Is it possible to make a living as a landscape photographer? I love to shoot landscapes and nature but I don't even know how to start trying to make money doing this. :confused:

Sherry

Yes! Although most commercial sales, which do make the best income, have significantly dropped off. Many photographers have shot themselves in the foot by accepting smaller and smaller use fees (space rates, exclusive terms and licensing terms) for hard earned images. The trend began about 6 years ago when Getty and Corbis introduced their large online databases allowing large stock buyers to license large numbers of images for a deal. What followed was the same buyers contacted many individual photographers expecting the same bulk rate for one or two images and the photographers accepted. Eventually the use fees declined all around. In addition there are simply many more individuals pursuing landscape photography. I do think there is always room for someone with new exciting work!!!!!!!! In addition to these two factors is that with the digital age many potential landscape commercial use’s are now fulfilled with digital imaging, such as illustrations. However, what seams to be working now is Alamy.com. Alamy is a online stock database which accepts photography from anyone who passes their technical terms, which these days are very reasonable. The editorial industry is starving for great adventure images which includes landscapes as well. Alamy is just one potential source for landscape photography. I understand that when I go out and shoot my own images, not on assignment, I take many images for editorial sales and commercial sales that are not what I consider artistic masterpieces. However, while on the path to obtaining images I do stumble into a situation where I am able to create some of my best work. I have realized over the years that you simply have to be “in the pursuit” as much as possible and by doing so create an extensive collection of great images, which ends of becoming valuable.

Marc,
Thanks for you advice. I have been checking into Alamy and they look pretty interesting.

What kind of camera do you use for you landscape work? Do you turn you sharpening off in the camera? Do you do a lot of post processing? Sorry for all the questions :o

Sherry

Sherry,
Don't appologize for all your questions, that's why these forums were created.

Landscape and Nature photography is my passion as well but i've struggled over the years to make any money from it other then selling some of my prints through small boutique type galleries in my local market.

I've also recently been turned on to alamy and will have to take better look into it as i've hard drives filled with images that might be worth something to someone out there.

My general rule of thumb for shooting landscape work and this might be very different from Marc's is I shoot everything in Adobe RGB, generally Raw + Fine JPG and leave all the sharpening, contrast, etc... turned off in camera as I think my Raw processing software does a much better job of dealing with those sorts of things than my camera does. It creates a little more work for me, but in the end i have the ultimate control over my images.

My workflow for shooting portrait work is very different, where i try to get as much right in camera as possible.

It's all a personal preference really and depends on your comfort level using tools like photoshop or capture one to process your images.

Anyways that's my 2 cents and am curious to hear Marc's as well.

Cris...

Sherry,

I shoot with the Canon 1Ds M11 almost exclusively now. My 4x5 field camera has been in my safe for a year. I began working with digital files about 9 years ago when we invested in a drum scanner. Since that time I just waited for a camera that had enough resolution to fulfill my expectations. The Canon does just that with only a few compromises, such as noise during long exposures. I shoot everything in RAW and then create the image in post processing with Adobe Camera Raw and Photoshop. Yes I spend a bit of time in front of the computer now days but all for a great reason, to make the image!

I use the image processor in Bridge to create all my jpegs if I need them for a client. This way the jpegs look much better with my personal settings applied in ACR first.
I shoot into Adobe RGB. However, a very pleasing landscape look can be had with Colormatch which is a slightly smaller color space but can eliminate the harsh colors and deep shadows created by Adobe RGB if not handled correctly.
I sharpen with Smart Sharpen on the luminous channel while in LAB space.

I also have several actions created for expediting my workflow when I can get away with it. However, quite often I find that every image is unique and therefore requires unique adjustments.

Cheers

Marc

For the sales side of things
Check out http://photographersdirect.com
They are getting better. They started out with only low end usage fees but the usage fees are getting better and more requests are coming through.

Alamy can be good but from everything I've seen one needs 2k or more images to start making sales.