Writers: Up Your Income–Add Photography

This post is sponsored by Outright — Your Livelihood, Right Now.  Getting your taxes right with free bookkeeping.

by Catherine L. Tully

If you are looking for ways to up your income as a writer you may want to think about adding photography to your skill set. These days digital pics are the popular choice and if you are somewhat “tech-savvy”, you can make some extra dough.

I’m not saying this is a totally simple thing to do, but if you already own a decent digital camera or have interest in learning, it’s well worth it. I have made good money sending in pictures with an article. What a magazine will pay for it varies, and that is where this handy book comes in–Photographer’s Market.

Photographer’s Market is full of listings where you can sell your pictures, and th 2010 version has all the latest and greatest markets. It is set up similar to Writer’s Market, so for most writers it will feel familiar.

If you don’t want to get into doing the photography yourself, perhaps you may want to team up with someone who does. Check into a local photography club to see if there is anyone who may be interested. While this will mean they will make the extra money, it will also help endear you to editors. Most of them love it if you can provide pictures to go with a piece you have written.

This post was sponsored by Outright — Your Livelihood, Right Now.  Getting your taxes right with free bookkeeping.

Photography Magazines

If you are interested in taking your own photos to accompany the articles that you write, one of the best things you can do is invest in a magazine subscription. You can read up on techniques and gear as well as get terrific tips that will help you take better pictures.

There are many photography mags out there, so deciding which one to choose can be a little difficult. You can always go to the bookstore and browse, but you can also take a look at this list for an idea of what the various publications cover. I get several, including Outdoor Photographer, American Photo and Popular Photography. Each has its own niche, and I learn a good deal of information from them. The more you can learn, the better your chances are of getting quality photos to go with your articles.

Tips For Taking Portraits

So you’ve gotten an assignment and want to try your hand at taking a picture of a particular person for the article. If you aren’t really a photographer yet, how do you go about gettting a good shot? Here are a few tips that are based on my own experience:

• Natural light is generally the most flattering, so take a picture outside if you can. Just make sure that the sun isn’t casting weird shadows on the person’s face.
• Get the person to relax a bit before taking the photo. Talk to them about hobbies, kids, etc. If they are tense, it will show in the picture.
• Take tons of different shots. You never know which one you’ll wind up using.
• Try different angles. Do full length shots and closeups. Variety is important.
• Count down so that they know when you’ll be snapping the picture.
• Look at the review screen to see if the person’s eyes are open. (This is assuming you have a digital camera.)
• Don’t get too close or the camera will not focus.
• Watch your background. Try to avoid things such as trees growing out of the person’s head or a lot of distracting clutter.

There is no reason you shouldn’ t be able to take a photo like this, so give it a go! Here are some more tips for shooting portraits to help round things out. Remember, confidence is key, so don’t let on that you’re a novice!

Apogee Photo Magazine

Writers….if you are interested in learning more about photography, check out Apogee Photo. This online photo mag has a host of helpful articles and information for all levels–whether you are a beginner or have been at it for a while. Learn more about travel photography, or get some pointers for starting out. The best part is, you can do this right from your computer. Take a break from writing and invest a little time in photography–it’s a great skill to pick up for the New Year!

Photography: Know Your Rights

This is a “quickie”….

If you take photos for your articles — or if you want to start doing so, you might get hassled when taking them in a public place. Do you know what your rights are? You’d better! Look here for the skinny in the US, and here for info on rights in the UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. Now, armed with that information, go forth and conquer!

Photography For The Writer: How To Send Digital Files

OK. So you have gotten the assignment and you are going to try your hand at taking photos yourself–but you have a major issue–how do you send in the files? If you are new to this type of thing, here’s a little help:

• First and foremost, ask the editor to send you photo specs and how they want the files sent. Here you may hear terms such as dpi (dots per inch) and photo dimensions.
• Some editors like to get a CD or DVD of the photos. It is worth your time to learn how to do this, and it isn’t too difficult to learn if you have a burner in your computer. Investigate what your capabilites are so that you know what you can deliver.
• Some editors will ask you to upload your photo files to an FTP server. For this you will generally need a web address, user name and password. Getting the files on the server is very simple and usually a matter of just opening them and uploading. FTPs are all just a bit different but I’ve never had one that was too complex.
• Some editors will ask you to e-mail the photos. If this is the case, don’t shrink the files down too much. Refer to the photo specifications before sending. This can get complicated if you aren’t photo savvy, so it may be easier to send a CD or DVD if you don’t have a photo editing program or decent digital camera.
• Large files can be zipped and sent via e-mail as well. I’ve never done this, but basically it means that the files will go through e-mail because they are temporarily compressed. WinZip and YouSendIt are sites that offer this type of thing.

Now. You absolutely need to know a bit about your camera. Make sure you are taking photos on the higest quality setting. You should be able to find out how to do this by reading your manual. (We will have more info about what kinds of cameras work well for beginning writers later on, so keep your eyes peeled…)

There is more to this in terms of learning how to tell what dpi your photos are and re-sizing photos, but this should at least give you an idea of how files can be sent. We’ll have more coming on this subject as we go along…but this should help prepare you for your first conversation!

Photo above: Copyright 2008, Catherine L. Tully

Nikon D700: My Next Equipment Purchase

I have been looking at a new digital SLR camera for some time now. Since 2004, I’ve been enhancing my freelance writing with the Nikon D70, a 6 megapixel SLR that has served me well. I’ve gotten my photo work in everything from The Pentagon Channel to Chicago-area art galleries using the D70, but it’s time to step up.

Basically the differences between the D70 and the D700 won’t mean anything to you unless you’re already a photographer, but I can say that the Nikon D700 being capable of 12 megapixels and being much more sensitive to existing light than the D70 make it an attractive investment regardless of your experience level. It also features 51-point autofocus, a great fallback solution when you just don’t trust your eyes in that little viewfinder.

All that aside, if you are a complete photo noob, consider buying a D70 (or another comparable brand/model) first and learning your chops before moving up to the roughly $3000 D700. One thing new photographers won’t like about the D700–the 3K asking price is for the camera body ONLY. The D70 comes with a factory lens, the D700 does not. If you are looking to increase your freelance potential with photographs, the Nikon D70 is an affordable way to do it, but be warned–the D70 isn’t as forgiving in low light and you might be better off with a comparable Canon product in the same price range (around $800).

I am definitely investing in the D700 for many reasons, thanks to some informed advice and my own experience with the D70. Spend your money wisely, don’t just take my word for it, do your homework on web forums for photogs such as the incredible DPreview.com. That website is worth its weight in photo gold.

Photography Tips From Fodor’s

Get some good photography tips from the experts at Fodor’s. Their site has quite a few helpful links and they are specific; things such as: exposure and metering modes, creative camera filters and controlling depth of field. This is a great beginner resource for taking better pictures.

Smithsonian And More…

Add this to your list of resources….Encyclopedia Smithsonian offers a super search on a wide range of subjects, both general and specific. Want to know more about the Hope Diamond? What about photography? Why wait? It’s all here at your fingertips…

Dictionary Of Photographic Terms

Are you a writer who is trying to get into photography? Some people find that the world of digital photography is filled with definitions and words that they don’t know. That can make reading directions or following instructions extremely difficult in the beginning. Learn more about the terminology here.

Once you know how to provide photography for your articles, you will add another layer to your money-making ability. I highly recommend it.

Photography For Writers: 10 Tips

Kodak has some great tips for those who are just getting started in photography. Learn things such as:

• How to use your flash

• How to frame things for a good shot

• How to focus well

And more…

A great place to start for beginners. Don’t cheat yourself out of making some extra money from your articles. If you don’t know how to do take good photos to accompany your work, now is the time to get started! These basic tips are easy to navigate and will get you on the right road.

Photography Info: The Luminous Landscape

The Luminous Landscape is a good place to go for the lowdown on photography. You can browse the categories endlessly and find information on everything from “how to photograph car races” to “bullfight photography”. Too specific? Well don’t panic….there are some great basics as well. There are more than 3,000 pages of product reviews, tutorials, travel articles and photographs here, so you are bound to find something that can help you out. If you are a freelancer who hopes to do photos this is a super place to get started.

Photography For Writers: Which Camera?

One of the best tools a freelance writer can own is a good digital camera. Supplying your own images for an article can make you more marketable, and any steady reader of this blog knows we are digital camera evangelists here. Writers who don’t take their own photos wind up cheating themselves out of the extra cash you often get for supplying images together with the story.

“Which camera should I buy?” Naturally this is the first question non-photographers always ask. There are two basic kinds of cameras; the point-and-shoot (P&S) variety and digital SLRs. SLR stands for “single lens reflex” and this basically means that what you see what you look in the viewfinder is the exact image the lens sees.

I strongly advise writers not to buy the cheap P&S model. For professional use, even as a beginner, P&S cameras are too limited and you will grow out of them as soon as you learn the difference between what an indoor shot with no flash looks like at 100 ISO vs. 800 ISO. What does THAT mean? We’ll save that for another article.

… Continue Reading

Photographer’s Market

The 2008 Photographer’s Market may not initially seem like a great resource for writers, but it is! Many writers don’t have any idea how much they should charge for photography and this book can really be a help in that department. It lists many magazines that accept freelance photography and gives information such as: price range, format they prefer and what type of photos they are looking for. If you supply your own photos and want some help with pricing, get this book.

Buy now for $17.81

Retro Pay Phone

Because I’m a photographer as well as a writer, I’m always on the lookout for things I can pick up along the way that can jazz up a photo shoot in the background, as props, or as a still life all by itself. This Crosley 1950s style Retro Pay Phone fits the bill nicely.

I would place this on an otherwise section of blank brick wall and shoot a series featuring a girl in a black leather jacket using it. Or maybe a sort of James Dean grease monkey thing. 

A set like that would make a good collection as part of a showing, or a great album cover, even just another section of the portfolio. This phone isn’t a pay-to-call model, but the coin op does work (complete with the little jingle sound when you insert the money) and makes a great change saver.

No, it’s not completely authentic–the ringer sound is modern–but if you’re not a complete purist, as a prop or functioning telephone this one’s a lot of fun.

Buy the Crosley Retro 1950s-Style Pay Phone for $65.60