos is the next thing I want to talk about. I have been using Google drive from the start and it has worked out perfectly. For only $3 a month you get 100 gigs of storage which has been more than enough for me. After 2 years I still have a lot of storage left. Google Drive allows you to make private folders that are only accessible by people who have the link to them. You can upload the full res files and your clients can go in there and view them or download them. I always like to upload the separate files plus a zip file so they can be downloaded all at once. There are many other sites that can be used to deliver digital files, but I found google drive to be pretty reliable so far.
Business Cards
I can't tell you how many times I've been in the middle of a shoot and someone will come up to me and ask for a business card. Many people will overlook business cards because we are in an age where technology has taken over, but I think business cards are extremely important and play a big role when you're trying to spread the word. You never know when someone will ask for a business card and it looks really good when you pull one out for them. We actually make our own business cards which has saved us a lot of money and they always come in handy. You can actually go into any Walmart and get yourself a pack of 100 blank business cards for only $6-$8 which is a small price to pay and they will last you a while. The brand Avery even comes with a very user friendly online program to create your cards. Below you can see our card as an example.
Contracts
You never know when something is gonna go wrong during a shoot. Whether someone gets hurt or your SD card fails and you lose all of the photos you just took. It's in these instances that it's always good that you have a signed contract that outlines what will happen in case of an accident or equipment failure.
A contract is essential when you're dealing with paid sessions, and you have to make sure that your contract goes over everything because if something happens during a shoot the client can take legal action against you. This is especially important for higher paid gigs and events such as weddings.
Your contract must also talk about the what you are offering and other very important details about the session. It cannot be stressed enough how specific you have to be when it comes to stuff like this. Make sure to mention traveling fees, model releases, session or event scheduling, deposits, liabilities, responsibilities, venue & location limitations, permits, copyrights, your capture and delivery policies, payment scheduling, and pricing. Obviously I won't go into details for every single point, but this is ESSENTIAL when you're running any kind of business that offers services.
What we did was find a photography contract template online and edited it to our needs! Don't be overwhelmed! It sounds like a lot, but in the end you'll be happy you have one.
Logo
The final thing I have to talk about is having a good recognizable logo. You won't see this in many lists like this, but I feel like having a good recognizable logo is essential. We made our logo even before we started taking photos professionally. A good logo helps you stand out in a saturated and competitive market. We recommend coming up with something simple yet recognizable. Something that wont take any attention away from your photos if you decide to watermark, but also a logo that will instantly make your photography business stand out to the viewer.
Conclusion
These are just some of the things that I found essential when I started out my business. My list may not be the same as yours, but this is how I started!