Professional camera lens and slides
For those with an eye for photography, or just people interested in developing their craft, a career in photography seems lucrative. Being paid to do what you love is a dream of many people, and photographers get to practice their hobby daily for a living. Breaking into the field of professional photography, while potentially difficult, proves to be rewarding for those willing to work hard.
Getting Started
Every photographer dreaming of becoming a professional needs to have a portfolio. Building a professional portfolio of your work showcases skills that you have and highlights your eye as a photographer. Photographs can be collected and put into your portfolio as early as you like. Your portfolio should demonstrate that you know use certain photography techniques and tricks properly. In order to make it as a professional photographer, you must show that you can take photographs that will sell well.
Education Needed
Some professional photographers claim to be entirely self-taught. This means that they simply picked up a camera and figured things out from there. Self-taught photographers may either study photography books on their own or skip learning techniques altogether, relying solely on instincts; however, success as a self-taught photographer occurs in only a handful of cases. Most professional photographers attend school majoring in photography. This gives them the discipline and skills needed to make it in the professional world.
Breaking into the Work Field
Once your education is finished and your portfolio has been built upon, an internship with a well-established professional photographer can get you a foot in the door. An internship can oftentimes lead to a paying career as a professional photographer's assistant. From here, taking pictures and making a name for yourself becomes easier, as you'll receive extra exposure. Some photographers choose to take jobs as travel photographers, school portrait artists or other smaller photography jobs in order to build a portfolio and a clientele base.
Equipment
While some photographers may use more fancy, expensive equipment, having the more expensive equipment does not make them better photographers. Many photographers use SLR or digital SLR cameras for their work. An SLR camera allows a photographer to manually adjust the lighting and depth of field of a photograph, as well as other settings. A digital SLR camera allows for the same but saves the photos on a memory card rather than film. Photographers also tend to have several different lenses for any given subject, such as a telephoto lens to shoot objects in the distance.
Types of Photography Jobs
Photography jobs are available in a wide array of fields. Many professional photographers work as wedding photographers, documenting people's weddings. Some photographers are travel photographers, who go around the world shooting images for magazines or newspapers. Newspapers also hire local photographers for news stories. Photographers can work with food, clothing or people depending upon their preference and the job requirements.
